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 really 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 accessible for preorder, with OnePlus providing free equipment with the acquisition.

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

In any case, the OnePlus 15 boasts a moderately 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 ranking to fend off high-pressure water jets (or unintended tumbles within the washer.)

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Thankfully, the newest 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 steel 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 really 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. This is the way it fared, together with the surprising discoveries all through the method.

For starters, I take advantage of each cellphone I evaluate, no matter value level, with no case throughout the testing interval. This observe offers 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 danger 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, encompasses a grippy aspect railing that has given me reassurance each time I reply to textual content messages or examine 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 upset.

For what it is price, 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 screen. 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 would wish to assume that the dip in decision is what permits the cellphone to function at a persistently easy 165Hz refresh fee with out consuming as a lot energy — very similar to how conventional displays are inclined to have the identical give-and-take conduct. That was the case after I spent hours doomscrolling by way of blogs about APEC throughout the week I used to be touring, and taking part in 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 throughout the first 5 minutes of gameplay. That is each a testomony to Qualcomm’s newest Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset (which we’ll possible 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, but it surely’s fairly clear to me that the OnePlus 15 is tailor-made to that ever-growing market of customers. From the software program optimizations designed to stabilize body charges and temperatures to the devoted Wi-Fi chip that helps the newest Wi-Fi 7 normal, that is the clear selection for players at coronary heart, and no different mainstream cellphone comes shut proper now.

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In different issues I didn’t count on to say: OnePlus is someway main the best way 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 may 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 Essential Space, 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 pictures of vital journey emails and notices. That means, I may merely ask Gemini to reference them when searching for 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 laborious 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 in case you’re a fan of oversharpening. For basic large and ultrawide photographs, I discovered that pictures taken with the OnePlus 15 seem well-saturated and have greater distinction than these from earlier fashions. Thankfully, HDR capturing is not as aggressive as what I get from Samsung and Google; there is a good stability of element and colour 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 distant significantly 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), but it surely’s executed in a tasteful means that most individuals will possible recognize.

Additionally: You can preorder the OnePlus 15 now – but don’t forget to claim the $180 freebie

The place the cookie crumbles is in low-light capturing, because the smaller sensors wrestle to tug in sufficient mild (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 try my colleague Adam Doud’s camera shootout at Six Flags for extra photograph samples and comparisons.

I will depart you on a excessive observe. That 7,300mAh battery on the OnePlus 15 is the actual deal; after spending my days in Korea taking numerous images and movies, working the GPS within the background, and looking for locations to discover, the OnePlus at all times had sufficient battery to final into the subsequent morning. And after I did have to 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 will not be a drastic departure from the OnePlus 13. That is a great factor, because the latter solely launched in January of this 12 months, and it was already a implausible 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 possibility for cell players, energy customers, and tech lovers to shut out the 12 months. You will simply should accept silver on the subject of digicam optics.