Beebom
Rating7
The OnePlus N6x delivers all the essentials of a budget smartphone. The build quality is sturdy, and the 120 Hz display coupled with OxygenOS keeps the daily experience smooth. Its battery can comfortably push into a second day without needing you to hunt for a charger. While the cameras shine in daylight photos, the Camera app does need some optimisations. Overall, it remains a good pick if you want a phone for basic daily needs but also prioritise extended battery life.
Pros
- Solid build quality and premium finish
- Strong battery endurance
- Smooth 120 Hz screen
- Main camera captures natural-looking daylight shots
- Decent performance for the price
Cons
- Slow charging speed
- Selfie photos are average at best
- Camera app frequently freezes
At a time when brands are cancelling their budget devices, OnePlus seems to be doubling down on its efforts to launch a new phone around Rs 20,000. First came the CE 6 Lite that got a price bump, and the OnePlus N6 took its spot. And now that it has also gone up, OnePlus launched the new N6x. And as with most OnePlus phones in the Beebom office, I took the charge to review the OnePlus N6x, and here is how my experience went after a week with the phone.
OnePlus N6x Box Contents
Here is everything bundled inside with the OnePlus N6x that you will find inside its box:
- OnePlus N6x smartphone
- Silicon case
- USB-A to USB-C cable
- 15W charger
- SIM ejector tool
- Pre-applied screen protector
- Paperwork
Before moving further with the review, here are the key specs of the device that you should keep in mind.
OnePlus N6x Key Details
Note: Our testing, opinion, and rating for this review are based on the phone's launch price. We recommend checking the current price before making a purchase decision.
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Design and Build
- 8.7 mm thickness, 214 grams weight
- Plastic frame and back, MIL-STD-810H compliant
- IP 64 dust and splash resistance
I am using the Ice Cold colour variant of the OnePlus N6x for my review, and its design appears quite similar to the OnePlus Nord CE5 launched last year. Like that phone, the N6x has a complete plastic construction, but the build quality feels surprisingly solid for the segment.
Nothing creaks or squeaks under pressure, even after I dropped it a couple of times straight onto concrete and tarmac while taking samples. It took the beating like a champ and came away without a single scratch.
The back has a matte texture and not the soft-touch kind found on the Lava Virat V1 5G or the OnePlus N6 I reviewed before this. It's the OG OnePlus One-like coarse, rough sandstone matte plastic. It elevates the experience of using this device and gives it a slightly premium feel, and I wish more OnePlus phones sported this finish.
Everyone I handed it to loved the texture on the back. That is why the supplied case never went on during my week-long OnePlus N6x review period.
The sides are flat, and the phone leans towards the heavier end, but it is manageable enough that I could easily walk around with it in my hands and pockets without any complaints. It sits at nearly the same thickness (8.6mm) and weight (210 grams) as the Nothing Phone (4b), which I called "easier to grip and carry" in my Phone (4b) review, and the same applies to the N6x.
The volume and power buttons are plastic with a tactile press, and there is a surprise cameo from the headphone jack up top, which I last came across during the Lava Virat V1 5G review. On protection, the N6x carries an IP64 rating. So, dust is fully covered, but you will want to be careful around water.
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Display and Audio Quality
- 8-inch HD+ (720 x 1570 pixels) LCD display
- 120Hz refresh rate, Panda glass protection
- 900 nits high brightness, 700 nits standard brightness
The N6x has a dewdrop notch up top and a 6.8-inch HD+ LCD, which is the new norm among phones around Rs 20,000. It has a 120Hz refresh rate, which kept the phone responsive to touch, and scrolling through the interface and apps stayed smooth.
The display holds up well for watching YouTube and scrolling through Instagram and other apps. And that is pretty much what my routine looked like throughout the N6x review period. Colours look washed out, as they tend to on LCD panels, but switching to the Vivid display setting added some vibrancy back to the screen. This is a serviceable screen for basic content consumption which should be fine for most users.
But brightness is where it fumbles. The panel simply does not get bright enough outdoors, and every time I stepped outside, I ended up cupping a hand over the screen to read anything on it. For anyone who spends a lot of their day outdoors, you should consider the OnePlus N6 or the Galaxy M17 instead.
Sound comes from a single speaker at the bottom, and it is loud enough that I never reached for the volume-up button to squeeze more out of it. It is perfectly audible for casual watching without needing earbuds.
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Performance Tested
- MediaTek Dimensity 6360 Apex Processor
- Up to 6 GB LPDDR4X RAM and 256 GB UFS 2.2 storage
The OnePlus N6x also recycles the MediaTek Dimensity 6360 Apex chipset from the OnePlus N6, and I tested it across different benchmarks. Strangely for me, it scored higher numbers in Antutu and Geekbench 6 multi-core than what I got during my OnePlus N6 review. Even though I am using the 4 GB RAM variant of the N6x too.
In normal usage, I found that the general experience was decent enough that apps opened up quickly, and there were not a lot of performance issues to speak of. Multitasking is where the phone shows its limits, especially in the 4 GB RAM variant that I used.
Switching between apps made the phone slow down quite a lot for a breather. That small memory pool also means the phone drops heavy apps from memory. And running two apps at the same time, like using Google Maps while clicking photos, made the device almost non-responsive.
Gaming is possible, but with a BIG asterisk. BGMI and COD Mobile both support 60 FPS at the lowest graphic settings, and both played well at the start, near 60 FPS with occasional dips to 30 FPS. But after I downloaded all the skins and camos, the performance fell to 45 FPS, with frames constantly dropping to 30 and below.
The back also warmed up after about an hour of gaming. Nothing alarming, but worth mentioning. If gaming is a priority, I would recommend the 6 GB variant or getting the OnePlus Nord CE 6 Lite, which fared better in gaming tests during my CE 6 Lite review.
| Game | Settings |
|---|---|
| BGMI | Smooth + Extreme (60 fps) |
| CoD Mobile | Low + Max (60 fps) |
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Software and Updates
- OxygenOS 16 based on Android 16
- 2 years of Android updates and 3 years of security patches
Software is the familiar OxygenOS 16 on Android 16, and it remains smooth. This might be the last OnePlus phone to ship with OxygenOS, as it will be merged with ColorOS with the Android 17 update.
Going over the general software experience, it delivers a decent experience with nice animations embedded across the UX and several customisations to tweak the icons, theme, font and more.
I also liked that OnePlus kept the Dynamic Island live activities alive on this device. Even though it has a notch. So you can check up on deliveries, navigation and music playback right from the top.
There is a fair amount of bloatware preinstalled, but the situation is not as bad as what I went through in my Vivo T5 Lite review. But after a few days, I did start noticing that the UI had become sluggish, and I had to go out of my way to turn off animations and such to keep the phone at a usable level of responsiveness.
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Cameras Reviewed
- 13 MP main camera
- 8 MP selfie camera
- 1080p @ 30 FPS recording from front and back cameras
The N6x keeps things sparse. There is one 13 MP camera at the back with autofocus and up to 10x digital zoom and a 5 MP camera on the front. The video tops at 1080p at 30 FPS.
Before getting to the samples, I want to address the experience of using the cameras, as it is the more pressing issue. Shooting on the N6x is like rolling the dice. The camera shutter stopped responding occasionally.
So, I was left awkwardly holding the same position, waiting for the phone to click the photo, and it would frequently fire close to a minute after I pressed the button. And when the phone was in the mood, it clicked the shot instantly. This inconsistency is why my experience clicking photos for the N6x review was not as enjoyable as I expected.
Main Camera
Once you actually get the shot, the results are decent across the board for a phone in the price segment. Daylight image samples from the 13 MP main camera carry a natural colour tone for the most part. I preferred this over other similarly priced phones that opt for a more boosted look.
The images of Ugrasen ki Baoli and Connaught Place market are good examples of the natural look that I am talking about. Some people will find these shots bland, but I prefer the honest version instead.
However, one exception to that is the shot of the crocheted roses and sunflower, which came out looking a little too vibrant. Details hold up reasonably well for a 13 MP sensor during daytime. The dynamic range is decent too, as it did not turn the cloudy, dull sky into a white background that I experienced during my Infinix Note 60 Pro review.
Night is where things get harder. Noise fills the frame in poorly lit scenes, and bright light sources tend to blow out into flat white with no detail left. The good area is exposure handling around direct light sources. The phone does not panic and crush the rest of the scene to protect a highlight, which is a failure mode plenty of budget camera phones tend to have.
Front Camera
The images from the front 5MP selfie camera are average at best, as the smaller lens captures good shots in daylight. The shutter and delay issues carry over here too. Skin tones appear a bit yellowish for my liking, and the portrait cutouts are jagged and not accurate.
Battery Life and Charging
- 7,000mAh battery capacity
- 15W wired charging
Battery life is where the N6x excels, like most budget battery phones. I pulled around 8 hours of screen-on time across mixed usage. It covered video calls with friends, scrolling Instagram, a few long YouTube sessions over the weekend, music playback, and stretches of using the phone as a hotspot.
For anyone with lighter usage on their phone, this battery can stretch to 2 days easily. I usually put my phone to charge almost as soon as I go to sleep, and that is because of the slow charging speed. It only supports 15W charging. So it took around 2 hours to get from 5–100% during my testing.
OnePlus N6x Review Verdict: Should You Buy It?
While I was in the middle of writing this review, the OnePlus N6x received a price hike. It goes to show the unpredictable nature of the current smartphone market affected by the ongoing memory and RAM shortage.
That is why I will start with the good aspects. The OnePlus N6x definitely sports one of my favourite designs, and all the credit goes to the sandstone matte texture. The battery life is reliable, and the display serves well for watching content. The device covers the basic requirements most people expect out of a phone from this price segment.
But yes, patience will be required when using this device, and I cannot recommend the 4 GB RAM variant given the hardships I faced during this N6x review. I also wish OnePlus had at least provided fast charging support, as they did with the Nord CE 6 and the CE 6 Lite. That said, if you are in the market for a practical phone with a big battery and the OxygenOS experience, then the OnePlus N6x might fit your needs.
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