Although the OnePlus 13 was released last year, it’s actually a 2025 flagship, just like its successor, the OnePlus 15. However, as the name implies, the OnePlus 15 brings a proper generational upgrade, but not in all departments. So it’s no wonder people are finding it hard to decide which OnePlus to get, especially since both promise long software support.
As of the time of writing, the older OnePlus 13 costs about €200 to €250 less than its successor in Europe, while the price gap in India is approximately INR 10,000. In both cases, the difference is far from negligible and makes you think twice. Now the question remains, how much better is the new OnePlus 15?
That may come as a surprise to some of you, but the OnePlus 15 arrives with downgraded camera hardware, which inevitably impacts image quality. Still, some may see this as merely a sidestep, and they might pay more attention to the upgrades in the display, battery and charging.
Table of Contents:
For starters, you can compare the complete specs sheets or directly continue with our editor’s assessment in the following video or in the following text.
Size comparison
OnePlus
13
162.9 x 76.5 x 8.5 mm
(6.41 x 3.01 x 0.33 in)
The two OnePlus phones are quite similar in terms of dimensions, which is no surprise given that they share roughly the same display size. The OnePlus 13 is still somewhat taller, though, and also thicker.
What sets them apart the most is the design. The 13 appears more rounded and oval, while the 15 appears blockier and flatter. Also, the older OnePlus’ back is made of eco leather, while the 15 has either glass or a glass-like (fiber-reinforced plastic) surface, depending on the colorway you choose.
Display comparison
From a general usability standpoint, you won’t find much of a difference between the OnePlus 15 and 13’s displays. Even the size disparity isn’t as noticeable, and both support the same HDR10+ and Dolby Vision HDR standards. Maximum brightness is also comparable.
Digging a little deeper into the specs sheet paints a little more nuanced picture. Many point out that the 15 feels like a downgrade in this aspect, but we beg to differ. Sure, the OnePlus 15’s panel has lower resolution, but at this size, we can’t say it makes that big of an impact. More importantly, it has allowed OnePlus to crank up the refresh rate to 165Hz, making it a unicorn of sorts. There’s no other phone on the market right now with an FHD+ panel ticking at 165Hz.
Moreover, the 15 can utilize the 165Hz LTPO OLED panel as it supports a handful of games at native 165Hz refresh rate. Some third-party apps are also playing nicely with the high-refresh-rate screen. Still, objectively, in most scenarios, you will be limited to 120Hz.
Battery life
Quite expectedly, the OnePlus 15 outperforms the OnePlus 13 in all of our battery tests, and it does so by a significant margin. The massive increase in battery capacity compared to the previous generation (7,300 mAh up from 6,000 mAh) has treated the OnePlus 15 well. There’s no doubt that the OnePlus 15 will last you longer on a single charge than the 13, no matter your usage habits.
Charging speed
The OnePlus 15 may be marketed with faster charging capabilities than the 13 (120W vs. 100W), but real-world tests don’t corroborate. The 13 is significantly faster at the 15- and 30-minute marks. The OP 15 then catches up to the 13, completing a full charge in 41 minutes, just 6 minutes slower than last year’s model, which is a commendable achievement too.
Speaker test
Even though the OnePlus 15 has slightly quieter speakers than the 13, we like its sound quality and overall tuning better. It’s generally warmer, more balanced and with more pronounced bass. The 13’s vocals and highs can sometimes even ring at higher volumes.
Performance
Naturally, the newer OnePlus comes with a newer flagship chipset. The 15 employs the Snapdragon Elite 8 Gen 5 chip, while the 13 has the previous Snapdragon 8 Elite under the hood. The newer chipset doesn’t just incorporate CPU and GPU with higher clocks, but also has an improved architecture, promising higher performance and better efficiency.
Both handsets offer the same base memory configuration – 12GB/256GB, but the 15’s variants are more streamlined. While the 13 can be found with both 12GB and 16GB RAM for the 256GB and 512GB storage, the 15’s only RAM variant is 16GB. Also, both devices are sold in 16GB/1TB flavors.
Benchmark performance
It comes as no surprise that the OnePlus 15 outperforms the 13 in synthetic benchmark tests. In the CPU department, the SD 8 Elite Gen 5 outpaces the SD 8 Elite by almost 20%, while the combined AnTuTu 10 test indicates a modest 4% increase in performance. The GPU-heavy 3DMark Wild Life benchmark, on the other hand, shows a respectable 11% performance gain.
Both devices are promised four major OS upgrades and 6 years of security patches, but since the 15 ships with Android 16 out of the box, its final destination is Android 20, while the 13 will lose support after Android 19. Notably, the OnePlus 13 still hasn’t received a stable Android 16 update, as of the time of writing.
Camera comparison
As already mentioned at the beginning of the article, the OnePlus 15 brings a noticeable downgrade to the camera hardware. In addition to the slightly smaller sensors for all three cameras on the back, the newer setups have smaller apertures as well. Perhaps the biggest downgrade is the telephoto camera, which now incorporates a significantly smaller sensor – 1/2.76″, down from 1/1.95″.
On the other hand, the telephoto camera gets a further zoom reach and is now 3.5x instead of 3x, and the selfie camera gains autofocus support.
Another notable distinction between the two handsets’ camera experience is the absence of the Hasselblad involvement and co-branding on the OnePlus 15 for what that’s worth. Let’s see how these changes affect the newer OnePlus camera capabilities.
Image quality
The photos from the OnePlus 15 and 13 main cameras are quite comparable, despite the obvious hardware downgrades.
But if you are here for the nuances, try to zoom in on the low-light photo samples to see a difference in noise suppression and fine detail, which is in favor of the OnePlus 13.
12.5MP main camera: OnePlus 15 • OnePlus 13
To no one’s surprise, the OnePlus 13’s telephoto camera takes consistently sharper and more contrasty photos across most scenarios.
The same holds true in more challenging lighting, where the OnePlus 13 again takes the lead in noise performance and clarity, owing to its larger sensor.
12.5MP telephoto camera: OnePlus 15 • OnePlus 13
Aside from the slightly wider field of view on the OnePlus 13’s ultrawide shooter, it also produces less noise and captures more detail. The difference becomes even more apparent at nighttime. On the other hand, the 15 retains the more pleasing color reproduction and contrast.
12.5MP ultra-wide camera: OnePlus 15 • OnePlus 13
Video quality
Below we have a few framegrabs from the videos taken by the two phones at each focal length, so it’s easier to compare them to one another.
The video comparison requires even more attention to detail and maybe even unjustified pixel-peeping. Also, the two handsets trade blows.
For instance, the OnePlus 15’s ultrawide camera produces slightly sharper footage with better contrast, while the OnePlus 13 takes better videos with the primary camera. It tends to have better definition, in most cases, and nicer contrast. It’s also a tad less noisy.
4K video screengrabs: OnePlus 15 (0.6x) • OnePlus 13 (0.6x) • OnePlus 15 (1x) • OnePlus 13 (1x) • OnePlus 15 (3.5x) • OnePlus 13 (3x)
It’s hard to determine which telephoto footage looks better, but we think the 15’s a tad more detailed.
Verdict
At the end of the day, the OnePlus 15 is objectively the better phone. The display is more capable, the chipset is faster and more efficient, while battery life and speaker quality are significant improvements over the previous generation. Despite the camera downgrades, the 15 holds up pretty well and even displays arguably better processing than its predecessor.
On the other hand, we understand if you like the OnePlus 13’s processing more, especially when it comes to nighttime photography. The 13 is also faster at charging, especially in the first 30 minutes of the charging cycle.
But do those improvements justify the €200/INR 10,000 price gap? Well, that’s for you to decide.
- The better display.
- The longer battery life.
- The better speakers.
- The better high-refresh-rate handling in games.
- The newer and more powerful chipset.
Get the OnePlus 15 for:
- The lower price tag.
- The more capable camera hardware.
- The faster charging.
Get the OnePlus 13 for:
