OnePlus’ new flagship phone is an unexpected successor to the OnePlus 13. While the company focused on making an all-around great phone earlier this year, it has now shifted priorities toward a performance-first OnePlus 15. You get a boxier design, faster refresh rates, and a massive battery. But in exchange, there are slight downgrades in display resolution and smaller camera sensors.
Starting with the design, it borrows heavily from the Asia-exclusive OnePlus 13S. Gone are the curved edges and the signature circular camera module. In their place is a flat-sided design with a square camera bump reminiscent of the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold. It is still comfortable to hold, but it definitely looks more generic now. That said, the Sand Storm color variant offers a nice balance between elegance and durability.
The new OnePlus flagship boasts IP68, IP69, and IP69K ratings, wbich means it is protected not just from dust and water submersion but also high-pressure water jets. On the back, the matte finish feels smooth and resists fingerprints well. It can show faint surface marks (even from fingernails), but they wipe off easily.
On the front you get a 6.78-inch AMOLED display with a 2,722 x 1,272-pixel resolution (1.5K), slightly down from the OnePlus 13’s 2K screen. However, it now supports a blazing 165Hz refresh rate, which could be great for supported games. It is rated to deliver 1,800 nits of maximum brightness and is fairly legible in direct sunlight.
Under the hood, the OnePlus 15 is powered by Qualcomm’s latest and greatest Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, paired with 256GB of storage and 12GB of RAM in the base variant. It packs a massive 7,300mAh battery with support for 80W wired charging in the U.S. (and 120W elsewhere), alongside 50W wireless charging.
Those are beefy specs for both regular users and gamers. It will easily last you an entire day or maybe push for two if you are a moderate phone user. This is one of the rare flagship phones that genuinely lasts all day, no matter how hard you push it.
Like the 13S, the OnePlus 15 introduces an AI Key that triggers Mind Space, a local vault for screenshots, notes, and voice recordings. It ties into Google Gemini, letting you ask context-aware questions based on what you’ve saved. For instance, I stored my flight tickets and hotel details, then asked Gemini to pull them up later. It’s convenient but as with all AI, I still find myself double-checking the output.
In terms of optics, the OnePlus 15 packs three 50MP sensors: a main, an ultrawide, and a telephoto lens offering 3.5x optical and 7x hybrid zoom. But there’s no escaping the fact that each of these sensors is smaller in size and less capable than the ones on OnePlus 13.
The company is leaning heavily on AI processing and Qualcomm’s new ISP to make up the difference, and while results can be solid, I’ve gotten mixed results.
HDR processing isn’t as aggressive as Google or Samsung, and images generally have more contrast with slightly saturated tones compared to the OnePlus 13.
You can get some good-looking shots with the new OnePlus phone but it continues to struggle with the same problems, like occasional overprocessing and color shifts when switching lenses. I wasn’t expecting huge camera upgrades but it is frustrating to see the same problems persist year after year.
Overall, the OnePlus 15 is a performance-centric flagship phone that will easily last you an entire day. It is priced at $899 for the base 12GB/256GB variant. In India, it will cost you 72,999 Indian Rupees for the same model and 79,999 Indian Rupees for the 16GB/512GB variant. OnePlus is also offering a few launch promotions to sweeten the deal.
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