Best OnePlus phones 2023

Big screens and speedy charging are what unite the best OnePlus phones. The Chinese brand has become a thorn in the side of Samsung and Google in recent years, undercutting the established brands on price while still offering top-quality specs.

In recent years, the cost of OnePlus flagships has crept up (although mercifully the OnePlus 11 has kept the increases in check for now), so OnePlus pivoted, introducing the budget Nord lineup, which still manages to pack a few top features into inexpensive handsets. Plus soon we could see a OnePlus foldable arrive.

All of these new products has made the OnePlus stable a lot busier than it was in its one-phone-per-year days. But the good news is that many of these newcomers, like the OnePlus Nord 2T, are still great options for customers.

To help alleviate the confusion, we've ranked the best OnePlus phones that the company still says and that we've reviewed. Whether its the latest models or holdovers from a previous year, there's a OnePlus phone that will fit your needs.

The quick list

The best OnePlus phones you can buy

The best OnePlus phone overall

A new year, a new OnePlus flagship. This time is the OnePlus 11, a true return to form for the company. This flagship packs in killer specs for just $699, including a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 CPU, a beautiful display, and excellent battery life. The cameras are also the best we’ve ever seen from OnePlus, even giving the Pixel 7 Pro a run for its money in some cases.

Of course, the lack of wireless charging is an odd omission, as the 2x zoom (down from 3.3x on the OnePlus 10 Pro). Granted, OnePlus says this a portrait lens, but we found the change of pace odd. Regardless, this is a great device and the OnePlus phone to look at.

Read our full OnePlus 11 review.

The best OnePlus phone value

The OnePlus 10T is possibly the least OnePlus-y phone the company's ever produced. The revival of the flagship T-series brings with it both some market-leading features but at the expense of other elements falling below par, and some OnePlus signature abilities disappearing. The result is a strong and attractively priced phone, even if it’s an uneven one. 

The OnePlus 10T could make for an excellent gaming phone, except with the reassurance of well-designed software and no obnoxious design elements. Equally, it could be a great work companion, with the good battery life meaning you're not likely to be left in the lurch with 0% juice, and the outstanding charging making sure if that does happen, you won’t be with an un-powered device for long.

Even lacking some expected features like the Alert Slider and wireless charging, the OnePlus 10T is the company's most powerful phone yet.

Read our full OnePlus 10T review.

The best mid-priced OnePlus phone

U.S. shoppers looking for the best OnePlus phone can feel a little envious about the OnePlus Nord 2T. This 5G phone isn't available in the U.S., though U.K. shoppers can pick it up for £349 (roughly $436), even cheaper than the OnePlus Nord 2 that it replaces. But this OnePlus offering has more impressive features than its midrange price tag would suggest.

Start with the screen refresh rate, which is 90Hz. That's better than most budget smartphones which top out at 60Hz, so expect smoother scrolling from the Nord 2T. Despite the fact that it's a lower-priced phone, the OnePlus Nord 2T shares the 80W wired charging speeds featured in the company's more expensive flagships, handily beating all other competitors at this price.

For now, OnePlus issues Nords with less impressive specs to its U.S. customers. But if you live in an area where the Nord 2T is available, jump on it because you're getting a lot of value with that phone.

Read our full OnePlus Nord 2T review.

The best budget OnePlus phone

The OnePlus Nord N30 5G (or OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite if you're outside the U.S.) can be used as an example of how U.S. users are getting a bit short-changed with the Nord lineup. In other parts of the world, people enjoy the more full-featured OnePlus Nord 2T, but here, we get a device with a lower price and stripped-down specs to match.

There are things to like about the OnePlus Nord N30 5G, most notably that it gives you 50W charging and a 120Hz display in a device that costs less than $300. The battery life is strong too.

Its biggest limitation is photo quality, which could be a dealbreaker for some of you. This is unfortunately the literal price of making a cheap phone, as is the Nord N30's low-powered chipset. So hopefully if you want to save money, you will focus on the great display, charging and battery instead.

Read our full OnePlus Nord N30 5G review.

What to look for in a OnePlus phone

When shopping for the best OnePlus phones, keep in mind that OnePlus divides its smartphone product line into two different categories. The more expensive OnePlus flagships usually cost $700 and up and pack in the best features OnePlus has to offer. OnePlus Nord devices are the phone maker’s budget devices — prices are lower and features are scaled back, though you’ll still find a few notable capabilities.

OnePlus used to release flagships twice a year — once in the spring, followed by a T series version of that same phone in the fall. But OnePlus has changed a lot in recent years, so it's hard to predict what the company will do next. You can play the waiting game forever with OnePlus, so it's best to just go for the phone that stands out to you at the time it makes sense for you to upgrade.

How we test the best OnePlus phones

We take the same approach to finding the best OnePlus phones as we do any smartphone we review, with the exception of the Nord 2 since we don't have the proper testing facilities in the UK.

We do, however, run benchmarks on every phone we can — Geekbench 5 to measure overall performance and 3DMark Wild Life to test graphics performance. For real-world testing, we use Adobe Premier Rush to transcode a video, timing how long it takes. (This test does not work on all devices due to app compatibility issues.)

In our lab, we test the brightness of the phone’s display as well as how colorful each screen is (using both the sRGB and DCI-P3 color gamut). We measure color accuracy as well.

We have a custom battery test in which we have phones surf the web continuously over a cellular connection, timing how long it takes until they run out of power. We also time how quickly a phone can recharge, checking the battery status after 15 and 30 minutes.

Finally, to test cameras, we take the best OnePlus phones out into the field and shoot photos of landscapes, portraits, night images and other shots. We compare those shots to similar images captured by phones with comparable specs and prices.