Honor View 20 vs. OnePlus 6T: Which should you buy?

The OnePlus 6T is widely considered to be the best value flagship around, but the Honor View 20 has been positioned as its direct competitor — a similarly affordable, high-spec phone with slim bezels and speedy performance. Without availability in the U.S., the View 20 isn't a viable option for American shoppers, but for all else, it's a worthwhile consideration.

Cleaner software vs. better cameras

From a hardware standpoint, there's not much to complaint about on either phone. Each has a glass and metal design with a rounded back and multiple color options, but the Honor View 20 has a more eye-catching chevron finish that reflects light differently depending on how you hold it. The biggest hardware difference is the location of the fingerprint sensor; the OnePlus 6T hides it underneath the display, while the View 20 has a more traditional placement along the back.

The 6T has a few hardware advantages over the View 20, though. It has a physical slider that allows you to quickly switch your phone to vibrate-only or Do Not Disturb modes, a convenience typically only found on the iPhone. It's also compatible with Verizon in the U.S. — even if you were to import the View 20 into the States, it will only work with GSM carriers like AT&T and T-Mobile.

	Honor View 20	OnePlus 6T
Platform	Android 9 Pie EMUI 9	Android 9 Pie OxygenOS 9
Display	6.4-inch IPS LCD 2310 x 1080, 398ppi	6.41-inch Optic AMOLED 2340 x 1080, 402ppi
Chipset	Octa-core HiSilicon Kirin 980	Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 845
GPU	Mali-G76 MP10	Adreno 630
RAM	6GB/8GB	6GB/8GB/10GB
Storage	128GB/256GB	128GB/256GB
Expandable	No	No
Battery	4000mAh	3700mAh
Water resistance	None	None
Rear camera	48MP f/1.8 + TOF 3D stereo camera	16MP f/1.7 + 20MP f/1.7 depth sensor
Front camera	25MP f/1.8	16MP f/2.0
Wireless charging	No	No
Security	Rear fingerprint sensor	In-display fingerprint sensor
Dimensions	156.9 x 75.4 x 8.1mm	157.5 x 74.8 x 8.2mm
Weight	180g	185g

Camera quality is one of the most important features in a phone these days, and this is an area where the Honor View 20 takes a big win. The 6T takes better photos than its predecessors with its 16MP primary sensor, but the View 20's 48MP camera captures more detail, has wider dynamic range, and performs better in low light. Honor's NPU built into the Kirin 980 chipset certainly gives the View 20 an advantage over the 6T here.

That may not be worth it if you're a stickler for software, though. The View 20 runs Honor's Magic UI (essentially a rebrand of EMUI 9), a heavily customized version of Android that's long been criticized by stock purists. The OnePlus 6T, by contrast, runs OxygenOS, an incredibly trim and customizable build of what's essentially pure Android. Both phones run smoothly with their respective UIs, though, so this mostly comes down to personal preference.

For shoppers outside of the States, this is a tough choice. The OnePlus 6T has cleaner software, but the View 20 has better camera performance. Both offer great battery life, top-end specs, and nearly edge-to-edge displays (though the 6T has a small teardrop notch while the View 20 has a hole-punch cutout). For U.S. customers, however, the OnePlus 6T is the easy winner; the View 20 is expensive to import, and won't work on Verizon.