When it comes to the best Android phones, OnePlus is always in the mix. The OnePlus 13 is the company’s current high-end model, and it’s a great all rounder, with especially strong battery life and incredible charging speeds (the 6,000 mAh battery filled to 92% in half an hour in our tests).
We’re now eagerly awaiting the company’s next entry: the OnePlus 15. And while it may not arrive in the U.S. until next year, we may know all about it sooner rather than later thanks to a staggered release schedule.
Incidentally, no, you didn’t fall asleep and miss the OnePlus 14. In China, where OnePlus is based, the numbers 4, 14 and 74 are considered unlucky, so it looks like we’ll be skipping straight to 15. It’s the same reason that we went straight from OnePlus 3T to OnePlus 5 back in 2017.
OnePlus 15: Price and release date
In previous generations, OnePlus has rolled out its handsets in a staggered manner, with China first and other countries following a few months later.
According to the leaker Digital Chat Station on Weibo, the OnePlus 15 will launch in China in October — a little earlier than the OnePlus 13 in 2024, which arrived on November 1.
A Western launch is tipped for Q1 2026. That’s fairly broad, covering everything from January 1 to March 31, but given the early Chinese release and the fact the OnePlus 13 was available to American buyers from January 7, a launch at the start of the new year seems like a good bet.
On the U.S. pricing front, we have nothing to go on just yet — though we’ll have a better idea once it goes on sale in China, when we’re able to see how the yuan MSRP compares to its predecessor.
That said, the OnePlus 13 was $100 more than the OnePlus 12, which in turn was $100 more than the OnePlus 11. We’re hoping that two years’ worth of price increases will insulate us from another increase, but the ongoing and uncertain tariff situation means you wouldn’t bet on it.
OnePlus 15: Design and screen
According to Digital Chat Station, the OnePlus 15 could continue to move away from its recent predecessors, with the circular camera array — a calling card for the company’s phones since the OnePlus 7T — being replaced with a “small square matrix in the upper left corner”.
That sounds similar to the OnePlus 13T and OnePlus 13s (neither available in North America), which both sport a small square camera, as seen below.
More importantly, Digital Chat Station claims that the OnePlus 15 will be getting the kind of screen upgrade usually reserved for the best gaming phones.
The leaker claims that the phone is being tested with a 165Hz refresh rate in tandem with a “new performance engine”, allowing it to run games at 165fps natively.
This does come with a catch, however. The leaker says this 165Hz comes with a 1.5K resolution — a significant drop from the 2K screen seen on the OnePlus 13’s 6.82-inch panel.
According to Yogesh Brar on X, the OnePlus 15 will have a slightly smaller panel at 6.8 inches. It will be OLED and have a flat design, rather than being curved like some of the company’s older handsets.
Given the earlier backlash when the idea was first floated, it will be interesting to see whether OnePlus continues with the Quick Key, its iPhone-style Action Button. It was introduced on the OnePlus 13T, which wasn't released in the United States.
OnePlus 15: Specifications
As well as chiming in on screen sizes, Brar also confirms the predictable processor upgrade. While the OnePlus 13 uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, the OnePlus 15 will adopt its successor: the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite 2.
A previous leak suggests that said CPU will run at 4.6GHz, with the GPU clocked at 1.2GHz. This equates to an AnTuTu benchmark score of 4 million — which is impressive given the current high score for Android devices is 2,662,615.
Brar adds that the battery will match the 6,000mAh of the OnePlus 13 or be even higher. We’re fully expecting the phone’s incredible fast charging to be retained, though that will still probably be capped to 80W in the United States due to voltage differences, with 100W reserved for other regions.
There’s no word on RAM or capacity at this point, though with the OnePlus 13 in the United States, there were two tiers: 12GB RAM and 256GB of storage, or 16GB RAM and 512GB storage. In other regions, you could get a 24GB/1TB model: overkill, but fun.
OnePlus 15: Cameras
Aside from the new-look, at this stage big changes on the photography front seem unlikely.
To recap, the OnePlus 13 sports three 50MP lenses, with a main camera, an ultrawide module and a 3x telephoto lens. This time around, we’re still looking at a triple-camera array, though Digital Chat Station believes there may be the introduction of a periscope lens on the 3x telephoto snapper.
An earlier post suggesting that the Hasselblad collaboration might be coming to an end seems to have been deleted, so perhaps that prediction was a little premature.
OnePlus 15: Outlook
From what we’ve heard so far, the OnePlus 15 looks like a solid upgrade on its predecessor — especially if early leaks about the power of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 2 prove to be correct. That, combined with a 165Hz screen, could make this a no brainer for gamers.
Much depends on the final price, of course, and we’ll have to see whether OnePlus hits us with the third price increase in three years. If it manages to keep things reasonable, this could be the Android phone to beat in 2026.
Follow Tom's Guide on Google News to get our up-to-date news, how-tos, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
