Apple iPhone 6 vs Google Nexus 6

With the iPhone 6 now on our doorstep and being pre-ordered by the millions, those of us firmly entrenched in Camp Android are looking to the Nexus 6 to bring balance to the universe in the next few weeks. So given what we know so far, let's speculate on which phone is shaping up to dominate the rest of the year in our Nexus 6 vs iPhone 6 comparison.

Comparison between Apple iPhone 6 and Google Nexus 6

Design

The Nexus 6 is essentially a larger Motorola Moto X in terms of design. Considering the fact that the Nexus 6 is built by Motorola that should come as no surprise. The device also includes dual front-facing speakers, a centered camera on the rear of the device, and an aluminum frame.

The iPhone 6 Plus is, by comparison, a larger iPhone 6. It includes the same "premium-looking" design, and a very classy build. It is a little lighter than the Nexus 6, coming in at 129 g, compared with the Nexus's 184 g.

Display

The Nexus 6 will arrive with a 5.96-inch, QHD display with 2,560 x 1,440 pixel resolution and a pixel density of 493 pixels per inch. The AMOLED screen technology is a wise choice if the touchless controls and ''always-on'' listening are as big a feature of the Nexus 6 as they are to the Moto X.

The iPhone 6 on the other hand introduces a Retina HD LCD. ''Retina'' HD basically just means that its pixel density is over 300 ppi: in the 4.7-inch iPhone 6's case, 326 ppi. The screen resolution comes in at 1,334 x 750 pixels, which is just a tad above regular HD. The Nexus 6 will destroy the iPhone 6's screen, in terms of pixel density and size, but we'll have to wait and see them in real life to make judgments on quality.

Processing Power

The Nexus 6 includes a Snapdragon 805 processor, which is able to run at speeds of up to 2.7 GHz. It also has an Adreno 420 graphics processor and 3 GB of RAM.

The iPhone 6 Plus offers users a 1.4-GHz dual-core 64-bit A8 processor, which should offer plenty of speed for even the power-users among us.

In fact, both devices should be able to offer enough power to those that need it, making the competition fairly even.

Camera

The camera of the Nexus is usually its weakest point. While not a catastrophic flaw, camera quality is a serious concern for most smartphone owners, and its importance is only increasing. Google has announced it wants Nexus devices to offer a class-leading camera experience, and while we admire their pluck, we haven't seen a good enough camera to compete with the iPhone yet.

Keeping costs down on the Nexus usually means a smaller battery and weaker camera than many fans would like. The Nexus 6 has a 13 MP camera with optical image stabilization and a 2 MP front-facing camera.

The iPhone 6 comes with an 8 MP iSight camera that we expect will produce the same outstanding results we see on every iPhone and a low resolution front-facing camera. The iPhone 6 misses out on OIS, but its bigger brother, the iPhone 6 Plus has OIS on board. We have to be honest though, we fully expect the iPhone 6 camera to embarrass the Nexus 6 camera.

Fingerprint sensor

Apple's Touch ID sensor is the best in the business. And with iOS 8, it doesn't just let you easily secure your phone – it also plays nicely with third-party apps. Password managers are an especially great fit for the sensor.

Battery

This is another incomplete for the Nexus 6. The iPhone had very good (but not quite the best) battery life when we ran it through our battery benchmark.

Conclusion

The Nexus line is like the Android prophet: not everyone listens but those that do listen to every word and accept it as Truth. We expect the Nexus 6 to be just as impressive as the Nexus 5 was but with even better specs and performance.

The iPhone 6 is probably much the same for iOS fans, although of course I'm going to compare it to a cult leader instead. Most Apple fans are simply not as concerned with the internal specs of their idevices as they are simply with owning the newest iPhone, and this alone will assure the iPhone 6 of insane levels of success.