OnePlus 13 Review: The most value-for-money premium flagship out there?

The OnePlus 13 continues OnePlus’ Never Settling adventures in Premium Phoneland. The brand, which started out mainly as a budget flagship player, has now moved into the premium flagship space, but as the OnePlus 13 proves, it is still an expert at fighting to deliver staggering value, albeit at a higher price. At $899/Rs 69,999, the OnePlus 13 gets right into the iPhone/Galaxy S/Pixel zone. And surprise, surprise, it emerges as a viable alternative to them after a few updates (hey, this is OnePlus!).

OnePlus 13 appearance and design: Slightly more flat, slightly less fat, and every bit as elegant

In terms of design, the OnePlus 13 broadly sticks to the design of the OnePlus 12 but makes some significant changes. The display-dominated front is almost flat now, although it curves very slightly towards the sides to give an illusion of being a little curved. The sides themselves are straight and not curved like in the OnePlus 12, and the back is a little curved too. The back also has a few subtle changes from the OnePlus 12. While it still has a large spherical camera unit towards the top left corner, there is no metallic extension connecting it to the left side.

The Hasselblad branding has also moved from the camera unit to the space next to it, with a bright metallic line underneath it. The phone comes in three colors – a dark blue Midnight Ocean with a vegan leather texture but with a white camera unit, a Black Eclipse with a slightly wood-like appearance thanks to a special rosewood grain glass process and a black camera unit, and a smooth white Arctic Dawn with a white camera unit. We got the Arctic Dawn unit, and while its back was a little slippery, it cut a very elegant figure.

At 162.9 mm, it is definitely on the tall side, although it is rather slim at 8.5 mm (the OnePlus 12 was 9.2 mm) and at 213 grams, just a little heavy (although the weight seems well distributed). OnePlus loyalists will be delighted to know that the alert slider is on the right with a slightly textured finish. All in all, the OnePlus 13 is a good-looking phone with that touch of elegance that we tend to associate with premium flagships. The Midnight Blue variant is the most likely to grab attention, but we feel that the Black Eclipse and Arctic Dawn look more classy. The phone is pretty tough, too, with Ceramic Guard glass on the front (although there is no reference to any protection on the back) and an IP68/69 rating that should see it through even a fall in the water.

OnePlus 13 spec sheet: Premium flagship level

OnePlus has thrown the flagship spec kitchen sink at the OnePlus 13, and as a result, you get a spec sheet that more than comfortably matches phones with way higher price tags. The 6.82-inch LTPO AMOLED display comes with a very high QHD+ resolution, a dynamic refresh rate of 1-120 Hz, and a maximum brightness of 4500 nits. Powering the phone is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, which is about as powerful as anything in Androidland, and in the best OnePlus tradition, comes bundled with plenty of RAM and storage – you get 12 GB/ 256 GB, 16 GB/ 512 GB and 24 GB/ 1 TB variants, with LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.0 storage.

This is a phone built for speed. The camera unit on the back contains three 50-megapixel sensors. The main one is a Sony LYT-808 with OIS, similar to the one seen on the OnePlus 12. The periscope telephoto goes down in megapixel count from 64 megapixels on the OnePlus 12 but gets a better Sony LYT-600 sensor, although with the same 3X optical zoom with OIS seen on the OnePlus 12. The ultrawide not only goes up from 48 megapixels to 50 megapixels but also gets autofocus, which means it becomes a handy macro snapper, too. As always, the rear cameras have been made in collaboration with the legendary Hasselblad. The front camera remains a 32-megapixel one and still lacks autofocus.

Also onboard are stereo speakers and connectivity options galore ranging from 5G (with support for an eSIM) to Bluetooth 5.4 to NFC, and even an infrared port for controlling other gadgets. The phone comes with OxygenOS15 out of the box on top of Android 15, with a number of AI tools onboard, including Gemini. OnePlus 13 has been assured of four OS updates and six years of security updates. In the best OnePlus tradition, the phone has already received three updates to improve performance even as this review was being written (one of the reasons it got a little delayed). Keeping all of this running is a large 6000 mAh battery with support for 100W SuperVOOC charging and 50W AirVOOC charging, with a 100W charger in the box as well. It is a spec sheet that is comparable to almost any premium smartphone in the market!

OnePlus 13 cameras: Good in the beginning, super after an upgrade

Our initial impression of the OnePlus 13’s cameras was a rather mixed one. They were good, but it did not seem like a big step forward from the OnePlus 12. We were getting a good amount of detail, some very good portrait shots (with Hasselblad touches), and a zoom that seemed usable up to about 7x without too much noise creeping in. The one major improvement seemed to be in terms of the ultrawide, which was a clear step ahead from the OnePlus 12 in terms of both clarity and detail. A couple of updates, however, took the camera performance to another level. While clarity levels in the main sensor went up significantly, and so did details, colors got a little richer (if less realistic).

The most dramatic change, however, came in the telephoto’s performance, with the camera delivering surprisingly good snaps even at 30x and, if the light conditions were good, 50x-60x zoom, with some AI wizardry thrown in (something we had seen on the superb Vivo X200 Pro). The AI editing tools on board, such as Detail Boost, AI Eraser, AI Unblur, and AI Reflection Eraser, also worked much better following the update, and so did the portrait modes, inspired by the 23 mm, 48 mm, and 85 mm Hasselblad lenses, with the bokeh looking much more realistic, rather than something created by the software.

The updates also added a number of Hasselblad frame options to photographs – many were very good, but the total number got a little overwhelming. The low light performance is very good not only from the main sensor but also from the telephoto, with decent details and surprisingly good colors (we suspect some AI at work here, too). Round that off with decent macros and very good video quality from the main sensor (the others are best used in good light conditions), and the OnePlus 13 does enough to be considered a proper phone camera in its own right. It is not perfect – the selfie camera is nowhere near as good as the rear ones, and there is the odd inconsistency from time to time, but in terms of performance and features, this is perhaps the first OnePlus phone that can go toe to toe against the best that Apple, Google, Samsung, and Vivo can offer. Just remember to update it!

OnePlus 13 performance: Right up there with the best

With all the hardware it packs in, it is hardly surprising that the OnePlus 13 runs through routine tasks like Web browsing, social media doom scrolling (that 120 Hz refresh rate helps), and mail and messaging, like a hot knife slicing its way through cold butter. The phone is a little large to handle. Still, the combination of that large, brilliant display and very good speakers make the OnePlus 13 a very good device to read and view content on, whether you are watching a live match or just binge-watching your favorite series.

The OnePlus 13 also handles high-end gaming with effortless elan. Genshin Impact looks gorgeous on that display, even with maxed-out graphics settings, and the phone sails through even the most hectic Call of Duty sessions without dropping a frame or lagging. While the OnePlus 13 did heat up a little initially, it has stayed relatively cool following updates. The phone comes with a number of AI tools, including Gemini, AI detail boosts for photographs, AI translation (which works in supported headphones, too), and Intelligent Search, and there are more features expected in the coming days.

The OnePlus 13 handles them all very well without any major lags. OxygenOS works very smoothly on the device and has a clean interface packed with features that will remind many of the UI of OnePlus’ early days. Round that off with a very swift fingerprint sensor and very good call quality, and you have a performance that is on par with devices that are far too expensive than it!

OnePlus 13 battery life and charging: Long lasting, fast charging

The OnePlus 13 comes with a large 6000 mAh battery. Our initial impressions of it were disappointing, as it lasted barely a day when the display was kept at its hyped quad HD resolution (it is set to FHD+ by default), but it has improved significantly after an update. At the time of writing, our OnePlus 13 could easily see off a day of normal to heavy usage at QHD+ resolution and last close to a day and a half (and even two days, with some care) on FHD+ resolution, which is very impressive.

OnePlus has always been known for its fast charging, and the OnePlus 13 has carried this tradition forward. It comes with support for 100W fast charging and comes with a 100W SuperVOOC charger in the box that gets it from empty to full in about 45 minutes. This might seem slower than the OnePlus 12, which got charged in about 30-35 minutes, but then it had a relatively smaller 5400 mAh battery. The OnePlus 13 also comes with support for 50W wireless charging, provided you use OnePlus’ own AIRVOOC Magnetic Charger, and that should get the phone charged in about an hour and 15 minutes, which is very impressive for wirelessly charging a battery of this size. Mind you, the charger itself will set you back by about Rs 5,499. The 100W wired charger, of course, comes in the box.

OnePlus 13 Pricing: Premium, but still competitive

The OnePlus 13 is available in the following RAM and storage variants at these prices:

• 12 GB/ 256 GB: $899/Rs 69,999
• 16 GB/ 512 GB: $999/Rs 76,999
• 24 GB/ 1 TB: Rs 89,999

While the starting price of the OnePlus 13 is more than the OnePlus 12 (which started at Rs 64,999), it remains well below the likes of the Pixel 9 Pro and the iPhone 16 Pro (we really think it competes against the Pro avatars and not the plain variants of those phones), and is also way below the recently launched Samsung Galaxy S25 Plus (Rs 99,999). The OnePlus 13 is more expensive than the current budget flagship king, the iQOO 13, which also runs on the Snapdragon 8 Elite chip and starts at Rs 54,999, but the Never Settler has the edge in photography and (better lenses, more zoom, and the Hasselblad connection) and also comes with super fast wireless charging. Those looking for good photography can also consider the Vivo X200, which comes with comparable Zeiss cameras but has a smaller and lower resolution display and, again, no wireless charging.

OnePlus 13 Review Verdict: Should you go for it? If you want a premium flagship, totally!

So, should you consider investing in the OnePlus 13? Honestly, the only good reason we can think of anyone not buying it is their loyalty to another brand. For, in terms of performance-to-price ratio in the premium flagship zone, the OnePlus 13 is a fair distance ahead of everyone else and actually is one of those rare devices that has no major flaw. The fact that you can get the OnePlus 13’s monstrous 24 GB/1 TB variant for less than the price of a base iPhone 16 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro, or the Galaxy S25 Plus gives you an idea of the kind of value it delivers in the premium zone.

Those on a tight budget might consider the iQoo 13, which comes with the same processor and a similar-sized display, but the OnePlus 13 brings more to the premium flagship table in terms of features like super-fast wireless charging and significantly better cameras. In some ways, as we had remarked a few years ago, OnePlus has gone back to its flagship-killing roots with the OnePlus 13. It has just added the word “premium” before flagships. Just remember to update your unit, though.

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