Can the iQOO Neo 6 take on the OnePlus Nord 2T out there?
The premium mid-range segment has been prevalent in the market since many smartphones are launched in this price segment as they bring almost all the flagship specifications and many smartphone brands like iQOO, OnePlus, Realme, Xiaomi, etc. have a bunch of smartphones giving a tough fight to each other. Recently OnePlus came up with its slightly newer version of Nord 2 i.e. Nord 2T.
iQOO has come up with its solid offering with the Neo 6, which brings some very good specifications and is targeted at the consumer who wants the best gaming experience. Since the OnePlus Nord 2 was a great mid-range smartphone, can the newer OnePlus Nord 2T (Review) make up for itself in this highly competitive segment against the iQOO Neo 6 (Review)?
Let's find out in the full comparison.
iQOO Neo 6 vs OnePlus Nord 2T Design:
In terms of build and design, both smartphones follow different design patterns. The iQOO Neo 6 has a larger square-shaped camera module that houses the triple cameras with a LED flashlight whereas the OnePlus Nord 2T has a similar rectangular camera module as that of the OnePlus Nord 2 but the camera placements are slightly different as it also has a triple camera setup with a LED flashlight.
The camera module on the OnePlus Nord 2T feels slightly protruded compared to that of the iQOO Neo 6. Both of them have a matte finish at the back where iQOO has gone for a rainbow color pattern at the back that shines when light strikes at different angles and on the other hand, the OnePlus Nord 2T has a simpler and plain back with no such design.
Both the smartphones are curved around the edges and to the right and left also. However, there is one big difference the back of the OnePlus Nord 2T feels premium as it is made up of glass whereas the iQOO Neo 6 has a polycarbonate back. Both do not catch many fingerprints but the iQOO Neo 6 does get an IP52 rating which makes it splash resistant which is not the case with the OnePlus Nord 2T.
Around the sides, both smartphones have a polycarbonate frame that houses the power button and volume buttons but OnePlus Nord 2T gets the OnePlus signature alert slider to control different volume profiles. On the top, both do have a secondary noise-canceling microphone but the iQOO Neo 6 has an IR Blaster to control different devices.
At the bottom, both have a USB Type-C 2.0 port, a loudspeaker grille, a primary microphone, and a dual SIM card slot. Neither of them has a 3.5mm headphone jack nor a microSD card slot for storage expansion. On the front, both smartphones have a single punch-hole display with minimum bezels to the sides. Overall, the design is a personal preference but in terms of build, the OnePlus Nord 2T feels premium.
iQOO Neo 6 vs OnePlus Nord 2T Display:
In terms of display, the iQOO Neo 6 sports a slightly larger 6.62-inches display compared to 6.43-inches display on the OnePlus Nord 2T. Both smartphones have AMOLED displays with a Full HD+(1080x1920 pixels) resolution so the color reproduction looks punchier and viewing angles also are good on both of them. However, you do get slightly oversaturated colors on the display of the OnePlus Nord 2T.
The one advantage that the iQOO Neo 6 is that it has a 120Hz refresh rate compared to the 90Hz refresh rate on the OnePlus Nord 2. In terms of daily tasks, you would not find much of a difference between both smartphones as everything like scrolling through web pages, switching between applications, playing games, etc felt smooth on both but the iQOO Neo 6 did feel slightly smoother the two.
The iQOO Neo 6 gets an Auto option where the display switches between either 60 or 120Hz depending on the application in usage which is not there on the OnePlus Nord 2T. Combined with the high refresh rate, both smartphones get higher touch sampling rates where iQOO Neo 6 has a 360Hz touch sampling rate that is higher compared to the 240Hz touch sampling rate of the OnePlus Nord 2.
In terms of display brightness, the display on the iQOO Neo 6 has around 1300nits of peak brightness which is slightly higher than the 600nits on the OnePlus Nord 2T. Both do have good visibility under direct sunlight. You get different color profiles on both and can set the color temperature to a warmer or cooler tone on both displays.
As both of them have AMOLED displays, both have an optical in-display fingerprint scanner that works fast and accurately on both. Both displays have support for HDR10 and Widevine L1, so you can stream HD content on OTT platforms on both, but currently, as of now only iQOO Neo 6 has support for HDR content on Netflix which is not the case with the OnePlus Nord 2T.
In terms of display protection, the OnePlus Nord 2T has Corning Gorilla Glass 5 whereas the iQOO Neo 6 has Schott Xensation glass for protection. Overall, both these displays are good for media consumption but the one on the iQOO Neo 6 has better brightness levels and a higher refresh rate makes it slightly smoother.
iQOO Neo 6 vs OnePlus Nord 2T Performance:
The iQOO Neo 6 is powered by the Snapdragon 870 chipset which has been a very good chipset as it provides a flagship experience and lot more stable than other flagship chipsets like the Snapdragon 888 and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset. On the other hand, the OnePlus Nord 2T is powered by the newer Mediatek Dimensity 1300 chipset which is just a minor upgrade over the Mediatek Dimensity 1200 chipset.
In terms of daily usage, both smartphones perform equally well at whatever tasks are thrown at them like scrolling through web pages, watching videos, playing games, etc. However, in some games like BGMI, Call Of Duty Mobile, etc. there are certain differences between both smartphones as the iQOO Neo 6 feels more like a gaming-centric smartphone compared to the OnePlus Nord 2T.
BGMI could easily run at HDR graphics with Extreme frame rates on the iQOO Neo 6 whereas it could only run at Smooth graphics with Extreme frame rates and the gameplay is smoother on both but at times on the OnePlus Nord 2T, there are some very minor stutters noticed. The iQOO Neo 6 also has an instant touch sampling of 1200Hz for a much faster touch response during gaming.
It also gets a 4D vibration motor and both also get a dedicated gaming mode which when turned shows the CPU and GPU usage, the OnePlus Nord 2T shows FPS reading also which seems to be a good feature. After long hours of gaming, the back of the OnePlus Nord 2T does heat up quite a bit compared to the iQOO Neo 6 which remains cooler as it has got a dedicated cascade cooling system that dissipates heat faster.
In terms of CPU throttling tests, the Snapdragon 870 on the iQOO Neo 6 maintains a sustained performance of around 85-90 percent which is excellent whereas the OnePlus Nord 2T could only maintain a sustained performance of around 60-65 percent with a lot of throttling seems to be disappointing. In terms of benchmarks, the iQOO Neo 6 scores better than the OnePlus Nord 2T.
Both have support for good carrier aggregation and the OnePlus Nord 2T supports 8 bands of 5G compared to 4 bands of 5G on the iQOO Neo 6. Both the smartphones have two variants - 8/12GB LPDDR4X RAM with 128/256GB UFS 3.1 storage speeds. Overall, in terms of performance, both smartphones are good for all daily tasks, but when it comes to gaming, the iQOO Neo 6 takes the lead.
iQOO Neo 6 vs OnePlus Nord 2T Software:
In terms of software, the iQOO Neo 6 runs on the latest FunTouchOS 12 based on Android 12 whereas the OnePlus Nord 2T runs on the OxygenOS 12 based on Android 12. In terms of customizations, both the user interface provide a lot which includes changes in different icon shapes and sizes, different wallpapers, themes, and colors, and also different styles for Always-On Display and fingerprint animation.
However, there are certain differences between both. The FuntouchOS on the iQOO Neo 6 has a lot of pre-installed bloatware which can be uninstalled whereas the OxygenOS on the OnePlus Nord 2T is cleaner except for two applications - Netflix and Spotify which makes it very unique though it has merged with ColorOS in the past.
Since both have Android 12, you get all features like enhanced Privacy Dashboard, Android 12-based color applied to the quick toggles, settings, and some areas depending on the wallpaper, etc. In terms of software updates, both smartphones are assured of another two years of AndroidOS updates and three years of security updates. Overall, the software experience remains better on the OnePlus Nord 2T of two.
iQOO Neo 6 vs OnePlus Nord 2T Camera:
Both the iQOO Neo 6 and the OnePlus Nord 2T sport a triple camera setup where the iQOO Neo 6 has gone for a 64MP f/1.8 Samsung GW1P sensor for the main camera compared to a 50MP f/1.8 Sony IMX766 sensor on the main camera of the OnePlus Nord 2. Both have an identical 8MP f/2.2 ultrawide camera but the third camera on the OnePlus Nord 2 is a 2MP depth sensor whereas the iQOO Neo 6 has a 2MP macro camera.
On the front, the OnePlus Nord 2T gets a 32MP f/2.5 camera whereas the iQOO Neo 6 has a 16MP f/2.5 camera. In terms of images from the main camera, both smartphones do a good job in terms of dynamic range but there are slight differences. The colors look slightly oversaturated on the OnePlus Nord 2 but the details look slightly sharper on the iQOO Neo 6 while the dynamic range is equally good on both.
In terms of images shot in HDR mode turned on, the iQOO Neo 6 has a balanced color saturation and in normal shots, the noise is slightly less on the iQOO Neo 6 and it also the exposure is well balanced in the background compared to that of the OnePlus Nord 2T. At night, the iQOO Neo 6 holds the clear edge as it provides better details and dynamic range compared to the OnePlus Nord 2T.
The OnePlus Nord 2T, on the other hand, does suffer from some overexposure in the background and it has more noise than the iQOO Neo 6. But after turning on the dedicated Night Mode on both, things do improve on the OnePlus Nord 2T a lot as the noise gets reduced and dynamic range is far better but still, the iQOO Neo 6 with its Night Mode turned on provides better contrast and dynamic range of the two.
The 8MP f/2.2 ultrawide camera on both smartphones does a decent job in terms of dynamic range and level of detail looks equally good on both but the OnePlus Nord 2T has slightly better color reproduction compared to the iQOO Neo 6. Both of them noise in the background and also around the edges lot of distortion is present. When you zoom into the images, there is some softness present in both images.
At night, the images from both the ultrawide cameras come out with decent details and dynamic range with a larger amount of noise in the background. Both lack a dedicated night mode for the ultrawide camera. The OnePlus Nord 2T does not have a macro camera which the iQOO Neo 6 has but it takes macro images with poor details, washed-out colors, and a lot of noise in the background.
For better macro results, you can use the main camera by applying a 2x digital zoom and going closer to a subject. In terms of portraits, both the cameras take images with good dynamic range and edge detection but the background blur is slightly better on the iQOO Neo 6 compared to the OnePlus Nord 2T. Also, the details look slightly better on the iQOO Neo 6.
On the front, both smartphones take some very good selfies but the details look slightly sharper on the iQOO Neo 6 compared to the OnePlus Nord 2T but the dynamic range is equally good on both. However, noise is slightly lower on the iQOO Neo 6 but the OnePlus Nord 2T takes selfies with a wider field of view as it has a larger sensor compared to the iQOO Neo 6.
In terms of videos, both the smartphones can record 4K videos at 30fps but the iQOO Neo 6 also supports 4K videos at 60fps which the OnePlus Nord 2T lacks. The videos come out with a good dynamic range on both but the details look slightly sharper on the iQOO Neo 6 and also it has less noise in the background compared to the OnePlus Nord 2T.
At 1080p, both the cameras take video with good dynamic range and details also look sharper and ultrawide camera videos come out equally good on both as you can record 1080p videos at 30fps. On the front, both cameras can record 1080p videos at 30fps with a good dynamic range but details look slightly better on the iQOO Neo 6 compared to OnePlus Nord 2T.
Overall, the cameras are slightly better on the iQOO Neo 6 compared to the OnePlus Nord 2T.
iQOO Neo 6 vs OnePlus Nord 2T Battery Life:
The iQOO Neo 6 sports a slightly larger 4700mAh battery compared to a 4500mAh battery on the OnePlus Nord 2T. The battery on the iQOO Neo 6 lasts easily for two days with normal usage and with heavy usage, the battery easily lasts for one single day whereas the OnePlus Nord 2T lasts for one and half days with normal usage but with heavy usage, it lasts for one single day with few charges left.
However, the standard screen-on time was around 7-7.5 hours on the OnePlus Nord 2T whereas the iQOO Neo 6 provides 6.5-7 hours of standard screen-on time and thanks to the battery optimization of OxygenOS which yields good battery life. In terms of charging speeds, both smartphones have support for 80W fast charging.
In terms of charging time, the OnePlus Nord 2T took around 35 minutes compared to 40 minutes on the iQOO Neo 6 to charge from 0 to 100 percent completely. Overall, the battery life is equally good on both smartphones.
iQOO Neo 6 vs OnePlus Nord 2T Audio Quality:
Both the smartphones have a dual stereo speaker setup and the sound output is also good on both. However, the loudness levels are slightly better on the OnePlus Nord 2T compared to the iQOO Neo 6 but the latter one has better clarity and does not feel muffled. Both lack a 3.5mm headphone jack but do have Dolby Atmos for better audio output.
Verdict:
Both the iQOO Neo 6 and the OnePlus Nord 2T are very good premium mid-range smartphones as they get all the specifications which include powerful performance and gaming, good higher refresh rate displays for media consumption, good battery life, and software experience. However, there are certain differences between both smartphones.
The OnePlus Nord 2T feels slightly compact to hold, has a premium build and design with a glass back, and provides a clean and bloatware-free software experience when compared to the iQOO Neo 6. The latter one has a better display, a much better gaming experience, a slightly better set of cameras, and also battery life compared to the OnePlus Nord 2T.
Both have some advantages and disadvantages over each other but at the end of the day, it all depends on personal preference. If you want a smartphone with a premium design, the best software experience with a good set of cameras, then the OnePlus Nord 2T is a great buy but if you want the best gaming experience, a better display, a very good set of cameras, and can live with the bloatware, then the iQOO Neo 6 is the one to choose.
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