The OnePlus 13 brings back a feature I’ve been waiting for
Water resistance returns, joined by an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor and massive battery
The last few generations of OnePlus flagship have lacked one thing I’d say is mandatory for the very best smartphones: water resistance. The firm is finally putting things right for the OnePlus 13, which has now launched in China ahead of a global rollout towards the end of 2024.
I’m very pleased to see the OnePlus get an IP69 rating for dust and water protection. The outgoing OnePlus 12 was only IP65 rated, which isn’t enough to protect against full submersion. Those extra seals and gaskets sit beneath a new look outer shell, with flat sides and a flat 6.82in OLED display instead of the slightly curved panels seen on the last few iterations. The off-centre camera bump at the rear has been simplified, but classics like the alert slider are still present.
A 1440p resolution, 1-120Hz LTPO adaptive refresh rate and peak 4500 nits brightness mark the screen out as suitably flagship-worthy, and there’s an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor underneath the glass for the first time. OnePlus has also added what it reckons is the beefiest vibration motor ever fitted to an Android phone.
There have been a few changes on the photography front from last year. The OnePlus 13 now has three 50MP rear snappers: the same LYT-808 main camera from the OnePlus 12, an f/2.6 telephoto with optical image stabilisation and 3x optical zoom, and an ultrawide that can also take macro snaps. Hasselblad processing is on board, as well as the new live photo mode seen on sister brand Oppo’s Find X8 Pro. It doesn’t get that phone’s iPhone-aping camera shortcut button, though.
Naturally it has all the hardware goodies you’d expect from a new, top-tier Android phone. There’s a Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset providing more power than most phone owners will know what to do with; a simply giant 6000mAh battery that’ll have no trouble lasting all day – maybe even two – between top-ups; super quick 100W wired and 50W wireless charging; and as much as 24GB of RAM and 1TB of on-board storage.
The Chinese version arrives running Color OS 15, but global variants will almost certainly land with OxygenOS 15 instead. It’s Android 15 underneath in both cases, and owners should expect at least four new Android generations and five years of security updates. While OnePlus hasn’t confirmed that’s the case, it’s what was offered for the now-outdated OnePlus 12.
The OnePlus 13 is on sale in China right now, in black, blue, and white colours. Prices start at 4499 RMB (around £500/$630) for the 12GB RAM/256GB storage version, and climb to 5999 RMB (roughly £650/$840) for the 24GB/1TB model. That’s a small increase over the previous generation. Expect those prices to climb considerably once it reaches Europe and the US.
Tom Morgan-Freelander
Deputy Editor 
