OnePlus has been a bit up and down since it merged with Oppo back in 2021. It gained greater access to powerful components and partnerships with brands like Hasselblad, while its software and product lineup took a few steps back before finding its stride again. But now, three generations after the merger, OnePlus’ latest flagship phone — the OnePlus 13 — feels like a fantastic return to form. In some areas, the company is even pushing the limits of hardware and gadget design in ways that rivals from Samsung and Google aren’t. And with a starting price of $900, OnePlus has managed to undercut its closest competitor too, which makes this phone a great choice for anyone who cares more about getting hardware upgrades than fancy new AI tricks.
Design and display: Peak brightness and style
In a time when Apple, Google and Samsung’s top phones all sport minor twists on practically the same formula, I love that OnePlus is doing its own thing. Instead of a completely boxy design, the OP13 has tapered edges that curve gently to meet its metal frame. You still get the company’s signature Alert Slider which makes it a cinch to set your phone’s ringer to silent, vibrate or fully audible. But my favorite design feature is that if you opt for the Midnight Ocean or Artic Dawn colors, the phone comes with a micro-fiber vegan leather back. And in a world full of glass bricks, OnePlus’ organic upholstery is simply a joy to touch. This is the kind of handset I’d feel sad to throw in a case.
Meanwhile, the OP13’s 6.8-inch OLED panel dazzles thanks to bright, vivid colors and a silky 120Hz refresh rate. With a peak of up to 4,500 nits, it gets even brighter than other Android flagships including Samsung’s new Galaxy S25 Ultra (2,600 nits). The one aesthetic choice I’m still not sure about is the gigantic circular camera module on the back. Between its pearlescent finish and the four circles for its lenses and the flash/autofocus system, it almost looks like OnePlus smashed a chronograph watch into the rear of the phone. But maybe that’s just me.
Performance and software: So much memory
The OnePlus 13 is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chip along with 16GB of RAM and up to 512GB of storage. However, unlike the processors used in Samsung’s Galaxy S25 family, the chip in the OP13 doesn’t feature any additional customizations or overclocking. This leads to benchmark results that are about five percent lower (9,267 for the OP13 vs 9,828 for the Galaxy S25 Ultra in Geekbench 6 multi-core). In the real world, though, the phone still feels blisteringly fast.
I’d even argue that due to the OP13’s greater amount of memory, it’s a better choice for multitaskers or anyone who likes keeping a bunch of apps open in the background. Furthermore, over the past few years, OnePlus has refined Oxygen OS so that it feels smoother and more responsive than it did when it became a fork of Oppo’s ColorOS back in 2022.
On the AI front, OnePlus is keeping things refreshingly lowkey. The phone supports Google Gemini and Circle to Search for all your summarizing and question-asking needs. There’s also an improved search feature inside the phone itself that makes it a bit easier to find specific files and a smarter Notes app that uses machine learning to polish up, elaborate or condense quick thoughts. But that’s about it aside from an AI-powered translation feature that arrived shortly after launch, which is generally competent but not especially novel or exciting. So while AI is definitely present, it isn’t nearly as big of a focus as it is on the Galaxy S25 family, which isn’t a bad thing.
Cameras: Nearly top tier
The OnePlus 13 features a trio of 50-megapixel sensors for its main, ultra-wide and 3x telephoto lenses, plus a laser-detect autofocus system for increased sharpness. Altogether, it’s a solid package that can capture great-looking images at a variety of distances and viewing angles, with OnePlus adding things like its dual exposure Clear Burst tech to help make snapping fast-moving subjects a bit easier.
In terms of image quality, the OP13 does a good job of splitting the difference between having rich, saturated colors and crisp details, but without exaggerating things like you often see on Samsung phones, which tend to oversharpen or push warm tones a bit too hard. OnePlus’ 3x optical zoom lens matches those on similarly priced rivals like the S25+, though it’s still short of the 5x lenses found on the Pixel 9 Pro and S25 Ultra.
One small issue is that in low light, the OP13’s Night Mode sometimes struggled to keep up with the Pixel 9’s Night Sight, resulting in photos that aren’t quite as sharp or detailed as you’d like them to be. It’s close, but to me, OnePlus’ cameras remain a half-tier below Samsung, Google and Apple when shooting pics in darker environments.
Battery life and charging: Super fast, but it’s proprietary
It feels like every high-end Android phone has been stuck with 5,000mAh batteries for the past half-decade. But for this go around, the OnePlus 13 has smashed past that barrier with a 6,000mAh cell, resulting in class-leading longevity. On our local video rundown test, it posted a time of 30 hours and 18 minutes, which is almost an hour longer than the Galaxy S25 Ultra (29:27) and nearly three hours better than a basic Pixel 9 (27:32).
Meanwhile when it comes to recharging, the OnePlus 13 leads the way too with wired speeds of up to 100 watts or an impressive 50 watts wirelessly. However, the major caveat is that because OnePlus relies on its proprietary SUPERVOOC tech, you’ll only get those blistering rates when using the company’s first-party peripherals. Thankfully, an 80-watt charger comes in the box, though if you want to hit max power, you’ll need to upgrade to OnePlus’ 100W Dual Port adapter. It’s a similar situation for wireless charging, which requires the company’s 50W AIRVOOC puck. That said, the OP13 recharges more than twice as fast as a Galaxy S25 when using a cable and more than three times quicker wirelessly. Plus, you can still use universal power adapters in a pinch, you’ll just have to live with greatly reduced wattages.
Another small wrinkle is that though OnePlus says the 13 supports Qi2 charging, it doesn’t play nicely with magnetic third-party accessories without some help. In my testing, while the phone provides a weak magnetic connection, every Qi2 peripheral I tried slid off with the slightest movement. Like Samsung did with the Galaxy S25, OnePlus’ solution was to make a case with its own set of magnets that allows add-ons to attach with much greater security.
Wrap-up
Throughout the years, OnePlus has used taglines like “flagship killer” and “ultra in every way” as a means of taking shots at its biggest rivals from Samsung, Google and more. But for the OnePlus 13, it feels like the company just went and made a really solid premium handset without a bunch of AI fluff. The phone has excellent performance, a massive battery and a gorgeous screen that can hang with the displays on any of its competitors. It also sports a unique design with some down-to-earth touches like its optional faux leather back.
Granted, camera quality could be a touch better, especially in low light, and I really wish OnePlus had just included full magnetic Qi2 compatibility instead of forcing people to rely on a case. But hey, at least you get a superfast wired power adapter (which, unlike a lot of phones, comes in the box) and the option to use the company’s blazing charging puck if you want to go cable-free.
But most importantly, for a starting price of $900, you get longer battery life, a brighter screen, more RAM, greater storage and the same 3x zoom as a base Galaxy S25+ — all for $100 less. There’s no other way to put it, that’s just a good deal, even if OnePlus’ software support only lasts for six years instead of the seven you get from Samsung and Google. The OnePlus 13 is an example of how to keep things simple in an increasingly complex and AI-obsessed world while delivering on all the essentials.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/oneplus-13-review-a-focused-flagship-that-ignores-the-ai-hype-140013418.html?src=rss
