OnePlus 8T vs Google Pixel 6a

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.55-inch OnePlus 8T (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 865) that was released on October 14, 2020, against the Google Pixel 6a, which is powered by Google Tensor and came out 20 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 8T
  • Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
  • Has a 0.45 inch larger screen size
  • Slow-motion recording at 480FPS
  • Has 2 SIM card slots
Reasons to consider the Google Pixel 6a
  • Waterproof body (IP67 classification)
  • Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
  • Newer Bluetooth version (v5.2)
  • Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5
  • 18% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (774K versus 655K)
  • Delivers 9% higher peak brightness (881 against 807 nits)
  • The phone is 1-year and 8-months newer
  • Ready for eSIM technology
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Review

Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Performance
CPU/GPU performance in apps and games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
NanoReview score
Final comparison evaluation

Value for money

You can enter your local price of these phones (in USD or any other currency) and click on the "Calculate" button to see which one has a better value for money.
Price

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests
Phone:
vs

Display

Type AMOLED OLED
Size 6.55 inches 6.1 inches
Resolution 1080 x 2400 pixels 1080 x 2400 pixels
Aspect ratio 20:9 20:9
PPI 402 ppi 429 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 60 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate No No
Max rated brightness 760 nits 500 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR - 1100 nits
HDR support Yes, HDR10+ Yes, HDR10+
Screen protection Corning Gorilla Glass 5 Corning Gorilla Glass 3
Screen-to-body ratio 87% 83%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 97.2% 96.9%
PWM 458 Hz 240 Hz
Response time 13 ms 3 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
807 nits
Pixel 6a +9%
881 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 160.7 mm (6.33 inches) 152.2 mm (5.99 inches)
Width 74.1 mm (2.92 inches) 71.8 mm (2.83 inches)
Thickness 8.4 mm (0.33 inches) 8.9 mm (0.35 inches)
Weight 188 g (6.63 oz) 178 g (6.28 oz)
Waterproof No IP67
Rear material Glass Plastic
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors Silver, Green White, Black, Green
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Screen-to-body ratio
87%
83%

Performance

Tests of OnePlus 8T and Google Pixel 6a in the benchmarks
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 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 585 Silver (Cortex-A55)
- 3 cores at 2.42 GHz: Kryo 585 Gold (Cortex-A77)
- 1 core at 2.84 GHz: Kryo 585 Prime (Cortex-A77)
- 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 7 nanometers 5 nanometers
Graphics Adreno 650 Mali-G78 MP20
GPU clock 587 MHz 848 MHz
FLOPS ~1228 GFLOPS ~2171 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Geekbench 5 (Single-Core)
Pixel 6a +52%
1366
Geekbench 5 (Multi-Core)
3164
Pixel 6a +5%
3321
AnTuTu Benchmark 9
655574
Pixel 6a +18%
774388
CPU 182649 208269
GPU 221869 305908
Memory 122363 110039
UX 126134 144068
Total score 655574 774388
3DMark Wild Life Performance
3852
Pixel 6a +63%
6275
Max surface temperature 48.1 °C 41.4 °C
Stability 99% 55%
Graphics test 23 FPS 37 FPS
Graphics score 3852 6275
PCMark 3.0
OnePlus 8T +21%
11740
9720
Web score 9261 6092
Video editing 5736 5676
Photo editing 28480 17494
Data manipulation 10202 9105
Writing score 14298 15469
Sources: 3DMark [3], [4]

Memory

RAM
RAM size 8, 12 GB 6 GB
Memory type LPDDR4X LPDDR5
Memory clock 2133 MHz -
Channels 2 2
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 20 GB 14.3 GB

Battery

Specifications
Capacity 4500 mAh 4410 mAh
Charge power 65 W 18 W
Battery type Li-Po Li-Po
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging No No
Reverse charging No No
Fast charging Yes (94% in 30 min) Yes (42% in 30 min)
Full charging time 0:37 hr 1:51 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 11:47 hr 11:03 hr
Watching video 13:43 hr 16:44 hr
Gaming 04:34 hr 06:15 hr
Standby 93 hr 91 hr
General battery life
31:00 hr
Pixel 6a +4%
32:23 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 Digital Digital
Flash Dual LED Dual LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording No No
4K video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
Slow motion 480 FPS (720p) 240 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens 123° 114°
Lenses 4 (48 MP + 16 MP + 5 MP + 2 MP) 2 (12.2 MP + 12 MP)
Wide (main) lens - 48 MP
- Aperture: f/1.7
- Focal length: 26 mm
- Pixel size: 0.8 micron
- Sensor: 1/2.25", Sony IMX586 (Exmor-RS CMOS)
- Phase 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
Ultra-wide lens - 16 MP
- Aperture: f/2.2
- Focal length: 13 mm
- Pixel size: 0.8 micron
- Sensor: 1/2.0" (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)
Macro lens - 5 MP
- Aperture: f/2.4
-
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 8T 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
Pixel 6a +16%
133
Video quality
Pixel 6a +24%
126
Generic camera score
Pixel 6a +10%
122

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 5.1 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* No 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
82.5 dB
Pixel 6a +6%
87.4 dB

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced October 2020 May 2022
Release date October 2020 June 2022
Sensors - Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

If the performance and design are more important to you, then choose the Google Pixel 6a. But if the software and camera are more of a priority – go for the OnePlus 8T.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
27 (73%)
10 (27%)
Total votes: 37

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