The OnePlus 15 is right here, and the extra I study this cellphone, the extra impressed I’m.
I’ve personally liked each the OnePlus 12 and OnePlus 13, however the 15 has managed to impress me greater than some other cellphone on this sequence. I’ve not examined the cellphone as completely as my fellow contributor Alex Walker-Todd for his 4.5-star full assessment, however the little time I’ve spent tells me how far forward it’s of a lot of the competitors.
It needs to be a reminder for giants like Apple and Samsung about how far behind they’re. I’ll admit the cellphone is on no account a budget-friendly choice, however for £849/€899.99, it presents extra worth than some other flagship cellphone on the market. As an example, it packs a 7300 mAh battery, which is sort of 50% greater than the 5000 mAh capability of most high-end smartphones, together with the iPhone 17 Professional Max.
It’s a full package deal with a outstanding 165 Hz refresh fee, a three-lens rear digicam array, and really quick wired and wi-fi charging. It’s proof that Apple and Samsung have grown too snug with telephones and are usually not occupied with providing you with the most effective worth potential. Neglect worth, you aren’t even getting options that needs to be apparent in 2025, like correct quick charging.
Foundry | Alex Walker-Todd
Please, copy the battery from the OnePlus 15
OnePlus has been steadily elevating the bar for battery life, and it reveals. I’ve used each iPhones and Samsung Galaxy telephones, and neither model is nice on this division. Even the costliest iPhone, the 17 Professional Max, is believed to solely have a capability of round 5000mAh, which is way from spectacular.
The bottom iPhones, the older Plus fashions, and the newer iPhone Air all supply even worse battery life. Samsung has the identical drawback, aside from the Extremely fashions, which ship respectable screen-on time whereas nonetheless utilizing a 5000mAh battery.
OnePlus, then again, has constantly pushed battery capability.
The most recent OnePlus 15 reaches an enormous 7300mAh because of silicon-carbon (Si/C) battery tech, but it surely’s not as if this know-how appeared in a single day. OnePlus used the identical strategy within the OnePlus 13, which had a 6000mAh battery, whereas Oppo has outfitted the Discover X9 Professional with a 7500mAh Si/C cell.
Luke Baker
Even earlier than that, when this tech wasn’t accessible, the OnePlus 12 launched with a 5400mAh battery again in 2023. This reveals it’s not a technological constraint, however a strategic selection by others to save lots of on prices.
I hope the upcoming Galaxy S26 or iPhone 18 sequence lastly supply bigger batteries. It’s an actual game-changer, and it removes the nervousness of working out of energy midway by means of the day. Throughout my testing, I used to be stunned at how lengthy the OnePlus 15 stayed alive earlier than needing a recharge.
After I tried to push the battery to its limits for a correct drain check, I streamed a full episode of a present, recorded a video, and saved apps working within the background. The cellphone sat at simply 3% once I began, but it nonetheless made it by means of every little thing, ending with it nonetheless on at 1%. It felt just like the cellphone had slightly reserve tucked away for moments if you genuinely want it.
OnePlus has been steadily elevating the bar for battery life, and it reveals
Throughout common use, with the 165Hz excessive refresh fee enabled and a mixture of social apps, photographs, and light-weight gaming, I constantly acquired greater than a day and a half on a single cost. With battery saving turned on throughout commutes or idle durations, it’s utterly real looking to stretch the cellphone right into a second full day earlier than reaching for the charger.
The OnePlus 15 is a fast-charging beast
Apple’s newest flagship nonetheless lags behind the competitors relating to charging velocity.
Whereas the iPhone 17 Professional Max has not had its full official numbers broadly revealed, certifications level to round 45W wired charging at greatest. Wi-fi charging stays weak, and in actual life, the system nonetheless takes hours to achieve greater battery ranges in comparison with its Android rivals.
In the meantime, Samsung’s newest flagship, the Galaxy S25 Extremely, is rated for as much as 45W wired and 15W wi-fi charging. For a premium system launched in 2025, these numbers are underwhelming.
Luke Baker
Against this, the OnePlus 15 hits as much as 120W wired charging and 50W wi-fi charging. I’ve seen the cellphone cost to nearly 60% in half-hour and attain a full cost in about 40 minutes. That is particularly spectacular when you think about the scale of the battery.
If Samsung and Apple resolve to not embody a much bigger battery, they need to at the very least supply sooner charging, however that doesn’t appear more likely to occur any time quickly.
OnePlus 15’s different specs are additionally spectacular, with a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip and both 12GB or 16GB of LPDDR5 Plus RAM and 256GB or 512GB of onboard storage, respectively, which yield some spectacular benchmarks.
Smartphone giants have work to do
The telephones popping out of China proceed to push boundaries, whereas gadgets from large gamers like Samsung, Apple and Google are falling behind.
We’ve already seen what Chinese language firms are actually able to, with the likes of the Xiaomi 17 Professional Max and Honor Magic V5 taking {hardware} to the following degree.
The OnePlus 15 is simply one other reminder of that. The massive gamers would possibly maintain a lot of the market share within the West, however they should proceed innovating, or danger being left behind.