The Apple Watch Series 6 does offer more than smartwatches by other brands, but the new OnePlus Watch does come with its own advantages.
The Apple Watch Series 6 represents the pinnacle of the company's smartwatch lineup, while the OnePlus Watch signifies the start of a budding wearable lineup that has potential. The gap between the two wearables is big, but both smartwatches do come with their own sets of advantages over the other. Here's a closer look at the differences and similarities between the Apple Watch Series 6 and the OnePlus Watch.
The Watch Series 6 garnered a lot of attention when it debuted last year during Apple's Time Flies event, and rightfully so. The Apple Watch Series 6 provides most features consumers are looking for in a smartwatch, from its personal fitness and health-tracking capabilities, to its range of social features. OnePlus, on the other hand, managed to release its first wearable after years of delays earlier in the year, and while the newer OnePlus Watch doesn't present anything new to the smartwatch scene, it does compete in some important categories.
The Apple Watch 6 features a 1.78-inch OLED display and is equipped with a plethora of health features, including a blood-oxygen sensor, irregular heart-rate indicators, electrocardiogram (ECG) and an altimeter. The OnePlus Watch comes with a slightly smaller but higher-resolution 1.39-inch AMOLED display. While its health features are a bit underwhelming in comparison, it does include a stress indicator and a blood-oxygen sensor. Color choice is a major difference considering Apple's offering comes in a whole spectrum of color options including gold aluminum, space gray, blue, red and more, while the OnePlus Watch is only available in one color, Midnight Black.
In terms of battery, Apple's latest smartwatch is rated to last up to 18 hours, and can be fully-charged in about 1.5 hours. The OnePlus Watch offers better figures, as is apparently can last up to two weeks and only requires a 20-minute charge for one week's worth of power. However, the Apple Watch Series 6 easily wins on storage with 32GB compared to the OnePlus Watch's 4GB. Other than that, both watches come with 5ATM water-resistance making them suitable for swimming, and also feature a microphone and speakers for calls and media playback. Apple's latest smartwatch does offer more versatility and longevity, given how watchOS continues to expand and improve with updates and third-party app support. In contrast, the OnePlus was runs on a proprietary smartwatch OS and this is likely to hamper third-party support, at least at first. Then again, the Apple Watch 6 is the more expensive model starting at $399, which costs more than twice as much as the OnePlus Watch at $159.
Overall, those who want to get the most out of a wearable, and are willing to pay a premium would definitely be better off with Apple's latest smartwatch offering, while those who don't mind less features and a simpler, no-frills wearable experience with an emphasis on fitness and health might be better off getting the OnePlus Watch, and especially if they are an Android phone user.
