The OnePlus 10T costs the same as the Pixel 6, skips the zoom camera just like Google’s phone, and has a fast and clean Android interface, again like, you guessed it, the Pixel 6.
That’s why we’re pitting the new OnePlus 10T against the ‘old’ Google Pixel 6 to help you decide which one to get ahead of the September launch date here in the US, based on camera, display and processor performance metrics.
OnePlus 10T vs Google Pixel 6, key differences:
- OnePlus 10T’s record-breaking 150W wired charging, but no wireless charging
- The Pixel 6’s smaller display has better color rendition but a lower refresh rate
- Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset is faster than Google’s Tensor 1 and offers better 5G connectivity
- The OnePlus 10 comes with twice the RAM and primary storage of the Pixel 6
- Two color options versus three
- 50 MP cameras, but Google is still the boss of mobile photography
Display design and quality
The OnePlus 10T is undoubtedly the sleeker phone up front, with the slimmer display bezels and boxy look of the Pixel 6. At the back, however, it’s a toss-up between the OnePlus camera island fused with the side bezel and the Pixel 6’s non-standard camera “band” .
The Pixel’s design is a bit more comfortable to hold and use with one hand, not only because it’s more compact, but also because the raised camera bar serves as a great place to press your index finger. The OnePlus 10T’s raised camera area houses three cameras and a flash, while the Google Band has two and a flash, making for a fairly innocuous appearance in comparison.
The 10T has two color options – Moonstone Black and Jade Green – which, despite the drastic difference in texture and appearance, are achieved by using a glass back. The Pixel 6, by comparison, comes in three colors – Kinda Coral, Sorta Seafoam and Stormy Black – and once again offers a glass back that has a wireless charging coil inside, unlike the OnePlus 8T, which only charges with the monstrous 150W brick.
Displays
We have to give it to Google and its Pixel line when it comes to display colors. While phones from the BBK holding company, such as those from Oppo or OnePlus, offer a rare factory calibration per unit on the high-end models for the widest range coverage, the Google Pixels have a perfect display calibration even to the mid-range that is currently occupied from the Pixel 6.
Granted, Google’s midrange screen has a smaller, 6.4″ 1080p panel with “only” a 90Hz refresh rate, versus the OnePlus 10T’s 6.7-inch OLED screen with a dynamic 120Hz refresh rate, but our benchmarks display indicators reveal some weaknesses such as a cold white balance, or too high a value of Delta E in the gray scale, which means colors that differ from the reference point.
The Pixel 6, on the other hand, has one of the lowest deltas we’ve measured, near-perfect white balance, and brightness on par with the OnePlus 10T, as if to counterbalance the OnePlus phone’s higher refresh rate.
Productivity and software
The OnePlus 10T is powered by the flagship Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor paired with an incredible 16GB of RAM. If you pre-order the OnePlus 10T in the US, you also get a free upgrade to the 16GB/256GB version. On the software side of things, we have Android 12, with OnePlus’ own OxygenOS 12.1 overlay running on top.
The Pixel 6 runs on Google’s own Tensor processor, paired with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of primary storage. While both phones do well with their lightweight Android interfaces, the OnePlus 10T runs the most powerful Android chipset at the moment, so Google’s Tensor has a hard time catching up, especially when it comes to gaming or 5G connectivity, where Qualcomm has no equal in terms of supported bands and filters.
But let’s take a look at the raw specs from our performance benchmarks and let them speak for themselves, especially in the 3D graphics rendering section, which is important if you play a lot of games on your phone, here the 10T easily beats the Pixel 6:
Camera
The OnePlus 10T has a large but aesthetically pleasing camera island on the back that houses three sensor and lens combinations, only one of which makes sense, a 50MP main camera with a Sony sensor. An 8-megapixel ultra-wide and 2-megapixel macro camera are compromises and seem to be there for a reason.
Can Google compete with the Pixel 6’s 50MP main camera sensor and 12MP ultrawide camera against the newer OnePlus 10T? Maybe and then some, as you can see from the examples below.
The crowd-pleasing OnePlus camera algorithms produce overly warm, yellowish images with an unnatural contrast boost. Photos lose some detail in the process, while the Pixel 6 not only manages to capture very realistic, true-to-life colors both indoors and outdoors, it also captures more detail and images have less blur without over-sharpening, and the same goes for 4K sample videos from both phones below.
Sound quality
Both the OnePlus 10T and Pixel 6 list “dual stereo speakers” among their credentials, but this is one speaker boosted by using the earpiece as the other to keep the stereo sound out of balance. The sound from both phones won’t rock you, especially in the lows and mids, but both are loud enough to annoy people on your morning commute.
It’s also worth noting that the phones don’t have a headphone jack, so you’ll have to pick your poison from USB-C headphones or wireless if you don’t want to use the ‘stereo speakers’.
Battery life and charging
The OnePlus 10T’s added value is its 150W charging system, which pumps up its 4,800 mAh dual-cell battery full of electrons in less than 20 minutes. We measured 23 minutes to be exact, but that was from a fully drained state, not the 1% OnePlus measures from.
To top it all off, OnePlus also notes that it has taken measures to ensure that this super-fast (“SUPERVOOC”) charging is safe by installing 13 temperature sensors into the phone’s battery system and introducing self-healing materials to batteries that make it good for 1,600 charge cycles, twice the current average.
There’s no wireless charging like the Pixel 6, but the ultrafast cable and the inclusion of its 150W brick in the box more than make up for it. In short, both battery life and charge cycles go to the OnePlus 10T here.
Specifications comparison
SpecificationsOnePlus 10TGoogle Pixel 6Dimensions163 mm x 75.37 mm x 8.75 mm6.24 x 2.94 x 0.35 inches (158.6 x 74.8 x 8.9 mm) Weight203.5 grams7.30 ounces (207, 0 d) Screen6.7 inches, AMOLED2412 x 1080 resolution at 394 pixels in) 120 Hz refresh rate HDR10+6.4 inches, AMOLED 2400 x 1080 resolution, (390 pixels per inch) 90 Hz refresh rate HDR10+ Processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 Google Tensor 1RAM8 GB / 12 GB / 16 GB8 GB Rear cameras50 MP main (with OIS)8 MP ultrawide 2 MP macro 50 MP main (with OIS) 12 MP ultra wide Front camera 16 MP8 MP front Size of battery 4800 mAh4614 mAh Charging speeds 150 W (wired) No wireless charging (150 W charger included in the box) 30 W (wired) 15 W (wireless) )(No charger included in the box) Price $649 for the variant with 8 GB RAM / 128 GB storage $749 for the 16 GB RAM / 256 GB storage variant $599 for the 8 GB RAM / 128 GB storage variant
Conclusion: OnePlus 10T or Pixel 6, which should I buy?
While the specifications of the OnePlus 10T and Google Pixel 6 are quite similar, as you’d expect given their respective price points, the newer phone is definitely the faster one with its Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 and 20-minute charging speed. When it comes to photography, the Pixel 6 has the upper hand, even though both have 50MP primary cameras.
In other words, if gaming performance, record-breaking charging speeds, and a larger display with a smoother refresh rate are more important to you than better dynamic range or nighttime colors in your photos and wireless charging, go for it The OnePlus 10T, which can now be ordered with a free storage upgrade to boot.
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