The OnePlus 9 is one of the most sophisticated handsets on the market. It’s not quite the same for the Samsung Galaxy S21 or the iPhone 12, but almost, and as such, these two phones are likely to be your biggest rivals.
These three devices are all flagships and are all of the standard model in their ranges – therefore, not the top one, but the one that may well have the greatest mass appeal.
All of them combine sophisticated specifications with sophisticated prices, but there are many differences between them as well, and some areas where one of these devices does significantly better or worse than the others.
With all this in mind, we compared the OnePlus 9 to the Samsung Galaxy S21 and iPhone 12, so you can see which of these three flagships is right for you.
Project
The OnePlus 9 has a curved Gorilla Glass back, a ‘fiberglass-reinforced polymer frame’ and a flat screen with minimal bezels and a perforated camera in the upper left corner. There is a large camera block in the upper left corner of the back, and the phone comes in Winter Mist, Arctic Sky and Astral Black. Its dimensions are 160 x 74.2 x 8.7 mm and weighs 192g.
The Samsung Galaxy S21, however, has a plastic back, so it’s a little less premium in that regard. It has a metal frame, a flat screen with small bezels, a perforated camera in the upper center and a camera block in the upper left corner of the rear.
The Galaxy S21 comes in shades of phantom gray, phantom white, phantom violet and phantom pink and is 151.7 x 71.2 x 7.9 mm and 171g. It is also IP68 certified, allowing it to be submerged up to 1.5 meters deep in water for up to 30 minutes.
Finally, we have the iPhone 12, which has a Gorilla Glass back, a metal frame and a flat screen with generally small bezels, although instead of a perforated camera, it has a large notch. Its camera pad is also in the upper left corner of the back, but it is square, where the other two phones have a rectangular case.
The iPhone 12 comes in shades of black, white, red, green and blue, and is 146.7 x 71.5 x 7.4 mm and 164g. It is also IP68 certified like the Galaxy S21, but in fact it is even more water resistant, capable of surviving submerging at depths of 6 meters for up to 30 minutes.
Therefore, OnePlus 9 is the largest and heaviest of these phones, while iPhone 12 is the smallest and lightest.
The iPhone 12 also stands out – for better or worse – as the only one with a notch, but it is the most water resistant, while the OnePlus 9 is the least. The Samsung Galaxy S21 however has the least premium construction, thanks to its plastic back, while the OnePlus 9 comes with the least number of different colors.
Exhibition
The OnePlus 9 has the largest screen of those three 6.55-inch phones. It is a 1080 x 2400 AMOLED screen with 402 pixels per inch, a 120 Hz refresh rate and a 20: 9 aspect ratio. It also has HDR10 + certification and a maximum brightness of 1,100 nits.
As for the Samsung Galaxy S21, which has a 6.2-inch AMOLED 1080 x 2400 screen with 421 pixels per inch, a refresh rate of 120 Hz, a 20: 9 aspect ratio, HDR10 + and a maximum brightness of 1,300 nits.
Then there is the iPhone 12, which has a 6.1-inch 1170 x 2532 OLED screen with 460 pixels per inch, a 60 Hz refresh rate, a 19.5: 9 aspect ratio, HDR10 and a maximum brightness of 1,200 nits.
So the main differences include size – with OnePlus 9 being the biggest, while iPhone 12 is the smallest, and the refresh rate, which iPhone 12 misses because it’s half of what you get with the other two.
Other than that, these screens are quite similar, with comparable resolutions, proportions and brightness levels. There are some differences, as you can see in our comparison, but they are minimal.
In practice, you can expect a good visual experience from all three phones, but none of them have a QHD + resolution like some of the best devices, like the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra.
Camera
There are a lot of differences between the cameras on these three phones, but let’s start again with the OnePlus 9. It has a triple lens camera on the back, with a 48MP f / 1.8 main camera, a 50MP f / 2.2 ultra wide camera and a 2 MP monochrome, which works with the main camera for more detailed black and white photos.
This camera setup was developed in collaboration with Hasselblad, and OnePlus claims that it offers some of the most natural colors in photos taken by any mobile device. The ultra-wide camera also uses a free-form lens, designed to minimize distortion at the edges of photos, and also functions as a macro camera.
The OnePlus 9 is also packed with photography modes, which along with typical ones include a tilt-shift mode, which can make scenes look like miniature. Meanwhile, the video can be recorded at up to 8K at 30fps, and there is a 16MP f / 2.4 camera on the front.
The Samsung Galaxy S21 also has a triple lens camera on the rear, but this consists of a 12MP f / 1.8 main snapper, a 64MP f / 2.0 telephoto (with 3x hybrid optical zoom capability) and a 12MP f / 2.2 um ultra-wide.
Although the Samsung phone has no sophisticated camera brand collaboration, we suspect that many people would prefer the photo camera over the monochrome one that takes the place of the OnePlus 9.
The Samsung phone also features a variety of shooting modes, including Single Shot, which takes a variety of photos and videos using all of these cameras with a single touch of a button. Speaking of video, the Samsung Galaxy S21 can record this in up to 8K of quality at 24fps. There is also a 10MP f / 2.2 camera on the front.
Finally, the iPhone 12 has only a dual-lens rear camera, with a 12 MP f / 1.6 main snapper and an ultra-wide 12 MP f / 2.4. On paper, it’s the least impressive setup, but Apple’s flagship phones take great-quality photos reliably, and the iPhone 12 even holds up well at night.
In fact, in terms of shooting modes, its Night Mode is definitely a highlight, but there are many other things to play with here as well. The video reaches 4K quality, but with support for Dolby Vision, which allows you to record HDR videos, and there is a 12MP f / 2.2 camera on the front.
All of these phones have impressive camera offerings in their own way, depending only on what you want from them. OnePlus, for its part, worked hard to close the camera gap, as this used to be a weakness in its devices.
Battery life
The OnePlus 9 has the largest battery of these three phones, 4,500mAh. It supports 65W charge and can take the phone from zero to 100% battery in just 29 minutes. The OnePlus 9 also supports 15W wireless charging.
With the Samsung Galaxy S21 you get a 4,000 mAh battery with 25W wired charging and 15W wireless charging. In addition, this phone supports 4.5 W reverse wireless charging, so you can use it to charge other wireless devices slowly.
Finally, the iPhone 12 has only a 2,815mAh battery, with 20W wired charging and 15W wireless charging.
Of course, while the OnePlus 9 has the largest battery of the three, it also has the largest screen to illuminate, and while the iPhone 12’s battery is by far the smallest, in our analysis we found that its life was similar to that of the Galaxy S21 and the OnePlus 9’s, with all three phones tending to last a day, but not going much further than that reliably.
The similar performance can probably be explained in part by the lower 60 Hz screen refresh rate of the iPhone 12. Still, although the battery size doesn’t tell the whole story, the OnePlus 9 undeniably has an advantage over these rivals when it comes to comes to loading speed.
Specifications and features
All three phones are full of power and, in the case of the OnePlus 9 and Samsung Galaxy S21, they also have very similar specifications.
The OnePlus 9 has a high-end Snapdragon 888 chipset and 8GB or 12GB of RAM, while the Samsung Galaxy S21 has the same chipset in the United States, with most other regions receiving the similar high-end Exynos 2100. with 8 GB of RAM. Therefore, OnePlus 9 has the potential for more RAM, which gives it a small advantage on paper.
Meanwhile, the iPhone 12 has a high-end A14 Bionic chipset and 4 GB of RAM – but Apple phones never compete with Android’s on the front of the RAM, and that never stops them.
For storage, there is a choice of 128 GB or 256 GB on the OnePlus 9 and Samsung Galaxy S21, while the iPhone 12 comes with 64 GB, 128 GB or 256 GB, and none of these phones have microSD card slots.
All three support 5G, and in the case of the OnePlus 9 and Samsung Galaxy S21 they run Android 11 (albeit with some individual settings), while the iPhone 12 runs iOS 14. The operating system is one of the biggest differences between the iPhone 12 and the two other phones, but it is totally subjective as to which one is the best.
In terms of features, it is important to note that both the OnePlus 9 and the Samsung Galaxy S21 have a fingerprint scanner on the screen, while the iPhone 12 depends on Face ID.
Pricing and availability
The OnePlus 9 costs $ 729 / £ 629 (about AU $ 950) for 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage, or $ 829 / £ 729 (about AU $ 1,080) for 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage. It will hit stores on April 2 and you can buy it in the United States and the United Kingdom, but not in Australia.
The Samsung Galaxy S21 has a starting price of $ 799 / £ 769 / AU $ 1,249 for 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage, increasing to $ 849 / £ 819 / AU $ 1,349 for 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage . As you can guess from the prices included, it is available in the USA, the UK and Australia, among other places.
The iPhone 12 is also available in the US, UK and Australia, with prices starting at $ 799 / £ 799 / AU $ 1,349. For that, you will have 64 GB of storage, while 128 GB will cost $ 849 / £ 849 / AU $ 1,429 and 256 GB will cost $ 949 / £ 949 / AU $ 1,599 – in all cases, with 4 GB of RAM.
So, they have similar prices, but the OnePlus 9 marginally outperforms its rivals. It is also worth mentioning that the basic model of the iPhone 12 comes with half the storage of the other two phones, so for a comparable model of the iPhone 12, you are paying a lot more.
To remove
As you can see, there are as many differences as there are similarities between these phones. The OnePlus 9 has the largest screen, although it is also the largest and heaviest overall.
It also has the biggest battery, the fastest charging, the most optional RAM and is the only one with a dedicated monochrome lens. All of this and it is the cheapest of the three as well. But it does not have a water resistance rating, which the other two do.
Meanwhile, the Samsung Galaxy S21 is the only one with a telephoto lens or wireless reverse charging, although its plastic back makes it look a little less premium.
And the iPhone 12 is not very similar on paper, with fewer cameras than its rivals, a smaller screen, a lower refresh rate and a smaller battery.
But it has the highest water resistance and performs much better than the specifications on the paper may suggest. It is also the only one running iOS, which will be a big plus for Apple fans. In addition, some people prefer their more compact display – although they don’t like its higher price.
All of these are the best phones – if not the very top of your line – but they will all attract different people. And if you want the best of the best, consider the OnePlus 9 Pro, Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra or iPhone 12 Pro Max – be prepared to pay a lot for any of them.