The wait is finally over. The latest true-blue flagship from the house of OnePlus is here. And from the looks of it, the OnePlus 9 Pro appears to be a winner, not solely based on the price-performance ratio, but also the upgrades it brings to the table, some of which happen to be at the top of the food chain. For example, you get blazing-fast 50W wireless charging, and a 65W charger in the retail package.

There is a ton to talk about, and it is clear what OnePlus is aiming for – the crown itself. In its path to glory is the iPhone 12 Pro duo, which has already established a solid reputation. Let’s check out how the two phones compared against each other in this OnePlus 9 Pro vs iPhone 12 Pro / Pro Max comparison:

OnePlus 9 Pro vs iPhone 12 Pro / Pro Max:  Design

An amalgam of glass and metal – this is what you get on both phones. OnePlus goes for gentler curves and a sloping screen, ensuring a more comfortable fit in your hands. The iPhone 12 Pro pair, on the other hand, opts for flat sides made from surgical-grade steel and a flat panel.

You may or may not like the curved display on the OnePlus offering, but it does look clean with those slim bezels and a clean screen profile. The iPhone 12 Pro and its Max sibling also have thin bezels, but that huge notch at the top is an eye-sore.

 

Coming to the color options, OnePlus 9 Pro will let you choose between three colors – Morning Mist with a glossy mirror finish, Pine Green with a dual-layer matte texture, and Stellar Black rocking a frosted matte glass texture. The iPhone 12 Pro and its Max variant are up for grabs in Silver, Graphite, Gold and Pacific Blue trims – all of which rock a matte finish.

OnePlus 9 Pro vs iPhone 12 Pro / Pro Max: Display

The OnePlus 9 Pro comes armed with a curved 6.7-inch QHD+ (3216×1440 pixels) display that translates to a pixel density of 525 PPI. The 6.1-inch display of the iPhone 12 Pro (2532×1170 pixels) offers a pixel density of 460 PPI, while the iPhone 12 Pro Max’s 6.7-inch screen (2778×1284 pixels) display results in a pixel density of 458 PPI. The peak brightness output of the OnePlus 9 Pro’s AMOLED display is slightly higher at 1,300 nits, while the iPhone 12 Pro pair’s OLED panel maxes out at 1,200 nits.

OnePlus has raced ahead to a 120Hz panel, while Apple's best are still on 60Hz

However, one area where the OnePlus 9 Pro leaves the iPhone 12 Pro duo far behind is the screen refresh rate. While the Apple devices are still stuck with a 60Hz screen, the OnePlus offering packs a 120Hz LTPO panel that can vary the refresh rate value between 1Hz and 120Hz depending on the content you’re watching on it. For example, while reading something, the refresh rate drops to 1Hz, watching movies will have it operating at 24Hz, and goes higher while gaming. Needless to say, this this approach saves battery life.

OnePlus 9 Pro vs iPhone 12 Pro / Pro Max: Internals

The OnePlus 9 Pro relies on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 SoC, which is currently the most powerful SoC you can find inside an Android phone. It is paired with up to 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM and up to 256GB of onboard storage. The iPhone 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max draw power from the A14 Bionic chip that is blazing fast too, but as usual, we don’t know the amount of RAM fitted inside the phone. However, you get to choose between the storage variants – 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB.

iPhone 12 Pro feels like a snail compared to the fast charging speeds of OnePlus 9 Pro

But one department where the OnePlus leaves iPhone 12 Pro and its Max sibling far behind is charging capability. OnePlus 9 Pro supports 65W wired fast charging, which can fill the battery from 0-100% in just 29 minutes. Plus, you also get support for an insane 50W wireless charging that will fill the battery completely in just 43 minutes. And oh, OnePlus bundles the 65W charger in the retail box.

The iPhone 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max have their wired charging capability capped at 20W, while MagSafe charging taps out at 15W. However, if you’re using a third-party Qi wireless charger, the output drops even lower to 7.5W. If you’re using a 20W charger – that Apple sells separately – you can get up to 50% charge in 30 minutes. And just in case you’re not aware, Apple doesn’t offer a charger in the retail package of iPhone 12 Pro and its Max version.

Cameras

Now, this is one area where OnePlus 9 Pro takes the lead in hardware department, while iPhone 12 Pro reigns supreme in the hardware department. The basic camera lens setup (wide + ultra-wide + telephoto) is shared across both phones, but the OnePlus 9 Pro also adds a monochrome camera to the mix, and its ultra-wide camera also doubles as a macro shooter with a 4cm range.

Let’s talk hardware now. The OnePlus 9 Pro features a 48MP main snapper with the custom Sony IMX789 sensor that can capture 4K videos at an impressive 120fps and 8K videos at 30fps. Plus, it also supports 12-bit capture. There is a massive 50MP ultra-wide-angle snapper backed by the Sony IMX766 sensor and employs a Freeform lens that reduces distortion to as low as 1 percent.

OnePlus wins at camera hardware, iPhone 12 Pro pair reigns supreme when it comes to features

You also get an optically-stabilized 8MP telephoto camera (3.3x optical and 30x digital zoom) and a 2MP monochrome camera. Selfie and video calling duties are handled by a 16MP front camera. The OnePlus phone allows 12-bit image capture, which is something photography aficionados will definitely appreciate.

Coming to the iPhone 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max, they feature a trio of 12MP sensors for wide, ultra-wide, and telephoto photography. A key difference between the two phones is that the iPhone 12 Pro Max employs a better wide-angle camera, a longer-range telephoto lens, and superior sensor-shift image stabilization technology. Both the phones have a 12MP front camera. But it’s the capabilities of these cameras where the iPhone 12 Pro gets an upper hand.

The iPhone 12 Pro duo allows you to capture HDR videos with Dolby Vision at up to 60fps. Plus, you can watch edit them natively on your phone itself. A few other impressive tricks are Night mode Time-Lapse capture, Night mode Portrait shots, and support for a new image format called Apple ProRAW.

The latter combines the benefits of RAW capture with computational photography techniques such as Deep Fusion and Smart HDR 3. Even the front camera can capture 4K videos at 60fps and supports Dolby Vision HDR video recording at 30fps. And oh, the selfie camera also gets support for Night Mode and the proprietary Deep Fusion tech as well.

Pricing

The OnePlus 9 Pro costs $969 the base variant with 8 gigs of RAM and 128GB of onboard storage. For the iPhone 12 Pro, you have to shell out a minimum $999. On the other hand, the iPhone 12 Pro Max will have you spending north of $1,099 starting with the base 128GB storage variant.

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