If you’re in the market for a high-end OnePlus phone, then you now have two devices to choose from — there’s the flagship OnePlus 15 and the OnePlus 15R, the latter of which is both slightly newer and a fair bit cheaper.

These are both impressive devices on paper, and we know they impress in practice too, especially the OnePlus 15, which is among the few phones we’ve awarded a full five-star review score to.

But exactly how do they compare? What’s different between them? And which should you buy? To help you answer those questions, we’ve compared the OnePlus 15 and OnePlus 15R in full below.

OnePlus 15 vs OnePlus 15R: specs comparison

Before we look in depth at these two handsets, the chart below gives you a glimpse of all their key specs.

OnePlus 15 vs OnePlus 15R: price and availability

The OnePlus 15 launched in October 2025, and it’s available now in the US and UK. It starts at $899.99 / £849, for which you get 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, but there’s also a model with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage for $999.99 / £979.

The OnePlus 15R was announced in December 2025 and began shipping in January 2026. It starts at $699.99 / £649, which gets you a model with 256GB of storage, and that price rises to $799.99 / £729 for one with 512GB — in both cases, you'll get 12GB of RAM.

That makes the starting price of the OnePlus 15R some $200 / £200 less than that of the OnePlus 15. Neither phone is available in Australia.

Winner: OnePlus 15R

OnePlus 15 vs OnePlus 15R: design

The OnePlus 15 has an aluminum alloy frame, a glass back (unless you grab the fiberglass-reinforced plastic ‘Sand Storm’ model), and comes in at 161.4 x 76.7 x 8.1mm and either 211g or 215g (depending on the finish you choose).

The phone has Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection on the front, either Gorilla Glass 7i or Crystal Shield Glass on the back, and it has both IP68 and IP69K ratings, giving it extensive water resistance.

As well as Sand Storm (a very pale brown), it’s available in Infinite Black and Ultra Violet colors, and it has a squarish camera block, with our OnePlus 15 review describing the phone as having “extreme durability and classy looks.”

The OnePlus 15R also has an aluminum alloy frame, along with either a glass back or a fiber-reinforced plastic back, and it has Gorilla Glass 7i protection for the screen.

It comes in at 163.4 x 77 x 8.3mm and either 214g (for the Charcoal Black model) or 215g (for the Mint Breeze version). It also has more water resistance than most phones, with both IP68 and IP69K ratings, and it has a similar overall design to the OnePlus 15, just with a smaller, more rectangular camera block.

In all, the OnePlus 15R is marginally less durable, due to the use of Gorilla Glass 7i rather than Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection on the front, and it’s slightly thicker too. But otherwise, there isn't much to choose between these two phones as far as their designs and builds go, and all that water resistance makes both of them tougher than the average handset.

Winner: OnePlus 15

OnePlus 15 vs OnePlus 15R: display

The OnePlus 15 has a 6.78-inch 1272 x 2772 AMOLED screen with a 165Hz refresh rate, around 450 pixels per inch, and an 1,800-nit high brightness mode, while the OnePlus 15R has an even larger 6.83-inch 1272 x 2800 AMOLED screen that can match the OnePlus 15’s for refresh rate, pixels per inch, and brightness.

So, there's little to choose between these two screens other than their size, with our reviewer saying the OnePlus 15R has a "very responsive and colorful" display, while our review of the OnePlus 15 said its “excellent display is bright and colorful”.

Winner: tie

OnePlus 15 vs OnePlus 15R: cameras

The OnePlus 15 has a 50MP f/1.8 wide camera, a 50MP f/2.0 ultra-wide camera (with a 116-degree field of view), a 50MP f/2.8 telephoto camera (offering 3.5x optical zoom), and a 32MP f/2.4 front-facing camera.

The OnePlus 15R, on the other hand, has the same 50MP f/1.8 wide camera, but it’s joined by an 8MP f/2.2 ultra-wide (with a 112-degree field of view) and a 32MP f/2.0 front-facing camera.

For video, both phones can record in up to 4K quality at up to 120fps, but the OnePlus 15 can additionally record in 8K quality at 30fps.

So, this is one area in which there are major differences between the two phones, with the OnePlus 15R lacking a telephoto camera and having far fewer megapixels in its ultra-wide camera than the OnePlus 15, as well as slightly worse video recording capabilities.

In our OnePlus 15 review, we said its “excellent camera quality beats anything at this price range”, which is something we can't quite say about the OnePlus 15R. Still, we found that phone to be capable of capturing natural colors and impressive low-light photos, albeit with the main camera, rather than its (non-existent) zoom lens.

Winner: OnePlus 15

OnePlus 15 camera samples

OnePlus 15R camera samples

OnePlus 15 vs OnePlus 15R: performance and software

The OnePlus 15 has a top-tier Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset paired with either 12GB or 16GB of RAM, while the OnePlus 15R has a Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset (so not the ‘Elite’ version) and 12GB of RAM.

The OnePlus 15, then, has the more powerful chipset, and it tops out at 4GB more RAM. In our review, we said this phone offers “stellar performance”.

But while the OnePlus 15R can't quite match it for on-paper power, both its chipset and RAM amount should allow for a very decent amount of power. Indeed, as our reviewer noted, "the OnePlus 15R feels every bit like a flagship phone in everyday use. Scrolling through apps is as smooth as you’d want it to be, and when running multiple apps at one time through Open Canvas, the phone never buckled under the pressure.

"The only instance where I could see a noticeable gap between the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 and the even more powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 was when loading in larger areas in Honkai: Star Rail. This is quite a demanding game for those who haven’t played it, but I was impressed to see that, outside of those moments, the combat and exploitation ran to a high standard on the OnePlus 15R."

As far as software goes, there's nothing to choose between the two phones, with both running OxygenOS 16, which is OnePlus’s take on Android 16.

Winner: OnePlus 15

OnePlus 15 vs OnePlus 15R: battery

Interestingly, the OnePlus 15R actually has the on-paper edge when it comes to battery capacity, as it has a 7,400mAh cell, while the OnePlus 15 has a 7,300mAh equivalent. But because the OnePlus 15R also has a slightly bigger screen and a less efficient chipset, its actual battery life is worse than that of its more premium sibling.

Neither of these phones should run out of juice fast, though. Indeed, our OnePlus 15 reviewer managed to eke out three (yes, three!) days of use from the phone, which is among the longest battery life we've ever recorded in testing. The OnePlus 15R, meanwhile, managed to last for a similarly respectable two days, which is mightily impressive given the phone's mid-range price.

One other advantage the OnePlus 15 has over the 15R is charging power, as it supports up to 120W wired charging, 50W wireless charging, and 10W reverse wireless charging. The OnePlus 15R, on the other hand, tops out at a still impressive 80W wired charging and doesn’t support wireless or reverse wireless charging.

Neither phone has built-in magnets, but OnePlus does sell MagSafe-compatible cases for both.

Winner: OnePlus 15

OnePlus 15 vs OnePlus 15R: verdict

The biggest difference between the OnePlus 15 and the OnePlus 15R might simply be their respective prices, with the 15R costing $200 / £200 less than its flagship sibling.

So, what do you miss out on as a result? The OnePlus 15R lacks a telephoto camera and has fewer megapixels in its ultra-wide lens; it tops out at less RAM, and uses a slightly less powerful chipset.

Its charging power is also lower — but it still has most other phones beat — and there’s no wireless charging.

But other than that, most things are the same or similar, and the OnePlus 15R actually has a marginally larger screen, so it has some advantages over its pricier sibling.

So, while the OnePlus 15 is undoubtedly the better phone overall, the OnePlus 15R is a very tempting alternative to a superb flagship.

OnePlus 15R: two-minute review

Even though the competition among the latest mid-range phones has never been hotter, OnePlus’ offerings have certainly held their own against those from Samsung, Apple, and Google. The OnePlus 13R managed to hit a home run in practically every area, from battery life to performance, so constructing a successor was always going to be a tall order (to avoid confusion, there was no OnePlus 14R).

For the OnePlus 15R, the company has gone in a slightly different direction. Don’t get me wrong, it’s an amazing phone, but it lacks the one big upgrade that was added in the 13R: a telephoto lens. While that fact alone is sure to turn some potential adopters towards triple-sensor phones like the Nothing Phone (4a) Pro and Xiaomi 15T Pro, know that there is a trade-off at play with the OnePlus 15R.

By doing away with the telephoto lens, OnePlus has given the 15R’s battery a boost. It boasts a larger 7,400mAh cell than its predecessor, which can easily see most users through two days at a time, and it certainly means that you won’t have anything to worry about over a single day. As someone who uses their phone for a lot of things, including checking up on social media, hotspotting to other devices, and listening to audiobooks and podcasts, I prefer having the larger battery.

Plus, the phone's 50MP main camera still takes amazing shots, especially during the daytime. Colors look amazing, and the upgraded 32MP front camera does the rare thing of capturing selfies that I’d actually want to share online.

There are other welcome upgrades, too, including a move to the more powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset — which rarely buckled in my time using it (even while running more demanding games) — and the faster 165Hz refresh rate, which has been pinched straight from the excellent OnePlus 15.

If it wasn’t for the fact that you’re only getting four years of software updates (with six years of security patches), then I’d be giving the OnePlus 15R a higher score. But for anyone who’s happy to upgrade again in roughly four years’ time, you’ll have a blast with this good-looking, long-lasting mid-ranger.

OnePlus 15R review: price and availability

• Starts at $699.99 / £649 for 12GB of RAM and 256GB storage
• Although cheaper than its predecessor in the UK, the phone is $100 more expensive in the US
• It's not available in Australia

The OnePlus 15R is available in two storage configurations, 256GB and 512GB (both of which come with 12GB RAM), and is currently sold in the UK, US, and Europe.

It starts at $699.99/ £649, but that price jumps up to $799.99 / £729 if you want the extra internal storage, which may be more tempting to those who prefer to avoid cloud storage costs.

Oddly enough, depending on where you’re buying the OnePlus 15R, it’s either slightly cheaper than its predecessor or significantly more expensive. The OnePlus 13R had a starting price of £679 in the UK, making the 15R just a tad more cost-effective as an upgrade. But for buyers in the US, you’re looking at an extra $100, which feels utterly absurd. I fully understand that price increases are, unfortunately, becoming the norm in the current economic climate (just take a look at the Samsung Galaxy S26 range), but this is such a massive increase for a mid-range phone that the 15R risks pricing itself out of affordability entirely.

So, if you are in the US and you want a decent mid-range phone that doesn’t cost a fortune, you might be better suited with the iPhone 17e or Nothing Phone (4a) Pro.

• Value score: 4 / 5

OnePlus 15R review: specs

Easily the most eye-catching of all the OnePlus 15R's specs is its 7,400mAh battery, which is one of the largest phone batteries you can get outside of China. The 15R's cell is even slightly bigger than the 7,300mAh equivalent found within the flagship OnePlus 15.

Here are the specs for the OnePlus 15R in full:

OnePlus 15R review: design

• Same design language as the OnePlus 15 and OnePlus Nord 5
• More durable build than before

One of the best things I can say about the OnePlus 15R is that, when you hold it in your hand for the first time, there’s nothing about it that suggests it costs anything less than the current crop of flagship smartphones. It packs an aluminum frame and a glass rear panel, which feels very premium — it reminds me a great deal of the Samsung Galaxy S25 FE, a phone that also punches above its weight on the design front.

From a visual standpoint, the OnePlus 15R is a departure from the OnePlus 13R, especially as the round camera bump has been ditched for a slightly more rectangular one. But this aesthetic aligns with OnePlus' most recent phones.

Both the OnePlus 15 and OnePlus Nord 5 opted for a more professional look versus their respective predecessors. Their camera bumps and chassis adhere to a single color, making the marble-like aesthetic of the OnePlus 12 feel like a lifetime away. If I'm being completely honest, I did find the overall look of the Nord 5 to be a tad mundane, but this approach feels far more at home on the 15R because of one thing: the Mint Breeze colorway.

This lighter green option, which I’ve had in for review, is just stunning. Although I do have a penchant for any tech that comes in green, I think the injection of color here makes the overall look of the OnePlus 15R more exciting than the Charcoal Black option. It’s a similar story with the Ultra Violet OnePlus 15, and I only hope that more companies follow suit.

All of the OnePlus 15R’s good looks aren’t just for show, however, as the phone is now a great deal more durable than before, boasting IP66, IP68, IP69, and IP69K certifications. While that might sound like a lot of jargon, it basically means that the 15R can do a lot more to withstand the elements than its predecessor, which is great to see in the mid-range market.

I do, however, think that the slightly larger build of the 15R can make things a bit difficult when reaching for the top of the display. This won’t be an issue for everyone, but I did find myself having to rely on both hands fairly often to comfortably use the device, although it’s nowhere near as cumbersome as something like the Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, with its 6.9-inch screen.

• Design score: 4.5 / 5

OnePlus 15R review: display

• The 6.83-inch screen is larger than the 13R's
• Screen brightness peaks at a slightly lesser 3600 nits

I’ll never fully understand the urge for phone manufacturers to go bigger when it comes to displays, but for whatever reason, OnePlus has decided to ditch the 6.78-inch norm of the last two R-series phones and adopt a 6.83-inch panel instead. Like I said before, the slightly larger build now means that the OnePlus 15R is just a bit too big to be comfortably used one-handed (something like the Honor Magic 8 Pro’s 6.71-inch panel hits the sweet spot for me), but there’s still a lot to like about this display.

The larger panel makes the phone great for a bit of entertainment, and I’ve really enjoyed using the OnePlus 15R to catch up on the latest season of Invincible, as it depicts the show’s colorful visuals with eye-catching intensity. Plus, with more room for having multiple apps open side by side, OnePlus’ Open Canvas multitasking software works like a charm here.

When it comes to screen brightness, there is a slight downgrade at play, but I don’t think it’s a dealbreaker for the phone. Instead of the 4,500 nits of peak brightness possible on the OnePlus 13R for HDR content, the 15R now tops out at 3,600, but I never found myself squinting at the screen when trying to take a picture outdoors or check train times. Plus, it’s still a brighter display than you'll get on a lot of phones in this price range (the iPhone 17e, for instance, can only reach 1200 nits).

What is more impressive, and something I’m far happier to have as a trade-off on screen brightness, is the 165Hz refresh rate pinched from the flagship OnePlus 15. The faster speed here is perfect for gaming, and for a fast-paced title like Call of Duty: Mobile, it just goes that extra step in drawing you into the action. It also makes everything from social media scrolling to web browsing feel that much smoother.

As a final note, the OnePlus 15R's screen itself is also very responsive, with a great feeling of cohesion between the fast refresh rate and the onboard chipset to the point where using the phone never really feels like a mid-range experience. I think that if you were to hand the 15R to someone without providing any background information, they would just assume that it’s a flagship device, which is a great compliment.

• Display score: 4.5 / 5

OnePlus 15R review: software

• OxygenOS remains one of the best Android overlays
• Four years of software updates, six for security patches

One thing I always love about reviewing OnePlus products is that I get to step back into the OxygenOS platform, which is a big step up compared to some other Android overlays that are filled to the brim with bloatware and unintuitive designs. From a software perspective, it’s like getting into a comforting warm bath — everything just works as you’d hope, and because the experience isn’t filled with pre-installed third-party apps, there’s very little friction from the jump.

As a new dad, I now have to rely on my phone a lot more than usual for getting work done during small pockets of time throughout the day, and to that end, the OnePlus 15R has been very helpful via its Open Canvas software. If you haven’t used it, just know that Open Canvas is one of the best examples of multitasking done right on Android, and the whole thing shines particularly on the OnePlus Pad 3, but it’s still just as good on a smartphone.

You can have one app on top of another in a 50/50 split or, as I prefer to have it, a 90/10 split that allows me to swap between two mostly full-screen apps in just a tap, which is very helpful for writing in Google Docs while checking my review notes in Google Keep. When in this mode, I’ve also been able to open a windowed version of WhatsApp to quickly respond to a message, all without ever closing the multitasking setup. It all works seamlessly, and it’s right up there with what Samsung provides through One UI.

When it comes to artificial intelligence, OnePlus’ suite of AI features isn’t quite as robust as Samsung’s Galaxy AI platter, but I feel that it’s definitely a step up from Honor AI, which feels as if it’s constantly thrust at the user and just isn’t very good at what it attempts to do. By comparison, OnePlus AI does a few things quite well, but there’s still plenty of room for improvement.

OnePlus’ Mind Space, which isn’t too dissimilar to Essential Space found on the Nothing Phone (4a) and (4a) Pro, acts as a hub for notes, screenshots, and voice recordings, all of which can then be analysed by the onboard AI to provide more detailed information. For instance, a quick photo of my desk, which features a mouse mat with Stormtroopers on it, led the AI to tell me all about the Star Wars universe and what it entails.

I do think that there’s a lot of potential here, but I would like to use Mind Space as a means of collecting interesting articles I’ve come across online, and when I attempted to do just that with the dedicated Plus Key, which activates Mind Space, it could only collect a single screenshot and wouldn’t save the link to the article either. Thankfully, the AI tools available when browsing the web are a lot better.

For when I’m pushed for time, I find AI article summaries to be incredibly helpful for staying in the loop with the latest tech launches, and the style that OnePlus employs is easily among the best out there. It works very quickly, and it does a great job of highlighting key points in either a detailed or concise format.

What I most appreciate, however, is that it never feels as if OnePlus is pushing you to use these AI features. They’re readily available for when you need them, but they’re also easily ignored if you have no taste for the software, which is an approach that a few other manufacturers could definitely take note of.

In terms of support over time, OnePlus promises a total of four years’ worth of software updates and six years of security patches to extend that lifecycle a bit further. Four years isn’t bad, but it pales in comparison to the six years of support that you'll get with the Samsung Galaxy A57 or Google Pixel 10a, so it’s worth having a think about how long you’re comfortable with waiting before your next upgrade.

• Software score: 4 / 5

OnePlus 15R review: cameras

• 50MP wide angle, 8MP ultra-wide, and 32MP front camera
• Last year's telephoto lens is gone

Although the OnePlus 15R comes out swinging in most other categories, the one area where there’s been an undeniable step backwards is in the camera department. One of the big additions to the OnePlus 13R was the inclusion of a 50MP 2x telephoto lens, which was great for capturing subjects that were just out of reach for the main camera. Alas, that telephoto lens is nowhere to be seen on the 15R, which I can only assume is a trade-off for its much larger battery.

What’s left is a 50MP (f/1.8) wide-angle lens and an 8MP (f/2.2) ultra-wide, both of which are identical to the ones found on the 13R. The only part of the camera set-up that’s had any kind of upgrade is the selfie camera, which has jumped from 16MP to 32MP. With that kind of reality facing potential adopters, the 15R is certainly not a must-buy for anyone who already owns the 13R, and if you’re interested in smartphone photography above all, then you may want to buy that older handset anyway, now that it can be found for less. For most people, however, I think they’ll get on just fine with what the OnePlus 15R has to offer.

Not too dissimilar to the latest Google Pixel phones, I’ve always found OnePlus’ eye for color to be very attractive, and here it’s backed up by the large megapixel count of the main camera to produce very sharp pictures that look great on the 15R’s display.

Taking the phone down to a nearby canal during a sunset, you can see just how well the camera handles the dynamic range across the sky, as well as in the reflections across the water. I’ve taken plenty of phones down to that same spot, and rarely has that location looked better than it does here.

Even though the 2x zoom within the camera app is a digital crop, the phone still captures enough data in these shots that they look great on the surface. I just don’t recommend zooming in any further beyond that, otherwise the composition starts to fall apart unless there’s a ton of natural light available.

On sunny days, even though it’s just an 8MP sensor, the ultra-wide camera can hold its own against the main lens with great-looking shots. It’s only when things get a bit cloudy that you notice the color is slightly muted by comparison.

Taking a few pictures during a night out around London Waterloo, I was impressed to see that the 15R did a great job of recreating the color palette around me in a fairly natural way, although I definitely recommend sticking to 1x in low light, as these shots can get a tad blurry under a microscope, but they look solid enough when viewed from a full perspective.

Something I definitely have to compliment OnePlus on is its understanding of what makes a selfie camera great. I’ve seen this before in the OnePlus Nord 5, as its 50MP front-camera is one of the best I’ve ever used, and it’s a similar experience with the 32MP alternative found on the 15R. Much like the main camera, the colors are so good that I can overlook my sleep-deprived expression and enjoy these photos for what they are.

Again, I completely understand why the removal of the telephoto lens might be enough for some to write off the OnePlus 15R, but I have still enjoyed my time with its cameras.

• Camera score: 4 / 5

Cameras samples

OnePlus 15R review: performance

• The Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset can handle almost any task
• 3D games aren't an issue here

Before writing this review, I wrote a separate piece on how the OnePlus 15R feels like another entry in the growing sector of all-rounder phones that, despite costing less than the latest flagships, manage to hit a certain bar of quality across the board, and won't leave the majority of users wanting for anything. One of the main reasons why I felt that to be the case here was because of the performance offered by the phone's Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset.

Skipping two generations of Snapdragon chipset ahead of its immediate predecessor, the OnePlus 15R feels every bit like a flagship phone in everyday use. Scrolling through apps is as smooth as you’d want it to be, and when running multiple apps at one time through Open Canvas, the phone never buckled under the pressure.

Gaming is a similarly fluid experience, and it’s only further emboldened by the phone's 165Hz refresh rate. Running through a few rounds of Call of Duty: Mobile, the game felt like it was meant for this type of handset, as the large screen gives you a good view of the battlefield while the chipset keeps everything running without any signs of tearing or stuttering.

The only instance where I could see a noticeable gap between the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 and the even more powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 was when loading in larger areas in Honkai: Star Rail. This is quite a demanding game for those who haven’t played it, but I was impressed to see that, outside of those moments, the combat and exploitation ran to a high standard on the OnePlus 15R.

• Performance score: 5 / 5

OnePlus 15R review: battery

• The 7,400mAh cell can run for at least two days
• No wireless charging

Saving the best for last, the OnePlus 15R boasts something of an anomaly when it comes to batteries in the mid-range category. Although the proliferation of silicon-carbon tech has paved the way for larger batteries, it’s typically been flagship phones that have benefited from this innovation, with the Oppo Find X9 Pro and the OnePlus 15, for example, packing 7,500mAh and 7,300mAh batteries, respectively. Following in their footsteps, the OnePlus 15R has a gigantic 7,400mAh cell to draw on, something that you simply won’t find on any other mid-range phone right now.

I mentioned earlier that it appears as though OnePlus made the decision to do away with the telephoto lens on this phone so it could go all in on battery, and as someone who would prefer not to have to deal with any battery anxiety during a day out, even if I am in the minority here, it’s a trade-off I’m happy to accept. After all, if you’re dead set on having a triple camera set-up, there are plenty of alternatives out there, including the Samsung Galaxy S25 FE, Nothing Phone (4a) Pro, and the Xiaomi 15T Pro.

With this kind of longevity in the tank, I had no issues with getting the OnePlus 15R to last at least two days between charges. On a more relaxed day, when working from home and only accruing an hour and a half of screen time, plus several hours of Spotify playback, the phone only dropped to 74%. As an iPhone user who is constantly having to keep one eye on how much battery is left, I can’t tell you how freeing it felt to not have to worry about endurance at all, and it allowed me to use the OnePlus 15R unencumbered.

The phone's 80W charging speed remains unchanged from the OnePlus 13R, but that’s fine by me given that it’s still much further ahead than most phones (the 45W speed of the S25 FE seems glacial by comparison). From my testing, you can get from 0% to a full battery in 1 hour and 25 minutes. If you’re really pressed for time, then you’ll be glad to know that I clawed back 67% after just 50 minutes, which is more than enough to get you safely through an entire day.

It would have been nice to see OnePlus add wireless charging into the mix, as it would have paired well with the idea of the 15R being a battery beast, but it’s not the worst omission, given how fast the wired charging is here.

• Battery score: 4.5 / 5

Should you buy the OnePlus 15R?

Buy it if…

Don’t buy it if…

Also consider

Still on the fence about the OnePlus 15R? Here are some contemporaries worth checking out:

How I tested the OnePlus 15R

I used the OnePlus 15R over a period of two weeks for this review. This involved using the phone during a trip to London and a trip to Cambridge, alongside visits to local cafes to have the phone operate as a hotspot for my laptop.

To test the screen, I streamed Avengers: Infinity War and Invincible over Disney Plus and Prime Video, respectively, and for gaming performance, I tapped into Call of Duty Mobile and Honkai: Star Rail.

First reviewed May 2026

Over the last few years, our list of the best Android phones has featured a smaller and smaller array of brands. That's not because we're biased towards particular companies; it's just that some of our favorite manufacturers have been winding down operations.

The last Nokia phone I reviewed was in 2022, the same goes for Realme, and we haven't published a full review of a Vivo or Nubia phone since 2024 (not including Nubia's RedMagic sub-brand). LG and Asus are two other high-profile brands that have retired from the mobile game in recent years, and I'm surprised that Sony is still ticking along (though its new mobile offerings are scant).

Unfortunately, it sounds like OnePlus might join that esteemed crowd very soon. Tech commentators have been down about what seems like a 'writing on the wall' situation for the Chinese brand; OnePlus is beloved among testers, and it's maintained a dedicated corps of fans online, too. But while rumors of OnePlus' demise certainly aren't nice to hear, in the long term, I think this could turn into a great thing for smartphone buyers. Let me explain.

What's happening to OnePlus?

Since the year began, rumors of OnePlus' imminent closure have been swirling. While the brand has denied these reports, it's clear that OnePlus has slowed down its usual product launch cycle (where's the OnePlus Nord 6?). Many assume that the brand's ditching the West to focus on Chinese and Indian markets, and indeed OnePlus itself has confirmed to Android Authority that it's "evaluating its regional roadmap and product strategy".

Most recently, we've heard that OnePlus could merge with Realme, its sister brand (both are owned by Chinese giant BBK Electronics, like Vivo and Oppo), which also stopped selling phones in Europe about four years ago.

Again, OnePlus has denied these reports to the Financial Express, but its statement only refers to "OnePlus India" and "local operations". Reading between the lines, that seems to confirm that global changes are afoot.

It's unclear what such a merger could look like; OnePlus also merged with Oppo back in 2021, and from the outside perspective, this didn't result in many changes.

But best case scenario — and again, this is total speculation — the companies could start to combine some aspects like R&D, distribution, and marketing, in order to save costs while remaining in operation. That's likely what the OnePlus and Oppo merger resulted in, and it's quite telling that Oppo remains active in Europe despite not being a household name.

It's a bad time to be a phone company

Why are so many phone brands struggling? Well, it's no secret that mobile sales are down globally. According to Counterpoint Research, shipments in the first quarter of 2026 were down 6% year-on-year, with "the shortage of DRAM" and "weaker demand" to blame for troubles in the mobile market.

Without wanting to put too fine a point on it, that latter is code for 'the cost of living crisis', with various factors encouraging buyers to hold onto a phone for longer before buying a new one, and sticking to tried-and-true brands rather than up-and-coming Chinese competitors.

Only the biggest companies, like Apple, seem to be keeping their head above water — Counterpoint also points to Honor, Google, and Nothing as other brands that are growing year-on-year, but basically everyone else is down.

In short, it's not a great time to be selling phones, unless you're a well-known company (mind you, even Samsung's sales were down, according to Counterpoint's data). But this has all led to total stagnation in the smartphone market.

The need for flagship-killers has never been greater

When OnePlus began, it brought rise to a phrase: "flagship killers". Its phones had mid-range prices, yet specs to rival the big dogs of the time. The OnePlus One was a Samsung Galaxy S5 rival that cost half the price.

For most of its existence, this strategy served OnePlus well, and other companies copied it. I remember the first Xiaomi phones I tested being incredible-value mid-rangers, and Oppo first came to my attention through its Reno handsets.

Yet if you look at any of these companies now, you'll see they've all joined the top-end game. Oppo and Xiaomi are pumping out fancy Ultra phones that cost thousands (see the Oppo Find X9 Ultra and Xiaomi 17 Ultra).

What's left around the mid-range Android market is a load of fine mobiles that do the job, but it's been years since I've seen a lower-cost handset that'd seriously compete with Samsung, Apple, or Google's latest flagships. And if I, a tech reviewer, can barely get excited for affordable phones, I can't expect buyers to. Handset companies are leaving the market, but the need for flagship-killers has never been greater.

Realme to the rescue?

Now here's where I've got to admit something: I'm not coming to this article as a OnePlus fan — it's a solid brand, which has made some great phones, don't get me wrong — but instead as a Realme fan.

Back when the brand used to release phones in the UK, I was constantly giving its handsets glowing reviews. I awarded four and a half stars to the affordable, colorful Realme 9 Pro Plus, the midrange powerhouse Realme GT, and the affordable camera phone Realme 8 Pro, and four stars to the super-cheap Realme C35 and Realme 7 Pro.

Even after Realme stopped selling its phones, I kept using them. My daily driver is, when I'm not testing a handset, the Realme 13 Pro Plus, and my laptop is the Realme Book. And I still cover the brand's tech from time to time, like when I took the Realme 15 Pro Game of Thrones Limited Edition to some castles in 2025.

What made Realme such a great brand is that it took the mantle from OnePlus: its gadgets were reasonably priced, and offered features or designs that made them indistinguishable from high-end rivals. The Realme 9 Pro Plus, for example, changed color in the light, while the Realme GT was a leather-clad compact phone with loads of gaming power.

I get the impression that, since leaving European markets, Realme has followed its siblings in focusing on high-end mobiles over tempting mid-rangers. But crucially, I don't think any other brand has followed in its footsteps.

A plan to save OnePlus

If OnePlus is planning to wind down operations, and if it does end up merging with Realme — two big 'ifs', I know — it could look a lot like a dignified retirement for a once-great brand. Perhaps this is the end for OnePlus after all (indeed, some Redditors have suggested that the merger "is going to be a disaster").

But if, as one can hope, it's more of a hibernation phase, to reduce overheads and weather the current economic storm, the story could be a lot different.

The tech world is full of comeback stories, some glorious and others not. Many legacy brands have been saved from the landfill site of history by mergers and buyouts.

Nokia survived for years through HMD Global. Apple was only saved from bankruptcy in 1997 by a massive Microsoft investment. Blackberry made a brief return thanks to OnwardMobility. Harman was saved by Samsung (although many audiophiles still mourn the death of still-operating Harman brands like AKG, so this last case is debatable).

So, maybe, just maybe, this will be another one of those cases: two Chinese tech brands circling their wagons to protect each other in the hopes of continuing onwards into the future. And if that does come to pass, the renewed collaboration could be really exciting for phone fans.

Realme still seems to retain some of that "flagship killer" magic that OnePlus lost along the way, and so if one of the brands does return to Western markets, that sparkle could come back too.

I'm so bored of the iPhone / Samsung Galaxy / Google Pixel triumvirate that's been dominating phone headlines for the last few years; these phones are great, but they're all equally and predictably great. I want something weird, something unexpected, a real challenger for once. Will that be OnePlus or Realme? Not soon, by the looks of it, but I can't see anyone else coming to save us.

Until then, if I want a handset that looks competitive or interesting, I'll turn to the best cheap phones. They lack some of the pizazz that competitive mid-rangers once did, but at least they still give you value for money.

The iPhone 17e has earned plaudits for being a great-value option among the best iPhones, and as someone who reviews phones for a living (and as something of an Apple obsessive), I completely understand why. But if you’re thinking about picking the iPhone 17e any time soon, I urge you to at least consider the alternative options.

Now, admittedly, the iPhone 17e is exactly what last year’s iPhone 16e should have been — a genuine mid-range alternative for the Apple crowd that doesn’t leave you wanting for too much. The addition of MagSafe is a big win, as is the jump to having 256GB storage as standard, and if your entire family and/or social circle uses iPhone, then sure, it makes perfect sense as an upgrade.

You’ll have a smoother time with access to Find My, the ability to easily share files via AirDrop, and slick integration with Apple products like the AirPods Pro 3 and the Apple Watch Series 11. It sounds daft, but one of the main things keeping me in Apple’s ecosystem is access to the Notes app, where my wife and I have a shared shopping list. It’s small features like these that add up, but over the last week, I’ve been using the OnePlus 15R, and it’s reminded me how much more you can get for your money elsewhere.

What more could you ask for?

For those who don’t know, the OnePlus 15R is OnePlus' key mid-range phone for 2026, sitting below the flagship (and quite excellent) OnePlus 15 and above the recently unveiled OnePlus Nord 6. Priced at $699 / £649 / AU$899, the OnePlus 15R is at the upper end of the mid-range scale, but it offers a litany of flagship-adjacent features that put the iPhone 17e to shame.

The most obvious boon of the bunch is the absurd battery OnePlus has crammed into this phone. With a 7,400mAh cell under the hood, I’ve regularly been able to get two days of use out of the OnePlus 15R before needing to top it up. I’ve honestly become so used to toggling Low Power Mode on my iPhone 16 to get through more demanding days that it’s been a relief not to have to worry about battery life at all.

Mind you, before I even got a chance to test out the phone's battery life, I was already enamoured with the design of the OnePlus 15R.

Granted, the iPhone 17e also feels like a premium phone in the hand, but the Mint Green variant of OnePlus’ mid-ranger is so tasty to look at that I wouldn’t dare put a case anywhere near it (not that it really needs one with IP66, IP68, IP69, and IP69K durability certifications).

There are plenty of other OnePlus 15R features worthy of praise, including its 165Hz refresh rate, massive 6.83-inch display, and OnePlus’ easy-to-navigate OxygenOS. But what really solidifies its value for me is the performance of its Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset. Even though it’s a step below the top-tier Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, at no point have I felt like I'm missing out on power.

With the OnePlus 15R, I can jump quickly between apps, have them open in side-by-side multitasking mode, and enjoy gaming without any visual hiccups. Quite simply, this phone is brilliant value for money.

The rise of the all-rounders

Although I’ll have a more detailed take in my upcoming review of the phone, I can say that the OnePlus 15R has been an excellent all-rounder in my time with it so far. But it’s not the only Android phone I’ve used that fits that description.

Last year, I got my hands on the Samsung Galaxy S25 FE, and was surprised that it didn’t leave me wanting for very much. It uses the same Exynos 2400 chipset that powered the once-flagship Samsung Galaxy S24, and while not quite as much of a battery beast as the OnePlus 15R, it still got me to the end of many long days without cause for concern. The vibrant 6.7-inch display was great for catching up on a bit of Netflix, too.

I felt a similar sense of appreciation for the recently released Nothing Phone (4a) Pro, after getting to test it out ahead of its launch. It boasts a design that makes most flagship phones seem boring by comparison, and Nothing’s operating system is just as thoughtfully constructed as its hardware.

Admittedly, while using that particular phone, I could see where the limitations of its Snapdragon 7 Gen 4 chipset lay, but that was only as a result of having just used some of the best phones money can buy. The (4a) Pro even packs a 3.5x telephoto lens as part of its triple-camera array, and yet it costs $100 /£100 / AU$50 less than the iPhone 17e, which only has a single camera on the back.

Again, as someone who remains an iPhone devotee despite (and quite thankfully, I might add) having his pick of the litter when it comes to the best Android phones, I completely get the allure of iOS — it works brilliantly, and in owning both AirPods and AirTags, not to mention subscribing to Apple News+, my fate in the Apple ecosystem was sealed a long time ago. But if you’re at the juncture of upgrading your phone to a mid-range model, I urge you to think twice about what you can get for your money.

• The OnePlus 15T is official — at least in China
• There are fresh doubts about OnePlus's international operations
• Operations continue to 'proceed as normal' OnePlus says

After several weeks of teases, the OnePlus 15T is now official, blurring the boundaries between mid-rangers and flagships — though there are an increasing number of doubts that the handset will ever find its way outside of China.

Before we get to the doubts though, let's do the specs. The OnePlus 15T comes with a relatively small 6.32-inch display but a huge 7,500 mAh capacity battery, and is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset and either 12GB or 16GB of RAM.

The storage options are 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB, and there's a dual-lens 50MP+50MP camera on the back, as well as a 16MP selfie cam. You'll find some nods to mobile gamers here, including a vapor chamber cooling system and a display refresh rate that goes all the way up to 165 Hz.

As for pricing, the handset starts at CNY 4,299 (roughly $625 / £465 / AU$895), though as mentioned above, it's not clear if this phone is going to get a global launch like many of its predecessors – including the excellent OnePlus 15.

Is OnePlus retreating?

Rumors that OnePlus is about to shutter operations in the US and Europe have been swirling for a while, but fresh whispers have been doing the rounds after OnePlus India CEO Robin Liu stepped down from his post.

Yes, that's the same Robin Lui who said it was business as usual for OnePlus back in January, after the first wave of speculation hit that the company would be focusing exclusively on China in the future — so not a particularly positive sign for operations in other international territories.

"Existing business operations for OnePlus Europe continue to proceed as normal," a OnePlus representative told TechRadar in a statement. "All users' after-sales support, software updates, and rights commitments are fully guaranteed."

It would be a shame if OnePlus pulled its products from international markets – it makes some of the best phones around, in our opinion – but we're living through tough times for tech and economies in general.

• More official OnePlus teasers have emerged
• We can now see all three colors
• Several official accessories are going to be available

OnePlus has never been shy about building up hype for its phone launches, and we're continuing to get official teasers for the imminent arrival of the OnePlus 15T — including a promo video showing off all three colors, and a look at some intriguing accessories.

Let's start with the promo video, which appeared on an official OnePlus social media account. The handset gets shown off from all angles, and we can see it appearing in green, brown, and white — or Matcha Green, Cocoa Brown, and White Chocolate in OnePlus speak.

We can see a punch hole camera up at the top of the display, and the standard buttons around the side of the device. The rear camera module is also on display, which will look familiar if you've had a read through our OnePlus 15 review (spoilers: we loved it).

The video matches up with images that OnePlus has already shared, and we know that the handset is going to come with a 6.3-inch display. The battery has also been revealed to have an impressive 7,500 mAh capacity.

Cases and colors

In other official teaser news, OnePlus has also revealed some magnetic accessories that it will be selling alongside the OnePlus 15T. We can see a case and a wireless charger here, as well as two cooling fan options — for those intensive gaming sessions.

Further details obtained via the Oppo store reveal that the wireless charger is rated at 50W for juicing up the phone, and it can double up as a stand if needed (similar to the MagSafe-style stands available for the Apple iPhone).

In further Weibo posts (as reported by GSMArena), OnePlus has confirmed that the OnePlus 15T is going to come rocking dual 50MP cameras on the rear of the phone — one of which will be a telephoto lens capable of 3.5x optical zoom.

It all sounds promising, and quite possibly something for Samsung to worry about with its Galaxy S26 only recently going on sale. The OnePlus 15T succeeds the OnePlus 13T, and is getting a launch in China on March 24 (with global availability still to be confirmed).

Big Amazon sales seem to be taking place more often than not these days, but the retailer's latest deals bonanza — the Amazon Spring Deal Days sale — has at least thrown up a saving worth shouting about on the excellent OnePlus 15.

• Shop the full Amazon Spring Deal Days sale

Right now, shoppers can pick up the top-end version of the OnePlus 15 — that's the one with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage — for a record-low £829 (was £979). That's a whopping £150 less than the phone's current price on OnePlus' official website, and even more impressively, it's £20 cheaper than the price you'll pay for the model with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.

Consider too that 512GB versions of the OnePlus 15's closest competitors, the iPhone 17 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, cost £1,399 and £1,449, respectively, and the value of this Amazon deal starts to look pretty darn great.

(Not in the UK? See today's best deals in your region below.)

Today's best OnePlus 15 deal

As for whether the OnePlus 15 is worth of comparison alongside big hitters like the iPhone 17 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra, it earned a perfect score in our OnePlus 15 review, and more than held its own in our OnePlus 15 vs iPhone 17 Pro camera comparison.

"The OnePlus 15 is better than perfect. It has the best battery life of any smartphone, stellar performance, and top-notch cameras, backed by an understated yet durable design. There isn't a better phone you can buy than this one," we wrote back in November, and no other phone has yet come close to dethroning the OnePlus 15 as the best-value flagship money can buy in 2026.

Still need convincing? Check out our video review of the phone below:

More of today's best Amazon Spring Deal Days deals

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• We have an official teaser image for the OnePlus 15T
• The phone is launching in China later this month
• It stretches the OnePlus definition of a 'small screen king'

We gave the OnePlus 15 a rare five-out-of-five star rating after its launch in October, so we're very much looking forward to what the updated OnePlus 15T update of the phone has to offer — and we just got our first official look at the handset.

OnePlus has taken to the Chinese social media platform Weibo (via Notebookcheck) to give us a teaser image of the OnePlus 15T. As you can see, the design language is very similar to what we saw with the OnePlus 15.

We do get a couple of new colors to take a look at though, green and brown. It's not clear yet what the official OnePlus names for these colors are going to be, or if these are the only colors you're going to be able to buy the handset in.

The text on the teaser graphic reads "Performance and battery life surpass large-screen phones, flagship experience outdoes small-screen phones", based on translation software — giving you some idea of how OnePlus is positioning this app.

Here's what we know

Thanks to earlier teases from OnePlus and its executives, we know quite a bit about the upcoming OnePlus 15T. It's apparently going to feature very narrow bezels (a little over a millimeter), maximizing the available screen size.

That screen size is going to be 6.3 inches corner to corner, compared to the 6.78 inches of the OnePlus 15. OnePlus exec Li Jie Louis has previously called the handset a "small screen king" (via a translation app), which is stretching the definition somewhat.

We also know there will be a hefty 7,500 mAh capacity battery inside the OnePlus 15T, beating the 7,300 mAh on the OnePlus 15. We're also going to get 100W wired and 50W wireless charging, with the main flagship offering 120W and 50W respectively.

The last bit of confirmed news is a 3.5x telephoto lens, matching the OnePlus 15 — though there will only be two rear cameras rather than three. The handset is going to launch in China this month, with global availability potentially following afterwards.

• The OnePlus 15T is getting thin bezels, apparently
• OnePlus' Li Jie Loui called them the “visually narrowest bezels” among all small-screen phones
• The OnePlus 16 might beat it, however, with other substantial upgrades to boot

OnePlus is making direct swings at Apple as the first teasers for the OnePlus 15T are here — and the OnePlus 16 just got an exciting camera leak too.

Starting with the OnePlus 15T, OnePlus China President Li Jie Loui took to social media to claim the compact device has ultra-narrow bezels on every side. Taking things a step further, he claimed OnePlus’ next phone could have the “visually narrowest bezels” among all small-screen phones, "perhaps even the world” (machine translated from Chinese to English).

He said this milestone was achieved through "a series of groundbreaking screen packaging technologies" alongside chipset and production line enhancements.

His post showed an image of his company’s upcoming phone up against what appears to be an iPhone 17 Pro based on the shape and orange color, and the OnePlus 15T does indeed have slimmer bezels than it. The iPhone 17 Pro has 1.44mm bezels, though the regular OnePlus 15 has 1.15mm bezels already, so the difference would likely be less stark if the 15T were compared to the company’s own devices.

Unfortunately, like previous OnePlus T releases, the 15T is likely set to be a China-exclusive product, though unlike some China-exclusive releases, this currently isn’t one I’m crying my eyes out over.

Sure, smaller bezels allow compact phones to be even more efficient with their footprint — either slimming their chassis down without losing screen size, or keeping the chassis a similar size while making the screen a little larger. I’m not all that fussed by less than 1mm improvements to the bezel thickness, though, if that’s something you deeply care about, you might want to start working out a way to import this release — or hold out for the OnePlus 16.

The real next OnePlus flagship

Likely to release globally based on OnePlus’ history, the OnePlus 16 flagship is already being leaked, and its bezels are tipped to be smaller than 1mm (via NotebookCheck).

Furthermore, its battery capacity is rumored to be 9,000mAh (over double the Samsung Galaxy S26’s 4,175mAh capacity), it could boast a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6 chipset, its display might have a 240Hz refresh rate, and joining its 200MP main sensor is a 200MP periscope lens if leaks are to be believed.

All rumors and leaks should be taken with a pinch of salt, but OnePlus’ hardware has been steaming ahead of the competition in recent years, and I wouldn’t be surprised if its next flagship — OnePlus 16 — continued this trend.

Such advancements could be especially potent this year, where rivals’ innovation is predicted to be dulled by RAM-crisis-fuelled price rises. Just look at the recent Samsung Galaxy S26 series launch, the new devices have some useful new AI features, and the Ultra has its Privacy display, but overall, the tech is a little lackluster despite costing more (at least for the base and Plus models) than last year.

If OnePlus can offer excellent value for money despite industry headwinds, it could win over its rivals’ customers, but we’ll have to wait and see.

• Recent reports suggest OnePlus is winding down
• These reports have now been countered by the OnePlus India CEO
• Oppo took over the OnePlus brand back in 2021

The tech world was shaken yesterday by a report from Android Headlines that OnePlus was being 'dismantled' by parent company Oppo – but today we have official word that rumours of the demise of OnePlus are wide of the mark.

CEO of OnePlus India, Robin Liu, took to social media (via Android Authority) to say that the company is "operating as usual and will continue to do so". He described the leaks around OnePlus shutting down as "false" and "unsubstantiated".

And here at TechRadar we're very happy to hear it: we've covered the OnePlus brand since it launched its very first phone way back in 2014, and we recently awarded the OnePlus 15, which launched last year, and which sits atop our rankings of the best Android phones, a full five stars out of five.

As you might remember, Oppo and OnePlus merged in 2021, with OnePlus becoming the sub-brand. Since then, we've seen numerous similarities between phones from Oppo and OnePlus (and Realme, which Oppo also owns) – but OnePlus devices remain distinct.

Some questions remain

The original Android Headline report points to several signs that OnePlus operations are winding down, including low levels of phone shipments across the globe, and cutbacks in marketing operations outside of China.

According to analysts, OnePlus phone sales dropped to around 13-14 million in 2024, down from 17 million the year before. Meanwhile, Oppo sales are up across the same period, which might be a reason for the company to shutter OnePlus operations.

There remains some uncertainty over the future of OnePlus outside of China and India. The brand doesn't have any carrier partnerships in the US, for example, and previous leaks have suggested that the OnePlus Open 2 and OnePlus 15s might both have been canceled.

Hopefully, OnePlus continues to operate globally, and offer some much-needed competition to the likes of Apple, Samsung, and Google – its latest flagship is high up in our best smartphones list, and we'd certainly miss the brand if it disappeared.

Sometimes you just don’t want the latest and greatest smartphone. Whether you’re on a budget, want certain niche features, or just prefer older designs, there are plenty of reasons to go vintage when it comes to picking up a new phone.

However, buying an older phone isn’t without its challenges. For one thing, it can be hard to find the exact model you’re after, especially if you’re looking to buy a factory-new handset. Older iPhones – especially Pro and Pro Max models – can be very hard to come by even as soon as two years after launch.

And secondly, there are some operational and security factors to consider when buying an older phone. Phones need to be able to run a reasonably recent version of their operating system to access most apps, and those stuck on obsolete versions are much more vulnerable to hackers and malware.

So, with all of these factors in mind, what is the oldest phone you can – or should – still use in 2026?

The oldest box-new phone

If you’re looking to buy a box-new phone, then the oldest units you’ll find in factory new condition are likely to be only a few years old.

For Apple fans, you’re still able to find new iPhone 13 models on pre-paid plans from carriers like Verizon, but might struggle to find the same units unlocked. In the UK, the oldest iPhone I can see for sale new is the iPhone 12, which Laptops Direct still has in stock.

As for Android, you can still find a good supply of Samsung Galaxy S22, Google Pixel 7, and OnePlus 12 series phones at retailers. There are many, many brands of Android phones that vary quite a lot by region, so mileage may vary depending on manufacturer.

The oldest supported phone

If you’re willing to shop used or refurbished, your main concern when buying an older phone should be whether it’s still supported. Ideally you want a phone with one or two operating system updates left in its lifespan, but even if that’s out of the question, you absolutely need a phone that’s still getting security support if you plan to use it while connected to the internet.

According to Apple’s security patch log page, the oldest version of iOS that got any kind of security patch in 2025 was iOS 15.8.5 – meaning the oldest phone that got security updates last year was the iPhone 6S, released in 2015. Not bad – but do keep in mind that some apps, and even newer releases of staple apps, might not run on this older version of iOS.

It’s worth noting that the oldest iPhone that can run iOS 26 – the latest version – is the iPhone 11 (released in 2019). You might want to pick up an iPhone 12 or newer if you plan on using any upcoming features, as the iPhone 11 is now next in line to be dropped.

On the Android side of things, the oldest version of Android still listed in Google’s Android Security Bulletin updates is Android 13, meaning any phone that runs Android 13 or newer can be considered a safe pick.

That means the oldest widely available phone still covered by Android security patches could be the Google Pixel 4, released in October 2019, which received Android 13 as its final major OS update. The Samsung Galaxy S20 and OnePlus 9 families can also run Android 13.

As for phones that can run Android 16 – the latest version – we’re looking at the Samsung Galaxy S22 series (plus the Galaxy S21 FE), the Google Pixel 6 family, and the OnePlus 11 series. Google cinches it again on this one, as the Google Pixel 6 was released in October 2021, beating the respective 2022 and 2023 launches by Samsung and OnePlus.

Classic phones and staying safe

As I covered in a recent piece, the iPhone 4 has surged in popularity lately due to demand for its digital camera, which retro tech lovers prize for its charm and Y2K-style aesthetic. And for collectors, old and obsolete phones can be a real prize.

However, if you’re dead-set on buying a phone that’s so old it no longer gets security updates, there are a few security measures you need to take to stay safe.

You should keep any phone that no longer gets security updates disconnected from wireless networks with no SIM card inserted, and avoid inputting any sensitive or personal data. And be sure to move any files off of the phone with a wired connection to a trusted device.

By following these steps you can protect your nostalgic fun against hackers and malware.

So, overall, the oldest “usable” phone for daily use is probably the iPhone 6S, which seems to still get security support from Apple – but there’s no predicting whether this will last much longer. Personally, I’d recommend getting a daily driver that can run the latest version of your preferred operating system, which would make 2019’s iPhone 11 the front-runner (or.... back-runner?). For Android fans we have to get even more recent with the Google Pixel 6, released in 2021.

If you’re blast-from-the-pasted out, feel free to check out our guides to the best iPhones, best Android phones, and best phones overall for a refresher on the latest and greatest handsets – and let us know your favorite classic phone in the comments below.

Ask any Zoomer what the best year of all time was, and there’s a good chance they’ll say 2016. For my generation, 2016 was the era of Pokémon Go, Vine, great new music, Snapchat filters, and the birth of online culture as we know it today.

It’s now 2026 – 10 years since 2016 – so it’s no surprise that nostalgia for the internet’s favorite year is surging. According to the BBC, searches for “2016” are exploding on various platforms, from TikTok to Spotify.

What I think a lot of people – Gen-Z or otherwise – miss when discussing the impact of 2016 is just how much of our fondest memories revolve around our phones. While the world wasn’t quite as reliant on smartphones 10 years ago as it is today, we’d certainly started to lean on the computers in our pockets for daily activities and entertainment.

Furthermore, a lot has changed in the world of smartphones in the last decade. So, for old time’s sake – here’s a recap of the biggest phone releases of 2016, plus a list of the phones the TechRadar team were using ten years ago.

Apple: iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, and iPhone SE

Launched in September 2016, the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus live in infamy as the first iPhones to launch without a headphone jack. Equally notorious is Apple’s reasoning for ditching the useful port – at that year’s launch event, Tim Cook gave an infamous one-word explanation: “Courage”.

Despite the ensuing storm of controversy and some mockery from Samsung, Apple turned out to be ahead of the curve. Today, headphone jacks are a rarity on modern flagship phones and are most often reserved for the best gaming phones or other specialist handsets.

Headphone jacks aside, the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus were pretty decent smartphones. Though not a huge step up from the still-popular iPhone 6 and iPhone 6S families, the iPhone 7 got the new A10 Fusion chipset, a 4.7-inch screen (in the then-standard 16:9 aspect ratio), and a single 12MP rear camera. The iPhone 7 Plus was the first iPhone to launch with a second camera, a 2x telephoto lens. Both came with huge bezels and a Touch ID-enabled home button, and ran iOS 10 at launch.

As well as the new flagships, Apple launched the first iPhone SE in March 2016, giving fans of the iPhone 5’s 4-inch form factor the chance to get their hands on the latest A9 chipset. This wasn’t as much of a ‘budget’ phone as the generations that followed, as it was an homage to the outgoing design, a final salute to truly small handsets.

Samsung: Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 Edge, and Galaxy Note 7

While Apple started to simplify the iPhone in 2016, Samsung kept thinking big – literally. At 5.7 inches, the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 was one of the biggest widely available phones at the time, with a spec sheet to match. Its 1440p display was razor sharp, and with 4GB of RAM, it offered twice as much memory as its Apple counterpart. And of course, this was the birth of the built-in stylus, which we stil see today in the Galaxy S25 Ultra.

The standard Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 Edge both had 5.1-inch displays and a few internal boosts over their predecessors. Samsung revived the Edge branding for the Galaxy S25 Edge last year, but back in 2016, the term meant something completely different – rather than being a slimmer version of the standard model, the Galaxy S7 Edge had a wraparound display that covered the edges of the phone.

Curved displays have since gone out of fashion, but it’s worth remembering that Samsung was the one to popularize them and really thought outside the box when it came to making the most of the extra space. Notifications and various indicators could flash up on the sides of the phone, making them easy to read from, say, a bedside table.

All three of 2016’s Samsung flagships ran Android 6 at launch, and all three had expandable storage via microSD. Take me back!

Google: Pixel and Pixel XL

After a successful run of Nexus phones made in collaboration with various phone makers, 2016 saw Google step out on its own for the first time. The Google Pixel and Google Pixel XL were the first phones made by Google and only Google, giving the Android operating system a piece of flagship hardware to call home.

The Google Pixel had a 5-inch screen, a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner, and a 12MP rear camera. The Google Pixel XL offered a similar experience, just with a 5.5-inch screen and a bigger battery. However, neither of the phones were particularly weatherproof, with just an IP53 ingress protection rating – this was before the days of IP68 being a given for flagship smartphones.

The real selling point of the phone was basically the same as today’s Google Pixel flagships – it ran a very lightweight, bloat-free version of Android 6 at launch, optimized for the hardware by Google itself. Though Google Pixels increasingly lean on AI tools to offer value, it's still this software simplicity that brings some users to the platform in the present.

OnePlus 3

Once considered an underdog brand, OnePlus has shot up through the ranks of the smartphone world in recent years. Its latest flagship, the OnePlus 15, earned a rare 5 stars in our review and now holds the title of the best Android phone, while also appearing on our list of the best phones.

Rewind ten years, though, and OnePlus wasn’t nearly as well-known as it is now – but the company was still putting out phones that put the big brands in the crosshairs. In 2016, OnePlus released the OnePlus 3, which we called a “genuine flagship killer” in our 4.5-star review.

It’s not surprising that the phone earned such high praise when you take a look at its spec sheet. The OnePlus 3 launched with a 5.5-inch display, a 16MP rear camera, an above-average 6GB of RAM, and a 3,000mAh battery with support for 20W charging – very speedy for the time. It was also the first all-metal OnePlus phone and came with the brand’s iconic ringer switch, which was only retired from its flagship phones in 2025.

The OnePlus 3 might be outdated now, but it’s cool to see that OnePlus has, in fact, been pushing its flagship-fighting philosophy for quite some time. It makes the brand’s win with the OnePlus 15 feel even more earned.

HTC 10 and LG G5

Back in 2016, there were a couple of brands on the scene that seemed like they’d be heavy hitters for years to come, but have vanished in the years since.

For example, HTC launched the HTC 10 in 2016. This was the successor to the much-loved HTC One series, and like its predecessors had a premium design, with a 5.2-inch display and 3,000mAh battery (both large for the time); it scored 4.5 stars in our review.

In the same year, we saw the LG G5 handset, which launched alongside a crop of separately-sold modules, such as a 360 camera and dedicated DAC.

HTC’s focus on luxury ultimately couldn’t secure its place in the race against Apple and Samsung, and the company now produces low-end smartphones, mainly for Asian markets. LG, on the other hand, kept getting weirder and wilder, but the company’s phone business closed in 2020 due to poor sales.

Which phones were the TechRadar team using in 2016?

I asked the TechRadar team which phones they were using in 2016 – as the list shows, plenty of the crew were still rocking phones from 2015 or earlier.

• Rowan Davies, Editorial Executive: iPhone 6S
• Mark Wilson, Managing Editor, News (UK): iPhone 6S
• Matthew Bolton, Managing Editor, Entertainment: iPhone 6S
• Jacob Krol, Managing Editor, News (US): iPhone 6S / iPhone 7 Plus
• John-Anthony Disotto, Senior Writer AI: iPhone 7 Plus
• Josephine Watson, Managing Editor, Lifestyle: iPhone SE
• Timothy Coleman, Cameras Editor: iPhone SE
• Matt Evans, Senior Editor, Fitness Wellness & Wearables: iPhone SE
• Becky Scarrott, Audio Editor: iPhone 5S
• Jamie Richards, Staff Writer, Mobile Computing (hey, that's me!): iPhone 5S
• Roland Moore-Colyer, Managing Editor, Mobile Computing: Samsung Galaxy S6
• Catherine Ellis, Homes Editor: Samsung Galaxy Note 2
• Matthew Hanson, Managing Editor, Core Tech: Google Pixel XL
• Dashiell Wood, Gaming Editor: Moto G4 Play
• David Nield, Freelance Contributor: Google Nexus 6

Were phones better in 2016 than they are now?

From a purely technical perspective, the best phones of 2026 are much more capable than the phones of 2016 – there's not much point arguing otherwise. But when we look at which year was better for phones at the time, things get a little more interesting.

The iPhone 7 was widely criticized for ditching the headphone jack and delivering less of an upgrade than the iPhone 6, but it was still a solid Apple handset. Samsung’s mainline Galaxy phones were also built around incremental upgrades, and didn't really push the boat out compared to past releases.

However, we did get some excitement from the launch of the all-new Google Pixel and oddball handsets like the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge and LG G5. In the present day, big brands are hesitant to take a chance on out-there designs, and other than a wave of thin phones in 2025 we haven't seen any truly wild innovations since the introduction of folding phones. From that perspective, 2016 gains some ground.

And while 2026 has only just started, it seems like it might not be a huge year for phone development thanks to economic uncertainties and the rocketing demand for components like RAM.

What I personally remember about phones in 2016 is more about the way we used our devices, not the spec bumps or new features. Whether we were stepping around the neighbourhood looking for Pokémon in Pokémon Go or getting a few friends together to film a Mannequin Challenge video (remember that?), it seemed like many of the apps and trends we took part in were about coming together and amplifying our real-world experiences. In that way, it was a great year for phones, possibly because we weren’t using them quite so much.

Still, 2026 is set to be a very exciting year for mobile tech, with new developments expected in battery tech, design and materials, and mobile photography. Keep an eye on our mobile buying guides for the latest new models, and be sure to let us know which phone you were using in 2016 in the comments below.

• A leaker claims the OnePlus Open 2 and OnePlus 15s might both have been canceled
• In both cases a very similar phone might be sold instead
• There's still a chance we could see a new OnePlus foldable next year

The OnePlus Open was one of the best foldable phones around when it launched back in 2023. And yet, despite receiving high praise from us and elsewhere, we’re yet to see a successor – and it now seems we might not see one for a long time, if ever.

According to Yogesh Brar – a leaker with a generally solid track record – the OnePlus Open 2 has been canceled, though whether that means we simply won’t get it this year or whether OnePlus has bowed out of the foldable phone market altogether isn’t entirely clear.

But that’s not the only OnePlus phone that might have been canceled, because in a reply, Brar claimed that there’s a 90% chance the rumored OnePlus 15s has been canceled too.

Not yet mainstream

So why would this be? Well, in the case of the OnePlus Open 2, the company previously claimed we wouldn’t see this in 2025 because the market wasn’t mainstream enough yet, and that’s arguably still the case now.

That might change soon, as the iPhone Fold is reportedly landing this year, and could push foldables into the spotlight – so perhaps OnePlus will choose to launch another foldable phone after that, in 2026, but that’s just speculation for now.

The other major reason that we might not see the OnePlus Open 2 this year is that as NotebookCheck points out, Oppo – which owns OnePlus – is reportedly planning a global release for the Find N6 – and if there was a OnePlus Open 2, this would likely be little more than a rebadged Find N6 anyway.

So in that case there would be little need for a OnePlus Open 2, and it might just risk eating into sales of a foldable from OnePlus’s parent company.

As for the OnePlus 15s, this would likely only have been sold in India anyway, and would probably be similar to the still-upcoming OnePlus 15T, so perhaps the company has simply judged that there’s no need for two different models that are so similar. However, whether the 15T will be widely available outside China remains to be seen.

Of course, we’d take these cancelation claims with a pinch of salt for now anyway, but be sure to keep an eye on our list of the best OnePlus phones for any new models.

• OnePlus has launched the OnePlus Turbo series
• Highlights include 9,000mAh batteries and high refresh rates
• These low-cost gaming phones have so far only be announced for China, but there might be a global launch later

Following a tease last month, the OnePlus Turbo 6 and OnePlus Turbo 6V have now been fully unveiled, and they look set to deliver impressive battery life and gaming capabilities at a fairly low price.

Both phones have 9,000mAh batteries, meaning they have even the 7,300mAh OnePlus 15 beat there. They can also both charge at up to 80W, and despite having such high capacity batteries, they’re only 8.5mm thick.

They also both have substantial water resistance, including IP66, IP68, and IP69 ratings, giving them resistance to splashes, submersion, and high-pressure, high-temperature water jets. For cameras, they both have a 50MP main snapper, a 2MP monochrome one, and a 16MP front-facing camera.

A difference in power

Many of the other specs differ between the two phones though, with the OnePlus Turbo 6 being the higher end model. This has a Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 chipset, up to 16GB of RAM, and includes a Fengchi Game Kernel, which can help games reach 165fps. It also has up to 512GB of storage, and a 6.78-inch screen with a 165Hz refresh rate.

The OnePlus Turbo 6V instead has a Snapdragon 7s Gen 4 chipset, up to 12GB of RAM, up to 512GB of storage, and a 6.78-inch screen with a 144Hz refresh rate.

So neither model is especially high-end aside from the battery and screen specs, but with those high capacity batteries, high refresh rates, and – in the case of the OnePlus Turbo 6 – game-boosting Fengchi Game Kernel, they should make for solid gaming phones.

Right now, these phones are only confirmed for China, with the OnePlus Turbo 6 starting at CNY 2,300 (around $330 / £245 / AU$490), while the 6V starts at CNY 1,900 (roughly $270 / £200 / AU$410), so these could be very affordable phones if pricing elsewhere is similar.

That said, while it's possible that they’ll get a global launch later, as that’s often the case with OnePlus devices, there’s no guarantee. So for now, you might want to check out our list of the best gaming phones if you’re looking for a new handset to play on.

What makes a perfect smartphone? Some users will want the best camera phone, some to the best gaming phone, others still will pledge loyalty to the best iPhones or best Android phones. There’s no one concrete answer to this age-old question, but if you ask me, OnePlus got pretty close with its latest flagship.

The OnePlus 15 is pretty much a paragon of modern phone design. It’s got a big, beautiful display, a capable triple-camera system, a sleek and durable build, a huge 7,300mAh battery, and the new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset. All this for $899.99 / £899: the OnePlus 15 really is about as good as it gets, hence our five-star OnePlus 15 review.

But now, thanks to new rumors, the possibility of something even better lurks on the horizon. According to tipster OnePlus Club (via GizmoChina), the next-generation OnePlus 16 could get its very own ‘Pro’ model, presumably named the OnePlus 16 Pro.

Though this rumored handset is probably a ways off yet (OnePlus only recently released the OnePlus 15 in the US), it’s likely to be one of the most powerful phones to ever hit shelves. OnePlus already equips each new generation of its flagship phones with great new hardware updates, so I imagine things would really have to kick up a notch to earn that ‘Pro’ moniker.

It can be hard to imagine what a new line of a next-gen phone series might look like; luckily, I know exactly where we – and, hopefully, OnePlus – can look for inspiration.

I’ve been daily driving the Oppo Find X9 Pro for a few months now, and am as enamored with it as I was on day one. As my recent Oppo Find X9 Pro review details, this is a monstrously powerful phone that goes further than any other I’ve used when it comes to photography, battery life, and display immersion.

The Oppo Find X9 Pro also looks a lot like the OnePlus 15 – tech fans and keen TechRadar readers will already know that the two brands are owned by the same parent company, BBK Electronics. This means that the two companies share plenty of software and hardware, leaving the Oppo and OnePlus experience feeling pretty similar.

However, Oppo has the upper hand over its more widely distributed sibling when it comes to super-premium Pro and Ultra handsets. The Find X9 Pro I’ve been using every day comes with a triple-camera system like the OnePlus 15, but with larger sensors across the board and a wild 200MP telephoto camera. Oppo also steals the title of battery champ from its sister brand, as the Find X9 Pro has a ludicrous 7,500mAh cell.

And there are further heights ahead – rumors of the Find X9 Ultra are now beginning to stir. If it follows the pattern of the Find X7 Ultra and Find X8 Ultra, the Find X9 Ultra could bring a 1-inch type sensor, and Android Headlines points to a fourth 10x telephoto camera. Sheesh. Oppo has never distributed its Ultra handsets to Western markets, but this is where OnePlus – with all of its clout and reputation – can really shine.

I could go on about my love for Oppo phones and the Find X9 Pro, but the reason I bring this all up is to illustrate that OnePlus already has a pool of ideas it can pull from to create a more powerful version of its flagship – it simply needs to take a peek at Oppo’s answer sheet.

And then there's the upcoming OnePlus Turbo 6 series, a gaming-focused take on OnePlus' flagship phones with 9,000mAh batteries – showing that OnePlus has already pushed the boat out in its domestic market of China.

Whether the OnePlus 16 Pro turns out to be the OnePlus Turbo repackaged for global markets, or a new model entirely, it’s likely to take the fight to the iPhone 17 Pro Max, Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, Google Pixel 10 Pro XL, and their successors.

The standard OnePlus 15 already goes toe-to-toe with these mainstream flagships, so there’s a good chance a Pro model could land with such impact that it changes how we appraise the best phones. And if a future Pro model continues the company’s pattern of undercutting the competition (by launching at, say, $1,099 / £1,099 / AU$1,849), then it could be an unbeatable recommendation for Android fans and a real temptation for Apple lovers.

For now, though, I’m sticking with my Find X9 Pro and hoping that OnePlus is either firing up its own development labs or doing some tasteful copying from Oppo. The above is based mostly on rumors for now, so do keep an eye on our list of the best OnePlus phones for any new models.

2026 will be a lot of things to a lot of people, but as TechRadar’s Staff Writer for all things mobile, for me it’s the year of the folding phone.

The events of the last 12 months have set the stage for a truly revolutionary year in the mobile industry’s most exciting market. Samsung led the way, as per; the Galaxy Z Fold 7 expectations for book-style folding phones by taking the best bits of Chinese foldable design to a wider market, while the Galaxy Z Trifold shot at the buzzer to capture headlines and headspace across the tech world.

Meanwhile, the Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold fell flat, suggesting that users now expect a higher standard of design and innovation, while the aforementioned Chinese models – like the Oppo Find N5 and Honor Magic V5 – impressed by pushing the limits of battery capacity and multitasking ability.

And there’s no signs of things slowing down this year: as we’ve reported, Motorola is expected to reveal its first book-style folding phone at CES 2026, joining the fray as the third globally-available folding phone brand after years of successful Razr flip phone models (alongside Samsung and Google).

But there’s one name I keep thinking of when it comes to folding phones – a name that hasn’t popped up in any credible rumors or leaks, and hasn’t released a foldable of its own in years.

My question is this: where is the OnePlus Open 2?

The original OnePlus Open was (and is) an excellent folding phone that, at the time of its release in 2023, pushed ahead of the competition in terms of design, battery life, and display capabilities. It was, perhaps, the first widely available folding phone that didn’t feel like a compromise when used folded, as well as a beautifully built piece of kit (I could go on, but check out my full recap of daily driving the OnePlus Open for more).

OnePlus announced at the end of 2024 that the OnePlus Open 2 wouldn’t be released in 2025. In a stroke of bad luck, this turned out to be a phenomenal year for folding phone development, leaving the original OnePlus Open (which is still on sale from OnePlus directly) feeling even more outdated than you might expect.

However, I don’t think it’s too late for this Chinese challenger brand to hop back into the folding phone ring. In fact, I think 2026 could be the perfect moment for OnePlus to release the OnePlus Open 2.

Let me explain. While OnePlus has taken a back seat when it comes to folding phones, it’s not slowed down its phone development overall. Our OnePlus 15 review came in with a five-star rating – an extremely rare score for an extremely powerful phone, and in every aspect from battery life to hardware performance, the company’s latest flagship just oozes excellence.

With its current slab flagship impressing even more than usual and the original OnePlus Open offering a template for boundary-pushing design, I have quite a lot of faith in OnePlus to put together a great next-gen folding phone. There’s also the excellent Oppo Find N5 waiting in the wings as a possible source of inspiration; the two brands, both owned by BBK Electronics, share a lot of hardware, and the first-gen OnePlus Open was clearly based on the Oppo Find N3.

So, there’s a pathway to folding phone greatness for OnePlus. But should the company take it?

In my opinion, yes. Despite the folding phone calendar for 2026 already looking busy, I think it makes a lot of sense for OnePlus to step back in at this moment, and it all comes down to pricing.

With the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 grazing the $2,000 price point and the Galaxy Z Trifold likely to approach or even exceed $3,000, price is going to be at the front of a lot of folding phone buyers’ minds this year. Component prices are going up due to surging AI demand, so I wouldn’t rule out some kind of price hike for the rumored Galaxy Z Fold 8 or Google Pixel 11 Pro Fold either.

In keeping with pattern set by the Razr line of flip smartphones, I’d expect Motorola’s rumored book-style folding phone to undercut the big brands by some margin. However, like Honor and Oppo, the lower price point is somewhat offset by a lack of clout, and I for one have never been stunned by the build quality of Razr handsets, so my excitement for Motorola’s offering is a little limited.

In comparison, OnePlus has a reputation for both premium products and great value for money – a speculative OnePlus Open 2 priced at, say $1,699 / £1,699 / AU$2,449, and sporting the OnePlus 15’s design language with a thin frame, a large silicon-carbon battery, and a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset would pose a serious challenge to Samsung and Google.

And if Motorola joins the scene, prospective customers would be primed to consider new competitors and question Samsung’s dominance in the folding phone world. OnePlus can make the most of this while outclassing its competition on hardware power and value.

At any rate, I’ve got no doubt that the hypothetical OnePlus Open 2 would join our list of the best folding phones, where its predecessor still holds down the title of best bargain folding phone.

• We now have a proper look at the Turbo 6 and Turbo 6V
• These are gaming phones from OnePlus launching next month
• Previous rumors of a 9,000 mAh battery have been confirmed

Following on from the impressive OnePlus 15, OnePlus is about to launch a couple of gaming-focused phones under the Turbo name – and we now have an official teaser video showing what they're going to look like.

The video was posted to Chinese social media site Weibo by OnePlus (via 9to5Google), and it mentions both a Turbo 6 phone and a Turbo 6V phone. It's not clear yet what the differences are, but it may well be that one is more powerful than the other.

We can see at least four colors here – silver, black, a pale green, and a pale blue – and given that one of the scenes shows a phone being hit by dust and water, it looks as though these Turbo handsets will come with an IP68 rating.

A couple of other specs are mentioned in the video: a 165 Hz display, for smooth gaming action, and a 9,000 mAh battery. That large battery capacity has previously been rumored, and we now have confirmation from OnePlus that it's on the way.

Coming next month

In terms of the design of these handsets, it would seem that OnePlus isn't straying too far from the stylish aesthetics of the OnePlus 15. It's an approach that's both simple and easy-on-the-eye, and it works well.

These phones were first hinted at earlier this month, when OnePlus said the handsets would be focused on gaming, and bring with them "frighteningly strong" performance – although we're yet to hear anything about processor or RAM specs.

We do know that the Turbo 6 and the Turbo 6V are going to be unveiled on Thursday, January 8, and will launch in China to begin with. As usual with OnePlus, we'll have to wait a while to find out about international availability and pricing.

Given that launch date is still more than a week away, we could well see more in the way of official reveals over the coming days. Given the quality of the best gaming phones already on the market, it's quite a bold new venture for OnePlus.

The OnePlus 15 is a perfect phone, according to my review score, and I couldn’t ask for more. It beats my best expectations across key criteria like display quality, battery life, and overall performance. Of course, some phones are better in one or two specific metrics, but none in every way.

The Galaxy S26 won’t be Samsung’s best phone ever – nobody would buy the Galaxy S26 Ultra if it were. Still, could the Galaxy S26 Ultra be a perfect phone, with a perfect 5/5 score on TechRadar.com? Well, to reach perfection, Samsung shouldn’t just focus on copying what OnePlus does best, because it's already doing those things pretty well.

OnePlus focused on durability and battery life with OnePlus 15

Both the OnePlus 13 and OnePlus 15 proved to be the most durable mainstream (ie, not for construction or military) smartphones you can buy. They can even withstand jets of hot water during a trip through your dishwasher. Samsung’s phones are nearly as durable, but going the extra mile would help close the design score gap.

Samsung phones may not be as durable as the OnePlus 15, but they are among the most durable devices you can buy. The Galaxy S25 Ultra is water-resistant all the way down to the S Pen, which can be submerged in water, and there’s no problem if the S Pen silo gets flooded. The Ultra can’t survive a dishwasher (presumably), but that’s not how I wash my phones.

Battery life will be harder for Samsung because OnePlus is using a new solid-state battery technology that most of the big phone makers have ignored so far. While Samsung’s phones get great battery life, the OnePlus 15 gets hours more screen time in our Future Labs tests.

OnePlus may be the battery life champ, but Samsung is a close second, and the Galaxy S25 Ultra really impressed me with its longevity. The latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite (and the newer Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5) chipsets have proven to be incredibly efficient.

The Galaxy S25 Ultra lasted for more than 18.5 hours in our battery rundown tests. That’s longer than the Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max and almost every other Android phone that came before. It isn’t as mindblowing as the OnePlus 15 with its 26.5 hours of screen time, but it’s still a strong second-place finish – enough to last more than a full day of hardcore phone use.

The OnePlus 15 charges much faster than any Samsung phone, too. With 80W wired charging and incredible 50W wireless charging, the OnePlus 15 can be ready for another day of work while the Galaxy S25 is still grasping to last another few hours before bedtime. If Samsung wants to match the OnePlus 15 battery score, it will need to charge faster than any previous Samsung phone.

Samsung should improve the things Samsung has always needed to improve

Where can Samsung improve, if not durability and battery life? First, the Galaxy S25 design is looking a bit dated; the Galaxy S25 Ultra looks more like the last Galaxy Note than any new smartphone. I’d like to see a big design update on every Galaxy S26.

Samsung will need even bigger improvements for its software. Samsung’s current OneUI software story is a wild tale of highs and lows. Its phones are densely packed with too many features.

This means you get amazing tools like Samsung DeX, which effectively makes your phone interface look like a laptop on the go when you add a monitor and keyboard. You get the best multitasking software and tons of useful productivity tools. You can make apps pop-up, snap to the sides, disappear into a bubble, or float on top of everything.

It also means that Samsung phones can be unwieldy – other features can be hidden, buried deep in submenus, or hard to find altogether. Foundational apps come with duplicate Samsung versions for no obvious reason – Samsung phones have two web browsers, two photo gallery apps, and two app stores, fer cryin’ out loud! That’s too many twos.

Samsung needs to sacrifice some of that ambition in favor of usability. By focusing on hardware design for the next few generations and declaring a moratorium on software bloat, features could be cut by half, and Samsung would still make the most feature-packed phones ever imagined.

Samsung can make a perfect phone, just like OnePlus, but not by doing what OnePlus does best. It already excels at so much; now it needs to pare back and refine its efforts. The perfect phone is already hidden inside the Galaxy S25 Ultra, if Samsung would just take away the fuss and leave the parts I like best.

• OnePlus has announced the OnePlus 15R, a phone with a 7,400mAh battery, a 165Hz screen, and a Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset
• It starts at $699.99 / £649 and is available to pre-order now
• The company has also launched the OnePlus Pad Go 2 and the OnePlus Watch Lite

The OnePlus 15 only launched back in October, but the company is already back with another phone that in some ways is even better than this five-star flagship, as the OnePlus 15R has been unveiled with some cutting-edge specs of its own.

Perhaps the highlight is its 7,400mAh battery, which is marginally bigger than the 7,300mAh cell found in the OnePlus 15. This battery has 80W charging, too, and is designed to maintain at least 80% of its original capacity after four years of use.

Other highlights of the OnePlus 15R include its 6.83-inch AMOLED display, which has a 165Hz refresh rate. That’s a match for the OnePlus 15 and a higher rate than most phones offer. The screen has 450 pixels per inch, up to 1,800 nits of brightness, and it can drop to 1 nit when not much brightness is needed.

This phone also has the same 50MP primary camera as the OnePlus 15, along with an 8MP ultra-wide, a 32MP front-facing camera, and the ability to record 4K video at up to 120fps.

As for differences versus its sibling, the OnePlus 15R has a Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset, which is slightly lower-end than the Elite version used by the OnePlus 15, but it should still be highly capable. The phone also comes equipped with 12GB of RAM.

The 15R has serious water resistance too, with IP66, IP68, IP69, and IP69K ratings, where most high-end handsets are limited to IP68.

In all, then, OnePlus' new handset doesn’t sound like quite a match for the OnePlus 15, but it doesn’t need to be, as it also costs less. The OnePlus 15R starts at $699.99 / £649, for which you’ll get a model with 256GB of storage. There’s also a version with 512GB of storage for $799.99 / £729. For comparison, the OnePlus 15 starts at $899.99 / £899. We're awaiting confirmation on pricing and availability for the phone in Australia.

If you like the sound of the OnePlus 15R, you can pre-order it from today, with open sales beginning on January 15, and it’s available in a choice of Charcoal Black or Mint Breeze. If you pre-order directly from OnePlus, you can also get free gifts while stocks last, including the option of a free pair of OnePlus Buds 4, as well as a £100 discount on the 512GB model.

A tablet and watch too

So, this phone be a bit of a bargain, and it hasn’t landed alone, as OnePlus has also launched the OnePlus Watch Lite and the OnePlus Pad Go 2, the latter of which is a tablet with a 12.1-inch screen with 284 pixels per inch, a MediaTek Dimensity 7300-Ultra chipset, 8GB of RAM, a 10,050mAh battery with 33W charging, and support for a stylus that’s sold separately.

Available in Lavender Drift and Shadow Black shades, the OnePlus Pad Go 2 is available to pre-order now, with prices starting at $399.99 / £319 for a 128GB Wi-Fi-only model, and rising to £399 for a 256GB 5G version (with no word yet on US availability for that model).

As with the OnePlus 15R, if you pre-order the Pad Go 2 now you can get an instant discount – in this case £50 – and a free gift, and while the options there aren’t named, the value of the gift can apparently be as high as £249. If you fancy getting the stylus too, that costs £79.

• OnePlus has announced the OnePlus Turbo series
• Details are light, but these sound like they might be gaming phones with great battery life
• Leaks suggest they could have batteries of around 9,000mAh

OnePlus is certainly keeping busy, because along with the OnePlus 15 and the soon-to-be-launched OnePlus 15R, the company has now announced that it’s working on a whole new series of phones dubbed the OnePlus Turbo line.

Li Jie Louis, the President of OnePlus China, announced these phones on Weibo (via Phone Arena), saying that they will offer “frighteningly strong” performance, battery life, and gaming capabilities compared to other phones in their class.

That last point suggests that maybe these won’t quite be top-end handsets, but that they will aim to punch above their weight.

Gaming performance is also mentioned multiple times in this announcement, so the OnePlus Turbo line may well challenge the best gaming phones, but sadly, no specific specs were mentioned.

We should find out more about the OnePlus Turbo series soon, though, because the post also says that one or more phones in this line are “about to launch”, though it sounds like we’ll be waiting until 2026, rather than these phones landing alongside the OnePlus 15R on December 17.

A 9,000mAh battery

Still, while official details are light, according to leaker Smart Pikachu, these phones could have batteries of around 9,000mAh. For comparison, the OnePlus 15 has a 7,300mAh battery, and in our review, we described that phone as having “unbelievable battery life”, with its cell dwarfing the roughly 5,000mAh battery you'll find in most high-end phones.

So, a 9,000mAh battery could deliver truly astonishing life, but then if the OnePlus Turbo series is marketed as a gaming phone line, then long-lasting batteries are an especially important feature.

Our biggest question right now is whether these phones will actually be widely available, or whether they’ll only launch in China, since so far they’ve only been teased on Chinese social media. But hopefully we’ll have an answer to that soon.

OnePlus is set to unveil the OnePlus 15R on December 17, but we already know the phone will be the first to ship with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset.

Announced at Snapdragon Summit in September, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 is effectively a non-Elite version of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, and its release will mark the first time Qualcomm has pursued a dual-flagship chipset strategy, giving brands like OnePlus the opportunity to bring flagship-level power to cheaper Android phones.

Why, though, has Qualcomm decided that now is the time to split its most powerful silicon into two distinct products? The answer, according to OnePlus’ Senior Product Marketing Manager Rudolf Xu, is because the same strategy has been working so well for Apple.

Speaking at the launch of the OnePlus 15 in October, Xu candidly outlined why Apple shifted away from reusing last-gen chipsets in its new iPhones, and how doing so inspired Qualcomm to do the same with its flagship Snapdragon series.

“If you buy a base model iPhone in 2021 [the iPhone 13], it has the same chipset as the Pro model,” Xu explained on stage. “In 2022, things start to get interesting. If you buy the iPhone 14 Pro, it uses the A16, but the base model [the iPhone 14] stays at A15. Then, with the iPhone 15 Pro, it’s the A17 Pro, but the base model is still last year’s A16. Basically, Apple was reusing its chipsets from the previous year in its base models.

“But, in 2024 – and this is the most interesting thing – if you buy the iPhone 16 Pro, you get the A18 Pro. And if you buy the base model, you no longer get the A17 from last year: you get the A18. It’s a separate silicon. Qualcomm understands this competing situation and knows it has to fight back."

“Long story short: on your best flagship, you need to push the power of your silicon," Xu continued. "That’s what Apple [did] with the A18 Pro, and with the base model [from that year], they [wanted] to download [sic] the best advancements from the Pro into a separate silicon. That’s the A18.

“And it’s the same situation with the iPhone 17 series. You have the A19 Pro in the iPhone 17 Pro and the A19 in the iPhone 17. Apple is using a dual-flagship strategy with its silicon. And that’s why Qualcomm is also using a dual-flagship strategy this year, starting with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and Snapdragon 8 Gen 5.”

Now, I’m not sure that Qualcomm would so openly admit to copying Apple’s homework, but the logic in doing so stands. And in an interview with TechRadar after Xu’s on-stage presentation, the executive further explained why Qualcomm’s strategy shift is better for Qualcomm, better for OnePlus, and, crucially, better for consumers:

“Qualcomm is definitely seeing a trend that [suggests] a dual-flagship strategy works better. Because with the [Snapdragon 8] Elite, you can just push for the best," said Xu. "You can pack all of the best technology you have from that year [into one chipset]. And for the base model, when you add in a new flagship [chipset], you can download [sic] the latest advancements from that year, instead of using last year’s architecture.

“The [Snapdragon] 8 Gen 5 actually has the same architecture as the 8 Elite Gen 5 – the same CPU architecture, the same GPU architecture. And consumers will feel that it’s better, too, because they will know that this is the latest chipset, a new one, instead of borrowing an older one from last year. That’s the psychology perspective.

“And as for why this is great for OnePlus, the 15 and 15R both get the latest chipsets, and because they’re using the same architecture, it makes it very easy for us to trickle down the latest benefits from the 15 to the 15R. For example, the always-on 120fps display and games that support 165Hz. It’s very easy for us to do the porting, because they are sharing the same software baseline.”

So, there you have it: the OnePlus 15R will be a cheaper alternative to the OnePlus 15. But thanks to the power of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5, it won’t compromise on the level of performance that earned the latter phone a five-star TechRadar review rating.

As for what else we know about the OnePlus 15R, OnePlus has confirmed that the phone will use the same Detailmax Engine as the OnePlus 15, as well as the same G2 Wi-Fi chip for strong Wi-Fi connectivity.

It’s safe to expect a smaller battery and some lower-spec camera hardware, but in any case, all will be revealed on December 17.

• The OnePlus 15 will be available to pre-order in the US from December 4
• It starts at $899.99
• There are various freebies to choose from when you pre-order, including a smartwatch

The OnePlus 15 is already available in much of the world, but thanks to the recent government shutdown in the US, the phone’s launch was delayed there, as it was unable to get certified by the FCC (Federal Communications Commission). Now though, the shutdown has ended, and the OnePlus 15 is about to go up for pre-order.

You’ll be able to pre-order the phone from tomorrow (December 4) at 8am PT / 11am ET. The company hasn’t said exactly when the OnePlus 15 will ship, but in a reply to the announcement on its X account, OnePlus claimed that “this drop is imminent.”

The phone starts at $899.99, for which you’ll get a version with 256GB of storage and 12GB of RAM. Or, for $999.99, you can get one with 512GB of storage and 16GB of RAM.

Freebies thrown in

That’s not cheap, but if you pre-order the OnePlus 15, you’ll also get a free gift thrown in, with the choice of a 43mm OnePlus Watch 3, the OnePlus Buds Pro 3, a OnePlus AirVooc 50W Magnetic Charger, or a case for the phone.

Mind you, the cases are currently showing as out of stock, and the most valuable of those freebies – the $300 OnePlus Watch 3 – is only an option with a 16GB model. Still, they’re not bad pre-order perks, and you can also get up to a $100 bonus when you trade in an eligible device.

With or without these perks, though, the OnePlus 15 is well worth buying. It’s one of the very few phones that we’ve ever given a five-star review rating to, with our reviewer praising just about every element of it, from its 7,300mAh battery that delivers exceptional life, to its impressive durability, superb software, and excellent cameras, screen, and performance.

• OnePlus has revealed several OnePlus 15R specs
• These include a 165Hz AMOLED screen, a Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset, and some camera details
• We've also learned about the OnePlus Pad Go 2's screen

OnePlus isn’t fully unveiling the OnePlus 15R until December 17, but ahead of that launch, the company has revealed many of the phone's most significant specs – including its chipset, display, and camera engine.

First up, we now know that the OnePlus 15R has a 165Hz screen – that’s in line with the OnePlus 15, but it’s a higher refresh rate than the 120Hz you’ll get on most high-end phones, including the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and the iPhone 17 Pro Max. That said, this difference will only come into play during certain games.

We also now know that the OnePlus 15R has a 1.5K AMOLED display with 450 pixels per inch, and a peak brightness of 1,800 nits. That’s the same pixel density and brightness as you’ll find on the OnePlus 15, so while the size of the screen hasn’t been confirmed, it may well match the OnePlus 15 at 6.78 inches.

Powerful, but not quite a match for the OnePlus 15

Other newly announced details include the OnePlus 15R's Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset, which is slightly lower-end than the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 used by the OnePlus 15, but should still deliver plenty of power.

That’s paired with a G2 Wi-Fi chip, which OnePlus claims will allow for strong Wi-Fi connectivity wherever you are, and a Touch Response Chip, which helps the OnePlus 15R sense touch inputs faster than rival devices.

Finally, there are the cameras, and not as much has been revealed about these, but OnePlus has said that the OnePlus 15R uses the Detailmax Engine to deliver the same advanced computational photography and algorithms as you’ll get with the OnePlus 15. Like that phone, the OnePlus 15R also has Ultra Clear Mode, Clear Burst, and the Clear Night Engine.

So, it sounds like, on the software front, its cameras might be similar, but it remains to be seen how the camera hardware will compare.

We’ll find out on December 17, when the OnePlus 15R will be unveiled alongside the OnePlus Watch Lite and the OnePlus Pad Go 2 – the latter of which we also now know has a 12.1-inch 8K screen with 284 pixels per inch and a peak brightness of 900 nits.

• The OnePlus 15R will have a huge 8,300 mAh battery
• Expect a cheaper, cut-down version of the OnePlus 15
• The phone is going to be launched on December 17

You can see from our OnePlus 15 review that we were very impressed with the latest OnePlus handset, awarding it a rare five-out-of-five star rating, and now there's a rumor that the next phone from the brand will raise the bar for battery capacity.

As per OnePlus exec Li Jie Louis on Weibo (via Android Authority), the OnePlus 15R (known as the OnePlus Ace 6T in China) is going to come rocking a huge 8,300 mAh capacity battery – which should ensure plenty of time between charges.

That's even more than the 7,300 mAh battery capacity of the OnePlus 15, and it beats most other smartphones on the market too. The handsets that do go higher tend to be ultra-chunky, rugged devices meant for outdoor and remote use.

Not only that, but the OnePlus 15R is going to come with 100W charging, according to OnePlus. That's not quite as high as the 120W you get with the OnePlus 15, but it should still mean the phone can be charged very quickly indeed.

Previous OnePlus variants

OnePlus hasn't always been consistent in its phone variants, but last time out we had both the OnePlus 13R and the OnePlus 13T as more affordable companions to the OnePlus 13 for those who wanted to spend a bit less.

Both the R and T options typically cut down on a few features to hit that cheaper price, while the T version tends to be smaller too. International availability for these phones has historically been limited, though the OnePlus 13R was launched globally.

It looks like the OnePlus 15R will be sold outside China too, though we're still waiting on the specifics. We do know it's going to be launched on Wednesday, December 17, with a high level of waterproofing and dustproofing.

OnePlus started teasing the phone earlier this month, and should be around the same price of the OnePlus 13R: $599 / £679 (you can't get these phones in Australia). Of course we'll let you know as soon as we have all the details.

The OnePlus 15 is an outstanding phone, being one of the very few handsets to receive five stars in our review. But it also has some outstanding competition in the iPhone 17 Pro Max.

Apple's new best iPhone 'only' achieved a 4.5-star rating in our review, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be a better fit for you, and in fact, there are some ways in which it definitely has the OnePlus 15 beat.

So, below, we’ve compared these two great phones in detail, looking closely at all their key specs and features, so you can more easily decide which – if either – to buy.

OnePlus 15 vs iPhone 17 Pro Max: specs comparison

Before we analyze these handsets in detail, here’s an overview of how their core specs compare.

OnePlus 15 vs iPhone 17 Pro Max: price and availability

The OnePlus 15 launched globally on November 13, 2025, following an initial China-only launch in October. It starts at $899.99 / £899, for which you get 256GB of storage and 12GB of RAM, and that price rises to $999.99 / £999 for the model with 512GB of storage and 16GB of RAM. At the time of writing, there’s no availability in Australia.

The iPhone 17 Pro Max launched in September 2025 and starts at $1,199 / £1,199 / AU$2,149 for the model with 256GB of storage. There’s also a 512GB model for $1,399 / £1,399 / AU$2,599, a 1TB version for $1,599 / £1,599 / AU$2,999, and even a 2TB model for $1,999 / £1,999 / AU$3,799.

So, you have a lot more storage options with the iPhone, but the starting price of the OnePlus 15 – with which you’re getting the same amount of storage as the base iPhone 17 Pro Max – is $300 / £300 lower, so that’s quite a difference.

Winner: OnePlus 15

OnePlus 15 vs iPhone 17 Pro Max: design

The OnePlus 15 is less showy than its predecessor, the OnePlus 13, with a redesigned, squarish camera block that doesn’t look a million miles from those on lots of other handsets.

It’s 161.4 x 76.7 x 8.1mm, 211g or 215g (depending on the finish), and it comes in Infinite Black, Sand Storm (a very pale brown), and Ultra Violet colors. It has an aluminum alloy frame, and in most cases a glass back – though the Sand Storm option instead uses a fiberglass-reinforced plastic back.

It’s also very durable, with Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the front, similar protection on the back, and both IP68 and IP69K ratings. That means it’s dust-proof and water-resistant to depths of 2 meters for up to 30 minutes, as well as able to withstand high-pressure and high-temperature water jets.

With tiny bezels around its screen too, this is both a stylish and well-protected handset, with our OnePlus 15 review noting it offers “extreme durability and classy looks.”

The iPhone 17 Pro Max also has an attractive design, with a much wider camera block than its predecessor, the iPhone 16 Pro Max, and a slightly two-tone appearance on the back, with the camera housing and frame being aluminum alloy. There's also a glass cut-out on the rear.

It too has tiny bezels, though there’s a bigger cut-out in the screen than on the OnePlus 15, to house the Face ID sensors, and it’s fairly durable as well, with Ceramic Shield 2 on the front, Ceramic Shield on the back, and an IP68 rating.

That means it’s as dust-proof as the OnePlus 15, but it isn’t protected against high-temperature and high-pressure water jets. However, it can be submerged up to 6 meters deep for up to 30 minutes, which beats the OnePlus for depth.

The iPhone 17 Pro Max is 163.4 x 78 x 8.8mm and 233g, so it’s slightly thicker and heavier than OnePlus’s phone, and it’s available in Silver, Cosmic Orange, and Deep Blue shades.

Winner: tie

OnePlus 15 vs iPhone 17 Pro Max: display

The OnePlus 15 has a 6.78-inch 1272 x 2772 AMOLED screen with a 165Hz refresh rate, around 450 pixels per inch, and an 1,800-nit high brightness mode (HBM).

The iPhone 17 Pro Max, meanwhile, has a 6.9-inch 1320 x 2868 OLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, around 460 pixels per inch, and a 1,600-nit high brightness mode.

So, the OnePlus 15 has a higher refresh rate, though this will mostly just be useful when gaming (and only when playing certain titles), and it has a slightly brighter high brightness mode. The iPhone 17 Pro Max, on the other hand, has a larger, slightly higher resolution screen.

In our OnePlus 15 review, we said its “excellent display is bright and colorful,” while in our iPhone 17 Pro Max review, we said it has an “excellent Super Retina XDR display” that’s “brighter than ever.”

Winner: tie

OnePlus 15 vs iPhone 17 Pro Max: cameras

For a close look at how the cameras on the OnePlus 15 and iPhone 17 Pro Max compare in practice, you should head over to our dedicated OnePlus 15 vs iPhone 17 Pro Max camera comparison, but in short, they both held up well.

Our tester – Phones Editor Axel Metz – concluded that both are good for zoom shots, but that the iPhone wins for selfies. As far as other image types go, the OnePlus 15 tends to more consistently deliver realistic images, while the iPhone 17 Pro Max can take photos that have more of a cinematic quality.

Or to put it another way, Metz claimed “the iPhone is capable of higher highs and lower lows, while the OnePlus is a 'safer', potentially more dependable (but also potentially more boring) camera.”

As for the camera hardware, the OnePlus 15 has a 50MP f/1.8 wide camera, a 50MP f/2.0 ultra-wide (with a 116-degree field of view), a 50MP f/2.8 telephoto (offering 3.5x optical zoom), and a 32MP f/2.4 front-facing camera.

The iPhone 17 Pro Max has a 48MP f/1.8 wide camera, a 48MP f/2.2 ultra-wide (with a 120-degree field of view), a 48MP f/2.8 telephoto (with 4x optical zoom), and an 18MP f/1.9 selfie camera. So, the core specs here are broadly comparable.

Winner: tie

OnePlus 15 vs iPhone 17 Pro Max: performance and software

The OnePlus 15 has a top-end Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset and either 12GB or 16GB of RAM. That chipset, for reference, is even more powerful than the one in the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, so this is a seriously capable phone.

But the iPhone 17 Pro Max also ranks among the most powerful phones you can buy, with an A19 Pro chipset and 12GB of RAM. Which chipset is best? That depends on which benchmark you’re looking at, but in general, they appear very closely matched.

In our reviews, we described the OnePlus 15 as having “stellar performance” and the iPhone 17 Pro Max as being “fast and effective in every scenario”, so there shouldn’t be much to choose here.

There is, however, a bit more to choose from in their respective software packages, as while the OnePlus 15 runs Android 16 (with the company’s OxygenOS 16 customizations), the iPhone 17 Pro Max runs iOS 26.

Both of these operating systems are polished and a pleasure to use, so it will come down to personal preference as to which you prefer. It is, however, worth noting that OnePlus is only promising four years of major Android updates for the OnePlus 15, and while Apple makes no official promises, iPhones are usually updated for around six years.

Winner: tie

OnePlus 15 vs iPhone 17 Pro Max: battery

The OnePlus 15 is the clear winner here, as it has an almost unprecedented 7,300mAh battery, along with 120W wired charging, 50W wireless, and 10W reverse wireless.

The iPhone 17 Pro Max, on the other hand, has a much lower capacity 5,088mAh (or 4,823mAh if you’re not using an eSIM-only model) battery, along with wired charging at around 40W, wireless charging at 25W, and no reverse wireless charging.

That said, Apple’s handset is still a long-lasting phone, with our iPhone 17 Pro Max review finding that it would keep going for over 30 hours, which is better than most handsets can manage. It also sports Apple's convenient MagSafe charging technology.

But it just can’t compete with the OnePlus 15 for pure endurance, with our reviewer recording around three days of life from the phone – and, of course, the OnePlus 15 can charge up faster too.

Winner: OnePlus 15

OnePlus 15 vs iPhone 17 Pro Max: verdict

While the OnePlus 15 and iPhone 17 Pro Max are both exceptional phones, there are some clear differences between them.

The OnePlus 15 – despite costing less – has a much bigger battery, far faster charging, a higher refresh rate, and – in the top configuration – more RAM.

On the other hand, the iPhone 17 Pro Max can be bought with more storage, and it also has a larger, slightly higher resolution screen.

In most other areas – including their cameras and power – these two phones are closely matched, so the only other real deciding factor is the operating system, but there’s no clear winner there either; it’s more just a matter of preference.

So, if you want a relative bargain with exceptional battery life and great gaming credentials, go for the OnePlus 15. If, however, you want the biggest screen possible, a ton of storage, or simply prefer iOS, the iPhone 17 Pro Max is the clear choice.

• The OnePlus 15 has just been approved by the FCC in the US
• That's the final step before it can be cleared to go on sale
• Our OnePlus 15 review recently gave the flagship a rare five-star rating

Open up our OnePlus 15 review, and you'll see we gave the phone a rare five-stars-out-of-five score: it's undoubtedly one of our favorite phones of the year, and it looks as though it's about to go on sale in the US too.

As spotted by Android Authority, the OnePlus 15 has now been approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the US. That's the last major step for a gadget like this to take before it can actually go on sale.

US availability for the OnePlus 15 has been promised since the smartphone was unveiled, so this isn't a surprise. But the recent US government shutdown meant that the paperwork for the OnePlus 15 got stuck in limbo.

Pricing in the US will start at $899.99 for the black version of the OnePlus 15 with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. As yet OnePlus hasn't issued an official update, but we'd expect the smartphone to go on sale in the US very soon now.

A five-star phone

OnePlus has always made some of the best Android phones in the business, ever since the first one appeared in April 2014. Our OnePlus One review is still online, and you'll see we gave the phone 4.5 stars out of 5 at the time.

The OnePlus 15 that launched earlier this year earned full marks. We described it as "better than perfect", with the performance, battery life, and cameras all exceptionally good – three of the most important considerations when weighing up a phone.

It has a design that looks good as well: although it's not as flashy as some of its rivals, it has an understated charm of its own. The OxygenOS software continues to impress too, and is very much one of the better implementations of Android out there.

Samsung tends to dominate when it comes to Android phone sales in the US, but we're glad to see OnePlus still releasing its handsets in the region – the OnePlus 15 earned a higher score than both the Samsung Galaxy S25 and the Google Pixel 10.

• OnePlus has confirmed that the OnePlus 15R will launch on December 17
• The OnePlus Pad Go 2 and the OnePlus Watch Lite will also be unveiled then
• Pre-ordering the phone or tablet will get you discounts and freebies

The OnePlus 15 only landed a few weeks ago, but despite the year being almost over, OnePlus isn’t done with launches yet, as it has announced that three more devices are arriving on December 17.

The headline product is the OnePlus 15R, which is expected to be a slightly lower-end but still fairly high-spec alternative to the OnePlus 15. The company hasn’t said much about it yet, but has revealed that it will be sold in Charcoal Black and Mint Breeze (green) shades, that it will have a metal frame, and that it will have IP66, IP68, IP69, and IP69K ratings.

Most phones only have one water resistance rating, with flagships specifically tending to be IP68 rated. That means they can withstand being submerged in up to 1.5 meters of water for up to 30 minutes. But the additional ratings here mean the OnePlus 15R can also withstand high-pressure and high-temperature water jets.

Leaks, meanwhile, suggest that the OnePlus 15R could have a Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset (but not the ‘Elite’ version), a dual-lens 50MP camera, a 165Hz screen, and an 8,000mAh battery – the last of which would even have the 7,300mAh OnePlus 15 beat.

Other devices and pre-order perks

As well as that, the company will also be announcing the OnePlus Watch Lite and the OnePlus Pad Go 2 on December 17, with the latter of those set to be sold in Shadow Black and Lavender Drift shades. We also know that it will support 5G, have an anti-glare glass finish, and come with an integrated stylus.

If this phone or tablet sounds appealing, then you’ll be pleased to hear that OnePlus has also planned some pre-order perks. Specifically, if you pre-order the OnePlus 15R in the UK, you’ll get a £100 discount, plus a free 120W adapter kit and a sandstone magnetic case. You’ll also get a coupon worth up to £100 when you trade in.

With the OnePlus Pad Go 2, you can save £50 if you pre-order, as well as get a free watch worth £249, and an extra £30 off with a trade-in. Plus, verified students and corporate users will get an extra 10% off either device.

We're expecting similar promotions to be offered in the US and other regions, so mark December 17 in your calendar if you want to learn more.

The OnePlus 15 has only just launched, but we've just spotted an immediate deal that enables customers who purchase the phone to pick one free gift from a wide range of products.

More specifically, if you purchase a OnePlus 15, then you can choose from a DJI Osmo Mobile 7 Handheld Gimbal, Watch 3, Pad Lite, Buds Pro 3, or 120W adapter. The most expensive of these is worth £269, so you'll be making quite the saving.

OnePlus is also giving up to 75% off other products and a £50 trade-in bonus every time a customer purchases a OnePlus 15. And, if you thought that was it for savings, students can get an additional 10% off.

Today's best OnePlus 15 deal

The OnePlus 15 is powered by the excellent Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, which guarantees apps and media will run smoothly. It also features a beautiful 6.78-inch 1.5K LTPO display with a fast refresh rate of 165Hz.

You'll also get a fantastic triple 50MP rear camera system. The main camera makes use of a Sony IMX906 sensor and has a 24mm equivalent focal length and OIS. It's also capable of capturing 8K video at 30fps as well as 120fps slowmo at a 4K resolution. The ultrawide camera has a f/2.0 aperture and a 16mm equivalent focal length. The telephoto has an f/2.8 aperture and a 3.5x optical zoom.

The front selfie camera has a 32MP sensor, a f/2.4 aperture, a 21mm focal length and video recording up to 4K at 60fps. The phone also ships with a new AI-driven engine which includes a range of features to enhance photo quality, including AI deblurring and edge reconstruction.

Aside from cameras, one of the other standout features is the huge 7,300mAh battery that guarantees long life between charges. The wired charging speed is 120W and 50W for wireless.

Also check out our exclusive OnePlus coupon codes on other models, including a generous £50 off Nord 5.

• Two new OnePlus devices have been teased
• Launches should happen within the next 2-3 months
• There are rumors about what's coming

We just gave OnePlus' new flagship phone a rare five-out-of-five score in our OnePlus 15 review, and there's more hardware on the way from the company: we now have official teases for both the OnePlus 15R and a new OnePlus smartwatch.

These teasers don't really tell us much about either device, but we can still make some educated guesses about what's coming. Head over to the official OnePlus website (via GSMArena) to take a look for yourself.

First up is the OnePlus 15R, which should be a cut-price, stripped-down version of the OnePlus 15 – just like the Pixel 'a' series, the iPhone 'e' series, and the Samsung 'FE' series. If you're looking for value for money, you're likely to find it here.

Based on past launches, the OnePlus 15R will almost certainly be the international version of the OnePlus Ace 6 that's already launched in China. That means we'll get a Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, up to 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, and a dual-lens 50MP+8MP camera.

Watch this space

As for the watch, described as the OnePlus New Watch, we get a basic outline image and that's about it. The small print on the site points to a full name reveal by the end of this month, and a launch in either December or January.

Considering Oppo and OnePlus are now virtually the same company, there has been speculation that the incoming smartwatch will be a rebadged version of the Oppo Watch S, which offers an ultra-thin form factor and up to 10 days of battery life.

The most recent OnePlus smartwatch we've seen was the OnePlus Watch 3, launched back in February. While it didn't impress us quite as much as the OnePlus 15 did, we still described it as one of the best Android smartwatches of the year.

You can of course subscribe to updates for both these products on the OnePlus website, and in return you might get some money off the watch or a free OnePlus 15R when launch day rolls around in the next couple of months.

The OnePlus 15 has landed in global markets with a massive 7,300mAh battery and a remarkable 165Hz refresh rate, but less of a fuss has been made about its three-lens rear camera array.

I’ll dig into its actual specs below, but the OnePlus 15 has – on paper – similar photographic hardware to Apple’s iPhone 17 Pro, despite costing $200 / £250 less (strictly speaking, it’s closer in price to the base iPhone 17, which has no telephoto camera to speak of).

To see how this underdog stacks up against our current pick for the best camera phone around, I took both devices to Prague for a two-way camera shootout. And it was a closer fight than I thought it'd be.

Specs

Here’s how the two phones compare in terms of camera specs:

The OnePlus 15 has three 50MP rear cameras – a wide lens, an ultra-wide, and a telephoto with 3.5x optical zoom – while the iPhone 17 Pro has three 48MP rear cameras, one of which is a telephoto with 4x optical zoom.

Both phones offer an additional ‘optical-quality’ zoom (7x for the OnePlus, 8x for the iPhone), but they do so via a sensor crop rather than fixed focal lengths, so I’ve prioritized their true optical zoom distances in the ‘telephoto’ section below.

It’s also worth noting that both phones, by default, capture images in smaller file sizes than their large sensors suggest. The OnePlus 15 defaults to 12MP, while the iPhone 17 Pro defaults 24MP.

As my colleague, Jamie, notes in his iPhone 17 photography specs explainer: “The iPhone 17 Pro defaults to 24MP for a balance of detail and file size, using a process called pixel binning, where four pixels are combined into one larger pixel to improve image quality. The main 48MP sensor takes advantage of this by combining the data from both a full 48MP capture and a binned 12MP capture to create a 24MP final image, which offers a good mix of sharpness and brightness.”

It’s a similar story for the OnePlus 15 and its 12MP default. The phone uses the extra data from its 50MP sensor to produce a cleaner, still-croppable image. Again, I’ve prioritized these out-of-the-box shooting settings for both phones in the below comparison.

As for their respective selfie cameras, the OnePlus 15 sports a 32MP lens, while the iPhone 17 Pro gets an 18MP ‘Center Stage’ lens. The latter uses subject tracking to automatically keep you in the frame, and it also lets you switch between portrait and landscape modes, depending on how many subjects are in frame.

Wide lens

Let's start with the wide lens, which is the main lens most people will use every day. In almost every picture, you can see the difference in approach taken by OnePlus' DetailMax Engine and Apple's Photonic Engine.

Prior to the launch of the OnePlus 15, OnePlus ended its long-standing partnership with Hasselblad, and its new, self-developed DetailMax Engine supposedly focuses on delivering "clear and real" images instead of relying on post-processing trickery.

That mission statement rings true in the above images. The OnePlus 15 captures environments as they appear in real life – photos are bright, detailed, and natural. On occasion, that approach makes images feel cold and not as 'pretty' as they could be, but it's true that Prague was cold and rainy on the days I visited.

The iPhone 17 Pro takes the opposite approach. Apple prioritizes style over realism, occasionally warming things up with more saturation, so shots have an almost yellow-ish quality (the Czech 'Chimney Cake' is made to look more toasted on the iPhone).

Personally, I like this approach 90% of the time, but it can sometimes make skin tones appear quite unnatural or 'overheat' a bright scene (see the first image of the Old Town Square).

Essentially, then, the iPhone 17 Pro has this really punchy contrast between shadows and highlights, while the OnePlus 15 keeps things appearing as they are in reality.

Interestingly, the alleyway images look very similar, so neither phone totally commits to its processing mantra in every scenario.

As for these night shots (also taken with the wide lenses at 1x), you can see those different approaches to brightness in action once again.

In fairness to Apple, OnePlus over-eggs the lamps here (it wasn't *that* bright on the boat), but the water and paintwork on the boats themselves do look much more detailed.

Telephoto lens

All of the above is true again for the telephoto lenses on both the OnePlus 15 and iPhone 17 Pro (note that I've used the fixed optical zoom options here, hence the slight difference in focal length).

With the exception of the cityscape shot (which was taken through a hotel window), Apple's processing dials up the contrast considerably, which works for something like a stained glass window, but less so for an outdoor shot of a restaurant facade.

In the below shots of an accordion player and a pair of Polka dancers, both phones handle the moving subjects pretty well, though the iPhone 17 Pro wins on detail (zoom in on the main's tweed jacket and black gloves).

Ultra-wide lens

I’ll level with you: I was so preoccupied with the wide and telephoto lenses while shooting in Prague that I forgot to take more than one photo with the phones’ ultra-wide lenses. I’ve since taken more in London (which you can see in the gallery above), but that oversight does speak to the growing debate around whether phones need ultra-wide lenses at all.

In any case, both the OnePlus 15 and iPhone 17 Pro fare pretty equally here. The OnePlus definitely wins in the darker scenario – look closely at the pavement markings and treeline – but interestingly, it also overdoes the contrast in the very last image, where the iPhone 17 Pro (surprisingly) takes a more measured approach.

Selfie lens

Here's another example of that 'realism vs style' debate. The OnePlus 15 selfie captures me as I am, but I prefer the overall feel of the iPhone 17 Pro selfie, which looks a touch more detailed and vibrant (see the twinkle in my eye...).

For reference, I've also included an iPhone 17 Pro selfie in the new landscape orientation below. That's not something the OnePlus can do.

Verdict

So, which approach to photography do I prefer? It's honestly a real mixed bag.

When Apple's Photonic Engine doesn't get too trigger-happy with the contrast, I love the warmth of shots taken on the iPhone 17 Pro – they have a cinematic quality that OnePlus doesn't even try to replicate. But the OnePlus 15 is definitely more consistent in its ability to deliver realistic-looking images (there aren't any examples where I think the OnePlus photos look outright 'bad').

In that sense, the iPhone is capable of higher highs and lower lows, while the OnePlus is a 'safer', potentially more dependable camera.

Both phones are impressive zoom shooters, and both can handle moving subjects with ease, while the iPhone 17 Pro is the obvious selfie winner (if only because it gives you more options than the OnePlus 15).

It's worth remembering that I used both devices in their default, out-of-the-box configurations; I didn't play around with any pro-level features in settings. There are some stunning iPhone 17 Pro photos out there, taken by photographers who are much more talented than me, and I expect others will get similarly amazing shots out of the OnePlus 15.

Let me know which photos you prefer in the comments below, and we'll be following up with further camera comparisons – featuring the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and Google Pixel 10 Pro – in the coming weeks.

The iPhone 17 Pro sample used for this comparison was provided by Vodafone. For the latest iPhone contract deals, head to Vodafone's dedicated iPhone deals page, and check out TechRadar's Vodafone discount codes page for further savings.

• The OnePlus 15 has now launched globally
• It has the same specs as the Chinese version, including a 7,300mAh battery
• US sales have been postponed until the FCC certifies the device

Following its China launch in late October, the OnePlus 15 has now launched globally, meaning it's available for purchase in regions including the UK and Europe.

US sales have been postponed until the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) certifies the device, with OnePlus confirming in a statement that the phone "has already finished all the required tests from the FCC’s recognized labs, and the certification application has been formally submitted."

It seems likely, then, that the OnePlus 15 will become available for purchase in the US following the end of the country's government shutdown.

As for the phone itself, there’s not an awful lot to talk about, because its specs are exactly the same as those of the Chinese version, so if you followed along with that launch, you’ll already know what to expect. But it’s worth noting that this means you get a massive 7,300mAh battery, with 120W wired charging and 50W wireless charging, regardless of where you're buying the OnePlus 15 from.

There were some worries that certain regions might get a lower-capacity battery, since 7,300mAh is almost unheard of in phones in the US and UK, and sometimes, Chinese phones do have lower-capacity batteries in their global versions than in China. Not so with the OnePlus 15, though.

Top-end power and lots of water resistance

So, that’s good news. As for the rest of the specs, the OnePlus 15 has an uber-powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, a 6.78-inch 1272 x 2772 AMOLED screen with a 165Hz refresh rate (topping out at 120Hz outside of games), and you can get it with either 256GB of storage and 12GB of RAM or 512GB of storage and 16GB of RAM.

The cameras include a 50MP main sensor, a 50MP ultra-wide, and a 50MP telephoto (offering 3.5x optical zoom and 7x ‘optical quality’ zoom), and there’s also a 32MP camera on the front.

The OnePlus 15 also has a large vapor chamber, both IP68 and IP69K ratings (giving it more water resistance than most phones), and a different design to its predecessor, particularly where the camera block is concerned.

There's no magnetic charging to speak of, though OnePlus confirmed to TechRadar that it chose to forgo built-in magnets to prioritize longer battery life, which feels like a sensible trade-off.

If you like the sound of the OnePlus 15, you can grab the 12GB model with 256GB of storage for £849 (though this variant is only available in Infinite Black), or the 16GB model with 512GB of storage – in a choice of Infinite Black, Sand Storm, or Ultra Violet – for £979. For reference, the same OnePlus 13 configurations cost £899 and £999, respectively.

In the US, pricing for both models will be $899.99 and $999.99, respectively, which matches the price of the OnePlus 13. We're still waiting for OnePlus to confirm Australia pricing.

For our full verdict on the new phone, check out our OnePlus 15 review, where we described it as "everything we’d wish for in a phone." High praise indeed.

Do you like the look of the OnePlus 15? Let us know in the comments below.

OnePlus 15: Two-minute review

If a smartphone genie offered me three wishes for my dream phone, I couldn't have created a device as great as the OnePlus 15. It delivers more than the most demanding smartphone fans could wish for, with priorities that reflect the ways I really want to use my phone.

My three wishes? First, I'd wish for a battery that lasts all day. The OnePlus 15 watches my dream phone fall asleep then parties hard for another day and a half. I let this phone go uncharged for three days during my review and I still had some juice left. And that’s not to mention the incredibly fast charging speeds.

My second wish would be for a durable phone, water resistant with glass that is tough enough it won't break if I drop it. OnePlus makes its flagship phone more durable than any Samsung or Apple phone you can buy. I watched last year’s OnePlus 13 survive a run through a dishwasher, and the OnePlus 15 is even tougher than that. Bring on the hot water jets!

My final wish would be to get back some of the great smartphone features we've lost over the years. I remember when Android phones were about personality and customization. Now you can't even organize your app drawer on a Pixel phone.

The OnePlus 15, on the other hand, is the phone for people who love smartphones. You can customize it, but it looks great even if you don't. It has a ton of unique widgets that add functions to your home screen, or you can hide those on a separate shelf.

Oh, and it has an IR blaster. Remember when phones had those? Every Galaxy S6 could change the channel on your TV (or the bar TV playing Fox News), and the OnePlus 15 brings that back. It can act as a universal remote control, a feature I treasure when I lose my TV remote after I turn out the lights.

The OnePlus 15 is great at everything you want to do on your phone. For gaming, it's a next-level handheld. I was able to play games with Settings in the Experimental realm. The OnePlus 15 pushes past limits you never noticed on other smartphones, and there are enough game developers on board to make the advantage worthwhile.

Call of Duty looked as good on my phone as it does running on a console, with an even better frame rate, and I say that as a long time gamer, not a casual interloper.

What's the catch? Well, you might have to explain to people who OnePlus is when they ask about your phone, because most people I talk to have never heard of them.

That's because OnePlus doesn't sell its best phones in carrier stores. You won't see the OnePlus 15 available free with a contract and a trade on AT&T or Vodafone. That means you pay more up front, which is a shame. Lots of my friends would love this phone, but don't have hundreds to shell out. At least OnePlus usually has decent trade-in offers when you buy directly from the company.

There are a few other shortcomings, but they don't amount to much when you consider this phone competes with the base model iPhone 17 and Galaxy S25, even though it offers as much as an Ultra or Pro Max.

We used to call this a flagship killer. Now I just call it the best phone you can buy, and the first phone I've tested that deserves a perfect score.

OnePlus 15 review: Price & availability

• Black version costs $899.99 / £899 for 12GB RAM and 256GB storage
• Other colors available for $999.99 / £999 with 16GB RAM and 512GB storage

The OnePlus 15 is a flagship smartphone, but it isn’t the most expensive flagship around. It costs more than the iPhone 17 but less than the iPhone Air. It’s more expensive than a Google Pixel 10, but less than the Pixel 10 Pro. The Galaxy S25 Plus is more expensive than the black OnePlus 15 with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.

Sadly, the best colors are only available on the more expensive model with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. I’m sure the lower-spec OnePlus 15 performs admirably, but my review sample is the Sand Storm model with more goodness inside. It’s not a necessary upgrade, but even at this $999.99 / £999 price, it’s a great deal for such a powerhouse phone.

OnePlus only makes one flagship – there isn't a Pro or an Ultra or an XL model with better cameras or a faster chip. While Samsung and Apple lure you in with aspirational models that cost more than $1,000 / £1,000 / AU$2,000, the OnePlus 15 is the company's best phone, not a step down.

In the past, OnePlus has offered great trade-in deals that knock at least $100 off the price in the US, but it hasn’t announced similar offers for the OnePlus 15.

I’d still recommend this phone at its full price. You won’t find a more capable phone without paying hundreds more, and even the most expensive phones – the Galaxy Z Fold 7 or Apple iPhone 17 Pro Max come to mind – can’t beat the OnePlus 15 in the things it does best.

• Value score: 5 / 5

OnePlus 15 review: Specifications

The OnePlus 15 features a unique spec list that highlights it's capabilities. It's the first phone most of us can buy with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset inside, and that platform seems to pay dividends in performance and power management.

The OnePlus 15 has a 7,300 mAh battery inside, which should make the phone enormous, but it's actually just as thin as an iPhone 17. That huge battery equates to the best battery life I've ever experienced on a smartphone. The OnePlus 15 also has 80-100W charging (80W on my US review sample), and it can charge wirelessly up to 50W, if you have a OnePlus AirVOOC charger.

The display on the OnePlus 15 can refresh up to 165Hz in gaming mode. It can also force itself to draw 120fps consistently on certain competition games like Mobile Legends: Bang Bang.

OnePlus 15 review: Design

• Incredible durability - can withstand more than you’ll encounter
• Restrained colors and design compared to past OnePlus flagships

I’ve tested phones that were as durable as the OnePlus 15, and phones that packed a battery just as large or larger. They were as big as school buses and just as heavy. The OnePlus 15 is a marvel of design because it looks simple and refined – totally normal. It isn’t trying to be gorgeous; it’s just a very nice looking smartphone.

Astonishingly, the OnePlus 15 packs the largest battery of any smartphone I’ve tested, but it’s only a hair thicker than the iPhone 17, which has a battery almost half the size.

Does that mean the OnePlus 15 could have been much thinner with a normal battery? Who cares, apparently nobody wants a thin phone with a small battery. The OnePlus 15 is the phone you’ve been asking for instead of the iPhone Air.

The OnePlus 15 is more restrained than previous OnePlus phones, and while I miss the navy blue curves of the OnePlus 13 and the swirling jade green OnePlus 12, I understand the impulse to be less flashy. Those camera bumps were very large. The phones were downright wobbly.

The OnePlus 15 looks like it could descend from the same lineage as the Google Pixel 10. It has a prominent camera bump that feels precisely machined, taking up a square of the corner on the back. The curves of the phone, the camera bump, and the camera lens windows are all symmetrically aligned on the same axis.

The color options for the OnePlus 15 are a bit staid compared to previously flashy hues, but each comes with its own benefits. My review unit came in the Sand Storm color that OnePlus claims is slightly more durable than the rest, owing to the electrified way the color is applied to the frame. The lilac color will be more limited, which only makes me want it more.

• Design score: 5 / 5

OnePlus 15 review: Display

• Excellent display for gaming with special features
• Bright, colorful, and incredibly responsive

The OnePlus 15 has a display made for serious gaming. That doesn’t mean you won’t enjoy its benefits if you don’t play hardcore, online multiplayer games. It’s still incredibly bright and colorful. But for gaming it stands out like no other phone I’ve tried.

How fast is the OnePlus 15 display? You’re going to need to find the Experiment settings in Call of Duty Mobile to truly take advantage of what this phone can do. For a number of games, the OnePlus 15 can refresh up to 165 Hz. For the rest of its functions, it refreshes from a 1Hz always-on sleep screen to 120Hz.

I was a big fan of the OnePlus 13 fingerprint sensor, and I’m pleased to report the OnePlus 15 has the most consistent scanner I’ve used on a phone this year. While Samsung phones regularly fail to register my fingerprint, the OnePlus 15 opened the first time I tried, every single time. Only Apple’s FaceID system is this consistent and quick, other Android makers haven’t been able to match this convenience.

Is this the best display around? Our lab tests say the Google Pixel 10 Pro is much brighter, with better color. I definitely preferred the Pixel 10 Pro for taking photos outdoors, but the OnePlus 15 still has a great display, and its fast response time pushes it to the top.

• Display score: 5 / 5

OnePlus 15 review: Software

• Oxygen OS 16 is a polished and friendly version of Android
• Plenty of features to reward power users and iPhone switchers alike

OnePlus has its own version of Android 16, Oxygen OS, and it's a very elegant design that takes great advantage of the sharp resolution of the display. You get plenty of tools like a widget shelf and a pop-up sidebar, or you can just ignore all of those an enjoy the uncluttered, effective look.

There are tons of unique features built in that are actually useful and don't require too much digging. If you're daring, try the Zen Space, which will lock you out of your own phone for a minute. No joke, no half measures. Nothing you do can get you back in. Like I said, it's daring.

I like Oxygen OS, it's clearly inspired by iOS without feeling derivative or amateur. It rewards OnePlus owners who know other OnePlus owners with special sharing and communication features that work between devices. If you're an iPhone owner considering a switch, this is the first Android stop I'd recommend on your bus out of Apple town.

There are AI tools on the OnePlus 15, and even a button that will take a screenshots to save to a special AI mind space. This is similar to Google’s Screenshot app on its Pixel phones, and it's an unobtrusive way to let AI collect your personal data on your own terms. The OnePlus AI also did a fine job transcribing my recordings, which is an AI tool I use frequently across my devices for meetings and interviews.

OnePlus says this phone will get four years of major Android updates, hopefully taking Oxygen OS 16.0 all the way up to Oxygen OS 20, though we’ll have to hold OnePlus to this promise. It will get six years of security updates as well, even after the OS updates stop.

• Software score: 5 / 5

OnePlus 15 review: Cameras

• Versatile cameras with effective zoom that captures great detail
• Best action camera for fast-moving subjects in any light condition

With the OnePlus 15, you get a versatile camera array that rises to any occasion. For hundreds less than a Pixel 10 Pro XL or Galaxy S25 Ultra, you get a camera with the same capabilities – especially a real 3.5x optical zoom lens.

The photos I got from the OnePlus 15 were usually just as good as pics from the best camera phones, and in some cases the OnePlus 15 shots were the best. Compared to the Pixel 10 Pro and Galaxy S25 Ultra, for instance, the OnePlus 15 camera achieves more clarity edge to edge in most photos.

The OnePlus 15 does have some special tricks up its sleeve. It's the best camera phone I've used when I am shooting a fast moving subject. For my kid’s football games, the combo of zoom plus action mode means I get shots with the ball hovering in mid air, taken from high up in the bleachers. Other phones can manage the same zoom, but not the same speed.

Maybe there are too many modes in the camera, but there are some I'm dying to try, like the underwater mode that balances for the blue light and gives you controls to use when the screen doesn't work. I'll need to wait until it's warmer for that one.

Is the OnePlus 15 the absolute best camera phone? I still think the iPhone 17 Pro is tops, but for the price, the OnePlus 15 offers unique features and excellent quality, and it surpassed my expectations once again.

• Camera score: 5 / 5

OnePlus 15 review: Camera samples

OnePlus 15 review: Performance

• Stellar performance from Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
• Gaming mode pushes display to 165 Hz for superlative gamers

As one of the first smartphones with the newest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset inside, I knew the OnePlus 15 would be incredibly fast, but I usually wonder where all that speed goes? Thankfully, OnePlus offers concrete examples for gamers, and if you haven't taken mobile gaming seriously before, maybe it's time.

I usually test phones by playing Call of Duty Mobile with my Xbox controller on Bluetooth. I max out the settings and play multiplayer games to test the frame rate. Not only did the OnePlus 15 play CoD better than any previous phone I've used, I maxed out all the settings, including every option in the Experiment mode, and the game ran just as smoothly. It looked like a current-gen console game running on my phone.

The OnePlus 15 even supports a 165Hz display refresh rate, which means some games will be able to run at a theoretical 165 fps. Those include: Clash of Clans, Brawl Stars, Real Racing 3, Standoff 2, Blood Strike - FPS for all, and of course Call of Duty.

Even if you're not a gamer, you'll still appreciate the smooth performance of the OnePlus 15 in everyday tasks. Oxygen OS offers a variety of visual transitions between your home screen panels, for instance, as well as other pop-up features. All of these respond instantly as you tap and swipe.

We'll probably see a slightly faster version of this chipset when the Samsung Galaxy S26 is launched in early 2026, but the big question will be what Samsung does with so much power. Will the next Galaxy have a high-refresh rate display and a stable of games ready to run fast? Or will that power be squandered on AI? The benchmarks might give Samsung a future win, but the OnePlus manages to put all of its power to use, for once.

• Performance score: 5 / 5

OnePlus 15 review: Battery

• Unbelievable battery life - lasted 3 days in my testing
• Super-fast charging, wired or wireless (with a OnePlus charger)

Last year’s OnePlus 13R was my pick for the best phone to buy for battery life, but this year’s OnePlus 15 raises the bar higher than I thought possible. Its battery seems obnoxiously large on paper, but the phone feels no heavier or thicker than any other flagship smartphone. Is there really a 7,300 mAh cell inside? Our Future Labs test say yes, indeed, and it’s more impressive than it sounds.

How long should a smartphone last? A day? Two day? I woke up on Wednesday with a fully charged OnePlus 15. I went to bed on Friday night and the phone still had battery power in the single digits. It lasted nearly three full days of use. You can leave your charger at the office for the weekend without worrying too much.

Even better, bring the charger along, because the OnePlus 15 charges faster than any other phone you’ll find. In 30 minutes of charging with the included 80W charger (it can charge to 100W in regions outside the US) I had more than 80% battery life. In less than 45 minutes I was fully charged.

That means you might get a week of real world use from this phone with just over an hour sitting on the wired charger. Want to go wireless? Like everything else on the OnePlus 15, wireless charging will demolish your expectations. This phone can charge faster on a OnePlus AirVOOC wireless charger than an iPhone 17 Pro can charge with wire.

Too bad it doesn’t have magnets built-in, then, but I highly recommend getting a OnePlus case. All of the new OnePlus 15 cases have magnets that align the wireless charging with your favorite MagSafe accessories, but I highly recommend splurging on AirVOOC. A few moments on a charging stand and you’ll be ready for hours more play time.

• Battery score: 5 / 5

Should you buy the OnePlus 15?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

Also consider...

How I tested the OnePlus 15

I have been using the OnePlus 15 for more than two weeks as my primary business phone, with all of my personal and work accounts loaded onto the device. I used the phone on AT&T’s 5G network in the greater New York Area, including around our Times Square offices and my home in Connecticut.

I used the OnePlus 15 as my camera, testing almost every camera feature (I couldn’t test the Underwater mode). I connected the OnePlus 15 to my OnePlus Watch 3, my OnePlus Buds Pro 3, and many other Bluetooth headsets and devices. I used Android Auto in my Kia and my friends’ Acura and Subaru cars, and connected to Bluetooth in an older BMW.

I've been testing phones for more than 20 years, since the days of BlackBerry and Palm OS smartphones and Samsung flip phones. I've tested hundreds of devices myself, and our Future Labs experts have tested hundreds more.

Future Labs tests phones using a mix of third-party benchmark software and proprietary, real-world tests. We use Geekbench, CrossMark, JetStream, WebXPRT and Mobile XPRT, and 3DMark for performance testing. We test a phone's performance on video editing tasks using Adobe Premiere Rush. We also measure display color output and brightness.

For battery testing, we have proprietary rundown tests that are the same for every phone, which we use to determine how long it takes for the battery to run down.

First reviewed November 2025

When the Google Pixel 10 debuted with MagSafe-style wireless charging support earlier this year, we hoped that other Android manufacturers might soon follow suit. But OnePlus fans, at least, will have to wait a little while longer for an equivalent to Pixelsnap on the best OnePlus phones.

The OnePlus 15 is set to launch globally on November 13, and while we can’t share every spec and feature about the phone just yet, we do know that it’ll arrive with a mammoth 7,300mAh battery and support for 120W wired charging (via SuperVOOC) and 50W wireless charging (via AirVOOC).

What it won’t have, though, is any form of built-in magnets, meaning OnePlus 15 owners will have to purchase a separate magnetic case to make better use of that impressive wireless charging speed. The same was true of the OnePlus 13, which launched in January.

Why, then, has OnePlus chosen not to follow Google’s example? As Rudolf Xu, Senior Product Marketing Manager at OnePlus, explained at a recent pre-briefing event for the OnePlus 15: “We haven’t integrated magnets into the phone because magnets are too heavy, and we already reserve most of our space for a bigger battery.

“The [spare] space inside the phone is very limited. For example, you have the wireless coil, which already consumes a lot of space. And if you add magnets, not only will that sacrifice comfort [because of the weight], but it will also [mean] the battery has to be smaller. And then we can’t challenge [our competitors] with the biggest battery possible. There are pros and cons – you give and take.”

It’s worth noting that the 7,300mAh battery inside the OnePlus 15 is 22% larger than the 6,000mAh cell inside the OnePlus 13, and some 40% larger than the 5,200mAh cell inside the Google Pixel 10 Pro XL. Apple doesn’t publicly disclose the battery sizes in its best iPhones, but it’s thought that the iPhone 17 Pro Max has a 5,088mAh cell.

On paper, then, the OnePlus 15 should deliver longer battery life than all three phones, and Xu is keen to note that Samsung makes the same charging trade-off with the best Samsung phones: “Samsung does the same thing. Their phones don’t support Qi2, but their cases do support [it], so they claim ‘Qi2-ready’. It’s a similar style [to what we’re doing]. We want to offer you a workaround.

“So the first feature that’s supported is, of course, wireless charging, and there are other things that you can do with [our OnePlus 15] case. For example, when you’re inside a car, you can easily snap it onto a car-mounted charger. Or when you do navigation and want to check the map easily, you can snap it into a stand.”

Are you glad that OnePlus has chosen to prioritize longer battery life on the OnePlus 15 at the expense of more convenient (but slower) wireless charging? Let us know in the comments below.

And for more on what to expect from the phone's November 13 launch, check out our exclusive chat with OnePlus’ Celina Shi, who detailed the OnePlus 15's chipset, camera features, colors, and more.

OnePlus is taking a big step toward offering truly personal AI on your phone, and it’s using Google Gemini to get there. The company has confirmed a new integration for its existing Mind Space feature, turning your saved notes, thoughts, and personal context into something an AI can actually understand and use.

If this works as promised, it could make your OnePlus feel even more like a digital companion, building on the already brilliant idea of Mind Space.

Speaking to TechRadar Phones Editor Axel Metz, OnePlus Europe CMO Celina Shi shared an exclusive statement that outlines what the company is building with Google. Shi says the goal is simple: make AI genuinely personal by connecting Google’s flagship model directly to whatever you store in Mind Space.

"To maximize the potential of Mind Space, we have also partnered with Google to deeply integrate Mind Space with Google Gemini. This powerful integration allows Gemini to access information you’ve saved to Mind Space and combine it with its advanced LLM and real-time internet access, making it the industry’s first personalized AI with Gemini.

"With Google Gemini, you can connect with Mind Space to pull information and take action on information you previously saved," Shi clarified.

As someone who loves the idea of Mind Space – an AI-powered storage shelf, triggered by the Plus Key, where you can contextually store any information on your device – this new Google integration is incredibly exciting.

Judging by Shi's comments, Gemini will be able to use your personal data inside Mind Space to answer questions, help plan things, and automate tasks based on your context, something most AI assistants today still struggle with.

What is Mind Space trying to do?

Mind Space is OnePlus’ way of giving users a home for the stuff floating around their heads. Think tasks, goals, reminders, and notes – you can save what you care about, and instead of letting it vanish into an app you forget about, the phone should be able to do something meaningful with it.

With Gemini in the mix, the OnePlus 15 with OxygenOS 16 could understand that you want to plan a birthday, finish a house project, or finally book a city break. It could help you research, draft messages, build lists, and handle details automatically. That’s the promise. It’s a big shift from AI that reacts to commands to AI that works from context.

Whether that’s exciting or invasive depends on how much you trust Google and OnePlus with your data. But it’s also where the industry is heading. AI makes much more sense when it knows exactly who you are, and the more info you give it, the better it gets.

OnePlus' AI promise

OxygenOS 16 is OnePlus’ next big software push, and the company says it’s trying to move AI beyond novelty.

The software update will debut on the OnePlus 15 and is built around a philosophy OnePlus calls “Intelligently Yours.” The idea is that AI should adapt to you and not the other way around.

The company says this is meant to make daily life easier, unlock creativity, help you feel more organized, and keep everything secure. All that without slowing the phone down.

If that sounds familiar, it’s because every phone brand is now saying something similar. But the Gemini connection is genuinely interesting. Samsung leans on Google too, but OnePlus claims this is the first time Gemini has been wired directly into a personal storage system like Mind Space.

OnePlus partnering closely with Google makes sense. It doesn’t have the resources to build its own foundation model, but the company does know how to make features feel fast and lightweight, something that’s been its identity for a decade.

We’ll have to see how Mind Space and Gemini work together in practice. But this is the most ambitious sign yet that OnePlus wants a seat at the table in the next wave of smartphone AI. If it pulls it off, your OnePlus might soon feel more like a brain extension than a screen.

The OnePlus 15 is likely to be the last big flagship phone release of 2025 (if you’re living in the US, at least), but it’s better thought of as the first device in the inevitably long line of next-gen Android phones coming in 2026.

Where the OnePlus 13 lined up against the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and iPhone 16 Pro, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5-equipped OnePlus 15 will go toe-to-toe with the iPhone 17 Pro and the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S26 line. But how, exactly, does OnePlus plan to compete against the best phones on the market next year?

To find out, TechRadar sat down with Celina Shi, CMO of OnePlus Europe, who exclusively detailed the OnePlus 15’s global launch date, new color options, and more of the features that make this year’s OnePlus flagship a “two-generational upgrade” over the OnePlus 13.

TechRadar: Firstly, on the name of the phone, it's often assumed that Chinese brands skip the number “4” because it’s deemed unlucky in Chinese culture. Is this the reason for the move from the OnePlus 13 to the OnePlus 15 this year?

Celina Shi: It's a good question, but in fact, that is not the reason. When you look at the OnePlus 15 as a whole, it isn't just another upgrade – it’s a complete transformation, which means we have revamped the entire device, both inside and out. The OnePlus 15 represents a two-generational upgrade in power, intelligence, and design, which brings best-in-class performance to our 'Fast & Smooth' philosophy.

TR: What specific upgrades will justify that "two-generation" claim?

CS: On the hardware side, the OnePlus 15 is one of the very first smartphones in the world to feature the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset. For more than a decade, OnePlus and Qualcomm Technologies have moved in lock-step to redefine what a flagship can be. Paired with cutting-edge 10,667Mbps LPDDR5X Ultra+ RAM in the 16GB variant, it takes the consistently smooth and responsive experience that defines the brand further than ever. With Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 at its core, OnePlus returns to its performance roots and carries that legacy forward with the OnePlus 15, delivering the speed, intelligence, and efficiency our community demands today and into the future.

On the inside, earlier this year, OnePlus announced its new AI strategy, which saw new AI features join its smartphones, but also the evolution of its iconic OnePlus 'Alert Slider' to become the new AI-driven 'Plus Key'. The Plus key allows instant access to essential functions such as screenshots, flashlight, camera, voice recording, Do Not Disturb mode, and switching between ring, vibrate, or silent modes.

Supporting this, just this month, we announced OxygenOS 16, which represents our next, thoughtful evolution in smartphone intelligence, seamlessly blending advanced AI capabilities with the fast, smooth, and user-centric experience that defines OnePlus. Built around the philosophy of "Intelligently Yours," and available on OnePlus 15 for the first time, this update empowers users to live more efficiently, express themselves more freely, ease their mental load, and stay secure – all while maintaining the fluidity and responsiveness that OxygenOS is known for.

To maximize the potential of Mind Space, we have also partnered with Google to deeply integrate Mind Space with Google Gemini. This powerful integration allows Gemini to access information you've saved to Mind Space and combine it with its advanced LLM (large language model) and real-time internet access, making it the industry’s first personalized AI with Gemini.

The OnePlus 15 also marks a new era in camera technology for OnePlus, as we are introducing our self-developed imaging engine – OnePlus DetailMaxEngine. This technology uses advanced algorithms and powerful processors to capture images that feel breathtakingly clear and truly real. The ultra-clear 26MP mode combines data from multi-frame 12MP shots with a single 50MP high-resolution frame, producing a final 26MP photo with improved clarity, especially in complex textures such as fur, foliage, and fabrics, all in a practical file size ideal for sharing.

For capturing fast-moving subjects, Clear Burst shoots at 10fps, a noticeable improvement over the 6fps on the OnePlus 13. It uses dual-exposure anti-blur technology, simultaneously capturing short and long exposures to freeze motion while preserving rich detail, so users never miss their moment.

In low-light environments, Clear Night Engine employs Dual Analog Gain technology to eliminate timing gaps between exposures. This results in brighter, cleaner, and more natural-looking night photos with reduced noise, making evening street scenes and nighttime portraits appear brighter and more natural.

In terms of design, the OnePlus 15 continues the brand’s commitment to sophisticated design and material innovation, where simplicity leads, distraction fades, and everything feels intuitive. The OnePlus 15 will be available in three distinctive color finishes. These are Sand Storm, Infinite Black, and Ultra Violet.

TR: On the topic of design, the OnePlus 15 looks quite different from the OnePlus 13. You’ve switched to a boxier aesthetic, with a square camera module instead of OnePlus’ iconic circular module. Why these changes this year?

CS: When we took on the two-generational upgrade [commitment], we wanted to make a statement. We wanted people to not only know that there are better specs and an improved product experience, but that the device [itself] is different. It therefore needed to look different, which is why we've overhauled the design with an ID revamp and a symmetrical camera module. OnePlus 15 continues the brand’s commitment to sophisticated design and material innovation.

While I can't give you more information just yet on some of the design choices we've made, I can give more context to color, which is a really important component of a smartphone and hugely impacts consumer decision-making.

When we look at color palettes for our devices, we rely on both feedback from our community and expectations from our target audience. I can reveal to you that the OnePlus 15 will be offered in three distinctive color finishes:

Infinite Black features a premium frosted glass back, delivering a deep, subtle matte finish that resists fingerprints while maintaining an elegant appearance. It is our classic, universally popular device that's timeless. It's aimed at users who are drawn to simplicity and sleek design, which blend perfectly between work and leisure.

Sand Storm combines a lightweight fiberglass composite back panel with a micro-arc oxidized (MAO) metal frame. This advanced ceramic-grade coating is 1.3x harder than titanium mid-frame, offering enhanced durability without compromising on style. It is our minimalist, sophisticated color aimed at users who prefer an understated look. It has earthy tones and exuberates subtlety and elegance.

Ultra Violet showcases a dynamic dual-layer optical coating that responds to light with a mesmerizing violet-to-sapphire shift, creating a vibrant and modern aesthetic. It is aimed at creatives who have a punchy style and want a device that meets their aesthetics. Ultra Violet is bold and has been intentionally designed to stand out.

TR: Going back to your decision to use the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, you mentioned that the OnePlus 15 will mark a “return to OnePlus’ performance-first roots.” OnePlus flagships have almost always used the latest Qualcomm silicon, so what’s particularly special about the performance of the OnePlus 15 and the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5?

CS: Since its inception, OnePlus has had a core focus on delivering ‘Fast & Smooth’ performance, an integral part of our DNA, and with the OnePlus 15, our commitment to performance is even stronger.

At the heart of the OnePlus 15’s performance is the flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 platform, making it one of the first smartphones in the world to be powered by this next-generation processor. Paired with cutting-edge 10,667Mbps LPDDR5X Ultra+ RAM in the 16GB variant, it takes the consistently smooth and responsive experience that defines the brand further than ever.

This hardware foundation also powers OxygenOS 16, which introduces AI-driven experiences for smoother interaction, intelligent language tools, a deeper integration with Google's personal AI assistant Gemini, and enhanced imaging support. With Google Gemini, you can connect with Mind Space to pull information and take action on information you previously saved. In addition, Plus Mind unlocks a personalized, context-aware second brain.

In general, OnePlus aims to deliver high performance and a premium user experience through the use of high-end hardware and software optimization. This has certainly been delivered with the OnePlus 15 by using the best-in-class Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, coupled with our newly launched OxygenOS 16. We will share further details [about performance] soon.

TR: We’ve seen that the Chinese version of the OnePlus 15 comes with a 165Hz display. Will this same screen come to the global version of the phone, and if so, is OnePlus working with mobile game developers to produce titles that can make use of that increased refresh rate?

CS: You'll have to wait until our launch to find out details about the specs of our screen, but I can say that refresh rates and screen quality are a core component of our 'Fast and Smooth' philosophy.

It's true that we work with mobile game developers, as co-creation allows for the best device experience. That's all I can say for now – tune in at launch to find out more!

TR: And finally, can you share any details about the OnePlus 15’s global launch date?

CS: I can exclusively reveal to you that the OnePlus 15 will launch on November 13!

So there you have it, folks – the OnePlus 15 will launch in the US, UK, and Europe on November 13, in a choice of three colors: Sand Storm, Infinite Black, and Ultra Violet. It'll ship with the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, as well as OnePlus' first "self-developed imaging engine", the OnePlus DetailMaxEngine.

We'll be covering the global launch of the OnePlus 15 next week, so stay tuned to TechRadar for the latest announcements as they happen, as well as our full review of the device.

Which of these newly announced OnePlus 15 upgrades excites you the most? Let us know in the comments below.

The OnePlus 13 is our pick for the best Android phone on the market, but if a recent China-only reveal is anything to go by, it could soon be replaced by the new OnePlus 15. That sounds like bad news, but in the wake of these recent announcements, Amazon has slashed the price of the OnePlus 13 by more than $100 to $777.18 (was $899.99).

That the sale price contains the famously ‘lucky’ number 777 is probably a coincidence, but it does seem fitting for such a great deal on a still-fantastic phone.

Yes, it's true that, with Black Friday (and the OnePlus 15) just around the corner, the OnePlus 13 may get cheaper still. But if you can't wait until November 28, $777.18 is a cracking deal price on one of the best phones money can buy.

As mentioned, the OnePlus 13 is the best Android phone on the market right now, and it also appears on our lists of the best camera phones and (as you might expect) the best OnePlus phones.

That’s because it offers class-leading specs that rival or exceed those of the best iPhones, best Samsung phones, and best Google Pixel phones, with a price tag that undercuts these iconic competitors.

The OnePlus 13 has a 6.82-inch display, 256GB of storage, and a camera system boasting three 50MP sensors and a maximum of 3x optical zoom.

Under the hood, the OnePlus 13 sports the Snapdragon 8 Elite, which is the current best-in-class Android chipset, and 12GB of RAM as standard. It also has a 6000mAh battery, which blew us away during testing for our OnePlus 13 review.

As mentioned, it’s a safer bet to wait until Black Friday for the OnePlus 13 to drop to an even lower price, but if you need a great new phone right now, then this deal could be worth snapping up.

If you're looking for a new phone this fall, your best bet is Black Friday: be sure to check in with our phones coverage for the latest predictions, buying advice, and deals.

The OnePlus 15 was one of the final flagships we were expecting this year, and it has now landed – at least in China, where the company just unveiled the phone in full.

We say “in full” because a lot of the details were actually revealed ahead of the launch event, so we already had some idea of what to expect. Now, though, we have a complete picture.

For now, you can’t buy the OnePlus 15 unless you're in China. However, we’re expecting a global unveiling will follow within the next few months, with one leak suggesting it could happen as soon as November 13, and now you can at least decide whether it’s worth waiting for.

To help you make that decision, here are five of the biggest new features, upgrades, and changes you’ll find with the OnePlus 15.

1. A substantial power upgrade

One thing the OnePlus 15 won’t be short of is power. It has the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset; that’s the successor to the chipset found in the OnePlus 13, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, and many other top Android phones. Not many handsets have this yet, so the OnePlus 15 should be able outperform most current smartphones.

It will also be helped along by up to 16GB of RAM (though 12GB models are also available), and a ‘Glacier VC’ cooling system, which includes a large vapor chamber, and should help the OnePlus 15 maintain high levels of performance for longer.

2. A huge battery

While most Android phones are happy to settle for a battery of around 5,000mAh, the OnePlus 15 has a 7,300mAh battery which should last a lot longer than most of the competition, at least in theory.

You might worry that such a high-capacity battery would take an eternity to charge up, but you needn’t, because the OnePlus 15 also supports 120W wired charging and 50W wireless charging.

For comparison, the OnePlus 13 has a 6,000mAh battery with 100W wired charging and 50W wireless. For reference, the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra has just a 5,000mAh battery with a mere 45W wired charging and 15W wireless.

3. An odd screen

The OnePlus 15’s screen is in some ways an upgrade on the OnePlus 13’s and in other ways a downgrade, so it’s a bit of an oddity.

As for the upgrades go, it has a silky smooth 165Hz refresh rate, up from 120Hz on the OnePlus 13 and most other phones. However, it has a lower resolution, coming in at 1272 x 2772, for around 450 pixels per inch.

That’s still fairly sharp, but the OnePlus 13 beats it at 1440 x 3168 pixels and around 510 pixels per inch. According to OnePlus this is because a QHD+ screen wouldn’t support a 165Hz refresh rate, but we can't yet say whether this was the right decision.

The OnePlus 15 also has a slightly smaller screen than its predecessor, at 6.78 inches, but that still sees it rank among the larger phones on the market.

4. A Hasselblad-free camera

Another interesting change that might not be an upgrade is the camera, as for the first time in a long time this lacks Hasselblad branding.

It’s also switching to a new imaging engine, but the actual lenses and sensors sound similar to last year, with the OnePlus 15 having a 50MP f/1.8 wide camera, a 50MP f/2.0 ultra-wide, and a 50MP f/2.8 telephoto, offering 3.5x optical zoom. There’s also a 32MP f/2.4 camera on the front.

This setup isn’t identical to the OnePlus 13’s but on paper it sounds very close. So it will be interesting to see whether there’s much difference in camera performance.

5. A new look

The final big change this year is to the design of the phone, with the OnePlus 15 ditching its predecessor’s circular camera block for a squarer one.

The phone will be sold in Sand Dune, Misty Purple, and Absolute Black shades, and it’s slightly shorter, wider, and thinner than the OnePlus 13 at 161.4 x 76.7 x 8.1mm.

Like its predecessor, the OnePlus 15 also has a lot of water resistance, with both IP68 and IP69K ratings, meaning it can survive both being submerged to depths of 1.5 meters and sprayed with high pressure water jets.

Black Friday is on the horizon, and I’ve already got one phone in mind when it comes to checking for deals and discounts.

The OnePlus 13R is already one of the best phone deals on the market, thanks to its powerful internals, sleek design, and reasonable starting price of $599 / £529.

That price already undercuts the standard iPhone 17, Samsung Galaxy S25, and Google Pixel 10, all of which start at $799 / £799 / AU$1,399 and boast mostly comparable specs to OnePlus’ mid-ranger.

I want to see if we’ll see that price fall even lower during the year’s biggest shopping event. We’ve seen the OnePlus 13R discounted during previous sales, so it’s entirely possible that we’ll see retailers slash the price of the handset during this year’s Black Friday proceedings.

Additionally, the OnePlus 13R is now nearly a year old – with the flagship OnePlus 15 on the way, it’s not a stretch to imagine a OnePlus 15R could follow, putting pressure on retailers to clear current stock.

In fact, prices of the OnePlus 13R have already started to fall, as the deals below demonstrate:

Our in-depth OnePlus 13R review calls the latest OnePlus mid-ranger a “triple threat” thanks to its battery life, strong performance, and overall execution.

The handset comes with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, which was the best flagship Android chipset up until late 2024. It’s still plenty powerful for daily use, multitasking, AI, and gaming.

And with either 12GB or 16GB of RAM based on spec, and a huge 6,000mAh battery (that’s larger than the iPhone 17 Pro Max or Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra), the OnePlus 13R keeps things moving at pace all day long.

All of this is sandwiched between a high resolution and high brightness 6.78-inch display and triple camera system boasting 50MP main and 2x telephoto sensors and an 8MP ultra-wide to boot.

Which phone are you looking out for this Black Friday? Be sure to let us know in the comments below.

With the imminent release of the OnePlus 15, we're being treated to a super sweet discount on the phone that it'll supersede. That means you can now get the 4.5-star OnePlus 13 for $799.99 (was $899.99).

To get the discounted price, you need to enter the code '100OFFNOW' at checkout. Better still, OnePlus will also throw in a free magnetic case, saving you up to $39.99.

The OnePlus 13 is our overall top pick in our guide to the best Android phones, which tells you how highly we rate it. Our Mobiles Editor, Philip Berne, wrote that he "can't find anything wrong" with the handset for our OnePlus 13 review, so it's a great opportunity to snag $100 off such a well-loved flagship phone while stocks last.

Today's best OnePlus 13 deal

The OnePlus 13 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, which is one of the fastest mobile chipsets for Android phones. As well as supreme performance, we love its 6.82-inch display, triple camera system with three great 50MP cameras, and a unique, durable design.

Still not convinced? Maybe this quote from our best Android phones guide will persuade you how good this phone really is:

"The OnePlus 13 simply blew me away with amazing performance, superlative battery life, and the most durable and lasting design OnePlus has created. The software is the best Android interface design, and I could simply go on and on about how much I enjoyed this phone".

If you're sold on OnePlus but not sure which model to go for, we have a handy best OnePlus phones guide just for you. Alternatively, if you'd like our roundup of all the top picks from other brands, then have a read of our best phones guide.

We’re closing in on the end of 2025 now, but there’s still at least one big smartphone hitter left to come, as the OnePlus 15 will be unveiled on October 27.

That launch is just for China, but a global launch is expected to follow, and may well also happen before the end of the year.

If it does, then this could be the surprise star of 2025 as far as Android phones go, because between leaks and early revelations, we can see the phone shaping up to possibly beat even the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. Below, we’ve listed five reasons why this might be the best Android phone of the year.

1. It will have a massive battery

OnePlus has a habit of revealing details of its phones ahead of the full announcement, and the OnePlus 15 is no exception, so we already know a lot of things about it.

Among the most exciting of those things is that it will have a 7,300mAh battery, which is a far higher capacity than any Samsung, Apple, or Google phone has.

For comparison, the Galaxy S25 Ultra has a 5,000mAh battery, the Google Pixel 10 Pro XL has a 5,200mAh battery, and the iPhone 17 Pro Max has either a 5,088mAh battery (if you buy an eSIM-only model) or a 4,823mAh battery otherwise.

This will likely mean the OnePlus 15 can also last longer between charges, though how efficient the chipset and software are, and how well the phone can manage heat (more on which further down), can also impact that.

Still, it’s not just the capacity that’s impressive – the OnePlus 15 will also be able to charge at up to 120W, or up to 50W if using wireless charging, which again beats most rivals by a long way. So even with such a massive cell it should be able to juice up quickly.

2. It will be extremely powerful

Another thing OnePlus has confirmed is that the OnePlus 15 will have a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset.

That’s a brand-new chipset, and it’s the successor to the Snapdragon 8 Elite used by the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S25 series. So it should outperform the chipsets in almost every current Android phone – aside from the few that already have a Gen 5 of their own.

This performance advantage might be short-lived, as we’re expecting at least some models in the Samsung Galaxy S26 series to be equipped with the same chipset early next year, but as far as 2025 goes, the OnePlus 15 could rank at or near the top of the pack for power.

3. It will have a high refresh rate

We don’t yet know all of the OnePlus 15’s display specs, but one thing the company has confirmed is that it will have a 165Hz refresh rate.

While that’s not totally unheard of, it’s usually reserved for gaming phones, with mainstream flagships typically having a 120Hz refresh rate.

That should make motion – such as when scrolling through menus or playing games that can make the most of it – appear smoother, so it’s a desirable feature to have, and one you won’t find on a Samsung Galaxy phone or an iPhone.

4. It should have competitive cameras

In a Weibo post (via NotebookCheck) OnePlus has also shared some details of its upcoming phone’s cameras, and while these don’t necessarily sound like they’ll blow the competition out of the water, they are likely to at least be competitive.

The OnePlus 15 then will have a 50MP triple-lens camera, including a 3.5x telephoto snapper, equivalent to an 85mm focal length. It will also support 4K 120fps Dolby Vision.

So the snappers sound promising, and given that the cameras on the OnePlus 13 were already one of its highlights, any improvements here should ensure this ranks among the best camera phones.

5. It should be able to keep cool under pressure

Finally, OnePlus has again taken to Weibo (via GSMArena) to reveal that the OnePlus 15 will have the company’s most advanced cooling system yet.

Specifically, it will have what the company is calling a Glacier Cooling System, and this will include a larger vapor chamber with a “double-layer capillary structure” that improves heat dissipation.

This will be paired with a Glacier Supercritical Aerogel, which should help the phone feel cool to the touch, even when playing demanding games.

These cooling mechanisms should help the OnePlus 15 maintain peak performance for more sustained periods, and they’re likely to also benefit battery life.

• The OnePlus 15 will have a 7,300mAh battery inside
• It beats the other flagship phones currently on the market
• The phone will launch in China on October 27

The official date for the grand OnePlus 15 unveiling has been set for Monday, October 27 (at least for the launch in China), and ahead of the event we're continuing to get details of the specs and features this flagship phone will bring with it.

OnePlus has now confirmed on Chinese social platform Weibo (via Notebookcheck) that the OnePlus 15 will come with a massive 7,300mAh battery. Charging rates are set at 120W for wired and 50W for wireless, which are also both very impressive.

That giant battery capacity had been mentioned in earlier leaks, but now we know it's coming. OnePlus has also gone on the record saying that we'll see a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset here, and a display with a maximum refresh rate of 165Hz.

In fact, there's not much left that isn't actually official. We're still not certain about the screen size, but a 6.78-inch panel has been rumored. The same batch of leaks also pointed towards a triple-lens 50MP+50MP+50MP camera on the rear of the phone.

Raising the battery bar

So how does that 7,300mAh battery capacity compare to the other top flagships at the moment? Very well, actually: the recently-launched iPhone 17 Pro Max, for example, has a battery capacity of around 5,088mAh (Apple never lists specific capacities).

As per Apple, that phone can last for 37 hours between charges when playing videos, so the OnePlus 15 might even exceed that. Real world battery life depends on a variety of factors of course – but the size of the battery definitely plays a big role.

The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra carries a 5,000mAh battery, while the Google Pixel 10 Pro XL has a 5,200mAh battery inside. The OnePlus 15 isn't just beating these competing flagships in terms of battery capacity, it's beating them by a clear margin.

We have seen phones with battery capacities as high as 33,000mAh in the past, so the OnePlus 15 won't be a record breaker – but those big battery phones are overly bulky and impractical for day-to-day use as a consumer flagship.

• The OnePlus 15 launches in China on October 27
• We'll see a global launch sometime after that
• A new 'Misty Purple' color for the phone has appeared

We're gradually getting more and more official information about the OnePlus 15, and we now know when the flagship phone is going to be launched – and OnePlus has also shared another color the device will come in.

As per the official OnePlus account on Weibo (via 9to5Google), the OnePlus 15 is going to be unveiled in full on October 27 (alongside the OnePlus Ace 6), at 7pm China time. That works out as 3am PT / 8am ET / 11am GMT / 10pm AEDT around the world.

There is a caveat here, which is that this is the official unveiling specifically for China. While it should give us all the key specs about the phone, we won't get a full global launch – including international pricing – until sometime later.

OnePlus has confirmed the phone is coming to the rest of the world, though we don't know exactly when. The 2024 predecessor to this phone, the OnePlus 13, was unveiled in China in October and then got a global launch in January 2025.

Here's what's coming

In another official post on Weibo, OnePlus has also shown off the OnePlus 15 in three different colors: as per Google Translate, they are the Original Sand Dune and Absolute Black we already expected, plus a fresh Misty Purple color.

It adds to everything we already know or think we know about this upcoming flagship – some of it from official announcements from OnePlus as it tries to build up hype around the phone, and some of it from leaks and rumors.

It's definitely going to have a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset and a 165Hz screen, and that display will apparently measure 6.78 inches from corner to corner, making it slightly smaller than the handset it's replacing.

That handset is of course the OnePlus 13, which we have been very impressed by. There won't be a OnePlus 14, by the way: OnePlus is skipping that number, presumably because it's considered unlucky in China.

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• OnePlus has shared display information for the upcoming OnePlus 13
• Highlights include a 165Hz refresh rate and 1.15mm bezels
• The OnePlus 15 is expected to launch in China by October 31

The OnePlus 15 is on the way – the next flagship from the Chinese maker of Android phones is expected to launch soon in its home market, with Western and global markets likely to follow in the coming months.

PhoneArena suggests that the OnePlus 15 will launch in China in October 2025, and we get closer to the still-unconfirmed release date the company has shared key display specs in partnership with sister brand Oppo and display manufacturer BOE.

According to GizmoChina (via GSMArena), OnePlus shared new official information about the OnePlus 15’s display in a direct announcement.

The OnePlus 15 will feature symmetrical 1.15mm bezels around the entire display. For reference, the iPhone 17 Pro Max has ultra-thin bezels that measure in at 1.36mm.

Additionally, the OnePlus 15 will support a 165Hz refresh rate, much higher than the OnePlus 13 and most of the best Android phones on the market. The standard for a modern flagship phone is 120Hz.

For reference, refresh rate refers to how often a display redraws the on-screen image. A faster refresh rate makes motion look smoother and makes moving details easier to parse.

OnePlus also shared that the display will see a 13% improvement in high-brightness mode, which we assume means an increase in measured brightness, as well as an 11.8% improvement to color accuracy. The display is also TUV-Rheinland certified at a minimum of 1 nit of hardware brightness.

Furthermore, the display will supposedly consume 10% less power than the OnePlus 13’s display, with a 30% longer total component lifespan. OnePlus is already known for class-leading battery life, so this upgrade could lead to some truly impressive longevity.

The OnePlus 15 will also make use of Oppo’s P3 chip, a dedicated display controller that enables 1.3 microsecond pixel row charging time, which GizmoChina reports is twice as fast as the industry average. This allows for better responsiveness and sustained brightness at faster refresh rates.

Finally, images shared by OnePlus seem to confirm that the OnePlus 15 will have a flat display, rather than the curved display seen in previous generations. Current rumors suggest a screen size of 6.78 inches.

The OnePlus 15 is shaping up to be a worthy successor to the OnePlus 13, which is our current pick for the best Android phone. Be sure to let us know what you think of these display specs in the comments below.

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Amazon Prime Day is well and truly underway, and I'm already seeing plenty of great smartphone deals. The best so far may well be a substantial saving on the OnePlus 13, also known as our pick for the best Android phone money can buy: you can now get the OnePlus 13 for $799.99 (was $999.99) at Amazon. In the UK, the OnePlus 13 is on sale for £699 at Amazon.

• Shop the full Amazon Prime Day sale

The OnePlus 13 took us by surprise when it launched at the start of 2025 – at the time, TechRadar's US Mobiles Editor Philip Berne wrote that he "can't find anything wrong" with the handset for our OnePlus 13 review. It's a sublimely designed and supremely powerful handset that came very close to a perfect score, so it's great to see it discounted this Amazon Prime Day.

The OnePlus 13 already competes with the iPhone 17 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra at a cheaper price, but at an Amazon Prime Day price of $799.99 it costs no more than a standard iPhone 17 or Galaxy S25. If I was looking to buy a new phone myself, I'd seriously consider this deal.

(Not in the US or UK? See today's best deals in your region below)

Today's best OnePlus 13 Prime Day deal

The OnePlus 13 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, the fastest mobile chipset for Android phones. It's got a beautiful 6.82-inch display, a triple camera system with three great 50MP cameras, and a unique, durable design with the option of a vegan leather finish. The model on offer in the deals above comes with 512GB of storage and 16GB of RAM, which is plenty of memory for multitasking and AI processing.

It's rare that a smartphone impresses us as much as the OnePlus 13 did at launch, and close to a year later it's still a profoundly powerful smartphone. With that said, the follow-up OnePlus 15 (OnePlus is skipping 14) has been announced, so now could be a good time to grab a bargain on the current-gen before stocks start to dwindle.

More of today's best Prime Day deals in the US

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More of today's best Prime Day deals in the UK

• Amazon Devices: from £19.99
• Blink: cameras from £14.49
• Fire TV Stick: from £19.99
• Kindles: up to £70 off
• Laptops: from £149.99
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• Tablets: Fire Tabs from £49.99
• TVs: from £169.99

• More details of the OnePlus 15 have emerged
• We also have some leaked shots of the phone
• The handset may be launching later this month

We know the OnePlus 15 is coming soon – perhaps as early as this month – and we have already been given an official sneak preview of its design. Now a new leak gives us more in the way of both specs and pictures for the flagship handset.

The leak comes from tipster @TechKard (via GSMArena), having originally been spotted on Chinese social media platform Weibo, and while we can't verify the accuracy of these details, they do fit in with what we've heard already.

As per the leak, we're going to get a 6.78-inch OLED screen, with a refresh rate up to 165 Hz and brightness levels up to 1,800 nits. The top-tier Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset is apparently powering everything, which is something OnePlus has already confirmed.

The specs list also mentions a 7,300 mAh capacity battery (with 120W wired and 50W wireless charging rates), a triple lens 50MP+50MP+50MP camera on the rear, and full IP69 protection against water and dust.

The current model

In other words, this looks like quite a substantial upgrade on the OnePlus 13, the phone the OnePlus 15 is going to be replacing – and which we like a lot, giving it 4.5 stars out of 5 in our in-depth OnePlus 13 review.

The current phone (launched in October 2024) has a 6.82-inch screen, with a refresh rate up to 120 Hz, and is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite. It also offers a IP69 rating, with a 6,000 mAh battery, and wired/wireless charging speeds of 100W/50W respectively.

There is a triple lens 50MP+50MP+50MP rear camera on the OnePlus 13 as well, matching what's rumored for the OnePlus 15, but it's possible that OnePlus will refresh the sensors used even if the overall megapixel count doesn't increase.

Alongside these specs, we also have some new photos of the device in a variety of lifestyle shots – and the device is shown in the same Sand Storm color that we've seen in the pictures on the official OnePlus social media channels.

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• OnePlus has confirmed the OnePlus 15 will launch globally
• The Chinese phone maker also revealed a new Sand Storm edition of the new phone, featuring a new material on the frame
• The phone is likely to launch in China before other markets

OnePlus has confirmed that the recently revealed OnePlus 15 will launch globally and sport a brand new design and color option labeled Sand Storm.

The company revealed the new phone in black during a recent Qualcomm event in China, but this is the first we’ve heard of the new Sand Storm design option. According to OnePlus, this is more than just a new colorway and adds micro-arc oxidation (MAO) to the frame and camera housing.

The MAO process creates a crystalline oxide layer on metals like aluminum or titanium, which can offer additional protection against wear and tear. OnePlus says this coating is 3.4 times harder than an aluminum mid-frame and 1.3 times tougher than a titanium mid-frame.

Additionally, the rear panel of the phone will be made of fiberglass, an increasingly popular choice due to its light weight and strong resilience. It’s not yet clear whether these design specs will apply to all OnePlus 15 models, or just the Sand Storm edition.

True to its name, the Sand Storm edition of the OnePlus 15 comes in a fetching sandy beige color – and though the design itself hasn’t landed to the best reactions, I’m a big fan of this subtle color.

Though OnePlus says the new phone will launch globally, it’s likely that the new handset will launch in the company’s domestic market of China before going international, based on previous launches.

The current-generation OnePlus 13 is our pick for the best Android phone money can buy (naturally, it also ranks as the best OnePlus phone). Its speedy performance, excellent cameras, and ludicrous battery life saw it shoot to the top of our rankings when it was released internationally at the start of 2025.

So, the OnePlus 15 has some big shoes to fill. We’ve not been given full specs for the new phone yet, but we do know it’ll have the next-generation Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, and OnePlus’ new DetailMax image processing engine.

Let us know your thoughts on the OnePlus 15 in the comments below, and be sure to check out our OnePlus 13 review.

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• It's the best time to buy a Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra – and these two deals prove it
• With the iPhone 17, I think Apple has hit peak iPhone

• OnePlus has revealed more details of the OnePlus 15, including that it uses a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset
• That's the successor to the flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite used in the Galaxy S25 series
• The OnePlus 15 also has a 165Hz refresh rate but lacks Hasselblad branding

We’re expecting the OnePlus 15 to be fully unveiled soon, but the company has already revealed many elements of it, as during Qualcomm’s latest event (via The Verge), it announced that this phone will use a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset.

This chipset is the new top-end model from Qualcomm, and it’s the successor to the Snapdragon 8 Elite found in the Samsung Galaxy S25 series and many of 2025’s other best Android phones. So by using this, the OnePlus 15 should have these devices beat in terms of power.

We’ve detailed the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 in another article, but according to Qualcomm this chipset should be even more powerful than the A19 Pro powering the iPhone 17 Pro Max, and it could be particularly great for gaming and extended battery life.

Refresh rate and camera details

But OnePlus has also revealed some other details about its upcoming phone, including that it has a 165Hz refresh rate, which is much higher than the 120Hz of the OnePlus 13 and most other flagship phones.

The redesigned camera block on the back of the phone was also shown off, and it’s a design we don’t love, so that’s one less promising element of the handset.

And one element that we’re not sure what to make of yet is the lack of Hasselblad branding, with OnePlus saying it’s using an in-house DetailMax Engine instead, which apparently uses “advanced algorithms and powerful processors.” So how much impact this will have and whether it will be an upgrade or a downgrade remains to be seen.

We should hopefully find out soon though, as more information about the OnePlus 15 will be revealed “in the coming weeks.” Oh, and if you’re wondering what happened to the OnePlus 14, the number 4 is considered bad luck in China, which is presumably why they’re skipping straight to the 15.

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• Two photos seemingly showing the OnePlus 15 have emerged
• They show a redesigned camera block that's very different to the OnePlus 13's
• They also show the phone off in two colors – white and pink

It’s been rumored for a while now that the OnePlus 15 could have a new design, and now the details of that design are all but confirmed, as photos seemingly showing the phone have emerged.

First up, a Weibo account for the Peace Elite League (PEL) esports league (via Phone Arena) has shared an image of players looking at a OnePlus phone, with the caption asking viewers to guess what they’re looking at.

While the phone isn’t mentioned by name, this doesn’t appear to be any existing OnePlus handset, so it’s likely the OnePlus 15.

This seems like it’s probably an official tease of the phone in collaboration with PEL, but along with that, @OnePlusClub has also shared another photo of the device on X. It’s not clear where this second image came from, and whether it’s an intentional tease or a leak, but it very much appears to be the same phone.

A more conventional design

So we’re pretty confident this is the OnePlus 15 we’re looking at, but if so that’s unfortunate, because it has traded the distinctive circular camera housing of the OnePlus 13 – which our OnePlus 13 review described as “a gorgeous phone” – for a far more conventional squarish camera block.

Within that block the lenses are arranged in a slightly unusual way, with two housed together in a black oblong, one off on its own, and what’s presumably a flash surrounded by a black circle.

But while a little unusual, it’s not necessarily attractive, and it’s not even totally unique, as it reminds us a bit of the Pixel 10 Pro Fold – not to mention the OnePlus 13T, which also has a similar design.

In any case, aside from the camera design there’s not much to see here. We can only see the back of the phone and it otherwise has a fairly plain finish, shown here in both white and pink.

But we should hopefully get a more complete look at the OnePlus 15 soon, as it’s likely to launch in October – although possibly only in China, with a global launch to follow.

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OnePlus Nord 5: Two-minute review

Despite having a few sparkly upgrades over its predecessors, I can’t help but feel as though the OnePlus Nord 5 is a bit of a downgrade from last year’s model overall.

This new entry to OnePlus’ mid-spec (and mid-price) line of Nord Android phones is largely what you’d expect if you’ve been following the company for the last few years. In its top-end handsets, like the OnePlus 13, OnePlus offers novel designs, fancy camera arrays, and scary price tags, but the Nords are more modest in feature set and cost, and like all good mid-rangers, they generally focus on two key areas to excel in.

Even more so than in the OnePlus Nord 4, it’s clear that the focus of the Nord 5 is on its performance and its display, which are, funnily enough, the same two departments that most other mid-range Android makers focus on too.

And, credit to OnePlus, the Nord 5 does have such great specs in these areas that it may convince people to buy the phone for its performance and its display credentials alone.

Take, for example, the screen: it now exceeds 6.8 inches diagonally, making the Nord 5 one of the few mid-range Android phones to do so, and that extra real estate will give gamers more space for their fingers – I don’t even need to mention the higher refresh rate to get people raring to play.

The use of a Snapdragon 800-series chipset – albeit a toned-down one – also gives gamers a lot more processing power than we’ve seen on a Nord handset before (and that's saying something!). Few mobiles at this price perform better under benchmark tests than this OnePlus.

I’m now on my sixth paragraph, and I’ve only talked about performance and display, and the reason is simple: while these two departments see notable increases, most other aspects of the phone show either no improvement or, in a surprising number of areas, spec downgrades from last year’s phone.

Some of these are minor changes. For example, the shift to a solid glass body instead of a two-tone metal one makes the handset look a lot more generic, but feel more premium, so some would argue about this being a downgrade at all.

Many more changes are inexplicable and result in a worse user experience, though. For example, the battery is slightly smaller and the charging is also slower, likely to include reverse wired charging, but it’s still an odd change. Plus, there’s less RAM available in the two models, the screen brightness has seen a decrease, there’s no UFS 4.0 for quick storage (admittedly a fairly niche feature), and the phone is also bigger and chunkier than before.

I’d be willing to bet that there’s a good reason, or at least a compromise, for every downgrade listed above. But that doesn’t change the fact that certain departments are worse off, and while the starting price of the Nord 4 is lower than that of the Nord 5, you’re actually paying more for the new model if you want to match the 12GB RAM capacity of last year's entry-level configuration (the Nord 5 starts at 8GB of RAM).

It’s disappointing to see this many downgrades, but at the end of the day, the OnePlus Nord 5 is still a strong mid-range Android phone. It’s just one that offers a dubious ‘upgrade’ over the Nord 4, and in fact may not be worth buying at all if you can find its predecessor available at a discount (which really isn’t too hard, judging by my three minutes of research…).

Plus, its clipped wings make it fall behind the flock a little way in the competitive mid-range Android market, when its similar-priced rivals have even more powerful chipsets and more processing power.

OnePlus Nord 5 review: price and availability

• Announced in July 2025; US launch unlikely
• £399 / AU$799 (roughly $600) for 8GB RAM, 256GB storage
• £499 / AU$899 (roughly $700) gets you 12GB RAM, 512GB storage

The OnePlus Nord 5 was announced in early July 2025 – exclusively to TechRadar, I may add – and went on sale shortly afterwards. It wasn’t alone, with the OnePlus Buds 4, OnePlus Pad Lite, OnePlus Nord CE5, and OnePlus Watch sharing the spotlight.

You can pick up the phone for £399 / AU$799 (roughly $600, though don’t expect it to go on sale in the US as OnePlus offers a completely different line-up of Nord phones there). The default model has 8GB RAM and 256GB storage, but you can also pick up a 12GB/512GB model for £499 / AU$899 (roughly $700).

On paper, this is a favorable comparison to the OnePlus Nord 4, but the Nord 5 does offer less RAM as standard. Last year’s phone had a 12GB/256GB model for £429 (around $550, AU$820 at the time) and a 16GB/512GB option for £529 (around $680 / AU$1,000). Technically, then, the Nord 5 is cheaper, but you’re getting less for that money – you'll actually pay more to get 12GB of RAM.

However much value you think this £399 / AU$799 starting price gets you, the OnePlus Nord 5 sits in the murky area between budget phone and mid-ranger, a no-man’s land that’s incredibly competitive for Android phone buyers.

OnePlus Nord 5 review: specs

Here's the spec sheet in full for the OnePlus Nord 5:

OnePlus Nord 5 review: design

• Newly boring design
• Glass adds premium feel
• New mappable Plus Key is handy

The Nords have never exactly been lookers, and the OnePlus Nord 5 continues that tradition as one of the most boring-looking phones I’ve seen recently. I hope you plan to hide it in a case!

The phone is a big ‘chocolate-bar’ style box, coming in gray, white, or ice blue, depending on which variant you pick up. At 163.4 x 77 x 8.1mm, it’s a little on the big side, and at 211g, it’s slightly heavier than your average phone too.

Due to the phone’s size, the power button and volume rocker on its right edge are both quite hard to reach with your thumb, even with big hands like mine. Opposite them at the top of the handset’s left edge is the Plus Key, which you can customize in function; press and hold to open the camera, turn on Do Not Disturb, turn on the torch, and so on, with a fair range of options. It’s really useful, replacing OnePlus’ previous alert slider with a solid upgrade.

Rounding out our tour of the phone, there’s a USB-C port on the bottom edge as well as the SIM tray, which can allow for dual SIMs. No 3.5mm headphone jack here.

OnePlus has ditched the metal back of the Nord 5’s predecessor in favor of the premium-feeling but fragile glass, and I found the phone to readily pick up my fingerprints – though these were only visible from certain angles.

The glass of the screen is Corning Gorilla Glass 7i, which is designed to be hardy and survive bumps. Talking about durability, the handset has an IP65 rating to ensure it’s fully protected against solid dust particles, as well as jets of water, but not submersion in liquid.

• Design score: 3.5 / 5

OnePlus Nord 5 review: display

• 6.83-inch, 1272 x 2800 resolution
• New high refresh rate at 144Hz but lower max brightness
• Aqua Touch feature returns

It’s in the display department where the OnePlus Nord 5 gets some of its biggest upgrades, and they all work together to make it a great device for entertainment.

Take, for instance, its sheer size. At 6.83 inches diagonally, it’s now one of the biggest panels on any Android phone right now, giving you lots of space to enjoy your game or TV show. The resolution, at 1272 x 2800, has remained the same from the Nord 4.

Another improvement is in the screen refresh rate, which now hits 144Hz. Admittedly, it’s rare that many people will make the most of this spec, as it’s only useful for a particularly narrow number of mobile games, but it’s an improvement nonetheless. It’s countered by a lower max brightness, though.

Elsewhere, you’re looking at what OnePlus calls Swift AMOLED, and while that first word seems mostly a marketing addition, you’re still getting a high-spec panel with a billion colors supported, 1800 nits max brightness, and Corning Gorilla Glass 7i for protection.

While it’s less of a selling point in OnePlus’ marketing materials this year, the Nord 5 brings back one of its predecessor’s best features in Aqua Touch. This ensures that you can tap on the screen and get accurate results even when the display (or your finger) is wet.

• Display score: 4 / 5

OnePlus Nord 5 review: software

• Android 15 with OxygenOS 15, and four annual updates
• Unique features couple with attractive UI
• Lots of bloatware but few bugs

The OnePlus Nord 5 comes running Android 15, but with the company’s OxygenOS 15 layered over the top. OnePlus has pledged 4 years of Android updates as well as an additional 2 years of security updates, so the Nord will last until 2029 for software boots and 2031 for overall protection.

As with all Android forks, this is largely a design change, but I feel OxygenOS harks quite closely to stock Android in layout while being quite different and distinct in aesthetic. It has bold and punchy colors but more restraint than some other Android-alikes.

OxygenOS remains one of the most popular of these Android forks, despite the love growing more muted in recent years, and features like Zen Space (which locks your phone for a set time while you work) and the preinstalled translation app help explain why.

Re-reading my Nord 4 review, I recalled how buggy I found the software last time around. I needed this reminder, because it wasn’t the case with the Nord 5: it worked flawlessly, never throwing an issue at me, and constantly being snappy and quick to navigate.

You can expect two things from a mid-range Android phone from a Chinese maker: bloatware and random AI features being thrown at you. And the Nord 5 certainly has the former, with loads of unwanted games, social media apps, and OnePlus’ own additions all cluttering up the home page.

However, OnePlus has seemingly learnt the lesson that the average consumer just isn’t as interested in dubiously-useful AI features as tech fans, because I didn’t find myself being bombarded with odd little features and gimmicks bearing those two foreboding vowels. Other than the replacement of Google Assistant with the infamously goofy Gemini, something which has affected all Android phones over the last few years, the Nord 5’s AI features are largely confined to the camera.

• Software score: 4 / 5

OnePlus Nord 5 review: cameras

• 50MP main and 8MP ultra-wide cameras, 50MP up front
• Results are nothing to write home about
• A few -post features are all handy

Curiously, OnePlus has been touting the camera department as one of the key areas of the OnePlus Nord 5. I’m not sure why, though, because it’s largely unchanged from the array on the previous-gen model, and so it’s just as unimpressive.

The handset packs a 50MP f/1.8 main and 8MP f/2.2 ultra-wide camera, both of which are fractionally wider-angle than last time around, but that seems to be the only change.

These cameras are totally fine; the reason many Android companies have clung to the same 50MP sensors for years now is that they’re totally fit for purpose without costing too much money. Pictures are bright enough to make sense and have a fair amount of detail.

But you’re not getting amazing dynamic range, or genius smart optimization, nor all the versatility that a zoom lens (or even a passable ultra-wide lens – 8MP, really?) offers. The phone also has a tendency to blow out brighter areas of a shot and lose a lot of detail in the darker ones.

The ultra-wide camera takes pictures that are noticeably more vibrant, as you'll see below, but they lack detail where it matters. The lens also facilitates a macro mode, but I found this quite hard to focus, especially with it turning on automatically at inconvenient times, and its use of the ultra-wide's sensor means that you get the resulting oversaturated image too. That said, I find the vast majority of macro modes far worse, so props to OnePlus for that.

As I mentioned before, the camera department is where the most AI features exist. There’s the eraser tool that most Androids have nowadays to remove unwanted background items, as well as a tool to reframe pictures (which basically means it just crops them). There's also a detail boost, which can help if you’ve zoomed in too far and have lost quality, an unblurrer for objects in motion, and a reflection eraser, which does what it says on the tin. These are all helpful to make little tweaks to a photo if there’s an error.

The Nord 5’s AI tools are the lion’s share of its features, with few actual shooting modes. Expect the basics: photo, video, Portrait, Pro, and a few extra low-light and video modes for certain situations. You can shoot video at up to 4K/60fps and down to 720p/240fps or 1080p/120fps for slow-motion.

The one noteworthy camera upgrade here is in the front-facing camera, which has jumped all the way up to a 50MP resolution. This gives you plenty more pixels to play around with, should you want to crop or reframe a selfie, although by default, selfies are shot in a pixel-binned 12.5MP, and you need to select Hi-Res mode in the camera app to get full 50MP.

• Camera score: 3 / 5

OnePlus Nord 5 camera samples

OnePlus Nord 5: performance and audio

• Big upgrade to Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 chipset
• Two models: 8GB/256GB or 12GB/512GB
• Bluetooth 5.4 or USB-C port for audio, no jack

OnePlus touts the Nord 5’s performance as its key selling point, and you can see why by just looking at the specs: they all reach above what you’d expect from a phone at this price point.

The chipset is a Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 from Qualcomm, which is effectively a slightly-downgraded version of last year’s top-end Android chipset. It’s admittedly not the very fastest chipset being used in budget phones, with a successor announced several months prior to the Nord’s release (and many affordable Androids opting instead for non-Snapdragon 800-series chips, which are again more powerful), but it’s still a real perk of the phone.

The phone is blazingly fast, returning one of the best multi-core scores I’ve ever seen from a Geekbench test. Over three tests, it averaged 5,147, and I’d say anything above 4,500 is a fantastic score. More impressively, the scores I got stayed consistent even when the phone was heating up, which is certainly not always true in this price range, and it points to the Nord handling long gaming sessions well.

This high score shows from gaming to photo editing, and even when you’re whizzing around the phone’s menus. A few mid-rangers have a more powerful chipset, but I don't see why you'd need more (or even this amount, really...)

As you read in the price section, there are two versions of the phone: one with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage, and another that increases those capacities to 12GB/512GB. I tested the latter, which explains why the Nord felt so fast to use; I can’t speak to how the 8GB model runs, but it’s quite a price hike to get the higher-memory variant, so I don’t blame you for settling.

Audio-wise, OnePlus doesn’t rewrite any rules: there’s no 3.5mm headphone jack, and the stereo speakers sound totally fit for purpose, but they won’t replace your Dolby Atmos speakers any time soon. You can also listen to music by pairing headphones to the Nord, which supports Bluetooth 5.4.

• Performance score: 4.5 / 5

OnePlus Nord 5 review: battery life

• Smaller 5,200mAh battery
• Fast 80W charging
• Reverse wired charging lets you power up other gadgets

For the last few years, mid-range phone batteries have been ballooning in size, and with that in mind, the OnePlus Nord’s 5,200mAh power pack feels relatively restrained. It’s still big, just not huge like I’d expected, and it’s actually smaller than the Nord 4’s.

Downgrade aside, the phone will last for a day of ordinary use with no sweat, and you can get comfortably into day two of use before needing to charge the device up. Alternatively, if you want to use your phone pretty intensely, I can still see it lasting a full day of use.

Battery life doesn't match the Nord 4, though, with the power pack's decrease exacerbated by the bigger screen, which needs more juice.

As a side note, the version of the phone on sale in certain regions like Australia and India has a 6,800mAh battery, which, as you mathematicians may be able to work out, is much bigger and will last for much longer. No such luck for everyone else, though.

Another battery downgrade comes in the charging department, which is down 20W to 80W in the Nord 5. That’s still very fast, and the lost speed is made up for by the presence of reverse wired charging. This lets you use a USB-C to USB-C cable to charge up other devices using the Nord.

• Battery score: 3.5 / 5

OnePlus Nord 5 review: value

Thanks to its new low price, the OnePlus Nord 5 does represent value for money, though it’ll depend exactly on what you’re looking for.

Thanks to its high-spec display and processor, the Nord feels like a premium phone for certain tasks like gaming and watching movies, and so you can easily convince yourself you’re using a top-end mobile if these are your main uses for a phone.

Myriad downgrades over the previous-gen model do make the Nord 5 feel like slightly poorer value, though, so if I were considering this newer model, I’d definitely also check what kind of discounts the year-older Nord 4 was enjoying.

• Value score: 3.5 / 5

Should you buy the OnePlus Nord 5?

Buy it if...

Don't buy it if...

OnePlus Nord 5 review: Also consider

There's one obvious OnePlus Nord 5 competitor that I apparently can't shut up about, but there are also a few other competitive mobiles on the market.

How I tested the OnePlus Nord 5

• Review test period = 2.5 weeks
• Testing included = Everyday usage, including web browsing, social media, photography, video calling, gaming, streaming video, music playback
• Tools used = Geekbench 6, Geekbench ML, GFXBench, native Android stats

To write this review, I tested the OnePlus Nord 5 for two weeks, but it got an extra half-week of play while I was writing this review.

I conducted a mix of experiential and 'lab'-style testing. Experiential means I used the phone like anyone else would: playing games, using social media, taking it on trips, and taking photos on the go. Lab tests were when I put it through benchmark tests and the like.

As you can tell by my software gripes, this testing process is rigorous, and it also involves some benchmark tests and tools so that we can compare phones against themselves in an objective way.

I've been reviewing smartphones for TechRadar since early 2019, and in that time have used plenty of mobiles from OnePlus, as well as other devices in the price segment. This includes the Nord 4 from last year, and many of its 2025 rivals.

Read more about how we test

First reviewed July 2025

• Details of the OnePlus 15 have leaked
• We also have new renders of the design
• The phone could launch in November

We haven't heard too much about the successor to the OnePlus 13 so far, but a fresh batch of leaks gives us a good idea of what's on the inside and on the outside of the OnePlus 15 (the number 14 is being skipped, due to its associations with bad luck in China).

First up, the team at Android Headlines has pulled together some interesting information about OnePlus 15 benchmark scores that have appeared online. The scores indicate that the phone will be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite 2 chipset.

The scores themselves are actually pretty low, but at this stage in the phone's development, it's not worth paying much attention to them – they're unlikely to match the real world performance levels of the handset once it sees the light of day.

It also looks as though the OnePlus 15 is going to come with 16GB of RAM, or at least the option of 16GB of RAM, based on this benchmark listing. The OnePlus 13 is available with 12GB, 16GB, or 24GB of RAM, though that last option isn't available in many places.

Renders and colors

We've also seen some unofficial renders from tipster @Sudhanshu1414 (via Notebookcheck), though as always nothing is certain about these leaks – not until OnePlus actually gets around to launching the flagship phone.

There are three colors on show here, which are black, silver, and a dark purple. The outer camera module is a square, rather than a circle as it is on the OnePlus 13 – and it looks like there are three rear cameras here again, matching the current model.

Interestingly, an executive from OnePlus parent company Oppo has gone on record as saying that the design of the OnePlus 15 is one of his favorites in recent years, although there doesn't look anything too out of the ordinary.

The standard OnePlus 13 was launched in China at the start of November 2024, before becoming more widely available in January 2025, and it's likely that the successor is going to follow a similar sort of schedule but 12 months further on.

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