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The first official look at the OnePlus 13 stuns with a design makeover

Official OnePlus 13 product renders showing rear panel colors.
OnePlus 13 colors in China OnePlus

OnePlus has just confirmed that its next flagship arrives on October 31 in China. Over the past few days, the phone has appeared in unceremonious leaks, was spotted at an event in China, and appeared in teaser silhouettes. The wait for a better look, however, is finally over.

The preorder page for OnePlus’ upcoming phone has gone live on Oppo Shop in China, and with it, we now have a whole bunch of official images. It’s a familiar design, if you ask me, but it still stands out with a few neat changes.

Official OnePlus 13 product render in three colors.
OnePlus

The most notable shift is a flat metallic frame, which is a stark departure from the curved sides that have been a mainstay on OnePlus phones for nearly a decade. It won’t be alone in doing so, as nearly every brand – including Apple, Samsung, and other Chinese rivals — has wholeheartedly embraced this aesthetic language.

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But what truly arrests the attention is how OnePlus is offering different surface finishes on each color option. The black trim appears to sport a woodgrain-inspired texture that is also reminiscent of OnePlus’ signature sandstone look.

Official OnePlus 13 product render in blue.
OnePlus

There’s also a white variant, which on closer inspection is apparently inspired by the shimmery grain texture commonly seen on marble. OnePlus has done this a few times and recently told Digital Trends about the brand’s affinity for nature as a core design inspiration.

The most stunning iteration is the “Blues Hour” color option. This one rocks a leather texture and pairs it with a contrasting silver metal finish across the camera island, flat edges, and a thin line connected to the round camera module.

Official OnePlus 13 product render in black.
OnePlus

It’s the most stunning leather finish OnePlus has delivered in a while and a close second to the OnePlus 11R in its fiery Solar Red avatar that also had beautiful stitches for that authentic rugged look.

OnePlus hasn’t said much about the internal hardware. But leaks point toward the obvious Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen series silicon upgrade. We’re also hearing rumors of a next-gen take on the screen refresh tech for the OnePlus 13.

Official OnePlus 13 product render in white.
OnePlus

The Hasselblad camera partnership is here to stay for another generation, and we are expecting some interesting software-side upgrades this time around as well. On the UI front, the company has already started testing the Android 15-based avatar of Oxygen OS and will share more details later this month.

On the undesirable side, it seems OnePlus 13 fans are in for a price hike this time around. Analysts have predicted that the price of Qualcomm’s silicon will keep getting higher, and it will eventually impact the asking price of consumer hardware, especially flagship smartphones.

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Nadeem Sarwar
Nadeem is a tech and science journalist who started reading about cool smartphone tech out of curiosity and soon started…
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