Vivo X21 vs OnePlus 6 Specs Comparison: The Best Value Flagship Is?

Vivo’s new flagship phone, the X21 (Review), is in town. The phone with an optical fingerprint sensor is the first of its kind that captures the reflection of the fingerprint from OLED display to authenticate user access. It is now available for sale in India and seems to check all the right boxes.

Interestingly, the Vivo X21 India price – Rs. 35,990 – puts it in the same league as the OnePlus 6 (Review), which is the first phone with Snapdragon 845 in India. Let’s compare the two and find out which one is the best value flagship phone as of now:

Vivo X21 vs OnePlus 6 Specification

Also Read: 8 Best OnePlus 6 Alternatives You Can Buy In India

Design and Build Quality

The design philosophy of the Vivo X21 and the OnePlus 6 is the same to an extent. When placed side by side, face up, you will fail to differentiate between the two. They both flaunt an all-display fascia with a notch on top and teeny tiny bezels on the sides and bottom.

However, on the flip side, both phones have notable differences. The Vivo X21 sports top-corner aligned dual-cameras on the back. The OnePlus 6, on the other hand, features the dual-rear cameras and fingerprint sensor in the middle.

Also Read: 16 OnePlus 6 Hidden Feature, Useful Tips, and Tricks

Talking about the build-quality, the OnePlus 6 sports a Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection both on front and back, which adds strength and durability to the device. Whereas the Vivo X21 has Corning Gorilla Glass 3 protection, which is comparatively less susceptible to scratches.

Both of these phones have a lot in common when it comes to design and build quality. The unique glass finish on certain models of OnePlus 6 makes it more attractive. The Vivo X21, however, is significantly lighter and a lot more comfortable to handle.

Also Read: How to hide display notch on any Android Phone [No Root Required]

Display

The competition is almost even here as both OnePlus 6 and Vivo X21 offers the same display quality (Both source same size AMOLED screens from Samsung). You get a 6.28-inch AMOLED display with a notch and full HD+ resolutions.

Having said that, OnePlus 6 still has an edge. The handset offers an option to choose between different accurate color profiles, something that’s missing on the X21. The OP 6 also has an added option to hide the notch and has higher display refresh rate.

Fingerprint sensor

The Vivo X21 is the first phone to sport the latest in-display fingerprint technology. The sensor is placed underneath the screen and you can access it by tapping on the panel. However, the sensor is relatively slower than capacitive ones.

Contrary to this, the OnePlus 6 has a capacitative fingerprint sensor on the back. The placement of the sensor may not be as convenient as on the Vivo X21 but I bet it’s fast as hell.

Since I have always preferred front fingerprint sensors, I will have to side with Vivo on this one. Your opinion may vary, though.

Performance and Software

Apologies to the Vivo fans, but on the performance and software front, OnePlus 6 beats the Vivo X21 hands down. The reasons for that – OnePlus 6 employs the industry’s most qualified chipset – an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset, under the hood. To boost the performance, the SoC is paired with up to 8GB of LPDDR4x RAM and up to 256GB USB 2.1 fast storage.

In comparison to this, the Vivo X21 is powered by Snapdragon 660 SoC, which is a decent SoC for a mid-range phone but nothing compared to the SD 845. Backing the chipset here is the 6GB LPDDR4 RAM and 128GB of storage space (which is comparatively more than what you get in the similar priced OnePlus 6 variant). The phone offers microSD card slot, but that’s hybrid.

Also Read: Amazon Echo Recorded and Shared Conversation Without Warning

Worth mentioning, both Vivo X21 and OnePlus 6 have VoLTE support on both SIM slots. That means you can use two Jio SIMs at the same time.

Both OnePlus 6 and Vivo X21 uses their own custom UI on top of Android Oreo, but it is OnePlus Oxygen OS, which is closer to the stock and the one we liked more. Funtouch OS that Vivo uses isn’t very pleasing/ attractive (personal opinion).

Camera and Battery

This may surprise you, but the Vivo X21 rear-cameras can shoot better images than the prominent OnePlus 6 more often than not. However, the same cannot be said for its front camera, which more often than not over-beautify selfies and makes them look unnatural.

The X21 sports a combination of 12-megapixel (f/1.8) and 5-megapixel (f/2.4) sensors on the back with LED flash, and a 4k video recording at 30fps. And its selfie camera is a 12-megapixel shooter with f/2.0 aperture and soft LED flash.

In the similar context, OnePlus 6 features a 16-megapixel primary sensor and a 20-megapixel secondary sensor on the rear each with f/1.7 aperture lens. The sensors are further backed by OIS and EIS support, LED flash and 4k video recording at 60fps. The selfie camera of OnePlus 6 boasts a 16-megapixel shooter with f/2.0 aperture lens and screen flash.

Also Read: Huawei Is Reportedly Developing A Folding Display Mobile Phone

Both Vivo X21 and OnePlus 6 with their respective 3200mAh and 3300mAh battery can easily last up to a day on a moderate to heavy usage. The OnePlus 6 also has an edge in terms of battery refilling as the Dash Charge is faster than Vivo’s Dual Engine Quick Charge.

Verdict

The Vivo X21 takes comparison down to the wire. It doesn’t feature specs as powerful as the OnePlus 6 but is still a worthy option to consider at a mid-range price.

Both phones are equally matched when it comes to battery, fast charging, and rear camera performance. OnePlus 6 benefits from better software and faster chipset. The Vivo X21 isn’t a slouch when it comes to performance. It’s more comfortable to handle and benefits from a cool in-display fingerprint sensor.