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OnePlus staged a comeback in 2024 with the OnePlus 12, the Nord 4, and the Open. All of those phones were at least competitive and often excellent.
However, they still remained tough sells in markets where Apple, Google, and Samsung tended to dominate — how would they stand out besides their good prices?
The OnePlus 13, now available globally, is the answer to that question. Simply put, there are now multiple good reasons to pick the Oppo sub-brand’s flagship over the alternatives, including top-flight performance and durability that’s more than just a gimmick.
While there are still reasons to consider rivals, those challengers now have some catching up.
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OnePlus 13 Design: Durability & Qi2 (MagSafe) Are the Stars
The OnePlus 13 shares a few cosmetic similarities with the 12, including a circular camera array and the signature (not to mention very convenient) three-step ringer switch. After that, though, there are a host of frankly vital upgrades.
The 13 is billed as the first phone that’s not only IP68 water- and dust-resistant, letting you recover it after a drop in the pool, but IP69 as well. It can survive water jets for up to 30 seconds and temperatures as high as 176F (80C).
In other words, it can withstand runs through your dishwasher, washing machine, and even hot tubs — OnePlus subjected the phone to hours of cleaning cycles during one demo day I attended.
No, this isn’t just a party trick. As the parent of a toddler, I know about the risks of a phone tossed into the washer. You might also want to sanitize your phone in the dishwasher.
While I wouldn’t buy the OnePlus 13 just for these perks, they’re worth considering if you have ever lost a phone on laundry day or covered the device in grime. Salt water is still a no-go, but the company claims that even hot cooking oil shouldn’t ruin your device if you can recover it quickly.
The durability extends beyond journeys through your appliances. The microfiber vegan leather back on my Midnight Ocean (read: blue) review unit not only feels premium but didn’t scuff or scratch during my testing. The black-and-white variants are tough, too.
I just wish that OnePlus would choose a material other than polished metal for the frame, as polished metal is bound to attract fingerprints much more than the aluminum 13R. The Ceramic Guard display glass (with a pre-installed screen protector) stayed unblemished in my usage.
Not surprisingly, you won’t find a headphone jack or a microSD storage slot in an era where both are increasingly rare. You will, however, find support for Qi2 and Apple MagSafe wireless charging — in a manner of speaking.
While the OnePlus 13 doesn’t have the necessary magnets built into its chassis, ostensibly due to space constraints, you can get official Qi2 cases that provide the functionality. The case for my review unit worked beautifully with a range of chargers, including OnePlus’s own (more on that later).
Still, I would really have liked to integrate Qi2 so that I didn’t have to cover beautiful hardware.
Regular Qi charging is always an option.
OnePlus 13 Display & Audio Review: One of the Best in Class
The 6.8-inch, 1440p OLED display on the OnePlus 13 initially looks like a par-for-the-course screen, complete with support for common HDR formats like Dolby Vision and HDR10+, but there are a few marked improvements.
To start, there’s finally a flat display — the borders are curved, but you won’t have trouble either interacting with content or applying a third-party screen protector.
More importantly, it’s a highly efficient screen. While it’s easy to find phones that can ramp between a miserly 1Hz refresh rate and a smooth 120Hz, the OnePlus 13 can change those rates for specific areas of the screen. You might see a video play at 60Hz while the static text below it runs at 30Hz or less, for example.
In practice, that lets you run the screen at full resolution and speed without worrying about a tangible hit to battery life — I kept my display at maximum quality throughout my review.
OnePlus is also keen to tout the industry’s first DisplayMate A++ rating, although that really amounts to a slightly more vivid and color-accurate picture than you’d get with some other manufacturers. I’m more interested in RadiantView, a feature that adjusts brightness and colors for viewability in very bright scenes. I didn’t have problems seeing the screen during particularly sunny days in the Caribbean, and that’s telling when even great phones like the iPhone 16 Pro and Pixel 9 occasionally struggle in bright daylight.
The screen continues to support gloves and wet fingers like earlier OnePlus models, so this might be your pick if you live in a cold climate or get caught in the rain. The ultrasonic fingerprint reader is fast, although I’d recommend registering a finger more than once to make sure it signs you in reliably — for me, at least, it’s not as consistent in recognizing prints as sensors like that on the Pixel 9.
The audio quality is good, though not stunning. More than anything, the 13 gets loud relatively quickly. Haptics, on the other hand, are above-average and deliver subtle bumps and taps along with stronger (but not annoying) buzzes.
OnePlus 13 Performance Review: Android’s Reigning Champ, For Now
The Snapdragon 8 Elite in the OnePlus 13 is sold as one of the largest generational jumps for a Qualcomm chip in recent memory, with gains over the 8 Gen 3 peaking between 40% to 45%, depending on the task.
Unsurprisingly, Qualcomm wants to tout on-device AI improvements as well, although those aren’t as immediately useful when ChatGPT and many other large language models (LLMs) still tend to run in the cloud.
In the real world, this still amounts to a phone that rarely slows down for anything. Thanks in part to some interface responsiveness optimizations, the 13 feels extremely fluid and speedy even when you’re purposefully putting it under strain, such as rapidly jumping between apps or running demanding programs side-by-side.
Admittedly, there were few problems with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 or comparable chips from last year; it’s just good to know that you’ll virtually never encounter any stuttering or lag.
That’s borne out in benchmarks. Like the handful of 8 Elite phones on the market (such as ASUS’ ROG Phone 9 Pro), the OnePlus 13 demolishes last-gen Android devices and, frequently, the iPhone 16 Pro.
In Geekbench 6, it manages 3,077 single-core and 9,350 multi-core results that thrash the respective 2,257 and 6,703 figures from Samsung’s Galaxy S24 Ultra.
The iPhone leads in single-core with a 3,370 score but trails in multi-core at 8,292. The gap is even more apparent in 3DMark’s tests. The intensive Wild Life Extreme hits 6,630 (versus 4,526 for the S24 Ultra and 4,235 for the iPhone), and the ray-tracing oriented Solar Bay peaks at a whopping 11,770 compared to 7,833 for Samsung’s hardware and 7,827 for Apple’s.
| Model | Geekbench 6 Single-Core | Geekbench 6 Multi-Core | 3DMark Wild Life Extreme | 3DMark Solar Bay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OnePlus 13 | 3,077 | 9,350 | 6,630 | 11,770 |
| Galaxy S24 Ultra | 2,257 | 6,703 | 4,526 | 4,235 |
| iPhone 16 Pro | 3,370 | 8,292 | 4,235 | 7,827 |
Does this matter in gaming? Sometimes. The OnePlus 13 hits Genshin Impact‘s 60 frames per second Android cap like last year’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 phones did, but it noticeably reduces the number of slowdowns during intensive moments. PUBG has a OnePlus-exclusive 120FPS mode with HDR, too, if you’re determined to get the most out of that battle royale shooter.
With that said, games like Call of Duty Mobile run very well on most reasonably high-end phones from the past couple of years (if not older), and you might not even see differences if you’re a casual gamer. The Snapdragon 8 Elite is really most helpful in futureproofing the OnePlus 13 with performance that should hold up for years.
That’s helped by a solid 12GB of RAM for the base phone with 256GB of storage and 16GB of memory for the 512GB model.
OnePlus 13 Camera Review: Finally Great All-Around
There were complaints that the OnePlus 12’s telephoto and ultrawide cameras were markedly inferior to the main sensor. Not so here: OnePlus is using 50-megapixel sensors across all three cameras, with a new Sony part for the ultrawide.
The net effect is a OnePlus flagship bar phone that finally has consistently good photography. While the main camera is still the best, thanks to its bright f/1.6 aperture, it rarely feels like you’re giving something up when you use the other cameras.
Images are routinely vibrant and sharp, although I’d give the edge to the iPhone or Pixel in most nighttime environments. There are even specific “smart” modes for fireworks and stages meant to reduce low-light noise, and they managed this in my experience.
If there’s a complaint, it’s that some photos almost look too good due to OnePlus’ processing—sunsets and other dramatically lit scenarios had a clearly cinematic quality.
Still, that’s far from a problem if you want quality social media snapshots with little effort.
The OnePlus 13 is definitely one of your top choices if you value action photos. Clear Burst is intended to reduce noise and improve focus during continuous shooting, and it delivers pristine shots during a cruise ship belly-flop competition(!).
I’d recommend the dedicated Action Mode for particularly fast-moving scenes, but you now don’t have to panic if you use the standard mode instead. Just be sure to choose the main camera (1X or 2X zoom) in poor lighting when possible, as the narrower apertures of the telephoto (f/2.6) and ultrawide (f/2) cams can hurt their performance in dim conditions.
OnePlus 13 Sample Images
Telephoto has a few advantages. While the image quality isn’t quite as stellar as for the primary unit, OnePlus is making surprisingly good use of artificial intelligence sharpening to recover detail at zooms up to 30X. I snapped entirely usable pictures of far-off buildings and statues. I noticed slightly softened details and clearly sharpened edges in places, but it’s much better than the blocky mess you might get with an iPhone 16 Pro or Galaxy S24 Ultra once you venture outside of their lenses’ optical limits.
Google’s Pixel 9 Pro and Pro XL have excellent AI zoom enhancement for stills and video, though, so I wouldn’t buy the OnePlus 13 primarily for this upgrade.
Ultrawide photos held up well, albeit with the occasional amount of excessive distortion that’s typical with these shots. The 32MP front camera isn’t going to be quite as impressive as what’s on the back, although it still has a quality (if occasionally over-processed) look and a wide enough angle for group selfies.
Video, on the other hand, isn’t OnePlus’ strong suit. The camera quality from each lens persists, and it’s great to have a minimum of 4K, 60FPS video with Dolby Vision HDR on all cameras in addition to 8K at 30FPS in limited cases.
But lens switches and zoom can be jarring, and you’re limited to 1080p at 30FPS if you want either portrait mode video (akin to Apple’s Cinematic Mode) or Ultra Steady stabilization.
The iPhone family remains the video capture choice for a reason — it provides superb quality across cameras, higher resolutions for special modes, and advanced sound features like the scene-aware Audio Mix. The OnePlus 13 is more for casual footage than pro-grade material.
The software is at least solid. While the Hasselblad collaboration is sometimes oversold (you won’t get a medium-format camera’s output or controls), OnePlus appears to strike a careful balance between Hasselblad’s pro audience and day-to-day usability.
The zoom modes for each camera replicate Hasselblad lenses, right down to the bokeh blur in portrait shots. And if you switch to the camera app’s Master mode, you can take more control of photos while stripping out much of the post-processing. If you’re the sort who insists on a specific look or just prefers unvarnished imagery, you’ll be happy.
OnePlus 13 Battery Life & Charging: All-Day Use and Super-Fast Wireless Power
Longevity is easily a draw. The OnePlus 13 packs a large 6,000mAh battery (versus 5,400mAh from the 12) thanks to denser silicon nano stack technology, which translates to lengthy battery life despite the power-thirsty Snapdragon 8 Elite chip inside.
Even compared to some other big phones, the 13 is difficult to use for a full day — it could easily be a two-day handset if you’re not constantly snapping photos, streaming videos, or playing games.
When you do need to charge, you won’t have to wait long. It won’t surprise you to hear that OnePlus (or rather, Oppo) is adding a high-speed twist to its magnetic charging compatibility.
There’s an optional 50W AirVOOC wireless charger that easily outclasses the 15W of Qi2, and promises a full top-up in 75 minutes.
I found it extremely handy, although that speed requires a noisy cooling fan that spins even when the phone is fully charged. You might want to stick to regular magnetic chargers if the phone is going to sit on your nightstand.
If you’re content with wired charging, you’ll get even better speeds. Buy the available 120W charger (which runs at 100W in North America), and you can get a full charge in just 36 minutes. The included brick isn’t much slower. You can make a reasonably brief stop at home and expect to have a full battery by the time you head out.
Unfortunately, OnePlus can only guarantee maximum wired and wireless speeds if you use its official adapters and match USB-A to USB-C cables. The company tells Techopedia that going with USB-C on both ends would be expensive and require more tech than you’d expect, but you might not like having to use specialized gear just to get the advertised performance.
OnePlus 13 Software: OxygenOS 15 Adds AI While Going Back to Basics
You won’t escape AI buzz with the OnePlus 13. OxygenOS 15 includes tight integration with Google AI features like Gemini and Circle to Search.
On top of this, OnePlus has AI-driven note summaries and voice transcriptions, content-aware replies on social platforms, and more natural prompt-based searches (including for content inside documents). Combine that with photography features like reflection removal and it’s clear AI is constantly trying to help, although you can frequently ignore it if you like.
You’re more likely to appreciate what OnePlus has taken away. While OxygenOS 15 still has some connections to Oppo’s ColorOS, such as the stylized lock screen options, it feels much truer to OnePlus’ minimalist aesthetics with less color and a more uniform style.
It’s also pitched as relatively lightweight — it takes up 5GB less space on your device than OxygenOS 14. There are a few conspicuous iPhone influences, such as the drop-down quick settings panel and more Dynamic Island-style info (such as music) around the camera cutout, but you won’t mistake this for iOS.
Multitasking has improved, too. OnePlus has brought a variant of the Open’s Canvas system to the 13, and it’s now relatively easy to run more than one app on screen at the same time. That came in handy as I prepared for CES 2025 when I could juggle email with other apps to plan my days.
A new Beacon Link feature lets you use two OnePlus 13 or 13R devices as de facto Bluetooth walkie-talkies at distances up to 656ft away, although it wasn’t feasible to test that feature during the review period. Bluetooth texting is coming this summer.
Long-term software support isn’t outstanding. OnePlus expects to provide four years of Android system updates for the 13. That’s enough to last the typical phone lifespan, but not as long as the seven you usually get from Apple, Google, and Samsung. That’s something to remember if you’re the sort who uses a phone until it breaks but would still like the latest features and security fixes.
OnePlus 13 Final Verdict: Buy One if the Price and Circumstances are Right
The OnePlus 13 starts at a healthy $900 price for the 256GB version and $1,000 for the 512GB model. Given that the iPhone 16 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro, and Galaxy S24+ all start at $1,000 (and with just 128GB of space on the first two at that cost), you’re getting good value even if the 13 isn’t an absolute bargain like some past OnePlus phones.
Whether or not it’s the best value depends on many factors. Most notably, this assumes you won’t find an equivalent phone on sale. I’d still be tempted by a Pixel 9 Pro at a discount if the price was my main concern, for instance. And don’t forget that Samsung’s Galaxy S25 series is likely imminent as I write this in early January 2025 — you should get Snapdragon 8 Elite performance from a bigger brand with more design choices and potentially more affordable North American carrier deals. You have to buy the 13 from either OnePlus or retailers like Amazon and Best Buy.
I’d also pass if you insist on the best possible camera quality and are prepared to pay extra for it. As much as OnePlus has improved, I’d still give nods to the iPhone 16 Pro or Pixel 9 Pro. They offer better images at times, particularly for video.
For the first time in a while, though, there are plenty of obvious reasons why you’d pick OnePlus. The 13 is better at surviving the rough-and-tumble of daily life than many other phones in its class. That huge battery is reassuring, especially when you know there are legions of existing MagSafe chargers that will work if you have the right case. And if you love taking burst photos, you’ll be pleased.
I look at it this way: if you asked me to make a wholesale switch to a OnePlus 13, I’d happily do so. I couldn’t often say that before, and it shows how far the brand has come.
