OnePlus 15 evaluate: A competitively priced powerhouse

Virtually a 12 months 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 12 months earlier than, in addition to the 12 months earlier than that. That is fairly regular, in different phrases.

What’s shocking in regards to 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 a substitute of January. OnePlus might have accelerated its launch schedule for this 12 months’s flagship, however not a lot else has modified. The OnePlus 15 is a really strong Android handset with shiny specs, together with an excellent excessive refresh charge and the largest battery you will presently 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

I’ve already defined you could get a OnePlus 15 for $899 (in comparison with $1,099 for the iPhone 17 Professional). This is what you get for that value:

• 6.8-inch show with 2772×1272 decision and as much as 165Hz refresh charge

• Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 cell chip

• 12GB RAM

• 256GB storage

• 7,300mAh battery

• Three rear cameras: 50MP large, 50MP ultrawide, 50MP telephoto

• 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 approach. The dearth 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 trying 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

Nonetheless, there are a few areas the place OnePlus did not actually carry the wow issue this 12 months, and the design of the telephone is certainly one of them.

It is not dangerous, however it’s boring. Your three accessible colours are Infinite Black, Sand Storm, and Extremely Violet. So, in different phrases, two of essentially the most uninteresting colours possible, and a 3rd, extra eye-catching one which OnePlus says will solely be accessible in restricted portions. Bleh.

My different concern with the OnePlus 15 is that the rear digicam bump is now a reasonably safe-looking sq. (with rounded corners), reasonably 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 each day for his or her jobs), it simply kinda seems to be like an off-brand iPhone. It is completely practical and inoffensive, however I want it had a extra distinctive look.

Apart from that, although, the telephone is no less than comfy 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

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. All the pieces is clean as silk, and even when working benchmarks or taking part in 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 charge of 165Hz. PUBG Cellular, particularly, is astoundingly clean on this factor. I am not a giant 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 if you need numerical proof that this telephone is highly effective, I ran it via the Geekbench 6 benchmark take a look at. Its multi-core rating of 10,560 is about 500 factors greater than the S25 Extremely, and about 700 factors greater 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 roughly promise that you simply will not discover any efficiency points right here.

OnePlus 15: AI options

Like another high-end smartphone lately, 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 computerized voice transcription within the sound recorder app and the flexibility to scan photos 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 characteristic on the OnePlus 15. It is a pre-installed app that shops something you ask the telephone to research 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 with three fingers. Doing so will principally take a screenshot and use AI to research no matter is in it. For example, I took a screenshot of some film listings on a web 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 just a little muted, for my part. It is good that I can take a screenshot and robotically flip that right into a calendar entry, I suppose, however an app that tells me what’s on my display feels just a little redundant once I might merely have a look at the display myself. I simply do not know that that is doing something that I am unable to already simply do with my mind.

OnePlus 15: Battery life

Battery life is, indisputably, the standout characteristic 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 expenses on the OnePlus 15, relying on what I am utilizing it for. My testing concerned taking part in 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: Digital camera

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.

As for nighttime pictures, I haven’t got too many complaints right here. You’ll be able to brighten up the picture with out making them look too faux.

For what it is value, you do solely get 3.5x optical zoom right here, versus barely greater counts on among the different flagship telephones from massive corporations. You additionally get 7x “optical-quality” zoom, which is barely decrease than the 8x rely on the iPhone 17 Professional. In case you stick inside these parameters, zoom pictures look good and sharp.

Macro pictures is at all times a plus for photographers who love taking pictures of tiny issues.

And lastly, portrait mode works as you’d anticipate, too.

OnePlus 15: Remaining ideas

OnePlus telephones are truthfully just a little boring to speak about as a result of they’re quietly excellent, pretty no-frills units you could get for a slightly extra agreeable value than an iPhone. The OnePlus 15 is not any completely different.

A high quality show, a strong processor, and an enormous battery make this a superbly acceptable handset for anybody available in the market for an Android improve. I would undoubtedly take it over a Galaxy S25 Extremely, and possibly even over a Pixel 10 Professional. I want it seemed just a little extra attention-grabbing, however that is to date down the record of issues with a smartphone that I am unable to maintain it in opposition to OnePlus an excessive amount of right here.