The OnePlus 15 was one of the final flagships we were expecting this year, and it has now landed – at least in China, where the company just unveiled the phone in full.
We say “in full” because a lot of the details were actually revealed ahead of the launch event, so we already had some idea of what to expect. Now, though, we have a complete picture.
For now, you can’t buy the OnePlus 15 unless you’re in China. However, we’re expecting a global unveiling will follow within the next few months, with one leak suggesting it could happen as soon as November 13, and now you can at least decide whether it’s worth waiting for.
To help you make that decision, here are five of the biggest new features, upgrades, and changes you’ll find with the OnePlus 15.
1. A substantial power upgrade
One thing the OnePlus 15 won’t be short of is power. It has the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset; that’s the successor to the chipset found in the OnePlus 13, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, and many other top Android phones. Not many handsets have this yet, so the OnePlus 15 should be able outperform most current smartphones.
It will also be helped along by up to 16GB of RAM (though 12GB models are also available), and a ‘Glacier VC’ cooling system, which includes a large vapor chamber, and should help the OnePlus 15 maintain high levels of performance for longer.
2. A huge battery
While most Android phones are happy to settle for a battery of around 5,000mAh, the OnePlus 15 has a 7,300mAh battery which should last a lot longer than most of the competition, at least in theory.
You might worry that such a high-capacity battery would take an eternity to charge up, but you needn’t, because the OnePlus 15 also supports 120W wired charging and 50W wireless charging.
For comparison, the OnePlus 13 has a 6,000mAh battery with 100W wired charging and 50W wireless. For reference, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra has just a 5,000mAh battery with a mere 45W wired charging and 15W wireless.
3. An odd screen
The OnePlus 15’s screen is in some ways an upgrade on the OnePlus 13’s and in other ways a downgrade, so it’s a bit of an oddity.
As for the upgrades go, it has a silky smooth 165Hz refresh rate, up from 120Hz on the OnePlus 13 and most other phones. However, it has a lower resolution, coming in at 1272 x 2772, for around 450 pixels per inch.
That’s still fairly sharp, but the OnePlus 13 beats it at 1440 x 3168 pixels and around 510 pixels per inch. According to OnePlus this is because a QHD+ screen wouldn’t support a 165Hz refresh rate, but we can’t yet say whether this was the right decision.
The OnePlus 15 also has a slightly smaller screen than its predecessor, at 6.78 inches, but that still sees it rank among the larger phones on the market.
4. A Hasselblad-free camera
Another interesting change that might not be an upgrade is the camera, as for the first time in a long time this lacks Hasselblad branding.
It’s also switching to a new imaging engine, but the actual lenses and sensors sound similar to last year, with the OnePlus 15 having a 50MP f/1.8 wide camera, a 50MP f/2.0 ultra-wide, and a 50MP f/2.8 telephoto, offering 3.5x optical zoom. There’s also a 32MP f/2.4 camera on the front.
This setup isn’t identical to the OnePlus 13’s but on paper it sounds very close. So it will be interesting to see whether there’s much difference in camera performance.
5. A new look
The final big change this year is to the design of the phone, with the OnePlus 15 ditching its predecessor’s circular camera block for a squarer one.
The phone will be sold in Sand Dune, Misty Purple, and Absolute Black shades, and it’s slightly shorter, wider, and thinner than the OnePlus 13 at 161.4 x 76.7 x 8.1mm.
Like its predecessor, the OnePlus 15 also has a lot of water resistance, with both IP68 and IP69K ratings, meaning it can survive both being submerged to depths of 1.5 meters and sprayed with high pressure water jets.
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