The OnePlus 13 is an extremely well rounded flagship that delivers best-in-class performance and a great camera system, while still undercutting the competition.
Beautiful display
Superb cameras
Outstanding performance
Fast wired and wireless charging, charger in the box
Clean and super responsive software
IP68 and IP69 rating
Sharp,
bright display with 120Hz refresh
×Fast
80W charging and included plug
×Excellent
performance with Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
×Alert
slider is back
No mmWave 5G
It’s been a quiet year for OnePlus. The company didn’t release any phones beyond the fantastic OnePlus 12 ($799) and excellent OnePlus 12R ($499), which both launched last January. Strangely, we didn’t get a followup to the amazing OnePlus Open, and while the OnePlus Nord 4 came out abroad, we didn’t get any N-series handset in 2024. Instead, we got solid earbuds, capable smartwatches, and even a great tablet.
This is changing today with the US launch of the OnePlus 13 flagship ($899) and OnePlus 13R mid-ranger ($599). Both cost $100 more than their predecessors, but pack all new Qualcomm Snapdragon silicon, larger batteries, and other welcome improvements like an IP68 and IP69 rating (OnePlus 13) and a 2x telephoto (OnePlus 13R). In this writeup, we’re focusing on the OnePlus 13, but stay tuned for our OnePlus 13R review, coming soon.
With specs like a 4500-nit flat quad-HD display, triple 50MP shooters, the very powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC, 6000mAh battery, 100W wired and 50W wireless charging – and a more polished design – the OnePlus 13 delivers some seriously hot hardware. But what’s the software experience like? Is this new flagship the one to beat? And, more importantly, is the OnePlus 13 worth the extra Benjamin over the OnePlus 12? Let’s find out in our full review.
OnePlus 13 Hardware and Design
We really like the OnePlus 13’s design. It looks and feels more refined than the OnePlus 12, and has more in common with the OnePlus Open and Oppo’s Find X8 series. As such, the camera pod no longer blends into the frame on one side, but stands alone as a circular island. It’s still offset to the left, and still contains four separate lenses under a single glass cover for the three shooters and spectral/laser AF sensors.
But this year, the LED flash returns to the circular island alongside the other sensors, and there’s a cool sunray pattern under the glass cover. You’ll also find a metal line embossed into the back panel on either side of the camera bump – bisecting it – and meeting up with the frame rails. On the right edge, it aligns perfectly with the alert slider and underscores the Hasselblad “H” logo embossed above. It’s all very premium.
Another cool detail is how the front glass and back panel are both 2.5D, ie. gently rounded on all four sides. This makes the aluminum frame – and the entire device – thinner, and makes the OnePlus 13 extremely comfortable in hand without resorting to curved edges like on the OnePlus 12. Oppo first used this 2.5D design on the Find X8 Pro, and it’s significantly better than the slab-sides prevalent on so many phones these days.
In front, the 6.82-inch AMOLED display is now perfectly flat under that 2.5D glass, and features a center punch hole for the 32MP selfie camera. The OnePlus 13 is available in three colors: Arctic Dawn and Black Eclipse, both with a Gorilla Glass back, and Midnight Ocean (like our review unit), with a vegan leather back. It’s one of the first phones to be rated IP68 and IP69, making it not only dust and water resistant, but dishwasher safe.
When it comes to buttons and openings, this handset follows the usual OnePlus layout. The volume rocker and power/lock key are mounted on the right side. You’ll find a speaker, a pair of microphones, the USB Type-C port (USB 3.2), and the dual nano-SIM tray along the bottom edge. OnePlus’ signature alert slider is located on the left side, and there’s another speaker, more microphones, and an IR transmitter on top.
162.9 x 76.5 x 8.5mm (glass back) - 162.9 x 76.5 x 8.9mm (vegan leather back)
Weight
213g (glass back) - 210g (vegan leather back
Connectivity
802.11be Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, NFC, USB-C, LTE, 5G (sub-6GHz)
Colors
Arctic Dawn, Black Eclipse, Midnight Ocean
Pricing
Starting At $899 - Find It At OnePlus.com
OnePlus 13 Display
Basically, the OnePlus 13 inherits the OnePlus 12’s gorgeous display, but with one major improvement. Instead of having curved edges, the screen is now perfectly flat and covered in 2.5D Ceramic Guard glass that’s gently rounded on all four sides. Not only does this look much better, but it also feels significantly nicer when swiping from any of the edges. Plus, you no longer get any optical distortions since the glass isn’t curved.
This 6.82-inch 19.8:9 Quad HD+ (3168 × 1440 pixels, 510 ppi) LTPO 4.1 10-bit AMOLED panel boasts a 1-120Hz variable refresh rate and 2160Hz PWM dimming, and supports both Dolby Vision and HDR10+. It’s super bright (1600nits HBM / 4500nits peak), with punchy colors, inky blacks, and wide viewing angles. The screen is also impervious to gloves (up to 5mm) and to water, thanks to OnePlus’ Glove Mode and Aqua Touch 2.0 tech.
OnePlus 13 Camera System And Performance
On the camera front, the OnePlus 13 packs a trio of 50MP sensors: an f/1.6 1.12-micron main shooter (1/1.4-inch Sony LYT-808) with omni-directional PDAF and OIS, an f/2.0 0.64-micron 120-degree ultrawide (1/2.75-inch Samsung S5KJN5) with AF, and an f/2.6 0.8-micron 3x tri-prism telephoto lens (1/1.95-inch Sony LYT-600) with PDAF and OIS. These shooters are identical to the Oppo Find X8 Pro’s, minus the additional 6x telephoto.
Unlike the OnePlus 12, which used a standard periscope telephoto with an L-shaped light path, the OnePlus 13’s triprism telephoto features a W-shaped light path, resulting in significantly more compact optics. This is similar to the tetraprism design that Apple introduced with the iPhone 15 Pro Max, but with one less prism. In front, you’ll find the same 32MP f/2.4 0.8-micron selfie camera (1/2.74-inch Sony IMX615) as last year.
The main shooter and 3x telephoto both support quasi-“lossless” 2x and 6x zoom (respectively) by cropping the center of the 50MP sensor to 12MP before dispatching the image data to the ISP. Obviously, this reduces low-light performance slightly since it disables pixel binning. Speaking of which, all three 50MP sensors combine (or bin) four nearby pixels into one larger pixel, resulting in better 12MP photos in reduced light.
OnePlus’ dual-exposure algorithm is another significant innovation. With each tap of the shutter, the OnePlus 13 captures and merges one short and one long exposure in real time. This reduces motion blur without sacrificing detail and dynamic range. By enabling both Action Mode and Clear Burst, this new dual-exposure algorithm produces spectacular low-light action shots, even with the telephoto set to 6x zoom (see below).
As you’d expect, the OnePlus 13 offers a plethora of shooting modes, including macro (ultrawide), action, burst, portrait, night (all four shooters), 50MP high-res, panorama, long exposure, document scanner, and tilt-shift. There’s also master mode, which is a pro/manual mode with additional controls, XPAN mode, which replicates Hasselblad’s iconic 65:24 aspect ratio, and Smart Scenes, like stage, silhouette, and fireworks.
In terms of video, all four shooters record stabilized Dolby Vision HDR video (with stereo audio) at up to 4k/1080p 30/60fps. Other video modes include 8k 30fps (main only), portrait (main, tele, selfie, 1080p 30fps), ultra steady (up to 4k 60fps rear, 1080p 30fps selfie), movie (manual, 21:9, 4k 30fps), slow motion (rear shooters, 1080p 240fps and 720p 480fps), time lapse (all cameras, 4k 30fps), and dual view (rear plus selfie, 1080p 30fps).
In all, the OnePlus 13 takes superb pictures, regardless of conditions. The resulting photos (and selfies) are beautiful, with natural colors, accurate exposure, and tons of detail. Dynamic range and low-light performance are also top notch. White balance was slightly off in a few rare cases, but we’re just nitpicking here – it’s nothing some tuning can’t fix. Video quality is excellent too, but the iPhone still reigns supreme.
Zoom performance is where the OnePlus 13 really shines. The new 3x telephoto is a marked improvement over last year’s OnePlus 12, which was already no slouch. AI zoom algorithms mean 6x images are solid, 10x shots look great, 20x results are good, and even 30x pictures are decent. Of course, image quality starts degrading beyond that, but we’ve taken several 60x photos that are perfectly usable. That’s simply outstanding for a 3x telephoto.
What’s interesting is that the OnePlus 13’s shooters are almost identical to Oppo’s Find X8 Pro’s. Yet, despite using different ISPs (Qualcomm vs. MediaTek) both phones take very similar pictures. This really speaks to Oppo’s imaging expertise, which – combined with Haselblad’s color science – continues to benefit OnePlus. As such, the OnePlus 13 cameras easily match or surpass Google, Samsung, and Apple’s best.