This week saw the launch of two of the most awaited smartphones of 2019. OnePlus set the ball rolling with the launch of two new handsets – the OnePlus 7 and OnePlus 7 Pro – much to the glee of OnePlus fans around the world. Two days later, Taiwanese electronics giant ASUS announced the Zenfone 6 as a successor to the Zenfone 5z. The latter, if you recall, was one of the best affordable flagship devices we had tested (Review) in 2018. Coming back to OnePlus, over the last five years, we have seen OnePlus move from the affordable flagship category to a premium flagship category. This year was no exception. The OnePlus 7 Pro is closer to the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S10 in price than it is to the likes of the POCO F1 or the Zenfone 5z. To compete with affordable and mid-range flagships, OnePlus also came up with the relatively affordable OnePlus 7 which is great value for money with a starting price of INR 32,990. Anyway, the purpose of this article is to gauge how the newly introduced OnePlus 7 Pro and the Zenfone 6 fare against Samsung’s flagship handset – the Samsung Galaxy S10.
Let’s dive straight in.
Table of Contents
ASUS Zenfone 6 vs. OnePlus 7 Pro vs. Samsung Galaxy S10: Specifications compared
Both the Zenfone 6 and the OnePlus 7 Pro use Qualcomm’s powerful Snapdragon 855 SoC which is, by far, the most powerful chipset ever made for the Android platform. In India, the Samsung Galaxy S10 is powered by the Exynos 9820 SoC. It has been proven several times that the Exynos version of the Galaxy S10 is less powerful and efficient when compared to the Snapdragon 855 variant of the same phone. We won’t, therefore, blame you if you feel a little shortchanged if you have the Exynos version of the device (which you certainly will if you are in India).
While OnePlus offers up to 12GB of RAM on the top variant, the Zenfone 6 and Galaxy S10 top out at 8GB RAM. The S10, however, offers the most internal storage capacity with the top version getting 512GB of storage. The OnePlus 7 Pro is offered in three versions starting with a 6GB+128GB version, an 8GB+256GB version, and the aforementioned 12GB RAM version. The Zenfone 6, on the other hand, starts with a 6GB+64GB version, followed by an 8GB+128GB version, followed by the top-end 8GB+256GB option. The Samsung Galaxy S10 is offered in two versions; a base 128GB+8GB version and the aforementioned 8GB+512GB version. Both the Galaxy S10 and the Zenfone also come with a microSD card slot for additional storage option. You don’t get this option on the OnePlus 7 Pro.
Moving on to the battery, the Zenfone 6 is the clear winner here thanks to its humungous 5,000 mAh battery. The OnePlus 7 Pro gets by with a 4,000 mAh battery while the S10 has the smallest battery of the lot – 3,400 mAh. The Zenfone 6 supports QuickCharge 4.0 and ships with an 18W fast charger. The OnePlus 7 Pro gets a 30W warp charger inside the box while the Galaxy S10 ships with an 18W adaptive fast charger. Of the three only the Galaxy S10 is IP-68 certified for water and dust protection. The OnePlus is claimed to be water resistant but does not have IP certification.
ASUS Zenfone 6 vs. OnePlus 7 Pro vs. Samsung Galaxy S10: Design, Display
All three handsets in this comparison are sleek lookers and have their respective USPs. All three phones feature a toughened glass coating on their bodies and get have an aluminum frame sandwiched in between. The OnePlus 7 Pro and the Galaxy S10 get Gorilla Glass at the front and rear. The OnePlus 7 Pro has the largest display amongst the three with a huge 6.67-inch panel. The Zenfone 6 is the only one to use an IPS LCD display. Both the OnePlus 7 Pro and the Galaxy S10 use an AMOLED panel. That being said, the Zenfone 5z had one of the best LCD panels and we are hopeful that the Zenfone 6 does not disappoint us on that front. The Galaxy S10 has the smallest display in this club with a 6.1-inch panel and a resolution of 1440 x 3040 pixels. The Zenfone 6 has a slightly larger 6.4-inch panel with a resolution of 1080 x 2340 pixels. The OnePlus 7 Pro also gets a QHD screen (1440 X 3120 pixels) with resolution comparable to that of the Galaxy S10.
ASUS Zenfone 6 vs. OnePlus 7 Pro vs. Samsung Galaxy S10: Camera, Price in India, Verdict
All three devices in this comparison get an excellent camera setup. While the OnePlus 7 Pro gets a pop-up front-facing camera, the Zenfone 6 gets a unique flip camera setup which eliminates the need for a separate front-facing camera. The Samsung Galaxy S10’s front-facing camera is a 10-megapixel unit that is surrounded by the Infinity-O display. The OnePlus 7 Pro gets a triple camera setup at the rear consisting of a 48-megapixel primary sensor, a 16-megapixel secondary camera with a wide angle lens and an 8-megapixel telephoto lens. The front pop-up camera on the OnePlus 7 Pro uses a 16-megapixel sensor.
As for the prices, it is possible that the Zenfone 6 could be the cheapest of the three when it arrives in India a few weeks down the line. The OnePlus 7 Pro has inched closer to the Samsungs and iPhones of the world with this generation with the base version of the device being priced at INR 48,999. The mid-tier 8GB+356GB version costs INR 52,999 while the top of the line 12GB+256GB version will set users back by INR 57,999. The Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus is the most expensive among the three with the base version setting you back by INR 66,900, while the top version with 8GB RAM and 512GB storage will cost INR 84,900.
So, which among these three should you consider? While we need to know the price of the Zenfone 6 to give a final verdict, we feel the OnePlus 7 Pro offers the best balance of features and price. That being said, it misses out on a microSD card slot that the other two phones have. The Zenfone wins the prize for the cool factor thanks to its flip-up camera. But it misses out on things like an AMOLED panel and any sort of ingress protection. The Samsung Galaxy S10 is still the best overall device, but you need to pay a significant premium to own it.
