OnePlus recently launched its 2018 flagship killer, the OnePlus 6, and it’s a beast of a smartphone. OnePlus smartphones have always been popular as they bring flagship level specs at almost half the price of the other flagship devices. That said, although OnePlus will have you believe that you are not compromising on anything, there are some things which OnePlus has to cutdown on, to keep the price down of the OnePlus 6. For example, there’s no Quad HD screen, no stereo speakers, and even though it’s “daily water resistant”, there’s no no IP rating for water and dust protection. Plus, the OnePlus 6 is the priciest OnePlus flagship ever. The thing that people don’t realize is that there are a number of OnePlus 6 alternatives out there which bring all these features at almost the same or a little higher price. So, before you buy the OnePlus 6, here are the 8 best OnePlus 6 alternatives that you can buy today:
Best OnePlus 6 Alternatives That You Can Buy
1. Poco F1
It seems that OnePlus’s flagship killer status is no longer true as there is a smartphone which brings almost the same spec-sheet it at almost half its price. If you are looking for a OnePlus 6 alternative, Poco F1 is the phone that you should consider first. The Poco F1 is being powered by a Snapdragon 845 processor and Adreno 630 GPU. That basically makes this phone a beast. When it comes to raw power, the Poco F1 can go head to head with the OnePlus 6 and it won’t have to break a sweat. Coming to the front of the smartphone, there’s a 6.18 inch IPS LCD screen which has a resolution of 1080 x 2246 pixels.
The display might not be AMOLED but its quite beautiful and gets plenty bright. Even the cameras on this smartphone are pretty great. The dual camera set up at the back packs a 12-megapixel Sony sensor and a 5-megapixel Samsung sensor. Together they capture great bright-light photos. There are ample details and almost no noise. I was also pleasantly surprised by its portrait mode prowess as it took some amazing bokeh photos. The front of the Poco F1 features a 20-megapixel sensor which, too, picks up good details and decent exposure while taking selfies. Overall, for what it costs, the Poco F1 brings a ton of value is certainly one of the best and certainly the cheapest alternative to OnePlus 6 in the market.
Buy From Flipkart: ₹20,999
2. LG G7+ ThinQ
If the OnePlus 6 is considered as a flagship killer, the LG G7+ ThingQ is the flagship device it is supposed to kill. The LG G7+ ThingQ not only brings the top of the line Snapdragon 845 processor and pairs it with the Adreno 630 GPU but it also brings 6 GB of RAM and whopping 128 GB of storage at the base model. It is also is packing a beautiful 6.1-inch Quad HD+ display which is being protected by Gorilla Glass 5. Moreover, the smartphone is IP68 dust and water resistance. While OnePlus 6 might match the G7+ ThinQ in specs, it neither has an IP rating nor it packs a QHD+ display. As you can see, the LG G7+ ThingQ is already seeming to bring a ton more value than the OnePlus 6, and we have not even talked about its audio and camera performance yet.
The LG flagship smartphones are always one of the best camera phones in the market and the LG G7+ ThinQ is no different. The smartphone is packing 16 MP + 16 MP dual camera at the back which can take some amazing photos. I love that LG is sticking to its guns and still keeping the secondary lens as a wide angle lens and not a telephoto lens as the wide angle lens is much more useful in my opinion. I also love the 8 MP front-facing camera on this device as it can take some amazing selfies. When it comes to audio, there is no phone out there which can deliver as great a sound through headphones as LG’s flagship devices. Its quad-DAC is superior to the one on OnePlus 6 and if you want to enjoy music at its highest quality, you should definitely buy this phone. As I said, the LG G7+ ThingQ is a flagship device and it’s a worthy OnePlus 6 alternative.
Buy From Flipkart: ₹39,990
3. Honor 10
Probably the best OnePlus 6 alternative that you can buy today is the Honor 10 as it cannot only match the OnePlus 6 punch for punch but even beat it in some categories. When it comes to raw specs, the Honor 10 brings the Huawei Kirin 970 Processor which is at par with the Snapdragon 845 used in the OnePlus 6. I have always loved the Huawei’s in-house Kirin processors as not only they are fast but they are also very energy efficient, and the Kirin 970 is currently the best Kirin processor that Huawei makes.
Where Honor 10 pulls ahead of OnePlus 6 is in the cameras department as it brings a 16MP+24MP dual-camera sensor at back against the 16MP+20MP camera on the OnePlus 6. However, it’s not just about the megapixel counts here. Huawei phones have always given top-notch camera performance while the OnePlus phones have a sketchy history as far as cameras are concerned. I also love the fact that the Honor 10 brings 128GB of base storage which is double the storage that OnePlus provides with the base model of OnePlus 6.
Specs aside, the Honor 10 comes with an under glass ultrasonic fingerprint scanner, which is not in the display, instead it’s on the bezel, so it’s not be as impressive as the in-display fingerprint sensor on the Vivo X21 but it does bring some advantages such as the ability to unlock your phone even when your hands are wet. While OnePlus has decided to take the safest route with OnePlus 6 when it comes to its design and features, Honor decided to try out new stuff which certainly seems to be paying off. If you like to have the latest and greatest technology, you should get the Honor 10, especially considering the fact that it also costs 2K less than the OnePlus 6.
Buy From Flipkart: ₹32,999
4. Huawei Nova 3
Huawei recently unveiled its latest flagship-killer device. Dubbed as the Huawei Nova 3, the smartphone has a lot of things going for it. For starters, The Huawei Nova 3 is packing Huawei’s top of the line Hisilicon Kirin 970 processor which is being paired with Mali-G72 MP12 GPU. The Kirin 970 is comparable to the Snapdragon 845 in the OnePlus 6 which means that you will be getting amazing performance with this one. There’s also 6GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal storage which is more than enough. The Huawei Nova 3 is also packing a beautiful display. Its 6.3-inch IPS LCD panel has a resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels looks absolutely beautiful. Like all the others 2018 flagships, the display is almost bezel-less with a small notch at the top.
All that is good but if you ask me the unique selling point of this phone are its cameras. The phone not only packs dual-cameras at the back but also at the front. The primary camera uses a 16 MP (f/1.8) regular sensor along with a 24 MP (f/1.8) monochrome sensor while the secondary camera uses a 24 MP + 2 MP dual camera, which should take some amazing for selfies. The Huawei Nova 3 is packing a lot of things and at its launch price, it is competing directly with the OnePlus 6. With the little time that I had to play with this smartphone, I can surely say that the Nova 3 will give OnePlus 6 a tougher competition than anyone could have thought.
Buy from Amazon: ₹34,999
5. ZenFone 5Z
When Asus announced ZenFone 5Z in India, it was a quite a surprise for me. I mean, it was the first time a company was able to undercut OnePlus 6’s price while bringing almost the same spec-sheet. If you have never heard of the phone before, you should know that the phone not only brings Snapdragon 845 processor and Adreno 630 GPU, but it also brings 6GB of RAM along with 64 GB of internal storage. And that’s just the base model. If you want, you can get a the ZenFone 5Z with 8 GB of RAM and up to 256 GB of internal storage. As you can see, the phone goes head to head with the OnePlus 6 in the raw specs department. Probably the only advantages OnePlus 6 has over the ZenFone 5Z is in the camera and display department.
While the OnePlus 6 brings an AMOLED panel, the ZenFone 5Z is bringing a 6.2-inch IPS LCD panel with a resolution of 1080 x 2246 pixels. That does not mean that the display on the ZenFone 5Z is bad. In fact, it’s quite good and if you don’t prefer AMOLED like I do, you are going to be quite happy with it. On the camera front, the ZenFone 5Z packs a dual 12MP (f/1.8) + 8 MP (f/2.0) camera at the back along with a 8 MP (f/2.0) sensor at the front. Specs aside, the cameras here are just not as good as the ones on the OnePlus 6. However, if you are okay with these two compromises, you will be getting a hell of a phone at quite an affordable price.
Buy From Flipkart: ₹29,999
6. Honor View 10
If you are looking for an even cheaper alternative, you can check out the Honor View 10 which is yet another smartphone that brings Huawei Kirin 970 processor which is one of the best mobile processors that you can today. Also, just like the Honor 10, the Honor View 10 also brings 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage at the base model which is just awesome. You do sacrifice the notched display but depending on your preferences, it might even be a good thing.
Other features of this smartphone include a 20+16MP dual-camera sensor at the back which is similar to the one on the OnePlus 6. I also love the fact that the View 10 brings a massive 3750 mAH battery which is bigger than both the OnePlus 6 and the Honor 10. Since the Honor View 10 packs the same Kirin 970 processor but a bigger battery, you can be sure that you will be getting better battery life on this one. It’s one of the best and cheapest OnePlus 6 alternatives that you can buy today,
Buy From Amazon: $499 / ₹29,999
7. LG V30+
LG V30+ is another great alternative to the OnePlus 6. Although the smartphone packs the last generation processors and costs a bit more, it does bring other features which are not found on the OnePlus 6. The first major difference is the presence of 6-inch QHD+ display with a resolution of 1440 x 2880 pixel instead of the full HD display on the OnePlus 6. So, if you like your text to look crisp and your videos and photos to pop, LG V30+ will be better for you.
Another stand-out feature of the LG V30+ is the IP68 water and dust resistance which is a feature I cannot leave without. The IP68 rating has allowed me to easily clean my smartphone and use it in situations I could not even think of before. Lastly, there’s the LG special 32-Bit Hi-Fi Quad DAC which makes everything sound phenomenal. The combination of the 32-Bit Hi-Fi Quad DAC and the 6-inch QHD+ display makes the LG V30+ one of the best if not the best hand-held media consumption device in the market. So, if that’s something that matters to you, LG V30+ is just for you.
Buy From Amazon: ₹44,990 / $569
8. Google Pixel 2
Google Pixel 2 is probably my favorite Android smartphone to date and I love it to death. If you want the reasoning behind this statement, go check out my full review. The TLDR version of the review is that the Google Pixel 2 brings the most fluid Android experience with the best cameras on any smartphone released till date, period. Google has just nailed the cameras on the Pixel 2. You literally have to just point and shoot, and the camera will automatically take amazing pictures. I also love the fact that I am always first in line for the new Android updates with the Pixel 2. OnePlus had a lot of problems with its Android 8.0 Oreo update, and since I have started using Pixel I just don’t want to deal with all those stuff.
What matters more to me than the new Android update that happens every year is the monthly security updates that keep the Android secure. With Pixel 2, I receive them every month without fail and that keeps my smartphone protected against every discovered threat out there. That said, I won’t recommend that you buy the Google Pixel 2 at its full price right now. Every other week the Pixel 2 goes under heavy discounts which bring it price very close to the OnePlus 6. I would suggest that you wait for the sale and buy this phone then.
Buy From Amazon: ₹49,600 / $599
SEE ALSO: Nokia 7 Plus Review: A Great Mid-Range Smartphone Let Down by Its Camera
OnePlus 6 Alternatives That Are Worth Your Money
OnePlus 6 is a great smartphone, however, it’s not the only smartphone out there. Before you make any smartphone buying choice, you should take a look at all your choices and then buy a smartphone which perfectly fits your needs. Rise above the hype and get the best OnePlus 6 alternatives you can. Do let us know which one is your favorite by writing in the comments section below.
