Two of the most-trending smartphone brands in the month of October, OnePlus and Apple, have launched their devices in the Indian market and customers can’t wait to get their hands on them.
Where the recently launched OnePlus 8T promises an array of flagship features, the Apple iPhone 12 Mini, which is also the most economical iPhone this year, gives customers the option of a compact yet powerful iPhone they can buy under Rs 70,000.
Since the devices aren’t out yet, let’s just dive into what these two offer in terms of specifications and overall ergonomics.
Design & Display
Talk about polarising options. At one end you have the large 6.55-inch Fluid AMOLED display on the OP 8T and on the other, you have a compact 5.4-inch OLED display on the iPhone 12 Mini.
Both are FHD+ displays, however, on paper, the iPhone outputs more pixels thanks to the smaller display size. Also, the OnePlus display is HDR 10+ compliant while the iPhone display is HDR 10.
The iPhone 12 Mini comes with a scratch-resistant oleophobic coating for protection against smudges and also adds Dolby Vision for better picture quality.
The OP 8T comes with Gorilla Glass 5 protection and a 120Hz refresh rate which is the biggest selling point of this display.
In terms of the design, it doesn’t get better than an iPhone. The glass plus metal combo yells premium and the fact that it weighs just 131 grams is ideal for people who like compact devices.
Though the OP 8T is also sandwiched between metal and glass I feel in the hand the iPhone will feel more premium.
Hardware & Storage
The iPhone 12 Mini is running the same A14 Bionic chipset as the rest of the iPhone lineup which tells that you won’t have to compromise on performance. Though the company has not released the official RAM on the Mini, reports suggest it packs 4GB of RAM. Apple says it’s the world’s first smartphone lineup to come with a 5nm chipset.
The OP 8T is powered by a Snapdragon 865 processor coupled with RAM up to 12GB. Rest assured there isn’t a game or an app that this phone will have trouble running. It comes with up to 256GB of onboard storage which is not expandable.
The OP 8T runs on Android 11 on top of OnePlus’s OxygenOS 11 which as before has been kept to a minimum in terms of bloat. Apple users have welcomed the new iOS 14 features and you get to sample it on the iPhone 12 Mini.
One thing that might pinch some users is that the iPhone comes with Face ID unlock and not a conventional fingerprint scanner. With face masks being a part of our daily lives, the advantage of a quick unlock feature is no more there.
This is where the OP 8T wins with its in-display fingerprint scanner which is also fast.
Camera
The camera has never been one of the strong suits for OnePlus in the past although that has changed with the OnePlus 8 series. The 8T comes with a 48-megapixel f/1.75 wide-angle primary sensor, a 16-megapixel ultra-wide, a 5-megapixel macro, and a 2-megapixel monochrome sensor. No stones left unturned when it comes to offering the users a versatile camera system.
On the front, you get a 16-megapixel snapper that offers a wide mode and EIS (electronic image stabilisation).
The Apple iPhone 12 Mini comes with a dual 12+12-megapixel setup at the back with a wide and ultra-wide combo. The fact that the ultra-wide sensor has an f/1.6 aperture means that you’ll be able to shoot brilliant low light images with this one.
It’s tough beating an iPhone camera. They have commanded a higher rank in the DXO Mark rating for a long time and I am sure the iPhone 12 Mini camera is no exception.
Since we haven’t been able to test the cameras on both, we reserve our verdict for later.
Battery
The OnePlus 8T comes with a 4,500mAh battery backed by 65W fast charging that the company claims can charge the phone to 100 percent in 40 minutes. That’s impressive. What could be a dealbreaker for people is that it doesn’t come with wireless charging.
The iPhone 12 Mini on the other hand packs a smaller battery pack but offers support for 15W wireless fast charging and 20W fast charging that can get the device charged up to 50 percent in 20 minutes.
Which One Should You Buy?
It should be easy making that call. People who want a powerful phone with a good camera setup in a compact form factor can buy the iPhone 12 Mini.
If you are in the Apple ecosystem and use other Apple products then the Mini will be the perfect addition to your setup. Apple has priced the starting variant of the iPhone 12 Mini at Rs 69,900 which is its most economical option. With the hardware that it’s packing, I doubt you’ll get it for any lesser.
People who cannot compromise on the big-screen smartphone experience and want it complimented with flagship-level performance should go for the OnePlus 8T. Where the 8GB RAM variant comes in at Rs 42,999, the 12GB RAM variant has been priced at Rs 45,999 which is still considerably cheaper than the iPhone.
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