OnePlus 9RT versus Xiaomi 11T Pro, Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G: Every difference that you wanted to know

OnePlus has launched the OnePlus 9RT in India, finally. The phone doesn’t necessarily reinvent the wheel like earlier OnePlus products. It’s a mishmash of the company’s existing products namely OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9R, which makes it kind of confusing and unnecessary, too. But it would be crucial for OnePlus to compete in the increasingly competitive premium mid-range segment. Samsung’s Galaxy S21 FE 5G will be obviously one of its biggest competitors. It is another phone that’s good, but it suffers from its own set of challenges. You can read more about it here.

But perhaps the most potent rival – and arguably the most exciting phone we’re all looking forward to – will be the upcoming Xiaomi 11T Pro. Xiaomi will launch this phone in India on January 19. This phone beats the OnePlus 9RT (and Samsung Galaxy S21 FE) in almost every perceivable area, as far as paper specs are concerned. We will only be able to tell you if the phone lives up to the hype, once we get our hands on it, but taking all the specs and features into account (and the fact that this phone will also be eligible for three major OS updates), Xiaomi might just have its work cut out.

Here’s how the OnePlus 9RT, Xiaomi 11T Pro and Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G stack up against each other:

— The OnePlus 9RT and Xiaomi 11T Pro have glass backs. The Samsung Galaxy S21 FE has a plastic back. It has a metal frame, though. The 9RT also has a metal frame. The 11T Pro uses plastic here. The S21 FE is IP68 certified, while the 11T Pro gets IP53 splash resistance rating. The 9RT has no ingress protection whatsoever.

— The 11T Pro has the biggest, most powerful display stats among the lot. It has a 6.67-inch 1080p AMOLED display with 120Hz refresh rate and support for both HDR10+ and Dolby Vision. The S21 FE has a 6.4-inch 1080p AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and HDR10+ support. The 9RT has a 6.62-inch 1080p AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and HDR10+ support. The S21 FE’s screen can get the brightest (1200nits) with the 11T Pro coming in at second with 1000nits. OnePlus doesn’t mention any brightness numbers with the 9RT. Both S21 FE and 11T Pro have Corning Gorilla Glass Victus protection. The 9RT has Gorilla Glass 5. All the phones come with optical in-display fingerprint scanners and hole punch cut-outs.

— All the three phones are powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chip. The 9RT and 11T Pro come with up to 12GB RAM, while the S21 FE tops out at 8GB. All the three phones come with up to 256GB non-expandable storage.

— The Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G runs Android 12 based One UI 4.0. The OnePlus 9RT runs Android 11 based Oxygen OS 11 (in India). The 11T Pro should launch with MIUI 12.5 based on Android 11. The 11T Pro and S21 FE are eligible for three major OS updates (and four years of security updates). The 9RT will get only two major OS updates.

— The 9RT and S21 FE come with a 4,500mAh battery but while the 9RT supports 65W fast wired charging (charger in the box), the S21 FE tops out at 25W (no charger in the box). Samsung offers 15W wireless and reverse wireless charging in the S21 FE, though. The 11T Pro offers a 5,000mAh battery with whopping 120W fast wired charging with compliant charger in the box.

— The S21 FE has three cameras on the back – a 12MP main, a 12MP ultra-wide angle and another 8MP telephoto for 3x optical zoom and up to 30x software-induced “space” zoom. The 9RT has a 50MP main, 16MP ultrawide-angle, and 2MP macro camera. The 11T Pro gets a 108MP main, 8MP ultrawide-angle, and another 5MP telemacro camera. Xiaomi’s phone can record 8K video, if you’re into that sort of thing. The S21 FE and 9RT top out at 4K. The 9RT and 11T Pro have a 16MP front camera while the S21 FE has a 32MP front camera.

— The OnePlus 9RT starts at Rs 42,999 for 8GB/128GB. The 12GB/256GB version will set you back by Rs 46,999. Samsung has launched the Galaxy S21 FE 5G in India at a starting price of Rs 54,999 for a version with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage. A version with 256GB storage will set you back by Rs 58,999. The 11T Pro starts at Euros 649 (roughly Rs 56,300) for a version with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage. A version with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage will set you back by Euros 699 (roughly Rs 60,700). The top-end model with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage will be available for Euros 749 (roughly Rs 65,000).