If you don’t need a top-of-the-line premier smartphone that costs upwards of $1,000, a range of somewhat more affordable options with the features most people need is available at a more reasonable price. Current examples include last year’s OnePlus 7T and the iPhone 11. But even mid-level devices pack an economic punch, and neither of these can be classified as budget phones — not with base prices starting at $599 and $699 respectively. Let’s see how they shake out in a feature-by-feature challenge.
Specs
OnePlus 7T | iPhone 11 | |
Size | 160.9 x 74.4 x 8.1 mm (6.33 x 2.93 x 0.32 inches) | 150.9 × 75.7 × 8.3 mm (5.94 × 2.98 × 0.33 inches) |
Weight | 190 grams (6.70 ounces) | 194 grams (6.84 ounces) |
Screen size | 6.55-inch Fluid AMOLED | 6.1-inch Liquid Retina HD IPS LCD |
Screen resolution | 2400 × 1080 pixels (402 pixels per inch) | 1792 × 828 pixels (326 pixels per inch) |
Operating system | Android 11 (with Oxygen OS) | iOS 14 |
Storage space | 128GB, 256GB | 64GB, 128GB, 256GB |
MicroSD card slot | No | No |
Tap-to-pay services | Google Pay | Apple Pay |
Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus | Apple A13 Bionic |
RAM | 8GB | 4GB |
Camera | Triple lens 48-megapixel, 12MP telephoto, and 16MP ultra wide-angle rear, 16MP front | Dual 12-megapixel and 12MP ultra wide-angle (with OIS) rear, 12MP TrueDepth front |
Video | 2160p at 60 frames per second, 1080p at 240 fps, 720p at 960 fps | Up to 4K at 60 frames per second, 1080p at 240 fps |
Bluetooth version | Bluetooth 5.0 | Bluetooth 5.0 |
Ports | USB-C | Lightning |
Fingerprint sensor | Yes, in-display | No |
Water resistance | No | IP68 |
Battery | 3,800mAh
Warp Charge 30T |
Up to 17 hours of video playback
Fast charge capable (18W charger sold separately) Qi wireless charging |
App marketplace | Google Play Store | Apple App Store |
Network support | T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon, Sprint | T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon, Sprint |
Colors | Frosted Silver, Glacier Blue | Black, Green, Yellow, Purple, Red, White |
Price | $599 | $699 |
Buy from | OnePlus | Best Buy |
Review score | 4 out of 5 stars | 4 out of 5 stars |
Performance, battery life, and charging
The OnePlus 7T has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 Plus processor inside backed by an ample 8GB of RAM. This is the same chip inside gaming phones like the Asus ROG Phone 2. The upgraded processor features a fourth-generation A.I. Engine, which can handle more than 7 trillion operations per second. Performance is swift and smooth for routine tasks as well as hardcore mobile gaming. But it can’t match the benchmark numbers of the iPhone 11 — not even close. Apple’s iPhone 11 boasts the A13 Bionic, a hexa-core, 64-bit processor with a custom quad-core GPU and an octa-core Neural Engine which can perform some 10 trillion tasks per second. Apple’s A13 Bionic offers some serious processing muscle and 4GB of RAM is enough because iOS handles memory management differently than Android. Apps are quick to launch and scrolling through Twitter, Instagram, and games on Apple Arcade is silky smooth.
The
The nod goes to the iPhone for the inclusion of wireless charging and superior performance.
Winner: Apple iPhone 11
Design and durability
The
The iPhone design may seem a little stale to some people, with its thick bezel surrounding the 6.1-inch screen and the wide notch at the top. The preferred design these days is bevel-free end-to-end glass. Despite that, the iPhone 11 feels solid, is available in six colors, and the glossy glass back doesn’t feel slippery. It’s made of aluminum as opposed to stainless steel, so a case is a good idea. It also has an IP68 water resistance rating for up to 2 meters underwater for up to 30 minutes, as opposed to the 7T, which has no stated water or dust resistance.
Winner: Apple iPhone 11
Display
No contest: The
The iPhone 11 features a 6.1-inch LCD Liquid Retina display, supporting HDR and True Tone technology to optimize screen brightness and saturation based on ambient lighting. The iPhone 11 has a relatively low resolution of 1792 x 828 pixels with a pixel density of 326ppi.
Winner:
Camera
The
At first glance, the iPhone 11 camera setup seems less endowed. Its dual-camera setup comprises a 12MP wide-angle lens with optical image stabilization and a 12MP ultra-wide-angle lens with a 120-degree field of view and f/2.4 aperture. There’s no telephoto lens, but you can shoot portraits with blurry backgrounds and six portrait lighting effects, such as Natural, Studio, Contour, Stage, Stage Mono, and High-Key Mono. It also supports a Night Mode, Smart HDR, True Tone flash, and Panorama mode, and can record 4K videos at up to 60fps. It features a 2x optical zoom and 5x digital zoom. The 12MP selfie cam has an f/2.2 aperture and enables Slofies (i.e. slow-motion selfies). The front camera supports Portrait mode, 4K video recording, Animoji, and Memoji. The QuickTake feature lets you seamlessly shoot video without switching out of Photo mode.
An iPhone camera feature called semantic rendering captures several underexposed photos before you tap the shutter button, and then an overexposed shot after, where the camera algorithm crunches the photo for the best shot. Smart HDR processes different aspects of the photo like faces using separate frames to highlight and enhance different parts of the image. That’s why the iPhone 11 offers overall better imaging than the
Winner: Apple iPhone 11
Software and updates
The
The 7T packs 128GB or 256GB storage while the Apple smartphone offers the same storage options, plus a third lower choice of 64GB, which many observers feel is inadequate for today’s smartphone tech. Neither phone supports external storage.
OnePlus is one of the fastest Android device manufacturers when it comes to software updates, but it’s not as quick as Apple, which also tends to support devices for longer.
Winner: Apple iPhone 11
Special features
Both the iPhone and the
Winner: Tie
Price and availability
The
Overall winner: Apple iPhone 11
The 7T meets Apple’s relatively affordable iPhone 11 head-on and it is less expensive. The
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