After months of leaks, rumours and speculation OnePlus has shown off its new flagship to the world. The OnePlus 2 is the successor to the underdog OnePlus One and while that phone had nothing to prove, expectations were sky high this time around.
The OnePlus 2 has often been described as a flagship killer, so what bigger flagship to try to take down than the iPhone 6? Here's an early rundown on how the two phones stack up.
Design
The OnePlus 2 certainly has a high-end appearance, with an aluminium-magnesium alloy frame wrapped around the device and a soft Sandstone Black back cover.
But it really comes into its own when you customise it with a different cover. These are sold separately and include Kevlar, Black Apricot, Rosewood and even Bamboo. If there's any real disappointment it's that the OnePlus 2 is a bit chunky at 9.9mm thick.
Apple is known for its design mastery and the iPhone 6 is one of its sleekest creations yet, with a super slim 6.9mm thick build and a premium metal shell.
It looks great and while design is always somewhat subjective we'd argue that the iPhone 6 is probably a better looking phone than the standard version of the OnePlus 2, but the Chinese handset is more customisable and, let's be honest, neither handset looks ugly.
Display
There's a big 5.5-inch 1080 x 1920 LCD screen on the OnePlus 2 and, while some may lament the fact that it's not QHD, it still has a fairly crisp pixel density of 401 pixels per inch. It's incredibly bright too, reaching 600 nits and with great viewing angles you can comfortably use it in almost any situation.
At 4.7 inches the IPS LCD screen on the iPhone 6 is a lot smaller and it's also lower resolution at 750 x 1334, giving it a pixel density of 326 pixels per inch. So it's not as sharp as the display on the OnePlus 2 and it's not as bright either, but with great contrast and colour reproduction it's still one of the better smartphone screens around.
The biggest difference between the two is undoubtedly the size, as the iPhone 6 is fairly compact for a flagship while the OnePlus 2 is almost a phablet.
Power
With either 4GB or 3GB of RAM (depending on whether you opt for the 64GB or 16GB model) and a 64-bit 1.8GHz octa-core Snapdragon 810 processor the OnePlus 2 certainly has flagship power, rivalling the likes of the HTC One M9 and the Sony Xperia Z3+.
Comparing it to the iPhone 6 is a little trickier as Apple's handsets always look weaker on paper but tend to perform just as well as their Android rivals. The iPhone 6 has just a 64-bit 1.4GHz dual-core Apple A8 processor and 1GB of RAM and yet performance is still pretty slick.
It benchmarks below most 2015 flagships, which is reasonable since they're newer, but it doesn't feel lacking for power. Based on our first impressions the OnePlus 2 is a snappy performer as well, though it can run a little hot.
OnePlus 2 vs iPhone 6: OS
The OnePlus 2 runs OxygenOS, which is pretty close to stock Android 5.1 but with a few features and tweaks, most of which are arguably for the better. For example you can use on-screen gestures to launch apps and functions, drawing an 'O' to launch the camera or a 'V' to turn on the flashlight.
You can also create custom sound profiles and change the accent colours and LED notifications to really make the phone yours.
The iPhone 6 on the other hand runs iOS 8.4. If you've used an iOS device recently you'll know what to expect here, but it too has a slick, intuitive and attractive interface. It's not as customisable but it does still have the best app store around.
Camera
The 13MP spec of the OnePlus 2's camera might sound a little lower than most flagship rivals, but it's coupled with optical image stabilisation, a dual-LED flash and a low-light sensor.
It can also record 4K video or slow motion 720p video and save images in RAW format. There's a 5MP camera on the front for fans of selfies and video calls, and in early tests overall performance seems strong.
The iPhone 6 has just an 8MP snapper but, as with its processor, on-paper specs can be deceptive here, as it really is a fantastic camera phone.
It's got point and click simplicity but still comes out with high quality photos. It can't shoot footage in 4K but it can manage slow motion in 720p at 240fps, while the OnePlus 2 does it at just 120fps.
Its front-facing camera is a little less impressive at just 1.2MP, but it gets the job done for basic snapshots and FaceTime.
OnePlus 2 vs iPhone 6: Battery
Battery life could be the OnePlus 2's Achilles heel. We say could because we haven't been able to properly test it yet, but with a big and very bright screen its 3300 mAh juice pack might not cut it.
Then again it's 200 mAh bigger than the battery in the OnePlus One and that phone had the same size screen and could easily get through a day of use, so we're cautiously optimistic.
The iPhone 6 has a far smaller 1810 mAh juice pack, but then it's a far smaller phone, with a lower resolution screen and just a dual-core processor, so it shouldn't need anywhere near as much battery power. In practice you should be able to get a day of life out of it, though nowhere near as comfortably as we found with the OnePlus One.
So if the OnePlus 2's display isn't too juice hungry it could have the iPhone 6 beaten, but it's too early to say.
Other features
The main feature of the OnePlus 2 is its fingerprint scanner. OnePlus talked it up as being faster than the iPhone 6's but in practice it doesn't seem especially speedy so far.
Other features include a USB Type-C charging port, which lets you plug a USB cable in either way up, a dual-SIM card slot which is a rarity in the UK and an alert slider, which lets you silence the device, show priority notifications, or show all notifications with a click.
The iPhone 6 has a fingerprint scanner too of course and it's a speedy one at that. It also benefits from Apple Pay, allowing you to use your fingerprint for more than just unlocking your device.
The other major feature on the iPhone 6 is its M8 motion co-processor, which tracks data from the various sensors in the device without using the main processor, to provide constant health and fitness stats without draining the battery too much.
Price & availability
Price was always going to be a big thing in the OnePlus 2's favour and with a cost of just $389 (£289, about AU$535) for the 64GB handset or $329 (£239, about AU$452) for the 16GB option it sure is cheap for such a high power device.
The iPhone 6's starting RRP of £539/$649/AU$999 almost seems laughable in comparison, especially as that's just for a 16GB version, with 64GB costing £619/$749/AU$1,149 and 128GB costing even more.
Then again you can get it a little cheaper if you shop around and more importantly you can actually just go out and buy it. The 64GB OnePlus 2 won't land until August 11 with the 16GB version landing sometime later and both versions will require an invitation to buy, so while it might be cheap, it's not easy.
OnePlus 2 vs iPhone 6: Quick verdict
The OnePlus 2 has been labelled a flagship killer and like the OnePlus One before it in many ways it is. A combination of top tier specs, a premium design and innovative features undeniably make it a flagship while a relatively low price could help it kill off its rivals.
But can it kill the iPhone 6? That we're not so sure of. Apple's handset still manages to have a more premium appeal and price aside there's very little to dislike about it. They're also very different prospects, with different operating systems and very different screen sizes, so they're almost not even direct rivals, despite the debates many phone fans love to have on the subject.
It's obviously too early to say which phone is better but the OnePlus 2 is undoubtedly better value while the iPhone 6 is tried, tested and phenomenally popular.
- Don't forget, there are lots of other good value handsets too.
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