Skip to main content

OnePlus may launch a compact flagship smartphone

Close-up of the OnePlus logo on the OnePlus 13R.
Joe Maring / Digital Trends

OnePlus may be planning to release another entry into its OnePlus 13 range, and it may be substantially different to other mainstream smartphones. It’s potentially going to be called the OnePlus 13 Mini, and as the name suggests, it’ll be smaller than the OnePlus 13 and OnePlus 13R already available. Is interest in the “compact flagship smartphone” about to see (another) resurgence?

The latest about the unreleased phone concerns the camera, which will apparently feature two 50-megapixel sensors, arranged in a vertical “bar” module on the back of the phone. The main 50MP camera is likely to be joined by a 50MP telephoto for a 2x optical zoom. This comes from the Digital Chat Station Weibo account, a well-known source of information on unreleased mobile devices.

Recommended Videos

This is slightly different to leaks about the OnePlus 13 Mini in the past, which indicated the phone would have three cameras on the back. While the phone is expected to be smaller than many phones, it will still pack the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite processor according to the Digital Chat Station message. This is the same high performance chip found in the OnePlus 13 and other top smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra.

Please enable Javascript to view this content

None of this sounds particularly small, and we have to look back to previous rumors about the OnePlus 13 Mini to find out where it gets its name. The screen may measure 6.31-inches, considerably smaller than the OnePlus 13’s 6.82-inch screen, and the OnePlus 13R’s 6.78-inch screen. This means it may follow a small (no pun intended) trend started by the Vivo X200 Pro Mini in 2024, which has a 6.31-inch screen and a flagship processor.

OnePlus has not mentioned a further OnePlus 13 model, meaning the Mini is not official at this time. It has been suggested the company intends to release it around March 2025, and also that the Mini name is not final. The device may bring back the “T” suffix, not seen since the OnePlus 10T.

Andy Boxall
Andy is a Senior Writer at Digital Trends, where he concentrates on mobile technology, a subject he has written about for…
How good is the Galaxy S25 Ultra’s new ultra-wide camera? I tested it to find out
The Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra's camera.

Samsung’s approach to the camera in its Ultra phones has focused on evolution and introducing incremental improvements with each subsequent model.

Last year’s Galaxy S24 Ultra saw Samsung switch the secondary telephoto lens to a 50MP sensor with 5x optical zoom. Higher resolution and a higher pixel count thanks to pixel binning meant the zoom quality was improved over the Galaxy S23 Ultra’s 10x zoom, despite a lower optical zoom length. The Galaxy S25 Ultra also features the 200MP main camera that made its debut in the Galaxy S23 Ultra.

Read more
Is your OnePlus 13 battery draining too fast? You’re not alone
The OnePlus 13 and OnePlus Watch 3.

The OnePlus 13 is one of the newest phones on the market. Now, word is that some early adopters are having battery drain issues.

Many on Reddit have noted that this problem appears new. Unfortunately, there seems to be no quick answer for its cause or resolution.

Read more
OnePlus makes the best Android phone and watch combo you can get right now
The OnePlus 13 and OnePlus Watch 3.

Something unexpected has happened. There’s a fantastic smartphone and smartwatch combination available to buy right now that I think you’d be mad to pass by, and it’s not an Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max and Apple Watch Series 10. It’s not a Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and a Galaxy Watch 7 either. It’s the OnePlus 13 and the OnePlus Watch 3, and I think it’s the best Android phone and watch pairing I’ve come across in ages.
Brilliant products

I should explain why this was unexpected, at least to me. The OnePlus Watch 3 is the first OnePlus smartwatch I’ve used, and what I’d heard about previous models from colleagues didn’t really make me feel as if I was missing out. From poor quality health tracking results to a crown that rotated by didn’t actually do anything, I was always confident in recommending Samsung’s trusty Galaxy Watch or a Mobvoi TicWatch as the smartwatch to get if you owned an Android phone.

Read more