A terminal detection method obtaining current first position information of a terminal, where the first position information indicates that a position where the terminal is currently located is a first position and, when the first position information does not match second position information stored in the terminal, obtaining a first direction vector between a target base station and the terminal, where the target base station is to be accessed by the terminal. A current first normal vector of an antenna array plane of the terminal is obtained. A first target vector according to the first direction vector and the first normal vector is determined. The first target vector instructs the terminal to search for a signal transmitted by the target base station in a direction of the first target vector. The method and related terminal may be applied to the process of the terminal accessing the target base station.