OnePlus 13 Review: Leader of the Pack

Although the OnePlus 13 originally launched in China in late 2024, fans internationally have had to wait until the start of 2025 to get their hands on the company’s latest flagship phone. So the question is, has it been worth the wait?

As is custom, OnePlus has clearly worked to make its latest flagship the most competitive yet, beating Samsung’s Galaxy S25 to the punch with the use of Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, boasting cutting-edge silicon-carbon battery tech, the company’s fifth-generation Hasselblad camera system and a dressing of new AI features.

The hardware/software blend served up by the 13 looks competitive by any measure but holds particular clout in the US, where many of its most like-minded rivals – namely Oppo, Vivo Honor and Xiaomi – don’t feature.

The OnePlus 13 starts at £899/$899 so is it worth your cash?

Design & Build

• World-first microfibre vegan leather-backed phone
• IP68 & IP69 rated
• New magnetic ecosystem compatible with MagSafe

There’s no denying that the OnePlus 13 looks like a premium bit of kit, but I would posit that the design succeeds in spite of itself.

It’s littered with lots of high-end smartphone tropes, while also continuing the aesthetic narrative the company first set out upon with the OnePlus 10 Pro, but the end result just isn’t as cohesive as I expected.

In isolation, the screen, mid-frame and back are all well-executed. The front features a predominantly flat display with lightly curved edges and balanced bezels, there’s a polished metal frame with chamfered edges, and the back is either textured glass (with a wood-grain effect, if you grab the Arctic Dawn model) or the world’s first rendition of microfibre vegan leather on a smartphone, if you opt for the Midnight Ocean version which I tested.

It’s the sheer amount of different surfaces, radii and finishes at work that I think over-complicate the OnePlus 13’s appearance, but when not under such scrutiny, it’s an attractive phone.

Perhaps more importantly, despite its size, it’s surprisingly light in the hand (notably lighter than its predecessor, as well as the likes of the Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra), as well as being pleasantly thin.

The OnePlus 13 is one of the most practically-minded flagships out there, right now

All three colourways repel fingerprints well, and while I was worried that fancy new microfibre material would weather about as badly as Apple’s ill-fated FineWoven iPhone cases, it’s stood up to the punishment of everyday life over the month or so of testing, without any sign of obvious wear.

Provided you can get on board with the silver and dark blue colour scheme (which I also don’t think quite works), the Midnight Ocean variant’s vegan leather back is softer and far less susceptible to thermal conductivity than the glass backs of the Arctic Dawn and Black Eclipse models (not to mention metal-bodied OnePlus phones, like the OnePlus Nord 4).

In fact, the OnePlus 13 is one of the most practically-minded flagships out there, right now. As well as high-end aesthetics, OnePlus has also pushed for IP68 and IP69 certification; meaning it’s built to withstand dust ingress, as well as being both submerged or subjected to pressurized jets (at up to 80°C) of water. The addition of that IP69 rating renders it hardier than big rivals, like Apple’s, Google’s and Samsung’s latest, too.

The brand’s signature three-stage physical alert slider is present and correct on the left side of the 13, letting you switch between ring, vibrate and silent profiles (reflected in the operating system’s new Live Alerts feature – more on that later).

Just like the latest entries (the Oppo Find X8 and Find X8 Pro) from its sister brand, the OnePlus 13 is also the first of the company’s phones to adopt a new magnetically detachable accessory ecosystem.

By way of four new cases (in brown or black wood grain finishes, as well as a blue and red aramid fibre, and a sandstone dark gray case) you can attach a new magnetic 5000mAh power bank or 50W AirVOOC wireless charger to the back of the OnePlus 13.

Better yet, the design is compatible with the Apple MagSafe ecosystem too, massively expanding the accessory market for the company’s latest, a trait I hope continues with future iterations.

Screen & Speakers

• 6.82-inch ProXDR LTPO 4.1 OLED display
• Ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensor
• Ceramic Guard

Continuing the themes of durability and practicality, the OnePlus 13 is fronted by an expansive 6.82-inch panel that, unlike its predecessors, is no longer protected by Corning-made Gorilla Glass, and instead relies on what OnePlus brands as ‘Ceramic Guard’, much like what’s found on the outer screen of its OnePlus Open foldable.

The company claims that it’s “one of the most durable smartphone display glasses” out there, and reportedly offers superior drop and scratch protection, compared to Gorilla Glass Victus. Add to that a pre-fitted screen protector out the box, and it’s no wonder that – beyond the expect micro-abrasions – the panel on my OnePlus 13 has no obvious damage or wear to speak of.

In true OnePlus style, the company has thrown practically everything at the display on its latest flagship, and as a result, it’s the first smartphone to bag DisplayMate‘s A++ rating.

You’ll find convenience aids like a Glove Mode and its latest Aqua Touch 2.0 algorithm (ensuring reliable operation even with water droplets hitting the screen or wet hands), as well as the latest LTPO 4.1 OLED tech, which not only supports a dynamic refresh rate range of 1- to 120Hz (allowing for super-smooth visuals and better power management) but also supports two refresh rates, simultaneously; further reducing battery drain, compared to more convention 120Hz LTPO panels.

In spite of that screen protector, the OnePlus 13 also sees the company finally make the move to an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor, in place of the optical offerings it’s used since the OnePlus 6T.

As well as being more secure (as it accounts for depth) and faster (by up to 35%, according to OnePlus), it doesn’t require a bright light under-finger when pressed and bolsters that Aqua Touch 2.0 tech by also proving functional with wet fingers. It’s an upgrade we’ve only seen a few other phone makers turn to on higher-end handsets, with Samsung being one of the longest-standing users of the tech across its Galaxy S series.

there’s no denying that the OnePlus 13 is a feast for the eyes

As for OnePlus’ ProXDR viewing experience, the hardware on offer is exceptional, as expected. The 2K OLED panel offers great contrast with true blacks and vibrant colour output, plus a standard brightness output of 1600 nits and a peak of a whopping 4500 nits.

That translates to a significantly sharper and brighter viewing experience than any of the 13’s most prominent rivals.

Add to that more extensive colour calibration than the industry standard, and a wealth of tools to customise your viewing experience on the software side, and there’s no denying that the OnePlus 13 is a feast for the eyes.

The phone’s default ‘Natural’ colour space should be perfect for most users, but it’s nice to know there’s fine-grain control over colour temperature, as well as two additional colour profiles to choose from, in ‘Pro’ and ‘Vivid’.

As for eye comfort, as well as staples like Adaptive Tone, which alters colour temperature relative to your surroundings, OnePlus has taken a leaf out of the likes of Honor’s book and added new 2160Hz PWM dimming into the mix too; to better reduce display flicker at different brightness levels and thus eye strain.

As well as Bluetooth 5.4 and support for wireless high-res audio over the likes of LHDC 5.0 (as supported by the recent OnePlus Buds Pro 3), the 13 also packs a pair of stereo speakers, which deliver clear sound throughout their range.

I’d have liked better bass response and greater overall loudness too, but what you get is serviceable loudspeaker audio if you value clarity over body, when it comes to output.

Specs & Performance

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset
• Up to 16GB RAM & 512GB storage
• RAM Expansion up to an additional 12GB

Even with the staggered rollout of the OnePlus 13 (following its initial launch in China, in late 2024), the phone’s early January 2025 global release means it’s one of the first phones to the international stage rocking Qualcomm’s newest Snapdragon 8 Elite flagship silicon (coming in just behind the likes of Asus’ ROG Phone 9 Pro).

For tech-savvy early adopters, unwilling to wait for Samsung’s Galaxy S25 series, its release timing gives the 13 an undeniable edge; not to mention the clout to overshadow almost every other phone currently on the market.

OnePlus has clearly worked hard to improve aspects like sustained performance and cooling

OnePlus 13 benchmarks

In testing, it bested MediaTek’s Dimensity 9400 – which powers the recent Oppo Find X8 Pro – and even outpaced Apple’s A18 Pro, found inside the latest iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max.

Beyond the benchmarks, which highlight the bountiful headroom (ideal for years of use), OnePlus has clearly worked hard to improve aspects like sustained performance and cooling, through the use of an even larger pair of vapour chambers (9925mm2, versus 9144mm2 in the OnePlus 12); making this a great low-key gaming phone too.

Upgrades to the company’s Trinity Engine (a hardware/software interface layer which OnePlus developed in collaboration with Qualcomm), paired with performance-specific additions within the latest release of OxygenOS (namely a component called Parallel Processing), help deliver an even snappier looking and feeling user experience; from UI animations, to app opening speeds, to multitasking performance.

AI-based features are more prevalent than ever on the OnePlus 13, so the fact that the Elite also packs in a more potent NPU (neural processing unit) compared to the one inside the 8 Gen 3-powered OnePlus 12, is hugely appreciated too.

OnePlus cites a 45% uplift in AI performance between generations, and established features like AI Eraser are now up to three times quicker.

The unit I tested came backed by 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and a peak 512GB of UFS 4.0 (both the fastest and most power efficient memory standards commonly in use in the mobile market, right now), but 12GB of RAM and 256GB storage variants are also available in select markets.

As with most other recent OnePlus phones, you also have the option to reallocate some of that speedy storage (up to 12GB) as additional RAM instead, helping further improve tasks like resuming suspended apps.

This was something that stood out whilst using the 13 more than other recent flagship Android phones. I was able to return to apps after far longer periods of time than on rival devices, and the given app would simply be ready and waiting for me to pick up where I left off.

Cameras

• 50Mp main, ultrawide and 3x telephoto sensors
• 32Mp selfie camera
• Triprism folded telephoto optics

While a familiar 50Mp Sony LYT-808 sensor leads the OnePlus 13’s camera array – just as on its predecessor – it’s now accompanied by two more 50Mp sensors (in place of the the OnePlus 12’s 64MP telephoto and 48Mp ultrawide).

Similarly to the Find X8 Pro, the 13’s 3x telephoto relies on a new triprism component that’s allowed OnePlus to squeeze in a larger sensor, without adding bulk to the phone’s camera bump.

The ‘5th-gen Hasselblad camera system for mobile’ ups the ante on the existing standout features of the OnePlus 12’s system, with portrait shooting now accessible across 1x, 2x and 3x magnification, and 4K Dolby Vision video recording across all of the phone’s sensors (including the selfie snapper), along with the ability to move between all of the phone’s rear sensors, whilst capturing 4K HDR video; a feature with limited availability across many of today’s rival flagships.

Whilst there are new smart scenes (Stage, Fireworks and Silhouettes), which automatically tailor ISO to best fit a scenario (effectively taming the challenging lighting of London’s various Christmas displays, during testing), the OnePlus 13’s standard colour science dresses shots with a generally appealing, albeit specific look.

While there’s no denying that the latest Pixels and iPhones are among the best camera phones currently out there, today’s HDR algorithms have gotten very good at brightening dark areas in a scene; perhaps too good. The resultant effect can leave shots looking a little flat, with less contrast resulting in less dynamism.

The OnePlus 13, doesn’t suffer from this effect. The company has ensured that even with burst shots, their Dual Exposure Algorithm works to keep subjects sharp, while still being able to apply the full image processing pipeline, and generally, results are pleasing. Shadows are where they’re meant to be, without leaving contained details under-exposed, giving more drama to most scenes than you’d get out of the likes of a Pixel 9 Pro.

That heavier contrast does sometimes hurt colour reproduction, with greens and yellows, in particular, skewing darker than true-to-life, and oversharpening rearing its head under scrutiny, especially past 3x magnification.

It’s odd that the phone’s AI Zoom doesn’t kick in until 10x magnification, meaning it’s nothing but lossy zoom between the sensor crop-based 6x magnification and 10x, but detail in long-range shots is otherwise better than expected until you move past 20x, at which point the optical and electronic stabilisation can’t keep up if you’re shooting handheld, and post-processing oversharpens in an attempt to compensate.

Low-light shooting impressed, with regards to light capture and shutter speed, while the processing and exposure compensation on selfies felt more in line with that specific HDR look mentioned earlier, meaning well-exposed but less natural-looking snaps.

Greater colour consistency is needed, especially between the main and ultrawide, which could be fixed via a software update, while the oversharpening issue can be triaged in post, thanks to the ever-expanding suite of AI photo editing tools OnePlus puts at your disposal.

Within the native Photos app AI Editor, you can upscale shots using the AI Detail Boost feature, remove unwanted subjects and unblur intended ones, as well as remove reflections. Everything works as advertised and works well, with the reflection removal tool perhaps being the weakest of the lineup, at launch.

Battery Life & Charging

• 6000mAh battery
• 100W wired + 50W wireless charging
• No power adapter in-box

As mentioned earlier, the OnePlus 13 feels deceptively light for its size. That’s made all the more impressive when you learn that this phone conceals a massive 6000mAh battery; a capacity typically only reserved for specialised gaming phones (the recent Red Magic 10 Pro actually pushed past 7000mAh, while rivals such as the Galaxy S24 Ultra top out at just 5000mAh).

OnePlus has achieved this feat by switching from conventional lithium-ion (Li-ion) to far more energy-dense silicon-carbon (Si-C) battery tech. In fact, OnePlus claims that the power plant inside the OnePlus has the “highest energy density in a serial dual-cell design,” of any smartphone, right now.

From the battery standpoint, there’s little else that can match the OnePlus 13

As you can imagine, this leads to outrageous batter benchmark scores – particularly for a non-gaming phone – with real-world usage clocking in at an astounding 13 hours of screen-on time, guaranteeing a day of intense usage, two days of normal use, or potentially even more, if you’re sparing.

Add to that OnePlus’ ongoing commitment to granting its phones some of the fastest charging in the business, and from the battery standpoint, there’s little else that can match the OnePlus 13.

Check out our rundown of the best battery life phones for more.

100W wired charging is blisteringly fast, surpassing 50% charge in just 15 minutes and refilling completely, consistently, in 36 minutes. OnePlus’ battery tech also allows for Smart Charging and Charge Limiting to 80%, ensuring better long-term battery health with reduced degradation.

Those new magnetic accessories include a 50W AirVOOC wireless charging puck (with an integrated fan), which as you might expect takes about twice as long to refill the phone compared to its 100W wired charging (hitting 50% charge after 34 minutes). That’s still significantly snappier than anything the likes of Apple, Google or Samsung offer.

The only real caveat is that you’ll have to fork out extra to charge the OnePlus 13 at its quickest, as neither a power adapter or wireless charger comes in the box.

Software & Apps

• OxygenOS 15 atop Android 15
• AI features and Circle to Search
• 4 years OS + 6 years security update support

One of the company’s first phones to come running its latest OxygenOS 15 users experience (atop Android 15) out of the box.

Although the melding of Oppo’s and OnePlus’ interfaces has taken away some of OxygenOS’ individuality, it’s still an undeniably excellent reworking of Android that manages to walk the line between being feature-rich and intuitive to use.

There’s minimal bloat, with extras you’re unlikely to turn to often, like OnePlus’ own browser, Store and Community apps, but beyond that, the company’s flavour of Photos, the IR Remote app, Recorder and so on, are welcome inclusions.

Gamers will appreciate the Game Toolkit: an in-game overlay that frees up memory, manages power and touch performance, as well as granting additional control over notifications and other device behaviours, while also letting you capture your best gameplay moments.

Never has AI functionality been more prevalent within OnePlus’ user experience

OxygenOS already served up snappy interactions, but the additional animations that dress OxygenOS 15 add a level of polish and detail that helps the experience stand out against competition.

It looks as though Oppo and OnePlus have been paying particularly close attention to Apple too, with the new Live Alerts capsule unapologetically mirroring the functionality of the iPhone’s Dynamic Island. I do like it though, granting quick visibility or control over media playback and the like, without taking you out of the experience you’re already interacting with on-screen.

A powerful new feature that you won’t readily find on any other Android phone is a new ‘Share with iPhone’ wireless file transfer feature, with those who also use Apple’s smartphones or tablets, will undoubtedly enjoy making use of. It’s not as seamless or as reliable as Apple-to-Apple AirDrop transfers but it’s a bridge few others have tried to build, and that gives those devices with it, an edge.

Never has AI functionality been more prevalent within OnePlus’ user experience, with the aforementioned photo tools being just one-half of the story. Device-wide semantic search makes finding photos, files and accessing information within those files easier and more natural than ever before.

Meanwhile, AI Reply can generate responses based on the context of a message thread on-screen, AI Writer can generate full copy, based on a prompt of your own composition, and the AI Assistant in OnePlus’ native Notes app is great for refining, formatting or reworking your copy to better fit a different tone.

While not an AI feature in its own right, it was the ever-present Smart Sidebar that I found made accessing and leveraging the 13’s AI features fun and useful. If I was on a web page, the Sidebar would offer up the AI Reader tool, if I was responding to a friend on Instagram, AI Reply would suddenly be made available and AI Writer popped up whenever I opened the Notes app.

This dynamic surfacing of AI features is something I haven’t readily seen from other phone makers and it’s an implementation that I think best balances accessibility, without detracting from existing functionality; think Microsoft’s Clippy, but less pervasive.

A commitment to four years of OS updates and six years of security updates isn’t class-leading, but it should prove long enough for the average smartphone user, based on today’s data surrounding how long people keep their phones before upgrading.

Price & Availability

The OnePlus 13 launched internationally on 7 January 2025, costing £899/$899 for the 256GB model and £999/$999 for the top-tier 512GB variant.

Regional availability comes courtesy of OnePlus directly, as well as select retailers like Amazon UK. However, it doesn’t appear to be available with any carrier partners at launch, meaning it’s best paired with a SIM-only deal, if you’re looking for a complete switch-up.

It’s nice that OnePlus hasn’t included a generational price-hike, despite all that’s new inside the OnePlus 13.

The starting price means it undercuts the likes of the iPhone 16 Pro, Google Pixel 9 Pro and now year-old Samsung Galaxy S24+ (all of which start at £999), not to mention it’s cheaper than its most like-minded alternative the Oppo Find X8 Pro (which starts at £1049).

Check out our rankings of the best phones to see the top options.

Should you buy the OnePlus 13?

Despite a full month living with the OnePlus 13, I still haven’t fallen in love with its looks. That’s personal and while the camera needs some work via software updates (a characteristic for many OnePlus phones), the overall package marks undeniable value in the flagship phone space.

Its AI implementation is among the most engaging and enjoyable to use today, the performance and snappy software are better than ever, and outlandish battery longevity, paired with flexible fast charging, puts practically every other phone to shame.

If you want a better camera experience, Vivo and Xiaomi deliver while offering up similarly compelling hardware in terms of raw performance and modern battery tech, while Samsung, Google and Apple offer different and interesting AI experiences all their own, for a slightly higher price.

The OnePlus 13 is an excellent all-rounder that should last for years, provided nerdy-level camera performance isn’t at the top of your list.

Specs

• OxygenOS 15 atop Android 15
• 6.82-inch, 19.8:9, 1440 x 3168, LTPO 4.1 OLED, 1-120Hz
• Ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensor
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset
• 12GB or 16GB RAM (LPDDR5X)
• 256GB or 512GB (UFS 4.0)
• Cameras:
  • 50Mp 1/1.4-inch f/1.6 Sony LYT-808 main sensor w/ OIS
  • 50Mp 1/2.75-inch f/2.05 Samsung ISOCELL JN5 ultrawide
  • 50Mp 1/1.95-inch f/2.65 Sony LYT-600 3x telephoto w/ OIS
  • 32Mp 1/2.74-inch f/2.45 Sony IMX615 selfie camera
• Up to Dolby Vision 4K @ 60fps video recording
• Stereo speakers
• Dual-SIM
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6/7
• Bluetooth 5.4
• 6000mAh battery
• 100W SUPERVOOC wired charging
• 50W AIRVOOC wireless charging
• Magnetic accessory ecosystem
• 162.9 x 76.5 x 8.5mm
• IP68/IP69 certified
• 210g (Midnight Ocean), 213g (Arctic Dawn/Black Eclipse)
• Colours: Midnight Ocean, Arctic Dawn, Black Eclipse