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The OnePlus 15 is yet another extremely impressive phone that should be near the top of any new phone shopping lists; the display is immaculate, the cameras are excellent and the battery is revolutionary. Plus the Sand Storm colourway is one of the prettiest designs I've seen for a while.
The Good
- Multiple days of battery life
- Display is stunning
- Latest Snapdragon chip is rapid
The Not So Good
- Camera limited to 50MP sensors
Need-to-knows
- Exceptional battery life
- Camera punches above its weight
- 165Hz refresh rate display
- Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip is very fast
I think it’s fair to say that the OnePlus 13 was generally regarded by most tech YouToobers and journalists as a smash hit when it was released earlier this year. I certainly loved it and was surprised by how well it stacked up against the more expensive Samsung S25 Ultra.
Less than a year on, and we seem to be entering a new era of Android smartphones which offer flat-out nuts battery life, and camera systems which demand you take your eyes off the obvious Apple and Samsung options. Even if just to gawp briefly at what’s possible elsewhere, before you commit to the inevitable purchase.
What’s even more interesting to me is that most of these devices are coming from brands which are so rarely table talk among friends and family. How many of your mates, for instance, know what OnePlus is? This is a smartphone brand that has been around since 2013, yet it remains vastly unknown to many in my neck of the woods.
That’s not fair, but the bigger question today is: does the new OnePlus 15 take the role of flagship killer from its predecessor and build on it even further?
Let’s find out.
How I reviewed the OnePlus 15
I have many smartphones within fairly immediate grasp, most of the time. However, there’s usually just two that travel with me when I leave the house or studio.
My primary phone is always an iPhone, but I have a secondary SIM card which sits within the phone I’m currently reviewing (unless that’s an iPhone, of course).
Related: OnePlus 13 review
This enables me to fully test and review devices with a cellular connection. That’s what I’ve been doing with the OnePlus 15 for the last few weeks (just like last year, we’ve had extended time with OnePlus’s latest device). It’s loaded up with everything I use each day – WhatsApp, social networks, Outlook, Notion, YouTube Studio, and my payment cards. And I’ve been picking it up more than my iPhone.
We also spent some time in Prague following a press briefing for the OnePlus 15 where we got to test out the camera capabilities of the new phone (although it’s been my regular camera phone for the last few weeks elsewhere, of course).
At a glance
| Category | Details |
|---|---|
| Chipset | Snapdragon® 8 Elite Gen 5 |
| Display | 6.7″ 1.5K LTPO AMOLED, 165Hz, 1800 nits peak, TÜV Eye Care 5.0 |
| RAM / Storage | 12GB + 256GB / 16GB + 512GB (UFS 4.0) |
| Battery | 7300mAh Silicon NanoStack, 120W SUPERVOOC, 50W AIRVOOC |
| Camera | Triple 50MP (Main w/ OIS + Ultra-wide AF + Periscope 3.5x) |
| Video | Up to 4K 120fps Dolby Vision, LOG + real-time LUT |
| Software | OxygenOS 16 with OnePlus AI + Google Gemini integration |
| Cooling System | 360 Cryo-Velocity Cooling with Aerogel + White Graphite |
| Durability | IP66 / IP68 / IP69 / IP69K |
| Design | 1.15mm slim bezels, flat frame, LIPO build tech |
| Colours | Infinite Black, Sand Storm, Ultra Violet |
| Charging Time | 0–100% in ~39 minutes |
| Price (UK) | £849 (12/256GB) |
Specs and pricing
The OnePlus 15 is the first phone to launch with the brand-new (and slightly confusingly-named) Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. There are two RAM/storage options: 12/16GB and 16/512GB.
The display is a 6.78-inch AMOLED panel with the obligatory high refresh rate. Only, this time, it maxes out at a bonkers 165Hz – far higher than the 120Hz we’re used to on most phones these days. There are, however, some caveats with that, which I’ll get to later.
OnePlus saw it fit to mention that there are four IP ratings for the OnePlus 15: IP66, IP68, IP69, and IP69K. So, it’ll be fine in a rain shower. Oh, and it has a 7,300mAh battery. No, really.
I’ll get to the camera specs later, but I can confirm that the pricing for the OnePlus 15 is as follows:
- 12+256GB = from £849
- 16+512GB = from £979
OnePlus on a budget: OnePlus Nord 5 review
By comparison (and it is the most obvious comparison), the Oppo Find X9 Pro is priced at £1,099 for 512GB of storage, making the OnePlus option, once again, a more tempting proposition off the bat.
If you live in the UK and you order before the 12th December, you can grab a launch day offer on the top spec OnePlus 15 of £879.
Design
I love it when smartphone manufacturers make sweeping changes to a device’s design. I know that’s often frowned upon by brand fans, but when you review this stuff for a living, it makes your job far more interesting.
The OnePlus 15 looks completely different to the OnePlus 13. The camera bump is now square, as is the rest of the device; gone is the rounded feel of the previous generation. I’m here for it – the OnePlus 15 feels like a more modern, and slightly more premium device.
OnePlus has chosen some lovely finishes, too. There’s a smart Infinite Black, and the slightly more colourful, light-shifting Ultra Violet, I was given to review. But the stand-out colour is Sand Storm, which OnePlus is understandably using as its ‘hero’ colour.
Check out my iPhone 17 review here!
Another change of note is the relocated fingerprint reader, which is now slightly higher up, under the display. During the briefing, OnePlus explained how they’d managed to do this and why it hadn’t been done before. I neglected to make a note during that section, but it makes total sense when you use it.
About that 165Hz display. It is indeed a lot higher than the 120Hz we’ve become accustomed to, but it isn’t something you’re going to notice in everyday use, because 120Hz is enough. It’s also only activated in certain apps and games, and means the display is a 1.5k panel, rather than 2k (that’s the trade-off). I haven’t noticed any difference between the OnePlus 15 and any other phone I’ve reviewed recently when it comes to the refresh rate, but gamers and spec-seekers will likely be buoyed by its presence.
Camera
We have a three-camera setup on the back of the OnePlus 15. The main Sony sensor-powered camera is equivalent to 24mm and features optical image stabilisation (OIS). The ultra-wide has a 116-degree field of view and doubles as a macro lens, but doesn’t feature OIS. The telephoto does feature OIS and has a 3.5x optical zoom, 7x lossless zoom, and up to 120x digital zoom at the far end of the scale.
All three cameras are 50MP. So, we don’t get a 200MP telephoto like the one found on the Oppo Find X9 Pro, but I’m not convinced that’s much of a loss – providing the camera performance overall is good enough.
It is. I really like the photos taken by the OnePlus 15, which is unsurprising, because I really liked the photos taken by its predecessor. I never process my smartphone images; I just choose the desired focal length, frame up, and hit the white button.
Best budget smartphone camera? Xiaomi 15T Pro review
I encountered a few instances of missed shots in challenging scenarios, such as a fireworks night, but nine times out of ten, the OnePlus 15 delivered. The zoom up to 7x is superb, although beyond that we’re into the usual AI-infused realm of too-much-zoom, and I still need convincing that such bonkers focal lengths are of use to anyone.
The 32MP RGBW selfie cam has autofocus and, OnePlus says, should perform much better in low light compared to the previous generation. I concur – it’s a great snapper.
The OnePlus 15 can shoot video in up to 4K/120FPS with Dolby Vision and a fancy real-time tone mapping algorithm for more natural reproduction of skin tones. The iPhone remains king of the smartphone video shooters, but I was impressed with what the OnePlus 15 was able to capture.
There might be no Hasselblad logo, and no 200MP zoom, but the OnePlus 15 easily punches above its weight class when it comes to photography.
Battery
Inside that attractive frame lies one of the OnePlus 15’s party pieces – a 7,300mAh ’Silicon NanoStack’ battery.
According to my mate, Ben, from Lover of Tech (the guy who does proper battery testing), the Oppo Find X9 Pro remains the king of battery performance under heavy load. However, in everyday usage, I didn’t find much to separate them.
My first long stint with the OnePlus 15 resulted in a battery report of four days, 19 hours. By that stage, 14% was remaining, and OxygenOS seemed to think there could be around five hours still in there. To reiterate, I was using the OnePlus as a quasi-main phone, and it had a SIM card in it, so it wasn’t exactly sitting on the table doing nothing.
More battery madness: Oppo Find X9 Pro review
This kind of battery performance is transformational. Just like the Find X9 Pro, the OnePlus 15 will easily be a three-day phone for most people. It’ll charge super fast, too, providing you have the right kit. Add a wired SUPERVOOC charger to your OnePlus haul, and you’ll experience 120W charging, which takes about 40 minutes to fully charge your phone. Watching it add the percentage points is genuinely mesmerising. If you’re wondering, the wireless charging tops out at 50W, again, via a SUPERVOOC-powered charger.
Performance and OS
I find smartphone benchmarks relentlessly boring. But I do appreciate that they matter to some, and I also appreciate that there are tech reviewers out there who are far smarter (and more patient) than I am.
On that note, Lover of Tech Ben recently told me that he firmly believes the MediaTek chip inside the Oppo Find X9 Pro to be one of the best-performing on the market right now. That may well be true, but the only way you’re going to discover that is if you undertake some benchmarks or immerse yourself in serious gaming. Or whatever else it is that people do with phones these days to push them to their limits.
More: OnePlus Pad 3 review
I don’t. Which is why I can happily confirm that the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip that sits inside the OnePlus 15 is more than capable of delivering a flagship-feeling phone. Because of course it is.
Gamers will find comfort in the fact that there’s also ‘360 Cryo-Velocity cooling’ technology built into the OnePlus 15 and both a UAV-grade gyro and bypass charging. I have no idea what any of that is, but I’m told it’s all pretty handy if you’re into your smartphone games. The 165Hz maximum refresh rate will further delight those users, I’m sure.
As for OxygenOS 16… it’s great. What I’m about to say won’t be popular with my fellow tech reviewers, but I still fail to see significant differences between ‘skinned’ Android operating systems. The only exception to that rule is Samsung’s One UI, which genuinely feels like a different beast.
The same goes for AI features – they’re all pretty much identical across devices now. And I still don’t use any of them.
There’s often an interesting feature amongst the regular AI stuff, though. The OnePlus 15 has something called Mind Space, which is very similar to Nothing’s Essential Space (I don’t know or care who got there first) in that it acts as a catch-all place for you to store clippings from the web, the camera, and your brain. If I were using the OnePlus 15 as my main phone going forward, I’d possibly use it over the traditional notes app.
Conclusion
We’ve actually had two OnePlus flagship phones in less than 12 months. Quite why the same cadence didn’t follow with the OnePlus 15 is anyone’s guess, but the sweeping changes made by OnePlus are seriously impressive.
That said, I don’t think anyone is thinking of upgrading from the 13 to the 15. That would be silly, unless you’re an uber OnePlus fan.
However, the OnePlus 15 is, once again, a smash hit and another example of why you shouldn’t always reach for the default option of <insert your smartphone brand of choice here>.
The bigger question is whether or not you should go for the Oppo Find X9 Pro or the OnePlus 15, and that’s a much harder one to answer. The latter is a bit cheaper than the former, but lacks some of the camera features. They also look extremely similar.
If I were held at gunpoint and told to pick one, I’d choose the OnePlus 15, just because I love what they’ve been doing recently, and I really love that Sand Storm colour. It’s also a bit cheaper.
What about you? Get involved in the comments.
1 Comment
Hey Mark! Great review on the OnePlus 15! I’m curious, how does the camera performance stack up compared to other flagship models? And do you think it truly delivers on that “flagship killer” title this time around? Appreciate your insights! Doodle Baseball