The beauty of Chinese smartphone brands is the abundance of options for entry- and mid-range phones. The only downside I see is confusion. But anyways, we are here to tell of two (yes, two!) new mid-range phones from OnePlus: Turbo 6 and Turbo 6V. Yes, already, hot on the heels of the Ace6T.
These two new devices may be positioned as mid-range phones with sub-flagship performance, but man, the prices are pushing entry-level. More on that in a bit. Both models share many common features. The key differences are in the chipsets, memory types, screen refresh rate, screen protection (or the lack thereof), connectivity, namely wireless network, and the main camera.
Both the Turbo 6 [CH] and Turbo 6V [CH] have a 6.78-inch OLED that is completely flat, which is this season’s trend for smartphone makers. Both displays boast 2,772 by 1,272 pixels, pack 450 ppi, have the same 1,800 nits peak brightness, DC + 3840 Hz PWM dimming, and a 93.5% screen-to-body ratio. But the similarity ends there. While both use LTPS backplane technology, the Turbo 6 touts a 165 Hz refresh rate and 120/330 Hz touch sampling rate, while the Turbo 6V comes in at a slightly more modest 144 Hz refresh rate and 120/300 Hz touch sampling rate. The Turbo 6 also benefits from “crystal shield glass.”
Under the hood, the Turbo 6 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 Fengchi Edition, featuring the Fengchi Gaming Engine, a proprietary chip-level optimization designed to boost gaming performance. It’s the first chip-level gaming optimization engine in the industry, btw. So, yeah, the Turbo 6 is kind of a gaming phone. In addition, it benefits from faster memory, namely LPDDR5X and UFS 4.1. Meanwhile, the Turbo 6V is powered by a Snapdragon 7s Gen 4, paired with LPDDR4X and UFS 3.1.
In the imaging department, it appears that both models are the same. But no. There is a subtle difference in the main camera. While both devices’ main cameras are 50 MP wide-angle cameras, the Turbo 6 has a Sony LYTIA-600 sensor with an f/1.88 aperture and 26 mm equivalent focal length, while the Turbo 6V has an undisclosed sensor paired with an f/1.8 aperture and 27 mm equivalent focal length. Both main cameras have AF and OIS. Both the Turbo 6 and Turbo 6V share the same second camera, which is a 2 MP black-and-white f/2.4 aperture camera with a 22 mm equivalent focal length, and the same 16 MP front-facing camera.
The Turbo 6 gets the newer WiFi 7 and Bluetooth 6.0 wireless connectivity, while the Turbo 6V has WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2. Technically, both devices are rocking the “Ice River” heat dissipation architecture, but the Turbo 6 touts a slightly higher rate of heat removal at 2000 W/(m·K) versus 1800.
The Turbo 6 and Turbo 6V share the same 9,000 mAh battery, with 80 W wired charging and 27 W wired reverse charging, optical fingerprint sensor, X linear haptic motor, stereo speaker, dual microphone, USB 2.0 port, dual GPS plus tri-band Beidou, NFC, IR blaster, 11-band 5G radios, Lingxi chip (a dedicated touch-control processor), and P3 lite display chip. Oh, the Turbo 6 has an additional Gaming WiFi chip G1, which forms part of the so-called Gaming Tri-chip (literal translation) with the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 Fengchi Edition and the Lingxi Touch Chip.
It is also worth mentioning that both devices are IP66 + IP68 + IP69 + IP69K rated and passed seven military-standard durability tests.
Dimension-wise, both devices are identical, measuring 162.46 × 77.45 × 8.5 mm. However, the Turbo 6 is a tad heavier at 217 g, as opposed to 215 g for the Turbo 6V. Aesthetically, they borrow the sleek design of the OnePlus 15.
The OnePlus Turbo 6 and Turbo 6V smartphones have been launched in China with starting prices of 2,299 yuan [CH] and 1,899 yuan [CH], respectively (about USD 330 and USD 273).
Images: OnePlus [CH].
