Forget Samsung S25 Ultra: This Android alternative has battery life that left me speechless

ZDNET’s key takeaways

• The newest Android flagship begins at $899 for the 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage variant.
• It is highlighted by a 7,300mAh battery, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, and 80W wired charging.
• The digicam system is inferior to final 12 months’s mannequin, and you’ll’t truly purchase the cellphone but.

nov / 2025

Replace (12/5/2025): The OnePlus 15 has been authorized by the FCC on the market within the US and is now obtainable for preorder, with OnePlus providing free equipment with the acquisition.

After I first realized concerning the OnePlus 15, I puzzled if the search to make the greatest smartphone had gone too far. May a cellphone ever have too excessive of specs? Or have been these tanky Android 13 handsets — with their edgy names and 10,000mAh batteries — truly displaying us the long run all alongside?

In any case, the OnePlus 15 boasts a quite luscious function set, even by my guess of 2026’s requirements, with a 6.7-inch AMOLED show that refreshes at 165Hz, Qualcomm’s next-gen Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, a 7,300mAh battery with 80W wired charging, and an IP69 score to fend off high-pressure water jets (or unintended tumbles within the washer.)

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Luckily, the most recent flagship cellphone appears to be like nothing just like the Doogees and Unihertz of the world, as I exhaled with aid when first unboxing the handset. As a substitute, we’re nonetheless working with polished slabs of metallic and glass, with simply sufficient thickness and heft to make you are feeling reassured that your $900 funding did not simply go towards “innovation.”

To actually check the OnePlus 15, I introduced it with me on a current journey to South Korea, together with a number of competing Android gadgets, together with the Samsung Galaxy S25 Extremely and Google Pixel 10 Professional XL. Here is the way it fared, together with the surprising discoveries all through the method.

For starters, I exploit each cellphone I evaluate, no matter value level, and not using a case in the course of the testing interval. This observe provides me the very best sense of the economic designer’s intent. (Does it matter what tier of Corning Gorilla Glass a producer makes use of, or why they curved the perimeters to a sure diploma of radius, if I simply throw the cellphone into an Otterbox? No.)

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The OnePlus 15 has been the simplest cellphone for me to take that calculated threat on. With this iteration, the corporate ditched the faux-leather backing that was on the OnePlus 13 in favor of a satin-textured fiberglass panel. Specifically, the Sand Storm variant, which shimmers in tan and beige hues, incorporates a grippy aspect railing that has given me reassurance each time I reply to textual content messages or test navigation whereas on the road.

Within the course of, the OnePlus 15 loses its historically slim and contoured type issue. At this level, it appears to be like and feels extra like an iPhone Professional Max or Google Pixel XL mannequin, as a number of family and friends in Korea expressed to me. Followers of originality shall be dissatisfied.

For what it is value, OnePlus is making an enormous deal about its show engineering, although maybe not within the space that customers demand consideration to. With the OnePlus 15, the bezels measure simply 1.15mm, permitting you to see much less of the black bordering across the 4 corners and extra display. On the identical time, the show decision has dropped from the earlier model’s 2K panel to a brand new 1.5K panel.

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I might prefer to assume that the dip in decision is what permits the cellphone to function at a constantly clean 165Hz refresh price with out consuming as a lot energy — very similar to how conventional screens are likely to have the identical give-and-take conduct. That was the case after I spent hours doomscrolling by blogs about APEC in the course of the week I used to be touring, and enjoying graphics-intensive cell video games on the flights to and again. 

For the latter, the OnePlus 15 did not exhibit indicators of throttling till the 30-minute mark. That is a far cry in comparison with the Samsung and Google flagships, which dropped frames and felt uncomfortably heat to carry inside the first 5 minutes of gameplay. That is each a testomony to Qualcomm’s newest Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset (which we’ll probably see on extra upcoming Android telephones) and OnePlus’ CPU Scheduler, which allocates computing bandwidth particularly for gaming.

Now I am not a gaming fanatic by any means, nevertheless it’s fairly clear to me that the OnePlus 15 is tailor-made to that ever-growing market of shoppers. From the software program optimizations designed to stabilize body charges and temperatures to the devoted Wi-Fi chip that helps the most recent Wi-Fi 7 customary, that is the clear alternative for players at coronary heart, and no different mainstream cellphone comes shut proper now.

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In different issues I didn’t anticipate to say: OnePlus is one way or the other main the way in which in cell AI options. The brand new cellphone has changed the basic three-level alert slider with a programmable motion button (my wording is intentional there). Certain, you’ll be able to map the aspect key to activate the flashlight or quick-launch the digicam, however I’ve discovered it most helpful to activate Thoughts House.

Like Nothing’s Important House, Thoughts House is a neighborhood database the place it can save you screenshots and voice recordings, which Gemini can then use to tug context and reply questions. For instance, I made it a behavior in Korea to file photographs of essential journey emails and notices. That means, I may merely ask Gemini to reference them when in search of flight schedules, climate, required paperwork, and extra.

What about digicam efficiency? As I’ve realized time and time once more, one cellphone merely cannot have all of it. After varied digicam shootouts in Seoul, my verdict is two-fold. First, it is exhausting to disregard the truth that each single digicam sensor on the OnePlus 15 is inferior to the OnePlus 13. I am speaking smaller sensor sizes and fewer succesful digicam tech. 

In lieu of {hardware} upgrades, the corporate is hoping that its improved AI software program processing and Qualcomm’s ISP will serve your captured topics justice.

This works, however solely to a sure capability — and for those who’re a fan of oversharpening. For common vast and ultrawide photographs, I discovered that photographs taken with the OnePlus 15 seem well-saturated and have increased distinction than these from earlier fashions. Luckily, HDR capturing is not as aggressive as what I get from Samsung and Google; there is a good stability of element and coloration between topics and luminating backdrops.

The OnePlus 15 performs higher by way of far-distance and telephoto capturing. Usually, the 120x optical zoom can reproduce signage and textual content from far-off a lot better than even Samsung’s 200MP digicam. There is a sprinkle of generative AI in OnePlus’ processing (I hate to interrupt it, however virtually each cellphone has a little bit of this these days), nevertheless it’s executed in a tasteful means that most individuals will probably admire.

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The place the cookie crumbles is in low-light capturing, because the smaller sensors battle to tug in sufficient gentle (and, due to this fact, element) to maintain faces sharp, objects distinct, and colours pure. For readability, no flagship cellphone champions nightography, however on a relative scale, the OnePlus 15 falls behind its premium opponents. You’ll be able to take a look at my colleague Adam Doud’s digicam shootout at Six Flags for extra picture samples and comparisons.

I will go away you on a excessive notice. That 7,300mAh battery on the OnePlus 15 is the true deal; after spending my days in Korea taking numerous photographs and movies, working the GPS within the background, and trying to find locations to discover, the OnePlus at all times had sufficient battery to final into the subsequent morning. And after I did must high up, the 80W wired charging took it from 0 to 50% by the point I brushed and washed my face within the morning. Think about each cellphone was like this?

ZDNET’s shopping for recommendation

Regardless of what the specs counsel, the OnePlus 15 is just not a drastic departure from the OnePlus 13. That is an excellent factor, because the latter solely launched in January of this 12 months, and it was already a incredible Android handset. With the successor, OnePlus is doubling down on its largest strengths, together with battery life, quick charging, and efficiency. 

On the identical beginning value of $899, the OnePlus 15 is the definitive choice for cell players, energy customers, and tech fanatics to shut out the 12 months. You will simply should accept silver in terms of digicam optics.