OnePlus 8T vs iPhone 12 - Which should you buy - Android

Last week, we saw two major smartphones announced in the mid-price range. The first is the OnePlus 8T, the newest “T” refresh of the OnePlus 8 lineup. The second is the iPhone 12, the latest in Apple’s long-running iOS smartphone series. So, we decided to pit the OnePlus 8T vs iPhone 12.

Read more: iPhone 12 series comparison

Which one comes out on top? That’s just what we are going to discover together as we place the OnePlus 8T vs iPhone 12. Keep reading to check out our pick of these two phones.

OnePlus 8T vs iPhone 12

Specs

Design

The iPhone 12 uses an aluminum chassis, and it has a 6.1-inch OLED 2,532 x 1,170 resolution display. It still sports a huge notch that houses its front-facing camera and face recognition software. The display is protected by a new material called Ceramic Shield, which adds nano-ceramic crystals inside the glass. This is supposed to offer better protection against drops compared to previous iPhone models.

The OnePlus 8T includes a 6.55-inch Fluid AMOLED display, with a 2,400 x 1,080 resolution. It throws in a 120Hz refresh rate for a smoother performance while playing games. It has a punch hole on the top left corner for its front-facing camera. You can also access an in-display fingerprint sensor. It includes a frosted glass back, and metal on the sides.

The iPhone 12 comes in Black, White, Product Red, Green, and Blue colors. There are just two color choices for the OnePlus 8T: Lunar Silver and Aquamarine Green. The iPhone 12 has an IP68 rating for water and dust resistance. There’s no such rating for the regular unlocked OnePlus 8T. However, the version that’s being sold by T-Mobile, under the OnePlus 8T Plus name, does have an IP68 rating.

Hardware

Inside, the OnePlus 8T has the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 processor included in the earlier OnePlus 8 phone. The company is releasing two models; one with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, and another with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. The iPhone 12, on the other hand, includes the new A14 Bionic processor with a six-core CPU and a four-core GPU. We will have to wait for our full review to see if Apple’s new processor beats the Snapdragon 865 chip. We don’t know what the RAM amount is inside the iPhone 12, but it does have 64, 128, 256GB storage options. Neither phone offers expandable storage, and neither has a headphone jack.

The regular unlocked OnePlus 8T supports sub-6GHz 5G networks. The T-Mobile exclusive OnePlus 8T Plus adds support for the carrier’s normal 600MHz 5G network and its more recent nationwide 2.5GHz network. The iPhone 12 also supports sub-6GHz 5G, but the US versions are the only ones to throw in support for millimeter-wave (mmWave) 5G networks.

Read More: The differences between the OnePlus 8T and the T-Mobile OnePlus 8T Plus

The OnePlus 8T has a big 4,500mAh battery. In the box, it throws in a Warp Charge 65 USB-C charger. It will charge up this big battery to 100% in just 39 minutes. We don’t know the size of the battery inside the iPhone 12 yet. However, we do know that it supports a new accessory format called MagSafe. It’s used for a new class of accessories that uses magnets that attach to the rear of the iPhone 12 models. That means accessories like cases, wireless chargers, and more all connect magnetically to the back of the iPhone 12 series.

The new Apple wireless chargers can boost wireless charging by up to 15W. The phones still support the more widely used Qi wireless charging standard. However, they only charge the Phone 12 models up to 7.5W. The OnePlus 8T, sadly, does not support wireless charging at all.

Camera

The OnePlus 8T has four rear cameras sensors. They include a 48MP main sensor and a 16MP ultra-wide camera. The phone also throws in a 5MP macro camera and a 2MP monochrome sensor. In our review of the OnePlus 8T, we stated that the images that come from this quad-camera setup were somewhat disappointing, including mixed results with night mode shots. The phone also has a 16MP front-facing camera.

The iPhone 12 includes just two rear cameras: a 12MP wide sensor, and a 12MP ultra-wide camera. It also has a 12MP front-facing camera. We haven’t yet tested the iPhone 12’s cameras at the moment of writing. However, Apple claims that it offers support for HDR and Dolby Vision HDR video recording at up to 30fps. The phone will even allow users to edit their Dolby Vision HDR video clips on the phone.

Software