The race to the top has just picking up heat and rival smartphone manufacturers are launching their flagship smartphones with meaner hardware and feature-rich specifications. However, the only place they fail to create a difference is the price and that’s where startups come into play with cheaper prices, but equally powerful hardware.
OnePlus shook the smartphone industry with the low-priced, high-end smartphone, the OnePlus One. Known as the Flagship Killer, the OnePlus One has the hardware that outperformed many other flagship smartphones of the year. This time too, the Chinese tech giant released a second flagship, the OnePlus 2, from their stable, aiming it to the rivals with equally powerful hardware and yet keeping the price well within the reach of the common man.
The OnePlus 2 is well within range of its competitor, Galaxy S6, the 2015 flagships from Samsung. Though the two use completely different hardware under the hood, they perform equally well. However, the price difference between the two is almost around 50 – 60 per cent, making the user think whether he should opt for the Samsung or the OnePlus handset.
Pitting the two against each other, based on pure paper specifications, would be cruel, and Samsung will probably emerge a sure-shot winner. However, the mouth-watering price of the OnePlus 2 makes it tempting. So before we put forth the differences between the two handsets to you, check out what are the major differences.
Display: The OnePlus 2 has a tad larger display with 5.5-inches, but sports the same full HD resolution (1080x1920 pixels) as the previous handset. But Samsung seems to do a fabulous job by equipping the Galaxy S6 with a 2K (1440 x 2560 pixels) display within 5.1-inches. While the OnePlus still sports an LCD display, the Samsung sticks to its Super AMOLED panels, making it one of the richest display around.
Chipset: Despite recent rumours (or facts) about Snapdragon’s 810 chipset heating issues, OnePlus decided to continue with its v2.1 version. Samsung was reported dropping the SD810 chipset citing heating issues and later equipping its flagships with its own Exynos chips. While the OnePlus is built using the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 v2.1 chipset guzzling with eight 1.8GHz processors, the Galaxy S6 equals it out with its 7420 octa-core chip. The Galaxy S6 performs better than the SD810 counterpart (compared to the HTC One M9), but the reason could the processor throttling on the latter due to overheating. However, this is not an area of concern as the synthetic tests only drives the processors to its peak performance to get its values and in real world scenarios, we would not do it anyways.
Camera: On the camera front, Samsung Galaxy S6 is considered to have one of the best cameras (16MP) on a smartphone, in its class. Though the OnePlus sports the same 13MP camera as that of its last year’s flagship handset, it is known to have a physically larger sensor along with an optical image stabilizing unit for superior low-light performance. As for the photos revealed by OnePlus themselves, they claim their 13MP camera performs better than the S6.
RAM and storage: The Galaxy S6 contains 3GB of RAM, but the OnePlus boasts of a 4GB RAM, which will definitely prove to be future proof for now. However, both the handsets are limited with internal storage. While the S6 features three variants (32GB, 64GB and 128GB), the OnePlus has only two models—a 16GB and a 64GB. The OnePlus 16GB variant sports only 3GB of RAM and if you want 4GB, you need to go in for the 64GB choice. Both the flagships don’t sport an external SD card slot, which means you are restricted to the internal memory, but can extend it using the USB OTG option.
Looks and build: Both feature a great build quality, but the Samsung Galaxy S6 beats the OnePlus 2 with premium looks and dimensions. The S6 weighs just 138g with a 6.8mm body as compared to the OnePlus 2 which weighs 175g with a 9.9mm thick body. While both are not waterproof, the S6 has an advantage with a Gorilla Glass 4 rear panel and a unibody design as opposed to the OnePlus’ replaceable rear panels.
Similarities: Both the flagships feature a physical home button incorporated with a fingerprint sensor and two capacitive buttons on either side. Both are 4G ready with nano SIM compatibility (S6 is single SIM, 2 is dual SIM). Both feature a Corning Gorilla Glass 4 protection for the display. Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac is common on both.
What’s missing: OnePlus has possibly managed to keep the price of the 2 low by eliminating certain features that they may consider as unnecessary for the common user. As compared to the Galaxy S6, the OnePlus 2 lacks NFC, wireless charging and a heart rate sensor. However, OnePlus probably makes up with a Type-C USB connector, a better battery (2550mAh vs 3300mAh), laser focus and dual LED flash for the camera and finally, a user replaceable rear panel. While the heart rate sensor could be considered as a gimmick, an NFC and wireless charging could definitely be useful.
Price: The sweetest deal for a powerful smartphone yet is definitely with OnePlus. Retailing at Rs 24,999 (for the 64GB, 4GB RAM), the OnePlus 2 is definitely a good choice over the 64GB Galaxy S6 at around Rs 48,000. Well, Samsung does demand a premium cost as the brand name is the biggest influence for now, but OnePlus still takes the crown considering the performance experience from an earlier version experience.
Verdict: Though the two flagships have their own advantages and disadvantages, we feel that the price will be the only differentiating factor between the two. For the elite, a Samsung Galaxy S6 would be the preferred handset, simply for the style factor. But for the enthusiast, the OnePlus 2 would be of most importance.
What do you think? Would you opt for or recommend the OnePlus 2 over a Samsung Galaxy S6? Give us your reason.
