Neither phone stands out when it comes to design. Aside from their one-off color variants (the Pixel 2 in blue and the OnePlus 6 in white and rose gold), both look bland. But the Pixel 2 is waterproof.

Similar to the move Apple and  made with their flagships, waterproofing the Pixel 2 not only makes it truly competitive to the top-tier phones, but it’s just more durable for users too. google-pixel-2-0476-024 The OnePlus 6 has a large screen and barely-there bezels. Josh Miller/CNET I wish the OnePlus 6 had followed suit. (OnePlus does claim that the OnePlus 6 is more water resistant than past iterations, but because it’s not IP-certified for water protection you can forget about dunking it safely underwater.)

But in every other design aspect, the phone has the upperhand. It has a bigger 6.28-inch screen, ultra-thin bezels and a headphone jack. The latter is particularly beneficial to me since it means I can still use my beloved headphones without carrying around a dongle.