OnePlus 9 Pro vs Google Pixel 6a

Source: Date:

OnePlus 9 Pro vs Google Pixel 6a

76 out of 100
OnePlus 9 Pro
VS
70 out of 100
Google Pixel 6a

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.7-inch OnePlus 9 Pro (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 888) that was released on March 23, 2021, against the Google Pixel 6a, which is powered by Google Tensor and came out 13 months after. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the OnePlus 9 Pro
  • The rear camera has a 3.3x optical zoom
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
  • Has a 0.6 inch larger screen size
  • Handles wireless charging up to 50W
  • Supports higher wattage charging (65W versus 18W)
  • Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
  • Slow-motion recording at 480FPS
  • Has 2 SIM card slots
  • Thinner bezels – 7.3% more screen real estate
  • 22% higher pixel density (525 vs 429 PPI)
Reasons to consider the Google Pixel 6a
  • 14% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (914K versus 805K)
  • The phone is 1-year and 1-month newer
  • Weighs 19 grams less

Review

Evaluation of OnePlus 9 Pro and Google Pixel 6a crucial features
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation

Value for money

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type AMOLED OLED
Size 6.7 inches 6.1 inches
Resolution 1440 x 3216 pixels 1080 x 2400 pixels
Aspect ratio 20:9 20:9
PPI 525 ppi 429 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes No
Max rated brightness 500 nits 500 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 1300 nits 1100 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10+
Screen protection Corning Gorilla Glass 5 Corning Gorilla Glass 3
Screen-to-body ratio 90.3% 83%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DC Dimming
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 97.8% 96.9%
PWM 192 Hz 240 Hz
Response time 41.5 ms 3 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
880 nits

Design and build

Height 163.2 mm (6.43 inches) 152.2 mm (5.99 inches)
Width 73.6 mm (2.9 inches) 71.8 mm (2.83 inches)
Thickness 8.7 mm (0.34 inches) 8.9 mm (0.35 inches)
Weight 197 g (6.95 oz) 178 g (6.28 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP67
Rear material Glass Plastic
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Black, Green White, Black, Green
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Tests of OnePlus 9 Pro and Google Pixel 6a in the benchmarks
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 Google Tensor
Max clock 2840 MHz 2800 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 3 + 4) 8 (2 + 2 + 4)
Architecture - 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Kryo 680 Silver (Cortex-A55)
- 3 cores at 2.42 GHz: Kryo 680 Gold (Cortex-A78)
- 1 core at 2.84 GHz: Kryo 680 Prime (Cortex-X1)
- 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Cortex A55
- 2 cores at 2.25 GHz: Cortex A76
- 2 cores at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-X1
L3 cache 4 MB 4 MB
Lithography process 5 nanometers 5 nanometers
Graphics Adreno 660 Mali-G78 MP20
GPU shading units 1024 1280
GPU clock 840 MHz 848 MHz
FLOPS ~1622 GFLOPS ~2170.9 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 10
914585
CPU 201729 -
GPU 243518 -
Memory 159120 -
UX 194264 913000
Total score 805198 914585
3DMark Wild Life Performance
Max surface temperature 45.6 °C 41.4 °C
Stability 58% 56%
Graphics test 34 FPS 37 FPS
Graphics score 5707 6194
PCMark 3.0
Web score 8580 6177
Video editing 6053 5806
Photo editing 28299 17969
Data manipulation 9712 9425
Writing score 15802 15432

Memory

RAM
RAM size 8, 12 GB 6 GB
Memory type LPDDR5 LPDDR5
Memory clock 2750 MHz 3200 MHz
Channels 4 4
Storage
Storage size 128, 256 GB 128 GB
Storage type UFS 3.1 UFS 3.1
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 11 (Can be upgraded to Android 13) Android 12 (Can be upgraded to Android 13)
ROM OxygenOS 13 Stock Android
OS size 16 GB 14.3 GB

Battery

Capacity 4500 mAh 4410 mAh
Max charge power 65 W 18 W
Battery type Li-Po Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (50 W) No
Reverse charging Yes, (wireless) No
Fast charging Yes (100% in 32 min) Yes (42% in 30 min)
Full charging time 0:32 hr 1:51 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 11:19 hr 10:54 hr
Watching video 12:04 hr 16:44 hr
Gaming 04:57 hr 06:05 hr
Standby 113 hr 91 hr
General battery life
32:11 hr

Camera

Specs and camera test of smartphones
Main camera
Matrix 48 megapixels 12.2 megapixels
Image resolution 8000 x 6000 4032 x 3024
Zoom Optical, 3.3x Digital
Flash Dual LED Dual LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording Up to 30FPS No
4K video recording Up to 120FPS Up to 60FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 480 FPS (720p) 240 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens 140° 114°
Lenses 4 (48 MP + 8 MP + 50 MP + 2 MP) 2 (12.2 MP + 12 MP)
Wide (main) lens - 48 MP
- Aperture: f/1.8
- Focal length: 23 mm
- Pixel size: 1.12 micron
- Sensor: 1/1.43", Sony IMX789 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- Laser autofocus
- Optical stabilization
- 12.2 MP
- Aperture: f/1.7
- Focal length: 27 mm
- Pixel size: 1.4 micron
- Sensor: 1/2.55", Sony IMX363 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel)
- Optical stabilization
Telephoto lens - 8 MP
- Aperture: f/2.4
- Focal length: 77 mm
- Pixel size: 1 micron
- Sensor: 1/4.4", Omnivision OV08A10 (PureCel)
- Phase autofocus
- Optical stabilization
-
Ultra-wide lens - 50 MP
- Aperture: f/1.8
- Focal length: 14 mm
- Pixel size: 1 micron
- Sensor: 1/1.56", Sony IMX766 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- Phase autofocus
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.2
- Focal length: 17 mm
- Pixel size: 1.12 micron
- Sensor: 1/2.9", Sony IMX386 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
Depth lens - 2 MP
- Aperture: f/2.4
-
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Samples Photo samples of OnePlus 9 Pro from DxOMark Photo samples of Google Pixel 6a from DxOMark
Selfie camera
Megapixels 16 megapixels 8 megapixels
Image resolution 4920 x 3264 3840 x 2160
Aperture f/2.0 f/2.0
Focal length - 24 mm
Pixel size 1 microns 1.12 microns
Sensor type Exmor-RS CMOS Exmor-RS CMOS
Sensor size 1/3.06" 1/2.8"
Video resolution 1080p (Full HD) at 30 FPS 1080p (Full HD) at 30 FPS

DxOMark camera tests

Photo quality
Video quality
Generic camera score

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) Wi-Fi 6E (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
- Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 5.2 5.2
Bluetooth features LE, A2DP LE, A2DP
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 3.1 3.1
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, SBAS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS
NFC * Yes Yes
Infrared port No No
Network
Number of SIM * 2 1
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby -
eSIM support * Yes Yes
Hybrid slot No No
LTE Cat * 20 20
5G support Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness
87.4 dB

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced March 2021 May 2022
Release date March 2021 June 2022
SAR (head) 0.99 W/kg -
SAR (body) 1.21 W/kg -
Sensors - Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
Bundled charger - Not included
* Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

After analyzing all the data, we think that the OnePlus 9 Pro is definitely a better buy.

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