ASUS ZenFone 6 vs OnePlus 7 Pro: Battle Of The 'Flagship-Killers'

OnePlus has long been well-known for making great offerings in the premium segment in not just India but in the global market as well. However, the brand was highly competed by the Taiwan-based company Asus with the Asus ZenFone 5Z. The situation is still the same this year as the brand has just announced the ZenFone 6 in India to take on the likes of the OnePlus 7 Pro. Let’s see how these two smartphones far against each other.

ASUS ZenFone 6 vs OnePlus 7 Pro: Price

Just like the ZenFone 5Z, the ZenFone 6 is also priced aggressively. The handset’s price is set at €499 (around rs. 38,900) for the base variant. It hasn’t made its debut in India yet, but we have known that it will be available in Flipkart.

Meanwhile, the OnePlus 7 Pro is priced at Rs. 48,999 which is higher than the ZenFone 6. The price even goes higher to Rs. 57,999. It is already available for sale in the country via the company’s Experience pop-up store from 17 May, OnePlus India website, Amazon.in, OnePlus Exclusive stores and its partner stores. The company also offers the standard OnePlus 7 with a much more affordable price tag of Rs. 32,999 for entry-level 6GB of RAM + 128GB of storage variant.

Regarding the price, the Asus ZenFone 6 has a much lower price tag while the OnePlus 7 Pro is priced in the flagship territory already. Let's see if the price difference between the two offerings can be justified.

ASUS ZenFone 6 vs OnePlus 7 Pro: Specs & Features

Both of the Asus and OnePlus offerings feature amazing glass-sandwich design, curved backs, and a full-screen display thanks to their selfie camera mechanism. While the ZenFone 6 comes with a flip camera that can work as both selfie and rear cameras, the OnePlus 7 Pro features a pop-up selfie camera.

As for the display, the OnePlus handset has already been rated A+ by DisplayMate which means it has the best phone display because that is the highest rating ever received by any phone. The OnePlus 7 Pro also packs a massive 6.67-inch QHD+ display with an AMOLED panel and support for HDR10+. The company also touts that its display has an impressive refresh rate of 90 Hz. As for the ZenFone 6, the handset seems to be behind the OnePlus device in this aspect as it sports a 6.4-inch FHD+ panel with an aspect ratio of 19.5:9. Instead of having an AMOLED panel, Asus only uses an IPS one instead which is not as vibrant as the AMOLED.

In terms of performance, both of the ZenFone 6 and OnePlus 7 Pro come with flagship-tier hardware specifications, including a Snapdragon 855 octa-core processor under the hood. The Asus device comes in two memory configurations, 8GB of RAM / 256GB of storage + 12GB of RAM / 256GB of storage. On the other hand, the OnePlus 7 Pro has an extra variant with 6GB of RAM / 128GB of storage. The model with 12GB RAM of the OnePlus 7 Pro also has higher storage with 512GB.

In terms of software, both of them ship with Android 9 Pie with their respectively custom UIs on top. The OxygenOS on the OnePlus devices has been said to be nearly the same as stock Android. Meanwhile, the Asus’ ZenUI received quite a few criticisms in the past for consuming higher resource and being too cluttered. However, it is not the same for this ZenU 6 on the ZenFone 6 as it is also said to offer a near-stock interface.

Performance-wise, both of them come with a Snapdragon 855 SoC and up to 12GB of RAM so I doubt there would be any substantial difference between the two's performance. However, the OnePlus 7 Pro has a bigger display with 90 Hz refresh rate and an AMOLED panel in comparison with the IPS LCD panel on the Asus device.

ASUS ZenFone 6 vs OnePlus 7 Pro: Cameras

Moving to the camera department, the ZenFone 6 features unique flip dual cameras that can function as selfie and rear shooters. It means that users can take photos on both sides using the same dual cameras. The setup comprises of a 48MP Sony IMX 586 sensor with an f/1.8 aperture and a 13MP ultra-wide camera with f/2.4 aperture.

Moving to the OnePlus 7 Pro, it is the first from the company to feature a triple rear camera setup, including a 48MP Sony IMX 586 sensor with an aperture of f/1.6, a secondary 16MP wide-angle camera with 117-degree field of view and f/2.2 aperture; and a third 8MP telephoto camera with f/2.4 aperture with 3x zoom support. On paper, the OnePlus 7 Pro should have better rear cameras since it has a triple camera setup compared to a dual one on the ZenFone 6. However, the Asus offering will deliver better selfies thanks to the flip mechanism so users can utilize the dual cameras for taking selfies. According to DxOMark, the ZenFone 6 offers the best selfie camera with 98 points which is the highest in the selfie camera ranking from the site.

In terms of battery, the ZenFone 6 is fueled by a whopping 5,000 mAh battery with 18W fast charging support while the OnePlus device has a smaller 4,000 mAh battery. However, the OnePlus device comes with 30W fast charging support which is better than the 18W fast charging of the ZenFone 6.

ASUS ZenFone 6 vs OnePlus 7 Pro: Verdict

The OnePlus 7 Pro is clearly above what the brand has been positioned its handset. The 7 Pro is now more on the flagship side instead of being a flagship killer like its predecessors. Meanwhile, the Asus ZenFone 6 can be called an ‘affordable’ flagship and is comparable to the OnePlus 7. Personally, I find the ZenFone 6 offers more value for the money with a unique camera design. However, it clearly falls short when it comes to the camera and display compared to the OnePlus 7 Pro.

If you can afford to buy the 7 Pro, it would be better to go for the OnePlus 7 Pro over the ZenFone 6. However, if you are a bit tight on the budget, the ZenFone 6 is still a great choice with interesting features. You can also take a look at the standard OnePlus 7 for a similar price to the ZenFone 6. However, it won't come with a pop-up selfie camera but only has a water-drop notch on the top of the display.