OnePlus 10 Pro reservations are already live – but you should probably wait

OnePlus 10 Pro
(Image credit: OnePlus)

OnePlus is finally giving the OnePlus 10 Pro a global launch soon, with the event scheduled for March 31, but you don’t have to wait until then to secure your place in line, as – in the US at least – reservations are already open.

If you’d like to reserve one, you can head to OnePlus’s site to do so, where you’ll have to pay $1, with the remainder of the payment to be made before the device ships. 

The company hasn’t yet revealed how much the phone costs though, so we don’t know how much that payment will be, although a Twitter teaser points to a starting price of under $1,000.

For reference, the OnePlus 9 Pro started at $1,069 in the US, but only because the lowest storage version didn’t launch there, so this more likely points to the US getting a 128GB model this time, than the 256GB version being surprisingly affordable.

Indeed, there will probably be multiple configurations, but right now you’re just choosing a color – Emerald Forest or Volcanic Black. That presumably means the OnePlus 10 Pro Extreme Edition won’t be available in the US, or at least not initially. This is a model in Panda White, which comes with 512GB of storage – that’s double the amount you can get otherwise.

In any case, by reserving you also get early shipping (though when the OnePlus 10 Pro will ship is another unknown), and you get a free set OnePlus Buds Pro thrown in (valued at $129.99 / £139, or around AU$170).

That said, the same freebie is available for pre-orders, which open on March 31, so getting in super early with a reservation isn’t needed for that, you’re only really getting earlier shipping.


Analysis: early shipping could be tempting, but waiting might be wiser

If you’re already certain that you’re going to buy the OnePlus 10 Pro then you might as well reserve it – you’ll get it earlier, as not only is there early shipping, but if the phone proves in high demand, then there may be shipping delays for some users who wait.

Plus, we already know the specs, so you can have a good idea of what you’re getting, and if you change your mind before paying the balance then you can cancel your reservation.

That said, while we don’t know the price yet, this is sure to be a very expensive phone, and if you’re anything like most people, then your handset is one of the devices you interact with most, and you probably won’t be looking to change it again for at least a year, if not much longer. So you should really be confident that you’re buying the best possible fit for you.

And until OnePlus 10 Pro reviews are out, you can’t really be confident of that, even if you’re a fan of the brand. Specs don’t tell the whole story, so it remains to be seen how the likes of the battery and camera perform in practice.

If you want to put your Chinese language skills to the test then you could probably find some early impressions, but ideally you should wait for in-depth reviews like those on TechRadar and elsewhere.

Doing so might even mean missing out on the free OnePlus Buds Pro, but personally, we’d rather miss out on those than regret purchasing something that costs probably more than seven times as much.

James Rogerson

James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.