The newly-arrived OnePlus Nord 4 wants to take the top spot on our best cheap phones list away from the Google Pixel 8a . But to do that, the Nord will have to top the Pixel when it comes to photography. The Pixel 8a is an incredible value when it comes to its cameras, which include 64MP main, 13MP ultrawide and 13MP selfie sensors.
The Nord offers similar specs, with a 50MP main, 8MP ultrawide and 16MP selfie combo. But Google's well-known for its photography prowess, especially with its image processing and AI editing abilities. OnePlus has historically struggled to match up to the best in the business with its own processing pipeline.
But every new phone is a chance to shake up our assumptions. So with the luxury of a trip to the Franciacorta wine region near Milan, I was able to take some fantastic photos of rural northern Italy with both phones. But which one did it better? Scroll onwards and see.
One thing I'll note before we get to the photos is that taking photos on the OnePlus Nord 4 is much less consistent than it is on the Google Pixel 8a. All my Pixel shots looked similar enough to one another, but the Nord's cameras produced photos in a range of brightness levels, even when capturing the same subject. For each comparison you're about to see, I picked what I felt was the best version of each image, but be aware that sometimes the phone took brighter and darker versions of the same shot, which could impact which photos another person would consider the best.
OnePlu.