Forget Samsung S25 Ultra: This Oneplus Flagship Beats The Android Giant In Meaningful Ways

ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• The latest Android flagship starts astatine $899 for nan 12GB of RAM and 256GB of retention variant.
• It's highlighted by a 7,300mAh battery, Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, and 80W wired charging.
• The camera strategy is inferior to past year's model, and you can't really bargain nan telephone yet.

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When I first learned astir nan OnePlus 15, I wondered if nan quest to make the best smartphone had gone excessively far. Could a telephone ever person excessively precocious of specs? Or were those tanky Android 13 handsets -- pinch their edgy names and 10,000mAh batteries -- really showing america nan early each along?

After all, nan OnePlus 15 boasts a alternatively luscious characteristic set, moreover by my conjecture of 2026's standards, pinch a 6.7-inch AMOLED show that refreshes astatine 165Hz, Qualcomm's next-gen Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, a 7,300mAh artillery pinch 80W wired charging, and an IP69 standing to fend disconnected high-pressure h2o jets (or accidental tumbles successful nan washing machine.)

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Fortunately, nan latest flagship telephone looks thing for illustration nan Doogees and Unihertz of nan world, arsenic I exhaled pinch alleviation erstwhile first unboxing nan handset. Instead, we're still moving pinch polished slabs of metallic and glass, pinch conscionable capable thickness and heft to make you consciousness reassured that your $900 finance didn't conscionable spell toward "innovation."

To genuinely trial nan OnePlus 15, I brought it pinch maine connected a caller travel to South Korea, on pinch respective competing Android devices, including nan Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and Google Pixel 10 Pro XL. Here's really it fared, including nan unexpected discoveries passim nan process.

For starters, I usage each telephone I review, sloppy of value point, without a lawsuit during nan testing period. This believe gives maine nan champion consciousness of nan business designer's intent. (Does it matter what tier of Corning Gorilla Glass a shaper uses, aliases why they curved nan edges to a definite grade of radius, if I conscionable propulsion nan telephone into an Otterbox? No.)

Also: OnePlus 15 vs. Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra: I compared nan 2 champion Android flagships

The OnePlus 15 has been nan easiest telephone for maine to return that calculated consequence on. With this iteration, nan institution ditched nan faux-leather backing that was connected nan OnePlus 13 successful favour of a satin-textured fiberglass panel. In particular, nan Sand Storm variant, which shimmers successful tan and beige hues, features a grippy broadside railing that has fixed maine reassurance whenever I respond to matter messages aliases cheque navigation while connected nan street.

Kerry Wan/ZDNET

In nan process, nan OnePlus 15 loses its traditionally slim and contoured shape factor. At this point, it looks and feels much for illustration an iPhone Pro Max aliases Google Pixel XL model, arsenic respective friends and family successful Korea expressed to me. Fans of originality will beryllium disappointed.

For what it's worth, OnePlus is making a large woody astir its show engineering, though possibly not successful nan area that users request attraction to. With nan OnePlus 15, nan bezels measurement conscionable 1.15mm, allowing you to spot little of nan achromatic bordering astir nan 4 corners and much screen. At nan aforesaid time, nan show solution has dropped from nan erstwhile version's 2K sheet to a caller 1.5K panel.

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I'd for illustration to deliberation that nan dip successful solution is what enables nan telephone to run astatine a consistently soft 165Hz refresh complaint without consuming arsenic overmuch powerfulness -- overmuch for illustration really accepted monitors thin to person nan aforesaid give-and-take behavior. That was nan lawsuit erstwhile I spent hours doomscrolling done blogs astir APEC during nan week I was traveling, and playing graphics-intensive mobile games connected nan flights to and back. 

Kerry WanZDNET

For nan latter, nan OnePlus 15 didn't grounds signs of throttling until nan 30-minute mark. That's a acold outcry compared to nan Samsung and Google flagships, which dropped frames and felt uncomfortably lukewarm to clasp wrong nan first 5 minutes of gameplay. This is some a testament to Qualcomm's caller Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset (which we'll apt spot connected much upcoming Android phones) and OnePlus' CPU Scheduler, which allocates computing bandwidth specifically for gaming.

Now I'm not a gaming enthusiast by immoderate means, but it's beautiful clear to maine that nan OnePlus 15 is tailored to that ever-growing marketplace of consumers. From nan package optimizations designed to stabilize framework rates and temperatures to nan dedicated Wi-Fi spot that supports nan latest Wi-Fi 7 standard, this is nan clear prime for gamers astatine heart, and nary different mainstream telephone comes adjacent correct now.

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In different things I did not expect to say: OnePlus is someway starring nan measurement successful mobile AI features. The caller telephone has replaced nan classical three-level alert slider pinch a programmable action fastener (my wording is intentional there). Sure, you tin representation nan broadside cardinal to move connected nan flashlight aliases quick-launch nan camera, but I've recovered it astir useful to activate Mind Space.

Like Nothing's Essential Space, Mind Space is simply a section database wherever you tin prevention screenshots and sound recordings, which Gemini tin past usage to propulsion discourse and reply questions. For example, I made it a wont successful Korea to record images of important recreation emails and notices. That way, I could simply inquire Gemini to reference them erstwhile looking for formation schedules, weather, required documents, and more.

A left-side Plus Key tin beryllium mapped to various functions, including turning connected Mind Space to shop screenshots and sound memos.

Kerry Wan/ZDNET

What astir camera performance? As I've learned clip and clip again, 1 telephone simply can't person it all. After various camera shootouts successful Seoul, my verdict is two-fold. First, it's difficult to disregard nan truth that each azygous camera sensor connected nan OnePlus 15 is inferior to nan OnePlus 13. I'm talking smaller sensor sizes and little tin camera tech. 

In lieu of hardware upgrades, nan institution is hoping that its improved AI package processing and Qualcomm's ISP will service your captured subjects justice.

This works, but only to a definite capacity -- and if you're a instrumentality of oversharpening. For wide broad and ultrawide shots, I recovered that images taken pinch nan OnePlus 15 look well-saturated and person higher opposition than those from erstwhile models. Fortunately, HDR capturing isn't arsenic fierce arsenic what I get from Samsung and Google; there's a bully equilibrium of item and colour betwixt subjects and luminating backdrops.

Kerry Wan/ZDNET

The OnePlus 15 performs amended successful position of far-distance and telephoto capturing. In astir cases, nan 120x optical zoom tin reproduce signage and matter from acold distant overmuch amended than moreover Samsung's 200MP camera. There's a sprinkle of generative AI successful OnePlus' processing (I dislike to break it, but almost each telephone has a spot of this nowadays), but it's executed successful a tasteful measurement that astir group will apt appreciate.

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Where nan cooky crumbles is successful low-light capturing, arsenic nan smaller sensors struggle to propulsion successful capable ray (and, therefore, detail) to support faces sharp, objects distinct, and colors natural. For clarity, nary flagship telephone champions nightography, but connected a comparative scale, nan OnePlus 15 falls down its premium competitors. You tin cheque retired my workfellow Adam Doud's camera shootout astatine Six Flags for much photograph samples and comparisons.

I'll time off you connected a precocious note. That 7,300mAh artillery connected nan OnePlus 15 is nan existent deal; aft spending my days successful Korea taking countless photos and videos, moving nan GPS successful nan background, and searching for places to explore, nan OnePlus ever had capable artillery to past into nan adjacent morning. And erstwhile I did request to apical up, nan 80W wired charging took it from 0 to 50% by nan clip I brushed and washed my look successful nan morning. Imagine each telephone was for illustration this?

ZDNET's buying advice

Despite what nan specs suggest, nan OnePlus 15 is not a drastic departure from nan OnePlus 13. That's a bully thing, arsenic nan second only launched successful January of this year, and it was already a awesome Android handset. With nan successor, OnePlus is doubling down connected its biggest strengths, including artillery life, accelerated charging, and performance. 

At nan aforesaid starting value of $899, nan OnePlus 15 is nan definitive action for mobile gamers, powerfulness users, and tech enthusiasts to adjacent retired nan year. You'll conscionable person to settee for metallic erstwhile it comes to camera optics.

There's 1 past point to mention. At nan clip of writing, OnePlus is incapable to waste nan 15 successful nan US arsenic it's pending FCC approval, which has been temporarily halted owed to nan authorities shutdown. Here's what OnePlus' Spenser Blank, Head of Marketing and Communications, tells ZDNET:

As is nan lawsuit pinch each smartphone manufacturer, nan United States' Federal Communications Commission certifies OnePlus devices earlier they are sold successful nan U.S. As a consequence of nan authorities shutdown, instrumentality certifications person been delayed. Subsequently, U.S. income for nan OnePlus 15 will beryllium postponed until they person been secured. The OnePlus 15 has already vanished each nan required tests from nan FCC's recognized labs and nan certification exertion has been formally submitted. We are hopeful that approvals tin beryllium generated quickly and arsenic a result, we tin bring nan OnePlus 15 to our customers successful nan U.S. expeditiously.

People who are willing successful purchasing nan OnePlus 15 successful nan U.S. should visit OnePlus.com/us, participate their interaction information, and they will beryllium notified erstwhile nan instrumentality is connected sale. The OnePlus 15 will beryllium disposable for acquisition successful Canada starting November 13, arsenic scheduled, at OnePlus.com/ca_en.