OnePlus carved itself a whole brand identity by making phones with a top-end processor and rewarding software at an affordable asking price. As the brand matured, it started aiming higher, both in terms of the sticker premium as well as the hardware at hand.
The OnePlus 15, which has just gone official in China, is the next step in that direction. The core mantra — more for less — is here to stay. This time around, OnePlus has actually leveled up to an extent that it would be hard for fellow Android brands such as Google or Samsung to catch up. The iPhones are even further away.
The price tag is sweet (at least at home)
The OnePlus 15 has now been listed on the brand’s official store at CNY 3,999, the same asking price as its predecessor. Based on the current conversion rates, that comes down to roughly $560. To recall, the OnePlus 13 — which was an excellent package — was priced at $899 in the USD.
Now, it’s hard to predict whether OnePlus will raise the price this time around for the international markets, and we can’t be particularly sure due to the ongoing tariff situation either. But if the company aims to retain its competitive edge, it would likely play under the $900 mark for the OnePlus 15, as well.
Leaks suggest that some markets (read: the UK) could actually get a price cut worth GBP 50, so there’s that small sliver of hope. But the overall package that is on the table this year is simply the best OnePlus has designed so far, both in terms of looks and what you get.
For comparison, the phone’s direct competitors from big players such as Google, Samsung, or Apple either cost the same, or they put a dent worth a thousand dollars in buyers’ pockets. The iPhone Air and Pixel 10 Pro touch the $999 mark, while Samsung went even higher with the mid-tier Galaxy S25 Edge.
But the OnePlus 15 offers a package that is now worthy of flagships that cost $1,200, or more. And in some crucial areas, it even reaches far higher than any mainstream brand currently has to offer, so let’s dig right into it.
Raising the bar
The OnePlus 15 raises the bar for Android phones in a handful of directions. First, despite a waistline of just 8.1 millimeters, the phone comes equipped with a massive 7,300 mAh battery. For comparison, the big guys from Google and Samsung — viz. Pixel 10 Pro XL and Galaxy S25 Ultra — offer a battery of 5,200 mAh and 5,000mAh capacity, respectively.
We are talking about a roughly 50% jump in battery capacity on the OnePlus 15. But that’s not the end of it. The phone also supports 120W wired fast charging. OnePlus claims that despite the large battery size, it can go from empty to 50% in just 15 minutes, while a full charge should take about 40 minutes.
Looking over at the competition, no mainstream smartphone brand in the US crosses the 45W wired charging pace. Interestingly, the OnePlus 15 also supports 50W wireless charging, which again puts the rivals to shame by being twice as fast.
Let’s switch to the imaging hardware. The OnePlus 15 serves a triple 50-megapixel rear camera setup, one that includes a periscope zoom camera with 3.5x optical zoom output. That’s roughly the same all-big-camera approach that you will find on the Apple and Google flagships.
The Hasselblad tuning is gone this time around, but OnePlus is touting an in-house Lumo image engine that is claimed to support 4K 120fps Dolby Vision video capture, and opens the doors for better portrait shots, as well.
The 1.5K display on the phone is also one-of-a-kind, as it reaches all the way up to 165Hz refresh rate and drops as low as 1 nit brightness. There are also a whole bunch of AI-powered goodies, such as blinking and distance alert, to keep users’ eyes safe while staring at the screen.
Performance of the phone is going to be top-notch, thanks to Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 silicon, with plenty of RAM and storage to go with it. And if early benchmarks are anything to go by, Qualcomm is finally going head-to-head with Apple’s A-series silicon.
Standing out from the rest
The OnePlus 15 doesn’t try to reinvent the aesthetic approach. In fact, the design is a modest makeover over the OnePlus 13s, but with plenty of work done atop. The Sand Dune color option, in particular, has a lovely nano-ceramic coat over the metallic chassis that is touted to be even stronger than titanium.
Moroever, the phone comes with an IP69K-certified build for dust and water resistance, which is, again, the best you can get out there on a mainstream smartphone. Aside from the sheer strength and the standout in-hand feel, the phone also benefits from a massive vapor chamber cooling system and an aerogel composite for heat dissipation.
On the software side, it’s the first one to run Android 16-based Oxygen OS 16 out of the box. The latest iteration of OnePlus’ Android skin deeply integrates Gemini within the AI Plus mind system, speeds up the system animations, and adds a whole bunch of cross-device, cross-platform connectivity features.
Mac screen mirroring, tap to share, and support for Apple Watch are all part of the package. Overall, this is the most complete phone OnePlus has made so far, and the fact that the company hasn’t quite raised the asking price, at least in its home market, is an encouraging sign for buyers in the US.
I am eagerly awaiting the phone’s international launch next month. But so far, it seems the OnePlus 15 will give little reason to pick any other device in the $900 price ballpark, unless you are tied to ecosystem or carrier limitations. The bar, however, has been raised higher, and it’s the buyers who will reap the benefits.
