After soft launching in OnePlus’ domestic market of China, the company’s flagship OnePlus 13 phone is finally available in Western markets. Serving as the direct sequel to last year’s excellent OnePlus 12, the 13 builds on relatively sturdy foundations.

With the OnePlus 13, we’re getting a large-screen device that’s loaded with high-end tech components, a software package that promises to be leaner and meaner, and a physical build that pushes the limits of water-resistant design.

With all this in mind, I jumped into the OnePlus 13 experience head first — here are my thoughts after having daily driven the handset, and after having tested out all its capabilities first-hand and in the real world.

Price, availability, and specs

In its base configuration, the OnePlus 13 starts at $900 and ships with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. A more expensive $1,000 variant is also available for purchase, which offers 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. Beyond this, all other components and features are identical across both versions of the device.

Regardless of which configuration you spring for, the handset is available in a single size class of 6.82-inches. This puts the phone firmly in the XL camp, with a footprint that matches up closely to its Galaxy S24 Ultra, Pixel 9 Pro XL, and iPhone 16 Pro Max contemporaries. For the numerically inclined, the OnePlus 13 measures in at exact dimensions of 6.4 x 3.0 x 0.4-inches (162.9 x 76.5 x 8.9mm), and tips the scales at 7.4oz (210g) in weight.

Tech specs are in line with what you’d expect from a flagship candy bar-style phone in early 2025. The brains of the operation is Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Elite System on a Chip (SoC), and the device runs off of a giant 6,000 mAh battery. All the latest radios, sensors, and technologies are present and accounted for, barring one protocol in particular (more on this later).

In terms of color, the OnePlus 13 is available in one of three distinct flavors: midnight ocean, black eclipse, and arctic dawn. In layman’s terms, this translates to colorways of the blue, black, and white variety. Unfortunately, the base model is only available in black eclipse — you’ll need to spring for the upgraded RAM and storage variant if you’re eying one of the other two pallets.

OnePlus 13 build and design

With the OnePlus 13, it’s all about refinement of the slab-style form factor

I’m a big fan of the look and feel of the OnePlus 13. In the hand, the device feels both solid and premium, with no unsightly creases or chassis creaking. A rather large camera module dominates the device’s rear, but OnePlus has done a good job of reigning in its optical package from a protrusion standpoint. Mercifully, the phone doesn’t wobble on tables when tapped and prodded at.

I do find the device feels a tad large and unruly in my hands, but this is down to personal preference. At the very least, the OnePlus 13 is a lightweight product that doesn’t tire out my wrist after extensive use. Nevertheless, a slightly more compact chassis would have hit a sweet spot for me.

The phone’s side frame is machined out of solid metal, while the rear panel material varies based on colorway. OnePlus appears to be particularly fond of its new midnight ocean variant — it’s the version of the phone seen most often in promotional art. I find the particular shade of blue chosen here to be a pleasant one, and its corresponding ‘microfiber vegan leather’ material is remarkably soft to the touch while retaining a luxurious feel.

If you spring for either the black eclipse or the arctic dawn model, your OnePlus 13’s rear will be made of an etched glass material. The former is designed to feel grained and textured to the touch, while the latter is silkier and more frosted-like.

The big headlining addition this year is the inclusion of IP69 water and dust resistance certification. Most modern high-end smartphones target IP68, which allows for the submersion of the product into fresh water at a depth of 1.5m for up to 30 minutes. With the OnePlus 13 and its IP69 rating, OnePlus has gone a step further — this phone can withstand scorching-hot 176-degree Fahrenheit (80-degree Celsius) water jets being sprayed at it from four separate directions, each for 30 seconds at a time.

Rather, the IP69 certification is there for some much-needed extra peace of mind. In the event that you drop the OnePlus 13 into your frying pan mid-cooking session, or you forget the phone in your pocket during a washing machine cycle, the phone should come away wholly unscathed.

OnePlus 13 display

It’s big, it’s bright, and it’s beautiful

Dominating the front side of the OnePlus 13 is its expansive display, which measures 6.82-inches diagonally. It’s safe to say this is a high-end smartphone panel in just about every metric. It uses OLED tech for bright and contrast-filled colors, it supports Dolby Vision HDR video playback, and it offers a sharp QHD+ resolution of 3168 x 1440 (510 pixels per inch).

The LTPO technology used within the OnePlus 13’s screen allows for a dynamic refresh rate of between 1 and 120 Hz, which makes scrolling feel incredibly smooth and responsive to the touch. Peak brightness reaches an impressive 4500 nits, and I find its sustained brightness of 1600 nits to be more than adequate for visibility under direct sunlight.

In short, this all translates into a display that’s big, bright, and beautiful. It’s also well protected by a Ceramic Guard tempered cover glass solution, but it unfortunately lacks the amazing anti-reflective properties of Corning’s Gorilla Glass Armor found in the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.

On another note, OnePlus’ decision to step away from the ‘edge’ or ‘waterfall’ display trend is one I appreciate greatly. The company instead employs what it calls ‘quad-curved glass’, which is a throwback back to the days of subtler 2.5D glass curvature (think: iPhone 6).

OnePlus 13 camera

Shutter lag is a thing of the past

The OnePlus 13 is kitted out with a triple rear camera setup, in addition to a single front-facing selfie shooter. Starting with this user-pointed sensor, it provides a wide 21mm focal length, a 90-degree field of view, and a 32-megapixel resolution. Other notable specs include a sensor size of 1/2,74″, and an f/2.45 aperture.

In my testing, this front-facing camera is about average. By default, OnePlus is happy to apply facial smoothing, which I promptly turned off. It doesn’t include autofocus, which some other flagship phone makers have begun to embrace, which is a bummer.

Flipping over to the other side, the OnePlus 13’s triple 50-megapixel camera setup is pretty great. The main wide-angle shooter clocks in at f/1.6, with a sensor size 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 features a 120-degree field of view, it ships with specs of f/2.05 and 1/2.75″ for f-stop and sensor size, respectively.

The photos speak for themselves — they’re bright and vivid, though perhaps somewhat artificial looking. As ever, it’s entirely a matter of personal preference whether you’re a fan of OnePlus’ image processing pipeline and the results that it spits out.

OnePlus’ new Clear Burst feature intrigues me the most; it uses the company’s Dual Exposure Algorithm to better freeze fast-paced frames of action. I tested it out by snapping photos of waves crashing against a shoreline, and the phone effortlessly captured the scene, water droplets and all.

The phone’s telephoto lens works well enough, but its 3x optical zoom range is noticeably more limiting than the 5x zoom lenses increasingly being shipped on flagship handsets. That being said, 3x remains a great focal length for portrait shots, and the addition of optical image stabilization (OIS) ensures clear photographic results.

In terms of video, the OnePlus 13 is capable of recording at 4K resolution at 60 fps, including in the Dolby Vision HDR format. In fact, all four cameras are able to do so, which is a nice (if rather niche) addition to the overall camcorder package.

OnePlus 13 performance

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

As we’ve come to expect with regard to OnePlus smartphones, the 13 is a monster in the performance category. Running the show is the powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, which is blazing fast both in daily operation, and while playing games or performing other graphically intensive tasks.

The Geekbench 6 benchmarking app nets a result of 3,121 in single-core and 9,498 in multi-core, which puts performance solidly up there with the best of the current Android competition.

Battery performance is also top-notch. Wired charging reaches an upward limit of 80W, which is the equivalent of juicing from 1 to 100% in approximately 26 minutes. The wireless charging front is equally impressive, with support for 50W top-up speeds.

OnePlus does at least provide a power brick in the box, which I appreciate, but its antiquated USB-A socket feels very much out-of-place in 2025. If you don’t plan on purchasing one of the company’s AIRVOOC wireless charging accessories, the OnePlus 13 is also compatible with the standard Qi inductive charging protocol.

Regrettably, there’s no Qi2 here, and therefore no ring of magnets built into the phone’s chassis. While this is certainly unfortunate, there’s a silver lining: OnePlus has incorporated magnets into its lineup of first-party cases for the 13, which unlocks compatibility with the best MagSafe chargers and accessories on the market.

Putting aside Qi2, just about every other high-tech specification and standard you’d hope to see in a 2025 flagship Android phone is present here. The USB-C port is speedy with USB 3.2 Gen 1 transfer speeds, and internal storage is equally zippy with UFS 4.0 technology backing it up. Even the fingerprint sensor is performant, with OnePlus having opted for an ultrasonic module (as opposed to a less advanced optical sensor) this year.

The OnePlus 13’s endurance is also predictably solid, with its 6,000 mAh cell regularly lasting me throughout the day and then some. My daily use case involves a mix of browsing the web, streaming YouTube videos, taking some photos, and jumping between messaging platforms. With this moderate workload in mind, I’m consistently able to eke out a day and a half before having to top up.

OnePlus 13 software

OxygenOS 15 focuses on speed, fluidity, and slenderness

When it comes to software, OnePlus’ historical track record has been somewhat of a mixed bag. The company’s custom Android skin, which it calls OxygenOS, has suffered from feature creep over the years, and its interface has increasingly deviated from that of the ‘stock’ Android Open Source Project (AOSP).

With OxygenOS 15 — which ships on the OnePlus 13 and runs atop Google’s Android 15 platform — OnePlus has taken measures to improve its overarching software experience. Namely, effort has been placed on making the OS smooth and responsive, with revitalized animations and ‘Parallel Processing’. This latter feature is technologically complicated under the hood, but all that matters is that it makes app launching and rapid-fire multitasking as smooth as butter.

OnePlus also boasts of OxygenOS’s smaller digital footprint this time around, which it cites as being 20% more compact than its previous incarnation on the OnePlus 12. Essentially, this means less pre-installed cruft running in the background, and more room for downloading your apps, games, and media files.

Artificial intelligence is in vogue these days, and the OnePlus 13 joins in on the fun. A number of AI-based photography tools are on offer, such as an image resolution upscaler and a reflection/glare eraser. Productivity features are aplenty as well, including generative writing tools, a more advanced system-wide search function, and access to Google’s features. Personally, I haven’t found a killer app yet when it comes to AI, but your mileage may vary on this front.

I remain partial to Google’s approach to the Android user interface design, which manifests itself in the Pixel line. That being said, I feel that OnePlus has done a good job of balancing a feature-rich software skin with the perks of a clean and simple UI. I love the added level of customization on offer in OxygenOS, and its flexibility fits in well with Android’s mantra of openness and user empowerment.

Most importantly, OnePlus promises to remain committed to Android on both the feature update and the security patch front. The company says the OnePlus 13 will benefit from four years of platform updates in addition to six years of security updates. This doesn’t top the impressive seven-year lifespan pledged by both Google and Samsung, but it sure beats the likes of Motorola, Asus, Sony, and countless other OEMs.

Should you buy the OnePlus 13?

Going into 2025, it’s hard to find much fault in OnePlus’s latest flagship candy bar-style phone. The company continues to solidify its position as a hardware specification trailblazer, and the OnePlus 13 is about as feature-packed as it gets.

The product line’s OxygenOS software skin has been something of a sore spot in recent years, but the OnePlus 13 benefits from a noticeably refined user experience with this latest version running atop Android 15. I still prefer Google’s particular take on the overall Android look and feel, but I appreciate the wealth of options found within OnePlus’ OS.

I’m so fond of the OnePlus 13, in fact, that my only major complaint is that the handset isn’t offered in a smaller size variant. I tend to gravitate towards more compact phones, and a non-XL variant of OnePlus’ latest and greatest would be a nearly irresistible prospect.

If you’re in the market for a new Android handset, the OnePlus 13 sits up there with the cream of the crop. Some minor software quibbles notwithstanding, the device provides an excellent user experience, and is well worth its price of entry in my eyes.

This device was provided to Pocket-lint by OnePlus.