OnePlus Nord 4 vs POCO F6 5G: Which is The Better Pick for Rs 30,000?

OnePlus Nord 4 vs POCO F6 5G: Price in India

The OnePlus Nord 4 and POCO F6 5G have base variants with 8GB of RAM starting at Rs 29,999. However, POCO offers slightly more value for money as it offers 256GB of internal storage with the base variant. The POCO F6 5G is more affordable than the 12GB + 256GB variant.

POCO also has an advantage with the 12GB + 512GB variant, which gives users more options. In contrast, the higher variant of the OnePlus Nord 4 only comes with 256GB of internal storage.

OnePlus Nord 4 vs POCO F6 5G: Design and Display

The OnePlus Nord 4’s standout point is its all-metal body, which is only 7.9 mm thick. The smartphone comes in dual-tone shades, Obsidian Midnight, Mercurial Silver, and Oasis Green, each with a unique design pattern.

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The top part of the smartphone is glossy, and the bottom has a matte finish, though it is quite slippery owing to its metal body design. The two individual camera rings are placed horizontally on the back, another departure from what we typically see in phones.

OnePlus has retained the alert slider, which also has a metallic finish. The OnePlus Nord 4 also sports IP65 dust and water resistance, protecting it against occasional splashes. It is also a fairly heavy device at nearly 200 grams.

In contrast, the POCO F6 5G is lighter, weighing 179 grams, owing to the plastic panel on the rear. POCO F6 has three individual camera rings placed vertically, similar to most other smartphones. The device gets IP64 dust and water resistance to protect from water splashes.

The POCO F6 has a matte finish on the rear, which doesn’t attract fingerprints or other smudges. If you are looking for a smartphone for continuous usage, the POCO F6 5G might be the better choice due to its weight distribution. The POCO F6 5G is available in Titanium and Black shades with SGS Five Star Anti Fall certification.

Both smartphones have a flat AMOLED display with a centred punch hole cutout, minimal bezels, and a chin.

Undoubtedly, the OnePlus Nord 4 has the edge in design. It brings something unique to the market, packed with a hint of nostalgia. If you want a phone that looks different, the Nord 4 is the easy choice.

The OnePlus Nord 4 has a Super Fluid AMOLED display with a 1.5K resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. Its peak brightness is 2150 nits, making it perfectly legible under sunlight. The Nord 4 also comes with Widevine L1 certification, which allows users to enjoy HD playback on Netflix and other streaming apps. Coupled with the stereo speakers, it makes an ideal choice for watching movies.

The downside of the OnePlus Nord 4 is the Panda Glass compared to the Corning Gorilla Glass Victus on the POCO F6 5G. POCO’s smartphone has a few AI features for the display, including the Super Resolution and AI HDR enhancement, which upscales resolution and forces details to pop up on the screen’s lighter and darker areas.

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The POCO F6 5G has HDR10 and Dolby Vision support on Netflix and offers neutral colours and good viewing angles. POCO claims that the device can achieve a peak brightness of 2400 nits. We achieved a peak brightness of 1814 nits in our practical testing.

OnePlus Nord 4 vs POCO F6 5G: Performance

The Qualcomm Snapdragon 7+ Gen 3 SoC powering the OnePlus Nord 4 is fabricated on a 4nm process and comes with one Cortex X4, four Cortex A720, and three Cortex A520 cores. In contrast, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 SoC also sports a similar CPU core with higher clock speeds.

The POCO F6 5G scores higher in the AnTuTu V10 and Geekbench benchmarking platforms. In the CPU throttling test, it maintained an impressive 86% of its original performance. The OnePlus Nord 4, with a similar CPU core setup, maintains 61% of its original performance.

However, in our day-to-day usage, the OnePlus Nord 4 offers a smooth and snappy experience without lags. The POCO F6 5G also performs without lag in handling daily tasks.

We also tested both smartphones with popular titles, including BGMI and Call of Duty: Mobile. In Call of Duty: Mobile gameplay, the OnePlus Nord 4 and the POCO F6 5G support a maximum graphic quality of Very High Graphics + Very High FPS. Both smartphones achieved a maximum frame rate of 59fps and 60fps during the gameplay, which is impressive.

OnePlus Nord 4 and POCO F6 5G support Ultra HDR Graphics + Ultra FPS in the BGMI title and achieved a maximum frame rate of 40fps in our testing. OnePlus offers a maximum frame rate of 91fps in smooth quality + extreme fps, but it will be limited to 60fps once users start using the native screen recorder.

In 3D Mark Wildlife extreme tests, the OnePlus Nord 4 and POCO F6 5G scored 3057 and 2878, respectively. Both smartphones also maxed out in the Slingshot Extreme and Sling Shot tests of 3D Mark. For those unaware, the 3D Mark tests are conducted to analyse the 3D graphic rendering capabilities, and higher scores indicate better gaming performance.

The POCO F6 5G slightly got warmer while conducting 3D Mark tests despite being in an air-conditioned environment, which might explain the slightly lower scores. However, the smartphone delivered almost constant frame rates during gameplay of the BGMI title.

Our tests indicate that the POCO F6 5G, with its superior GPU, would be an ideal choice for users who prefer better gameplay. In addition to the 3D Mark tests, the POCO F6 5G scored higher in every other benchmarking test.

OnePlus Nord 4 vs POCO F6 5G: Cameras

Both devices have a similar rear camera setup: a primary 50MP camera with OIS and an ultrawide camera, though the main sensor differs. The POCO F6 5G has a slight advantage on paper concerning the larger selfie snapper, which supports 1080p 60 fps. Both also support video recording up to 4K 60 fps on the rear and 1080p on the front.

OnePlus Nord 4 Camera Samples

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In our practical tests, the OnePlus Nord 4 captures crisp shots in daylight, maintaining good highlights and texture, even when encountering harsh backlight. OnePlus also captures good photos with the primary camera during low light and maintains sharpness.

The 8MP ultrawide camera on the device captures acceptable images with a slight difference in colour consistency compared to the primary camera. The details captured by the ultrawide camera during the sunlight are okay, but zooming in reveals the problems. OnePlus also captures good-looking selfies, including portraits.

Poco F6 Daylight Camera Samples

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POCO also offers natural-looking images with its 50MP primary camera during the sunlight, which doesn’t overexpose, similar to the OnePlus Nord 4. The POCO F6 5G captures excellent details and accurate colour reproduction. POCO also maintains the dynamic range by not blowing out the highlights.

Poco F6 Low-light and Selfie Camera Samples

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The device captures excellent details in low-light shots, with some noise around the edges in challenging situations. Like the OnePlus Nord 4, the ultrawide camera has a slightly different colour scheme but captures similar-quality images. POCO captures excellent selfies but smooths the face too much despite turning off all filters.

OnePlus Nord 4 vs POCO F6 5G: Software

The OnePlus Nord 4, running Oxygen OS 14.1 based on Android 14, has several AI features to boost user experience. The AI-powered Trinity Engine can adjust the CPU, RAM, and Storage parameters on the Nord 4. Other features include Audio Summary, Screen Translate, and LinkBoost.

The Oxygen OS 14.1 on the OnePlus offered snappy performance throughout the usage without lags. However, OnePlus now ships its smartphones with several bloatware apps, though these can be removed without any fuss.

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Meanwhile, the Poco F6 5G runs Hyper OS based on Android 14. This, too, comes with several AI features and is known for its customisation options. The POCO F6 5G offers smooth and subtle animations. The one major problem with the POCO F6 5G is the number of bloatware apps and spammy notifications.

The OnePlus Nord 4 also has an advantage over the POCO F6 with its four OS upgrades and six years of security patch updates, making it future-proof. OnePlus also doesn’t push out spam notifications, which is another advantage.

OnePlus Nord 4 vs POCO F6 5G: Battery and Charging

The OnePlus Nord 4 has a larger battery than the POOC F6 5G, as shown in the table. During the PCMark Battery Test, the OnePlus Nord 4 lasted an impressive 18 hours and 20 minutes, while the POCO F6 5G lasted 12 hours and 39 minutes.

In practical conditions, the OnePlus Nord 4 can easily last a day of usage with some juice left at the end of the day. Thanks to the 100W charger in the box, it went from 0 to 100% in 24 minutes.

The POCO F6 5G will also last a day with moderate usage without intensive gaming. Despite backing a smaller 5,000mAh battery, it took 45 minutes to charge from 0 to 100%.

The POCO F6 5 G’s charging speeds are limited to 90W, even though the POCO includes a faster 120W charger in the box. The OnePlus Nord 4 has an advantage over the POCO F6 5G concerning battery life and charging.

OnePlus Nord 4 vs POCO F6 5G: Verdict

The OnePlus Nord 4 stands out in the following areas: unique design, performance, camera, large battery and faster charging. The battery life, in particular, might make this a much more tempting option for many users.

On the other hand, the POCO F6 5G offers a slightly better display and performance and targets users who want a faster-performing smartphone. Netflix’s HDR10 and Dolby Vision support also make it a better smartphone for media consumption.