First smartphone with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 reviewed

When Qualcomm unveils a new flagship SoC for smartphones and tablets, it's an exciting event. This year, the CPU can reach clock speeds above 5 GHz for the first time while consuming much less energy than its predecessors, thanks to the switch to the new 2 nm process.

First review of a smartphone with Snapdragon Elite Extreme Gen 6

Now, for the first time, we have also been able to take a closer look at a device with this SoC in our test lab: the OnePlus 16. Unfortunately, it will probably not be officially available in Western countries, but it can already be imported from China, for example from the provider of our review sample TradingShenzhen, starting at US$ 877.

Alongside a very fast display and a very powerful battery with real-world runtimes of over 29 hours, the new Qualcomm SoC also delivers plenty of power:

In some scenarios, it even significantly outperforms last year's Apple A19 Pro, and in general, it should offer enough power for any application. Only in extremely demanding tasks such as video editing or drone control might there still be minor performance differences compared with other high-end SoCs.

Performance is not always top-notch on the OnePlus 16

However, it seems that the OnePlus 16 cannot always unleash its full power: In some cases, it even falls well below its predecessors' benchmark scores. 

This is unusual for OnePlus, as the SoCs in previous devices always ran at full power, but also overheated very quickly. This is no longer the case with the OnePlus 16: Even after sustained load, we measure only a slightly noticeable rise in temperature, and throttling is less pronounced than on many other high-end phones.

"High performance mode" can boost the benchmark results a little further, but the OnePlus 16 still cannot match the fastest devices from the previous generation.

A balanced approach to the OnePlus phone's performance

It therefore seems that the manufacturer has switched from "maximum power at any cost" to "a little less performance, but consistent." We welcome this decision, as it is more honest with customers.

You can find specific benchmark results and much more information about the OnePlus 16 in our in-depth review.