Virtually a yr in the past, OnePlus launched the OnePlus 13, a high quality flagship smartphone with high-end specs and a decrease beginning value than its rivals within the U.S. It additionally did the identical factor the yr earlier than, in addition to the yr earlier than that. That is fairly regular, in different phrases.
What’s stunning concerning the new OnePlus 15 (apart from the truth that they skipped 14, presumably for cultural causes) is that it is popping out in November as an alternative of January. OnePlus might have accelerated its launch schedule for this yr’s flagship, however not a lot else has modified. The OnePlus 15 is a really stable Android handset with shiny specs, together with an excellent excessive refresh price and the largest battery you may at the moment discover in a smartphone of this caliber.
And with an $899 beginning value, it is no less than $100 cheaper than the flagship fashions from Google, Apple, and Samsung.
OnePlus 15: Worth and specs
It is acquired an excellent show.
Credit score: Joe Maldonado/Mashable
I’ve already defined that you would be able to get a OnePlus 15 for $899 (in comparison with $1,099 for the iPhone 17 Professional). Here is what you get for that value:
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6.8-inch show with 2772×1272 decision and as much as 165Hz refresh price
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Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 cell chip
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12GB RAM
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256GB storage
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7,300mAh battery
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Three rear cameras: 50MP large, 50MP ultrawide, 50MP telephoto
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32MP entrance digicam
There is just one different variant of the OnePlus 15. For an additional $100, you will get a model of it with 16GB RAM and 512GB storage. I personally do not love that anybody who opts for the marginally cheaper telephone is getting much less RAM, however that is additionally fairly unlikely to have an effect on most individuals’s day by day lives in any significant manner. The shortage of a 1TB storage choice additionally stands out amongst different current flagship smartphones, just like the Samsung Galaxy S25 Extremely.
Nonetheless, in comparison with the competitors, OnePlus comes out wanting like a winner right here. No different flagship from the Apple-Google-Samsung triumvirate has a 165Hz show, and the OnePlus 15 is the primary smartphone to hit the U.S. with the cutting-edge Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset. At 7,300mAh, the battery can be bigger than those discovered within the S25 Extremely, Google Pixel 10 Professional, or iPhone 17 Professional. And whereas the higher-end OnePlus 15 prices the identical as a base Pixel 10 Professional, none of these different units will be had for $899.
It is a fairly whole lot, is what I am saying.
OnePlus 15: Design
This seemed cooler final yr.
Credit score: Joe Maldonado/Mashable
Nevertheless, there are a few areas the place OnePlus did not actually convey the wow issue this yr, and the design of the telephone is one in all them.
It is not dangerous, however it’s boring. Your three obtainable colours are Infinite Black, Sand Storm, and Extremely Violet. So, in different phrases, two of essentially the most uninteresting colours conceivable, and a 3rd, extra eye-catching one which OnePlus says will solely be obtainable in restricted portions. Bleh.
My different problem with the OnePlus 15 is that the rear digicam bump is now a reasonably safe-looking sq. (with rounded corners), somewhat than the extra visually distinctive round bump discovered on the OnePlus 13. At a look (no less than to the eyes of people that do not have a look at telephones day by day for his or her jobs), it simply kinda seems like an off-brand iPhone. It is completely purposeful and inoffensive, however I want it had a extra distinctive look.
Aside from that, although, the telephone is no less than snug to carry and the bezels across the show are very skinny. This is not a complete boondoggle by any means; it is just a bit boring.
OnePlus 15: Efficiency
It costs quick, too.
Credit score: Joe Maldonado/Mashable
One space the place OnePlus very a lot didn’t drop the ball is efficiency.
Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 might be probably the greatest chips you will get in a telephone within the U.S. proper now, or no less than that is what the advertising and marketing says. I am inclined to consider it, although, because the OnePlus 15 performs like a dream. The whole lot is easy as silk, and even when operating benchmarks or enjoying intensive video games, it would not get too scorching to the contact.
Talking of video games, these are what profit essentially the most from the utmost refresh price of 165Hz. PUBG Cellular, particularly, is astoundingly easy on this factor. I am not an enormous cell gamer in any respect, but when I used to be and I wanted a brand new telephone, I would take an in depth have a look at this one.
And in order for you numerical proof that this telephone is highly effective, I ran it by way of the Geekbench 6 benchmark take a look at. Its multi-core rating of 10,560 is about 500 factors increased than the S25 Extremely, and about 700 factors increased than the iPhone 17 Professional Max. Once more, this telephone is cheaper than each of these. Geekbench numbers aren’t essentially the definitive phrase on a telephone’s efficiency, however I can kind of promise that you just will not discover any efficiency points right here.
OnePlus 15: AI options
Like some other high-end smartphone today, the OnePlus 15 has some AI options. For essentially the most half, it is fairly regular stuff, together with integration with Google’s Gemini chatbot. It is acquired automated voice transcription within the sound recorder app and the power to scan photographs and switch them into PDFs, each of that are good and handy, if not particularly novel.
Thoughts House might be essentially the most distinctive AI function on the OnePlus 15. It is a pre-installed app that shops something you ask the telephone to investigate utilizing Plus Thoughts. Plus Thoughts is one thing you activate by both urgent the Plus Key on the telephone or swiping up on the display screen with three fingers. Doing so will principally take a screenshot and use AI to investigate no matter is in it. For example, I took a screenshot of some film listings on an internet site for a theater close to me. After doing that, I can go to Thoughts House and have a look at a textual content evaluation of what is within the screenshot, together with the names of the flicks and showtimes, and I could make calendar entries for them.
This isn’t dangerous, per se, however its usefulness is a little bit muted, in my view. It is good that I can take a screenshot and mechanically flip that right into a calendar entry, I suppose, however an app that tells me what’s on my display screen feels a little bit redundant once I might merely have a look at the display screen myself. I simply do not know that that is doing something that I can not already simply do with my mind.
OnePlus 15: Battery life
Battery life is, for sure, the standout function of the OnePlus 15.
The 7,300mAh cell is, as beforehand famous, larger than what you get in another flagships. However that does not essentially assure something by itself. That mentioned, I can verify that this factor lasts some time. I might estimate that I might go about 30 hours between costs on the OnePlus 15, relying on what I am utilizing it for. My testing concerned enjoying 3D video games at excessive body charges and streaming basketball on YouTube TV, so I may need been in a position to squeeze much more juice out of a cost with out doing that.
In different phrases, the battery’s actual good, people.
OnePlus 15: Digicam
As I mentioned within the specs part earlier, you get a trio of 50MP lenses on the rear finish of the OnePlus 15. I really like even numbers. They make my job simpler.
Anyway, pictures taken on the brand new OnePlus 15 look good. Colours actually pop and pictures are sharp and clear.
NYC is a little bit gloomy today.
Credit score: Alex Perry/Mashable
As for nighttime pictures, I haven’t got too many complaints right here. You possibly can brighten up the picture with out making them look too pretend.
Left:
No evening images right here.
Credit score: Alex Perry/Mashable
Proper:
Night time mode turned on right here.
Credit score: Alex Perry/Mashable
For what it is value, you do solely get 3.5x optical zoom right here, versus barely increased counts on among the different flagship telephones from large corporations. You additionally get 7x “optical-quality” zoom, which is barely decrease than the 8x rely on the iPhone 17 Professional. Should you stick inside these parameters, zoom pictures look good and sharp.
No zoom.
Credit score: Alex Perry/Mashable
7x zoom.
Credit score: Alex Perry/Mashable
Macro images is all the time a plus for photographers who love taking pictures of tiny issues.
Tiny.
Credit score: Alex Perry/Mashable
And lastly, portrait mode works as you’d anticipate, too.
Portrait mode.
Credit score: Alex Perry/Mashable
OnePlus 15: Remaining ideas
OnePlus telephones are truthfully a little bit boring to speak about as a result of they’re quietly superb, pretty no-frills units that you would be able to get for a touch extra agreeable value than an iPhone. The OnePlus 15 isn’t any completely different.
A high quality show, a robust processor, and an enormous battery make this a wonderfully acceptable handset for anybody out there for an Android improve. I would undoubtedly take it over a Galaxy S25 Extremely, and perhaps even over a Pixel 10 Professional. I want it seemed a little bit extra fascinating, however that is up to now down the listing of considerations with a smartphone that I can not maintain it in opposition to OnePlus an excessive amount of right here.
