OnePlus 13 overview: an act of refinement

After delicate launching in OnePlus’ home market of China, the corporate’s flagship OnePlus 13 cellphone is lastly accessible in Western markets. Serving because the direct sequel to final 12 months’s glorious OnePlus 12, the 13 builds on comparatively sturdy foundations.

With the OnePlus 13, we’re getting a large-screen machine that is loaded with high-end tech parts, a software program bundle that guarantees to be leaner and meaner, and a bodily construct that pushes the bounds of waterproof design.

With all this in thoughts, I jumped into the OnePlus 13 expertise head first — listed here are my ideas after having every day pushed the handset, and after having examined out all its capabilities first-hand and in the actual world.

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Editor’s Selection

OnePlus 13

The most recent and biggest flagship handset from OnePlus, that includes the all-new Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset and IP69 water and mud resistance. 

Professionals

• Attractive construct
• Blazingly quick {hardware}
• OxygenOS is smoother than ever

Cons

• No smaller dimension variant
• Qi2 is not constructed instantly into the cellphone’s chassis
• Anti reflective Gorilla Glass Armor is absent

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Value, availability, and specs

In its base configuration, the OnePlus 13 begins at $900 and ships with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of inner storage. A costlier $1,000 variant can be accessible for buy, which gives 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. Past this, all different parts and options are equivalent throughout each variations of the machine.

No matter which configuration you spring for, the handset is out there in a single dimension class of 6.82-inches. This places the cellphone firmly within the XL camp, with a footprint that matches up intently to its Galaxy S24 Extremely, Pixel 9 Professional XL, and iPhone 16 Professional Max contemporaries. For the numerically inclined, the OnePlus 13 measures in at actual dimensions of 6.4 x 3.0 x 0.4-inches (162.9 x 76.5 x 8.9mm), and ideas the scales at 7.4oz (210g) in weight.

Tech specs are according to what you’d count on from a flagship sweet bar-style cellphone in early 2025. The brains of the operation is Qualcomm’s newest Snapdragon 8 Elite System on a Chip (SoC), and the machine runs off of an enormous 6,000 mAh battery. All the newest radios, sensors, and applied sciences are current and accounted for, barring one protocol particularly (extra on this later).

By way of coloration, the OnePlus 13 is out there in one in all three distinct flavors: midnight ocean, black eclipse, and arctic daybreak. In layman’s phrases, this interprets to colorways of the blue, black, and white selection. Sadly, the bottom mannequin is simply accessible in black eclipse — you may have to spring for the upgraded RAM and storage variant should you’re eying one of many different two pallets.

OnePlus 13 construct and design

With the OnePlus 13, it is all about refinement of the slab-style kind issue

I am an enormous fan of the appear and feel of the OnePlus 13. Within the hand, the machine feels each stable and premium, with no ugly creases or chassis creaking. A somewhat giant digital camera module dominates the machine’s rear, however OnePlus has finished job of reigning in its optical bundle from a protrusion standpoint. Mercifully, the cellphone would not wobble on tables when tapped and prodded at.

I do discover the machine feels a tad giant and unruly in my palms, however that is down to non-public choice. On the very least, the OnePlus 13 is a light-weight product that does not tire out my wrist after in depth use. However, a barely extra compact chassis would have hit a candy spot for me.

The cellphone’s facet body is machined out of stable metallic, whereas the rear panel materials varies primarily based on colorway. OnePlus seems to be significantly keen on its new midnight ocean variant — it is the model of the cellphone seen most frequently in promotional artwork. I discover the actual shade of blue chosen right here to be a nice one, and its corresponding ‘microfiber vegan leather-based’ materials is remarkably delicate to the contact whereas retaining an opulent really feel.

In the event you spring for both the black eclipse or the arctic daybreak mannequin, your OnePlus 13’s rear will probably be made from an etched glass materials. The previous is designed to really feel grained and textured to the contact, whereas the latter is silkier and extra frosted-like.

The massive headlining addition this 12 months is the inclusion of IP69 water and mud resistance certification. Most trendy high-end smartphones goal IP68, which permits for the submersion of the product into contemporary water at a depth of 1.5m for as much as half-hour. With the OnePlus 13 and its IP69 ranking, OnePlus has gone a step additional — this cellphone can stand up to scorching-hot 176-degree Fahrenheit (80-degree Celsius) water jets being sprayed at it from 4 separate instructions, every for 30 seconds at a time.

Quite, the IP69 certification is there for some much-needed additional peace of thoughts. Within the occasion that you just drop the OnePlus 13 into your frying pan mid-cooking session, otherwise you overlook the cellphone in your pocket throughout a washer cycle, the cellphone ought to come away wholly unscathed.

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The OnePlus 13 will get a brand new digital camera function earlier than it even launches within the U.S.

The OnePlus 13 has added a macro function to its digital camera forward of its world launch that is anticipated quickly.

OnePlus 13 show

It is large, it is vibrant, and it is stunning

Dominating the entrance facet of the OnePlus 13 is its expansive show, which measures 6.82-inches diagonally. It is protected to say this can be a high-end smartphone panel in nearly each metric. It makes use of OLED tech for vibrant and contrast-filled colours, it helps Dolby Imaginative and prescient HDR video playback, and it gives a pointy QHD+ decision of 3168 x 1440 (510 pixels per inch).

The LTPO know-how used throughout the OnePlus 13’s display screen permits for a dynamic refresh charge of between 1 and 120 Hz, which makes scrolling really feel extremely clean and attentive to the contact. Peak brightness reaches a formidable 4500 nits, and I discover its sustained brightness of 1600 nits to be greater than ample for visibility underneath direct daylight.

Briefly, this all interprets right into a show that is large, vibrant, and exquisite. It is also nicely protected by a Ceramic Guard tempered cowl glass answer, but it surely sadly lacks the superb anti-reflective properties of Corning’s Gorilla Glass Armor discovered within the Samsung Galaxy S24 Extremely.

On one other notice, OnePlus’ resolution to step away from the ‘edge’ or ‘waterfall’ show pattern is one I recognize significantly. The corporate as a substitute employs what it calls ‘quad-curved glass’, which is a throwback again to the times of subtler 2.5D glass curvature (suppose: iPhone 6).

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OnePlus 13 digital camera

Shutter lag is a factor of the previous

The OnePlus 13 is kitted out with a triple rear digital camera setup, along with a single front-facing selfie shooter. Beginning with this user-pointed sensor, it supplies a large 21mm focal size, a 90-degree area of view, and a 32-megapixel decision. Different notable specs embody a sensor dimension of 1/2,74″, and an f/2.45 aperture.

In my testing, this front-facing digital camera is about common. By default, OnePlus is comfortable to use facial smoothing, which I promptly turned off. It would not embody autofocus, which another flagship cellphone makers have begun to embrace, which is a bummer.

Flipping over to the opposite facet, the OnePlus 13’s triple 50-megapixel digital camera setup is fairly nice. The primary wide-angle shooter clocks in at f/1.6, with a sensor dimension of 1/1.4″. The telephoto lens punches in at 3x zoom, and measures in at f/2.65 and 1/1.95″. As for the ultra-wide lens, which incorporates a 120-degree area of view, it ships with specs of f/2.05 and 1/2.75″ for f-stop and sensor dimension, respectively.

The images communicate for themselves — they’re vibrant and vivid, although maybe considerably synthetic trying. As ever, it is fully a matter of private choice whether or not you are a fan of OnePlus’ picture processing pipeline and the outcomes that it spits out.

OnePlus’ new Clear Burst function intrigues me essentially the most; it makes use of the corporate’s Twin Publicity Algorithm to higher freeze fast-paced frames of motion. I examined it out by snapping images of waves crashing in opposition to a shoreline, and the cellphone effortlessly captured the scene, water droplets and all.

The cellphone’s telephoto lens works nicely sufficient, however its 3x optical zoom vary is noticeably extra limiting than the 5x zoom lenses more and more being shipped on flagship handsets. That being stated, 3x stays an important focal size for portrait photographs, and the addition of optical picture stabilization (OIS) ensures clear photographic outcomes.

By way of video, the OnePlus 13 is able to recording at 4K decision at 60 fps, together with within the Dolby Imaginative and prescient HDR format. In actual fact, all 4 cameras are ready to take action, which is a pleasant (if somewhat area of interest) addition to the general camcorder bundle.

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OnePlus 13 efficiency

The tech specs are top-of-the-line in each sense

As we have come to count on with regard to OnePlus smartphones, the 13 is a monster within the efficiency class. Operating the present is the highly effective Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, which is blazing quick each in every day operation, and whereas taking part in video games or performing different graphically intensive duties.

The Geekbench 6 benchmarking app nets a results of 3,121 in single-core and 9,498 in multi-core, which places efficiency solidly up there with one of the best of the present Android competitors.

Battery efficiency can be top-notch. Wired charging reaches an upward restrict of 80W, which is the equal of juicing from 1 to 100% in roughly 26 minutes. The wi-fi charging entrance is equally spectacular, with assist for 50W top-up speeds.

OnePlus does not less than present an influence brick within the field, which I recognize, however its antiquated USB-A socket feels very a lot out-of-place in 2025. In the event you do not plan on buying one of many firm’s AIRVOOC wi-fi charging equipment, the OnePlus 13 can be suitable with the usual Qi inductive charging protocol.

Regrettably, there is no Qi2 right here, and due to this fact no ring of magnets constructed into the cellphone’s chassis. Whereas that is definitely unlucky, there is a silver lining: OnePlus has included magnets into its lineup of first-party instances for the 13, which unlocks compatibility with one of the best MagSafe chargers and equipment available on the market.

Placing apart Qi2, nearly each different high-tech specification and normal you’d hope to see in a 2025 flagship Android cellphone is current right here. The USB-C port is speedy with USB 3.2 Gen 1 switch speeds, and inner storage is equally zippy with UFS 4.0 know-how backing it up. Even the fingerprint sensor is performant, with OnePlus having opted for an ultrasonic module (versus a much less superior optical sensor) this 12 months.

The OnePlus 13’s endurance can be predictably stable, with its 6,000 mAh cell recurrently lasting me all through the day after which some. My every day use case entails a mixture of looking the online, streaming YouTube movies, taking some images, and leaping between messaging platforms. With this reasonable workload in thoughts, I am persistently in a position to eke out a day and a half earlier than having to high up.

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OnePlus 13 software program

OxygenOS 15 focuses on velocity, fluidity, and slenderness

Relating to software program, OnePlus’ historic monitor report has been considerably of a combined bag. The corporate’s customized Android pores and skin, which it calls OxygenOS, has suffered from function creep through the years, and its interface has more and more deviated from that of the ‘inventory’ Android Open Supply Venture (AOSP).

With OxygenOS 15 — which ships on the OnePlus 13 and runs atop Google’s Android 15 platform — OnePlus has taken measures to enhance its overarching software program expertise. Specifically, effort has been positioned on making the OS clean and responsive, with revitalized animations and ‘Parallel Processing’. This latter function is technologically sophisticated underneath the hood, however all that issues is that it makes app launching and rapid-fire multitasking as clean as butter.

OnePlus additionally boasts of OxygenOS’s smaller digital footprint this time round, which it cites as being 20% extra compact than its earlier incarnation on the OnePlus 12. Primarily, this implies much less pre-installed cruft working within the background, and extra room for downloading your apps, video games, and media information.

Synthetic intelligence is in vogue today, and the OnePlus 13 joins in on the enjoyable. Quite a few AI-based images instruments are on provide, equivalent to a picture decision upscaler and a mirrored image/glare eraser. Productiveness options are aplenty as nicely, together with generative writing instruments, a extra superior system-wide search operate, and entry to Google’s options. Personally, I have never discovered a killer app but in relation to AI, however your mileage might differ on this entrance.

I stay a fan of Google’s strategy to the Android consumer interface design, which manifests itself within the Pixel line. That being stated, I really feel that OnePlus has finished job of balancing a feature-rich software program pores and skin with the perks of a clear and easy UI. I really like the added stage of customization on provide in OxygenOS, and its flexibility matches in nicely with Android’s mantra of openness and consumer empowerment.

Most significantly, OnePlus guarantees to stay dedicated to Android on each the function replace and the safety patch entrance. The corporate says the OnePlus 13 will profit from 4 years of platform updates along with six years of safety updates. This does not high the spectacular seven-year lifespan pledged by each Google and Samsung, but it surely certain beats the likes of Motorola, Asus, Sony, and numerous different OEMs.

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Must you purchase the OnePlus 13?

Going into 2025, it is exhausting to seek out a lot fault in OnePlus’s newest flagship sweet bar-style cellphone. The corporate continues to solidify its place as a {hardware} specification trailblazer, and the OnePlus 13 is about as feature-packed because it will get.

The product line’s OxygenOS software program pores and skin has been one thing of a sore spot lately, however the OnePlus 13 advantages from a noticeably refined consumer expertise with this newest model working atop Android 15. I nonetheless desire Google’s specific tackle the general Android appear and feel, however I recognize the wealth of choices discovered inside OnePlus’ OS.

I am so keen on the OnePlus 13, actually, that my solely main criticism is that the handset is not provided in a smaller dimension variant. I are likely to gravitate in the direction of extra compact telephones, and a non-XL variant of OnePlus’ newest and biggest could be a virtually irresistible prospect.

In the event you’re available in the market for a brand new Android handset, the OnePlus 13 sits up there with the cream of the crop. Some minor software program quibbles however, the machine supplies a superb consumer expertise, and is nicely value its worth of entry in my eyes.

This machine was supplied to Pocket-lint by OnePlus.

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Editor’s Selection

OnePlus 13