After a seemingly interminable wait, DxOMark camera benchmark results for the OnePlus 6 are finally in. However, both parties would have been better off waiting a little longer.
By the time Chinese manufacturer had launched its latest flagship smartphone back in May of this year, expectations for the all-new OnePlus 6 camera were already high. This was due in no small part to a consistent high-profile campaign of official teaser videos, competitions and even sample photo comparisons pitting it against the leading competition with some favorable results.
Flagship smartphone launches often launch alongside DxOMark camera results, typically placing the new release somewhere near the top of the leaderboard, but for the Oneplus 6 none were to be seen.
Today, DxOMark has finally released its full report – and the results don’t look so great for OnePlus. The timing of the release is also particularly unfortunate as work is already underway on several camera quality improvements which are unlikely ever to be tested by DxOMark.
OnePlus 6 sits in 10th place
With an overall score of 96 points, the OnePlus 6 sits in tenth place behind popular flagships such as the iPhone X (97 points), Google Pixel 2 (98 points), Samsung Galaxy S9+ (99 points) and a full 13 points behind the mighty Huawei P20 Pro.
However, as always, the headline DxOMark score is only part of the story, so let’s take a deeper look at the results.
OnePlus 6 Key Specs
The OnePlus 6 dual rear camera comes with a 16MP 1/2.6” sensor, paired with a secondary 20MP module. The primary camera features optical image stabilization and both feature bright f/1.7 lenses. This puts the phone in the same ballpark as its main competition in hardware terms but omits some key features such as a telephoto lens for optical zoom effects or an ultra-wide f/1.5 aperture like the Samsung Galaxy S9+. The former, in particular, can have a significant impact on the overall DxOMark score.
Strong photo performance, but not in all tests.
In the Photo section of DxOMark’s tests, the OnePlus 6 achieves a very respectable, if not exactly class-leading, score of 100 points. This places it a single point ahead of the highly-respected (but single-lensed) Google Pixel 2 and level with the Samsung Galaxy Note 8. It’s also just one point behind the iPhone X, proving that it can hold its own against much more expensive rivals.
It does, however, have some way to go if it’s going to challenge the very best, such as the Samsung Galaxy S9+ and the Huawei P20 Pro.
Nevertheless, the OnePlus 6 camera was praised for its superb autofocus capabilities, color reproduction and flash performance. All three of these sub-tests actually turned in better scores than both Galaxy S9+ and the iPhone X.
Having no dedicated telephoto lens puts the OnePlus 6 at a distinct disadvantage when it comes to zoom functionality, and this is reflected in a rather poor Zoom score which has undoubtedly brought down the overall rating to some degree.
Video performance less impressive
Scoring 87 points in the video test places the OnePlus 6 further behind its main rivals with the iPhone X, iPhone 8, Galaxy S9+, Pixel2, HTC U12+ all coming out ahead on points. DxOMark singled out problems such as “loss of detail in various lighting conditions”, “Strong ringing and over-sharpening” and “Visible difference in sharpness between frames”.
What’s not covered by DxOMark
As always, it’s important to note that the DxOMark tests examine only a relatively small subset of smartphone camera capabilities.
There’s no comparison of 4K or slow-motion video, either or both of which may be important features for you. The OnePlus 6 offers both of these features with 4K video at up to 60 fps, 1080p at 240fps and 720p at 480fps. These specs are strong enough to compete with most current flagships.
There’s also no test made of the front camera, and here the OnePlus 6 faces some stiff competition – especially from dual-front-camera models such as the HTC U12+.
Lastly, environmental protection from dust and liquid can play a big part in how usable your phone is in the real world, especially when using it in or near water. While the OnePlus 6 has been given no official IP rating, being billed instead as merely “splash resistant”, third-party teardowns have revealed a significant level of water protection built into the design.
Conclusion – none of this matters!
Taking price into consideration, the OnePlus 6 seems to offer excellent value in the camera department despite its somewhat lower ranking in DxOMark’s charts.
The lack of a telephoto lens certainly counts against it, and there’s no fixing that, but other issues related to image processing can certainly be improved upon via software updates. The issue for DxOMark here is that OnePlus has already released a software update containing many significant camera improvements which are unlikely ever to find themselves in front of DxOMark’s testers.
OnePlus’s new camera software claims to upgrade performance in fundamental areas such as “clarity, dynamic range, edge detection in portrait mode and overall focusing speed and accuracy”.
If the update performs as advertised, we could expect to see improvements worthy of at least a couple of extra points, and this is all that would be needed to push the OnePlus 6 ahead of the iPhone X and at a much lower price.
Of course, every other phone has also had the opportunity to improve performance after its DxOMark results have been released. It’s just a shame that in the case of the OnePlus 6, the report was published just hours before the new software had been made available.
See the DxOMark report for full details.
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