OnePlus 15

OnePlus went restrained this year: a flatter, boxier body that's slightly thinner than the OnePlus 13 despite a much bigger battery, with a new square camera bump, a new MAO/micro-arc-oxidation black finish — and, controversially, no alert slider. Reviewers respect the durability but mourn the lost OnePlus identity.

• It's more restrained than previous OnePlus phones — the reviewer misses the navy-blue curves of the OnePlus 13 and jade-green OnePlus 12 but understands the impulse to be less flashy.— ZONEofTECH
• It does all this while being slightly thinner than the OnePlus 13 despite a massive battery upgrade — but OnePlus continues to abandon the alert slider, which many fans loved.— 2MdQWo9fHZs
• OnePlus makes its flagship more durable than any Samsung or Apple phone, and the sand-brown colour is slightly more durable thanks to the electrified way the colour is applied to the frame.— MrMobile
• The new MAO (micro-arc oxidation) black finish feels incredibly tough but constantly shows marks and quietly holds some forever — it can look abused even if you were careful.— bhXlSgcuuEY
• The matte black is essentially fingerprint-proof and largely scratch-resistant unless it takes a hard fall, and it's noticeably thinner than the OnePlus 13.— -NcU5Wd4IZc
• It still looks a lot like the iPhone with a square bump, and many will not like the boxier feel — but the build quality and frame are rock solid.— xiCQP-K5sr8 long-term

A 6.78-inch flat LTPO AMOLED that drops the OnePlus 13's QHD+ for a 1.5K (FHD+) panel but adds a 165Hz refresh rate and a dedicated touch-response chip. Lab-measured brightness (~1,200–1,950 nits depending on test) trails the iPhone, but reviewers find it bright, smooth and a standout for gaming.

• The OnePlus 15 has a slightly smaller 6.78-inch display with a lower 1272×2772 resolution, down to FHD+ from QHD+, but it hit 1,940 nits at 10% fill and 2,187 nits at 75% fill, and confirmed 165fps gaming.— GSMArena
• OnePlus claims 1,800 nits HBM; lab testing reached 1,951 nits in a 1% window, and the display refreshes up to 165Hz in gaming mode.— Linus Tech Tips
• Wired charging is now 120W and the screen reaches 1,800 nits full-screen; the bezels are even thinner at just 1.15mm and the LTPO panel genuinely drops to 1Hz.— The Tech Chap
• Independent testing measured peak brightness of 1,222 nits — an improvement over the OnePlus 13's ~1,140 nits but still trailing the iPhone 17 Pro Max by a wide margin.— Tom's Guide
• For gaming it stands out like no other phone — incredibly bright and colourful with the 165Hz refresh.— ZONEofTECH
• It uses a dedicated display/touch-response chip that samples touch inputs at 3,200Hz, and the touch experience is noticeably better than the iPhone 17's.— HL2G7qLGyQw

Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 with up to 24GB RAM and a custom tri-chip setup — it tops benchmark charts, beats the iPhone's A19 in multi-core and runs games at up to 165fps. The asterisk is sustained thermals: day-to-day it stays cool, but extended stress benchmarks repeatedly overheat and shut down.

• Across a benchmark suite the OnePlus 15 performed 19–22% better than the OnePlus 13 and 14–19% better than the S25 Edge, and outperformed the OnePlus 13 by 10% in the stress test.— Linus Tech Tips
• Geekbench shows the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 easily beating the A19 with a multi-core score over 11,000; in Genshin Impact it averaged 119fps vs the iPhone 17's 107fps over 30 minutes, running cooler at under 36°C.— ucef-tEsEWM benchmark
• BGMI runs native 120fps (165fps with frame interpolation) at under 35°C and under 4W power draw, making it one of the best phones for gaming with its 165Hz panel and bypass charging.— f_GLRRngrts gaming
• In a 15-minute 20-thread CPU throttle test it throttled to 82% of max performance at a controlled 34–35°C with only 3% battery drain.— y6xx4NTLLys benchmark
• It flashed an overheating warning after barely 8 minutes of a peak-load benchmark, shutting it down and disabling the flashlight and hotspot — though in day-to-day use it runs smoothly with only moderate warmth.— 0I3VdDEALgk thermal
• In Wuthering Waves it held 60fps until ~46°C then capped to 45fps and recovered after ~3 minutes, averaging 57fps and 7W — heavy sustained 3D load is where the thermal limits show.— GoJFxZGXTNA gaming

The single biggest reason to buy this phone. A 7,300mAh silicon-carbon cell delivers the best smartphone battery life ever measured — a record ~25-hour drain test and 2–2.5 days of real use — with 120W wired charging refilling it in ~40–51 minutes plus 50W wireless.

• The OnePlus 15 lasted an insane 25 hours 13 minutes in the drain test — officially the best phone for battery life, beating the iPhone 17 Pro Max's 17h54m and lasting over 10 hours longer than the Galaxy S25 Ultra.— Tom's Guide
• The OnePlus 15 just delivered the best battery life we've ever measured — a very, very good phone and a strong value pick for late 2025.— Phone Arena
• In real use it averaged 2 days 11 hours on a full charge, and 7–8 hours of screen-on time is effortless thanks to the 7,300mAh cell and aggressive standby management.— 2MdQWo9fHZs battery test
• 120W SuperVOOC charged 1→50% in 22 minutes, 75% in 36 minutes and a full 1→100% in 51 minutes; other tests hit a full charge in roughly 40–43 minutes.— Kwx_Sv-1YrM charge test
• It also keeps 50W AirVOOC wireless charging — about 30% in 30 minutes and ~85% in 92 minutes, with the device staying cool around 34–35°C.— lzY5fqzPWak charge test
• The battery is so large you could cap charging at 85% to preserve long-term health and still have more capacity than a Galaxy S25 Ultra at 100%.— 2MdQWo9fHZs battery

The most divisive part of the phone. OnePlus ended its 5-year Hasselblad partnership and moved to smaller in-house-tuned 'DetailMax' sensors: a triple 50MP wide + ultrawide + 3.5x telephoto. Some reviewers rate the results among the best camera phones; many call it a regression from the OnePlus 13 with color-accuracy and high-zoom issues.

• OnePlus's 5-year Hasselblad partnership has ended and the rear sensors are smaller than the OnePlus 13's — every rear camera sensor is smaller, which doesn't bring joy.— Mrwhosetheboss
• The camera is consistently inconsistent — a recurring theme across reviews of this phone's imaging.— Android Central
• The photos were usually just as good as 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 — and it's the best camera phone tested for fast-moving subjects.— MrMobile
• It has three 50MP rear cameras (wide, ultrawide, 3.5x optical telephoto); both it and the iPhone 17 Pro are impressive zoom shooters, but the iPhone is the obvious selfie winner.— AvERw-PdiY4 camera test
• Zoom looks great up to 30x in good daylight, but beyond 20x it leans heavily on AI — human faces look drawn-on or flat, though buildings and signboards hold up well; 8K30 video doesn't feel sharp.— oT3TCY60Zxw camera test
• After two to three software updates the biggest remaining camera issue is still color accuracy, with a tendency to crush shadows and pump contrast — but 4K 120fps recording is finally back since the OnePlus 9 Pro.— q4zH5k9rvXo camera

OxygenOS 16 on Android 16 — clean and fast, and a clear AI redemption after the OnePlus 13: Plus Mind (via the new plus key), AI Eraser, plus Google's Gemini Live and Circle to Search. The reservation is the 4-year OS / 6-year security commitment and the lingering uncertainty over OnePlus's regional operations.

• OnePlus redeems the OnePlus 13's lack of AI with OxygenOS 16 — AI Eraser, the Pixel-Screenshots-like Plus Mind via the dedicated plus key, plus Gemini Live and Circle to Search.— pK563yzUP9Y
• Under all the AI trends OxygenOS still feels like OxygenOS — clean, light and more customisable than a Pixel, with one of the best dark-icon implementations in the segment.— -QbsrZAU7gQ long-term
• OnePlus commits to 4 years of major Android updates and 6 years of security patches — not elite, but solid for a phone at this price, though it trails Google and Samsung's 7 years.— oKaIdTnKo_0
• OnePlus does its usual ~1-month post-launch update that fixes some camera issues, and despite overheating reports two reviewers couldn't get their units to overheat in normal use.— oKaIdTnKo_0 update
• When you buy a phone like the OnePlus 15 you're trusting the software too — and OnePlus's regional operational uncertainty (e.g., India) is a real long-term consideration, though it has promised continued updates.— RyGJ_sIgTgw long-term
• The Mind Space feature is a genuine standout that the reviewer uses a lot, and OxygenOS's gaming tools (Game Assist) meaningfully enhance the experience.— HL2G7qLGyQw software

OnePlus leaned hard into durability and connectivity: IP68, IP69 and IP69K ratings (beyond what Samsung or Apple offer), a custom Wi-Fi chip, Wi-Fi 7, and the most consistent fingerprint scanner reviewers tested this year.

• It's super-fast, has IP68, IP69 and IP69K ratings, the beloved ultra-fast charging with a wall adapter in the box, and a flat, very bright OLED — at a price that undercuts most Galaxies, iPhones and Pixels in the US.— Phone Arena
• OnePlus went heavy on durability ratings this year — water resistance that goes well beyond an accidental sink drop.— CDTOslAa6rs long-term
• The ultrasonic fingerprint scanner is the most consistent the reviewer used all year — it opened first time every time where Samsung phones regularly failed.— MrMobile
• Connectivity has been issue-free with Wi-Fi 7 and OnePlus's dedicated Wi-Fi chip making it about 50% faster.— SuperSaf
• It uses a custom tri-chip configuration including a Wi-Fi chip analogous to Apple's C1 modem, a 4.6GHz clock, UFS 4.1 storage and a dedicated touch-response chip.— -NcU5Wd4IZc connectivity
• The one connectivity miss: no built-in Qi2/MagSafe magnets — you need a OnePlus case for magnetic wireless-charging alignment.— lvhyZm1D2Jg

At $899 (12/256) / $999 (16/512), the OnePlus 15 undercuts the $1,000+ Pixel 10 Pro XL, Galaxy S26 Ultra and iPhone 17 Pro Max while matching or beating them on battery, performance and charging. The recurring caveat: it's an outstanding-value flagship that camera-focused buyers may still pass on.

• OnePlus has gone from flagship killer to flagship — available for $899 (12/256) or $999 (16/512).— Linus Tech Tips
• It's not trying to be better than everything else — it's trying to be the best phone for $899, and it absolutely nails that, even if cameras are a bit of a letdown.— The Tech Chap
• I'll just call it the best phone you can buy and the first phone I have tested that deserves a perfect score — OnePlus's best phone, not a step down.— ZONEofTECH
• The honest counterpoint: I'm not angry at the OnePlus 15, I'm just disappointed — the camera and identity sacrifices undercut an otherwise excellent phone.— Android Authority
• From a US perspective the performance and longevity make it a fantastic value compared to the much more expensive $1,000–1,200 offerings from Google, Samsung and Apple — the 'downgrades' are mostly hair-splitting.— Reddit r/Android
• If OnePlus wants to be the flagship killer in the US it still has to give consumers a compelling camera argument — for some, the camera alone kills the deal.— Reddit r/Android