OnePlus 6T Vs. iPhone XR: Which Affordable Flagship Wins
OnePlus 6T Vs. iPhone XR - The OnePlus 6T and iPhone XR are both affordable powerhouses, but only one phone can win. Here's how they stack up.
Author:Daniel BarrettMay 30, 2022452 Shares452370 Views
Announced after months of rumors and statements, the OnePlus 6T is the latest OnePlus smartphone to follow the company’s “T” line of incremental upgrades. It might share many similarities with the OnePlus 6, but the OnePlus 6T includes plenty of new features, design changes, and upgrades that might make it a worthwhile purchase.
The OnePlus 6T and iPhone XR are both affordable powerhouses, but only one phone can win. Here’s how they stack up.
Flagship smartphonesare getting more expensive every year, but you don’t need to shell out $1,000 for flagship features. Apple’s own iPhone XR offers best-in-class performance, lengthy battery life and a solid camera for $749, and the OnePlus 6T sports a stunning screen and cutting-edge in-display fingerprint sensor for $549. So which affordable flagship wins?
OnePlus 6T Vs. iPhone XR – Display
Both the 6T and XR have nearly bezel-free displays with notches, but there’s no mistaking the two.
The lowest-priced iPhone’s screen is a sizable 6.1 inches, but Apple cut costs by providing an LCD panel instead of offering a pricier OLED display. The OnePlus 6T’s 6.4-inch AMOLED panel is absolutely brilliant by comparison — its massive 2340 x 1080 slate is the clear winner when placed next to the iPhone’s 1792 x 828 screen.
Then there’s the notch. The iPhone XR has a shallow but wide cutout for its front-facing camera, while the 6T’s dewdrop-shaped notch is so small as to be almost completely unobtrusive.
The XR wins points for brightness, as all LCD panels do. The panel reached 589 nits, while the 6T’s AMOLED reached 405 nits.
OnePlus 6T Vs. iPhone XR – Design
The OnePlus 6T and iPhone XR feature glass fronts and backs. Apple said the iPhone XR’s front panel is the “most durable glass ever in a smartphone,” while the OnePlus 6T uses Gorilla Glass 6. You are more than welcome to test any durability claims, but remember that glass is glass.
The XR is noticeably heavier than the 6T at 6.8 ounces to the 6T’s 6.52 ounces, though the 6.2-inch-long 6T is taller than the 5.9-inch iPhone. Both phones are sleek and thin — 0.3 inches for the XR versus 0.32 inches for the 6T. But when it comes to style, the XR wins hands down.
OnePlus 6T Vs. iPhone XR – Colors
The OnePlus 6T comes in two color options: Mirror Black and Midnight Black. By comparison, the iPhone XR took a trip through a rainbow and features an impressive six colors: Black, White, Red, Yellow, Blue, and Coral.Given that OnePlus is known for putting out additional colors after its phone launches, it’s no surprise that the gorgeous Thunder Purple version was released soon after.
Charging
Both phones are capable of fast charging, but the OnePlus 6T includes a fast charger in the box. You have to buy a separate Lightning to USB Type-C cable and USB Type-C wall brick to take advantage of the iPhone XR’s fast-charge capabilities. Then again, the OnePlus 6T features a glass back and does not support wireless charging. Meanwhile, the iPhone XR supports wireless charging up to 7.5W.
OnePlus 6T Vs. iPhone XR – Camera
The OnePlus 6T has a dual-lens camera with 20-MP and 16-MP shooters, but the iPhone XR’s lone 12-MP lens still wins in our comparison tests.
OnePlus improved the 6T’s low-light photos and portraits with software tweaks, so we compared both modes to the iPhone XR. The iPhone doesn’t have a Nightscape mode that’s comparable to the 6T’s, and its Portrait Mode only works on humans. And yet, the XR still comes out ahead.
Overall, the iPhone XR has a better camera, despite lacking a second lens.
Also read:Samsung Galaxy S9 Vs. iPhone 8
Processor
It might be getting a bit long in the tooth, but the OnePlus 6T’s Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 is still a flagship processor that has found a home in many flagship smartphones this year. By comparison, the iPhone XR uses Apple’s A12 Bionic processor. The A12 Bionic is the first 7nm processor in a consumer product and is also found in the iPhone XS and XS Max.
On the Geekbench 4 test of overall system performance, the 6T notched 8,972, sailing past the Google Pixel 3 XL with its score of 7,684. But the iPhone XR’s A12 Bionic chip is an unbeatable beast. The XR scored 11,312 on Geekbench 4, just behind the XS (11,420) and XS Max (11,515). Apple’s custom chips are unmatched.
Even in a real-world test, transcoding a 2-minute, 4K video file into 1080 in Adobe Premiere, the XR crushes the competition. Apple’s newest iPhone completed the task in just 40 seconds, while the 6T finally finished at 3 minutes and 45 seconds.
Battery Life
The iPhone XR isn’t just a performance powerhouse — it also offers great battery life. The phone lasted 11 hours and 26 minutes on the Tom’s Guide Battery Test of continuous web surfing over T-Mobile’s LTE network. The smartphone average is 9:48, so the iPhone XR easily landed on our list of the longest-lasting smartphones.
The OnePlus 6T’s battery life isn’t too shabby, either, clocking in at 10:23. But the iPhone XR can last more than an hour longer, which is a big deal when you’re on the go without a charger.
Storage
The OnePlus 6T and iPhone XR feature 128GB and 256GB storage options, though there is a base iPhone XR model with 64GB of storage. All storage configurations are non-expandable, so look elsewhere if you want to use your microSD cards.
The OnePlus 6T and iPhone XR feature more similarities than you might imagine. Then again, one is an Androidsmartphone and the other runs iOS. There are bound to be differences, and boy are there differences.
You get either 6GB or 8GB of RAM on the OnePlus 6T, depending on how much storage you want. The iPhone XR comes with 3GB of RAM, though iOS tends to not need as much RAM as Android. Even so, the extra RAM on the OnePlus 6T should allow for more apps being open at the same time and improved multitasking.
Security
The OnePlus 6T features an in-display fingerprint sensor. It is the first OnePlus smartphone to feature an in-display fingerprint sensor. The iPhone XR does not feature a fingerprint sensor. Instead, it relies on Face ID for biometric authentication and payments. The OnePlus 6T also features facial recognition, but it is not nearly as secure.
Software
The OnePlus 6T thankfully runs Android 9 Pie out of the box. OnePlus promised two years of platform updates and three years of security patches for the OnePlus 6T. Meanwhile, the iPhone XR runs iOS 12out of the box. Suffice it to say that each operating systemhas its strengths, weaknesses, fans, and detractors. Only you know which one you prefer.
Price
This is arguably where the largest disparity lives. The OnePlus 6T starts at $549 with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. You will have to cough up $579 and $629 for the 8GB/128GB and 8GB/256GB configurations, respectively. Even the most expensive OnePlus 6T is cheaper than the cheapest iPhone XR, however. The iPhone XR starts at $750 with 64GB of storage. The price bumps up to $800 or $900 if you want 128GB or 256GB of storage, respectively.
Bottom Line
If you’re committed to Apple’s ecosystem, the iPhone XR is a sensible pick. But the OnePlus 6 could woo iPhone users with its fingerprint sensor and sophisticated software.
All in all, it all comes down to personal preference, but for us, It’s a close race, but the XR takes the crown.
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Daniel Barrett
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