In the smartphone war for the 2025 crown, OnePlus is starting us off strong with the OnePlus 13. The OnePlus 13 is a stellar flagship in all the ways that matter. Slim build with a solid design, a Snapdragon 8 Elite processor that keeps the phone chugging, a large 6,000mAh battery with 80W wired charging, and three cameras that take exemplary pictures — I tip my hat to the brand. While Oxygen OS 15 is a pretty heavy Android operating system, it was fun to discover new features and interesting ways to customize and use the handset.

This is my first time reviewing a OnePlus device, so I lack some baggage and issues that my co-worker Brad Bennett experienced with the brand. One of the most significant issues Bennett faced was that OnePlus didn’t update the devices enough. While it offered many customization options, some basic ways to personalize your device weren’t available. In terms of updates, I’ll have to keep my eye out for this while I continue to use the OP13; so far, we had an update when we first turned on the device and nothing afterwards. However, this makes sense, considering the device isn’t available to the public yet. Bennett’s customization issues are warranted — for instance, with the Clock Widget, whenever there’s the number one, it’ll show up as red, and you can’t change that. OnePlus does this for branding reasons, but it doesn’t bother me as much as it bothers Bennett.

I wanted to mention this because I will say many good things about the OnePlus 13, but I want to remind you that this handset isn’t perfect.

Microfiber vegan leather

The OnePlus 13 isn’t the first handset with microfiber vegan leather, but bringing it to a flagship was a solid choice. It helps the phone stand out, and it feels great to hold. The handset’s rear is fingerprint- and smudge-proof, and the phone is stylish. It’s worth mentioning that only the Midnight Ocean variant offers this microfiber material. The Black Eclipse variant offers a black rosewood grain glass process and resembles a realistic wood grain texture. It also feels nice to hold and resists fingerprints. Plus, it sparkles in the light, it’s beautiful and might be the best-looking option, in my opinion. There’s also Arctic Dawn, a fun white colour with a glacial texture.

The design of the OnePlus 13 has changed quite a bit compared to its predecessor and has pushed it more in line with other flagships like the Pixel 9 Pro XL and the iPhone 16 Pro Max. Instead of the curved sides we’re used to, the handset offers a flat silver mid-frame to help with grip and quad-curved glass. There are also accents around the camera bump and silver accents with the Hasselblad branding.

The OnePlus 13 weighs 210g, which is a bit heavier than the Pixel 9 Pro XL but lighter than the OnePlus 12, iPhone 16 Pro Max and the S24 Ultra. It’s 8.5mm thick, which isn’t the thinnest device on the market, but thinner than its predecessor and the S24 Ultra. Probably the biggest fault of the OnePlus 13’s design is its absolutely huge camera bump. It’s very obvious and stands out, but not in the best way.

The quad-curved 6.82-inch LTPO AMOLED display offers a 120Hz refresh rate, Dolby Vision, and an impressive 1440 x 3168-pixel resolution, giving it a pixel density of above 500ppi. Images, videos, games, and more all look great on the display and match handsets like the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. I hoped the phone would offer a higher refresh rate like the Asus ROG Phone 9 series, but 120Hz is definitely good enough.

Animal Kingdom

Camera-wise, the OnePlus 13 offers optimal shots in dark and light environments. The handset features a 50-megapixel primary shooter with an f/1.6 aperture, a 50-megapixel ultra-wide shooter with a 120-degree field of view and a 50-megapixel telephoto with a 3x zoom lens.

I don’t think they’re the best cameras on the market, but I went to Disney World’s Animal Kingdom with the handset, and I didn’t feel the need to take out my iPhone or Pixel until I wanted to take a picture of something far away. I wish the OnePlus 13 had a 5x zoom lens to match up against the iPhone 16 Pro or the Pixel 9 Pro.

I got a stellar photo of an elephant, another with the beautiful and colourful plumage of a macaw and a great close-up shot of an exotic bird in incredible detail. I was pretty impressed by the photos I took in the day. Lowlight imagery looked good, but the OnePlus 13 isn’t the best at taking pictures in low light, as other flagships have it beat. Still, I wasn’t disappointed when I took shots at night, but I noticed these images had less detail. Don’t get me wrong, some night photos look phenomenal, but the handset is inconsistent.

Look at some of the photos below and let me know your thoughts on how the OnePlus 13 did.

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6,000mAh battery

The OP13 is a powerhouse with the Snapdragon 8 Gen Elite. The phone can run all sorts of games. I have no issue with multiple apps running in the background; everything is incredibly snappy.

I’ve played games like Pokémon TCG Pocket, Dead Cells, Grimvalor, Haak, Marvel Snap, ScourgeBringer, Blasphemous, and League of Legends: Wild Rift on the device. All of these games run smoothly, and I never had any concerns. I pushed Wild Rift to its highest settings, and the framerates didn’t drop. As good as it was, though, the Snapdragon 8 Gen Elite surprisingly could have performed better inside the OnePlus 13.

For comparison, the ROG Phone 9 featured a single-core score of 3,156 and a multi-core score of 10,002 in Geekbench 6, which is insane. Even the iPhone 16 Pro series doesn’t match these scores. However, the OnePlus 13 only scored a single-core score of 2929 and a multi-core score of 8944. Benchmarks don’t necessarily equate to real-life experiences, but I was still a little shocked by these numbers, compared to the ROG Phone 9.

As for the phone’s battery, the OnePlus 13 offers a 6,000mAh power cell that can survive up to two days. It’s one of the best batteries in a smartphone that I’ve used in recent years. It depends on what you do during the day; however, I’ve never had the phone die on me within 24 hours. I was impressed by this, as most handsets can survive up to a day and a bit, but the OnePlus 13 always did. Sometimes, the handset wouldn’t die until the following night. Paired with 80W charging, the handset charges to 100 percent in less than 40 minutes. It’s pretty awesome; I can totally forget to charge my phone at night and the following day have my handset charged to 100 before I leave my house.

Oxygen OS 15

I wrote a lot about Oxygen OS 15 in my review of the latest update to the Oxygen operating system; however, there are some additional features that I like about it. For instance, I liked the Intelligent Search, which lets you quickly search through anything on-device, including even files. It’s not always the most useful, as I think it needs to be able to access your email and Google Calendar like Gemini; however, I was able to ask Intelligent Search, “When is RuPaul’s Drag Race Live?” And I was able to find the date and time on my ticket.

I also like that Gemini is front and centre, as it would be on a Pixel handset. The power button activates the assistant, who is right there and ready to follow commands.

IP69

Let’s talk about IP69, which makes the OnePlus 13 very special. Most flagships offer IP68, which allows your device to be submerged at a depth of 1.5m for 30 minutes. IP69, on the other hand, is a little different, and it means that the device can survive in water up to 80 degrees Celsius with water jets from four directions, and the handset should survive 30 seconds in each direction. This definition is a bit confusing, but essentially, OnePlus says that if the phone is left in your pocket and you put your pants in the wash, it should survive. Also, if you want to disinfect your device, you can stick it in the dishwasher (depending on whether it is in extreme heat mode). I thought these examples made sense, but the best use-case is if I’m in a freshwater hot tub, the OP13 should have no problem if it falls in.

During the OnePlus press event, the company had a demo for us to try out. We put the OnePlus 13 in a portable dishwasher and a portable washing machine, and in both instances, the phone survived without any problems.

The OnePlus 13 also has Aqua Touch 2.0, which allows you to easily use your device even if it’s wet, making it the ultimate device for the shower.

13 isn’t bad luck anymore

The OnePlus 13 has been a delight to use over the past month. I haven’t found myself missing my iPhone or even my Pixel. I like the user interface, the camera capabilities, the long-lasting battery and the snappy processor.

The OnePlus 13 is now available in Canada and you can get it from Best Buy Canada or OnePlus’ website. The 16GB of RAM/512GB of storage model costs $1,399.99 and if you don’t need all that RAM and storage, the 12GB/256GB model costs $1,249.99.

If you don’t mind purchasing a device outright (and you totally should; the carriers are robbing you), then the OnePlus 13 is definitely worth the cost.

13 Reasons Why 

1. Design is stylish.
2. Vegan Leather and Wood Grain textures are both pretty and fingerprint-proof.
3. Snappy experience.
4. Gaming is dope on the device.
5. Oxygen OS 15 is fast and smooth.
6. Oxygen OS 15 has a lot of fun and hidden mechanics to explore.
7. IP69.
8. Aqua Touch 2.0 is great if you want to use your phone in the shower or in the pool.
9. The 6,000mAh battery can survive well over a day.
10. 80W charging can top up your handset extremely quickly.
11. The camera experience is top-notch.
12. Pricing in Canada is pretty good if you don’t mind spending the cash outright.
13. Six years of security updates and four years of software updates.