Abstract On 2018 July 28, GRB 180728A triggered Swift satellites and, soon after the determination of the redshift, we identified this source as a type II binary-driven hypernova (BdHN II) in our model. Consequently, we predicted the appearance time of its associated supernova (SN), which was later confirmed as SN 2018fip. A BdHN II originates in a binary composed of a carbon–oxygen core (CO core ) undergoing SN, and the SN ejecta hypercritically accrete onto a companion neutron star (NS). From the time of the SN shock breakout to the time when the hypercritical accretion starts, we infer the binary separation ≃3 × 10 10 cm. The accretion explains the prompt emission of isotropic energy ≃3 × 10 51 erg, lasting ∼10 s, and the accompanying observed blackbody emission from a thermal convective instability bubble. The new neutron star ( ν NS) originating from the SN powers the late afterglow from which a ν NS initial spin of 2.5 ms is inferred. We compare GRB 180728A with GRB 130427A, a type I binary-driven hypernova (BdHN I) with isotropic energy >10 54 erg. For GRB 130427A we have inferred an initially closer binary separation of ≃10 10 cm, implying a higher accretion rate leading to the collapse of the NS companion with consequent black hole formation, and a faster, 1 ms spinning ν NS. In both cases, the optical spectra of the SNe are similar, and not correlated to the energy of the gamma-ray burst. We present three-dimensional smoothed-particle-hydrodynamic simulations and visualizations of the BdHNe I and II.