Which Phones Are Equivalent To The OnePlus 16?

OnePlus is out with its first phone as an Asia-only tech brand. The OnePlus 16, with the inclusion of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6, Qualcomm's chip that keeps pace with the iPhone 18 Pro, is one of several next-gen stunners out in China right now. At a glance, the phone has a vibrant 6.78-inch 185Hz OLED display, a 9,000mAh battery with 100W wired charging, multiple 50MP cameras as well as a 200MP main camera, and up to 16GB of LPDDR5X Ultra RAM (no sign of the LPDDR5X Ultra+ RAM that was optioned for the OnePlus 15 last year) along with UFS 4.1 storage. All this raises the question of whether any good equivalents are out right now.

Powered by the 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 (separate from the standard Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6), Vivo-owned iQOO has released both the iQOO 16 phone and an iQOO Pad Ultra, while Xiaomi has unveiled the Xiaomi 18 Pro Max. We're likely not going to see those phones come to the United States. However, if you're truly itching for a first taste before Samsung inevitably brings its take next winter, look out for the Motorola Signature 27 and the RedMagic 12 Pro, both due out here in November 2026.

The RedMagic 12 Pro+ made its Chinese debut on October 15. In looks, it's got sharper corners and a metallic, LED-lit gamer aesthetic — gamers are the company's focus after all — but it does rival the OnePlus 16 on specifications: There's the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 chip, of course, but also a slightly larger 6.85-inch 185Hz OLED display; a smaller 8,400mAh battery that can charge at a faster 120W; significantly stronger wireless charging capabilities at 80W; and up to 16GB of LPDDR5T (the 'T' stands for 'Turbo' and is a SK Hynix product) RAM. 

The company isn't so keen on 200MP cameras and has opted to go with only two 50MP rear cameras. More pertinent to its audience, RedMagic has included highly sensitive shoulder button controls and a fully stocked cooling system, which includes liquid and vapor cooling, a robust fan, and graphene thermal materials. That might sound like overkill, but as we found during internal testing, the first smartphones with the powerful Snapdragon chip ran quite hot.

Sounds great, right? But what the rest of the world will actually be getting is the RedMagic 12 Pro without the Plus branding and possibly with reduced battery capacity, lower charging speeds, and throttled cooling. We presume details will be revealed when RedMagic announces global pricing and availability for the 12 Pro on November 3 at 7 a.m. ET.

All we know about the Motorola Signature 27 so far from company messaging is that it will feature the Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 chipset, a cooling system featuring a vapor chamber and diamond-infused thermal gel, a 200MP periscopic telephoto camera, another 50-megapixel camera using the Sony Lytia 910 sensor, and "immersive" sound tuning from Bang & Olufsen. There has also been some considerable hype from security-minded modders after the developers of GrapheneOS confirmed that they are working on a version of their Android fork for the Signature 27 — a few weeks after they announced that GrapheneOS is offering 7 years of software support for new Motorola phones. Expect to hear more from Motorola sometime in the month of November.

Aside from the Signature 27, Samsung is also expected to welcome Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 and/or the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 with the upcoming Galaxy S27 series. Longtime industry blogger Ice Universe on X notes the United States and China will be going with a Snapdragon solution of some sort, while most of Europe and parts of Asia will receive the in-house Exynos 2700 chipset instead on a Galaxy S27, S27+, and a new S27 Pro. No clarity on how the company will supply the S27 Ultra, so we're just as much in the dark as to how the OnePlus 16 will hold up against any member of this family.