2019’s ‘flagship killer’ is finally here and it brought a friend, as OnePlus has announced both the OnePlus 7 and the OnePlus 7 Pro.
While the OnePlus 7 Pro is a true top-end handset with a price to match, the standard OnePlus 7 is more in line with the company’s previous phones and a more obvious successor to the OnePlus 6T.
With that in mind we’ve compared the OnePlus 7 with the OnePlus 6T. Obviously the OnePlus 7 is an upgrade in a number of ways, but a lot of things also stay the same. So read on below for an overview of what’s different, what’s not, and how much of an improvement the OnePlus 7 actually looks to be.
- Our OnePlus 7 Pro review is live - and it's worth checking out
- We've had a first look at the OnePlus Bullets Wireless 2
- The OnePlus 7 'basic' is less interesting... but it is cheaper
- There's a OnePlus 7 Pro 5G variant coming this summer too
OnePlus 7 vs OnePlus 6T design and display
The OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 6T both have a 6.41-inch 1080 x 2340 screen with a pixel density of around 402 pixels per inch. Both phones also have an in-screen fingerprint scanner, though the OnePlus 7’s scanner is slightly bigger, so easier to hit.
They also have a similar design – unlike the OnePlus 7 Pro there’s no pop-up selfie camera here, so you get a small teardrop notch at the top of the screen on both the OnePlus 7 and the OnePlus 6T, with a slim strip of bezel below the screen as well.
The back meanwhile is a sheet of glass with just a dual-lens camera breaking it up, and while the OnePlus 6T is available in Thunder Purple, Mirror Black and Midnight Black, the OnePlus 7 is landing just in Mirror Grey.
OnePlus 7 vs OnePlus 6T camera and battery
Here’s where things start to really get different, as while both handsets have dual-lens rear cameras, on the OnePlus 7 you get a combination of a 48MP f/1.7 main lens and a 6MP telephoto lens, while the OnePlus 6T has a 16MP f/1.7 lens paired with a 20MP f/1.7 lens.
The OnePlus 7 also has some improved camera processing software, offering the likes of HDR+ and super resolution (which can improve image details). Both phones have a 16MP front-facing camera though.
We were fairly impressed with the OnePlus 6T’s camera, but on paper it sounds like the OnePlus 7 should have its predecessor beat for photos. We’ll let you know exactly how good it is when we’ve put it through a full review.
There’s no difference in the battery specs though, as both phones have a 3,700mAh battery. In practice we found the OnePlus 6T comfortably offered a day of life for the average user, making it slightly above average.
Given that the screen specs on the OnePlus 7 are much the same we’d expect similar life from it, but we’ll put this to the test when we review the phone.
OnePlus 7 vs OnePlus 6T power
Being newer, it’s no surprise that the OnePlus 7 has more power than the OnePlus 6T. Specifically, it has a Snapdragon 855 chipset, while the OnePlus 6T uses a Snapdragon 845.
The latter was top-end when the OnePlus 6T launched, but it has since been superseded by the Snapdragon 855, which can also be found in the likes of the Sony Xperia 1 and the US version of the Samsung Galaxy S10.
The OnePlus 7 also benefits from UFS 3.0. This is a type of storage and it’s far faster than the UFS 2.1 storage used by the OnePlus 6T, so should further improve performance. As with everything else though we’ll let you know how it pans out in practice once we’ve put the OnePlus 7 through a full review.
What the OnePlus 7 doesn't get is a RAM boost, as both it and the OnePlus 6T come with either 6GB or 8GB of the stuff.
OnePlus 6T vs OnePlus 7 price
The OnePlus 7 is going on sale in June in the UK, where it will cost £499 (roughly $645/AU$930) for 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, or £549 (around $710/AU$1,025) for 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.
That's similar to the OnePlus 6T, which started at $549 / £499 (roughly AU$930) for 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, rising to $629 / £579 (around AU$1,080) for a model with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage - which is actually slightly more than the OnePlus 7.
Of course, getting hold of the OnePlus 6T might now be tricky and if you do find it you'll probably be able to get it for less than the original RRP.
Takeaway
There’s no question that at least on paper the OnePlus 7 is the better phone. It would have been very surprising if that wasn’t the case. But it looks to only be a better phone in certain ways.
The chipset, storage and camera all look to have had an upgrade, but the design, screen and battery seem much the same as they were on 2018’s handset.
It certainly feels like a conservative upgrade and probably won’t be enough of a change for OnePlus 6T owners to justify upgrading – but then if you’re in that boat there’s always the OnePlus 7 Pro, which is the company’s true flagship for 2019.
