OnePlus 13 Review 2025 – Forbes Vetted

A great phone should accomplish three things: It needs to have a long battery life that can last hours on a single charge; its cameras need to capture images with great detail without looking too processed; and it needs to perform powerfully and reliably for multitasking purposes, mobile gaming and more. The OnePlus 13, the company’s latest slab phone, wants to be the top Android phone on the market—but whether it can actually claim that moniker boils down to certain software elements as well as that camera hardware.

I put the OnePlus 13 to the test for over three weeks, using it as my main device as I ran around New York City. After testing, I grew enamored with several of its features that give OnePlus’ competitors, Samsung and Google, a true run for their money. I also found one distinct feature that gave me pause. Read on for my thoughts on this phone’s design, performance and more.

Best for:

• Getting the best battery life, with 100W wired fast charging as a bonus
• Its top-tier cameras, including an incredible 10x AI-powered zoom
• A reliably waterproof option—no more worrying about accidentally tossing your phone in the wash again

Skip if:

• You want the best AI experience
• You don’t care about MagSafe charging

OnePlus 13: Design

Waterproof And Sturdy

When OnePlus briefed me on this phone before I tested it, they shared that this phone can survive a dishwasher and a washing machine, and demonstrated with a portable dishwasher under high temp settings. I don’t recommend regularly putting your phone through a dishwasher or washing machine, for the purposes of testing this device, did so to get a sense of how valid OnePlus’ IP68 and IP69 waterproof ratings actually are. Sure enough, after one cycle on each appliance, the phone was still in perfect working order. I can’t say what the long-term effects of this test are on the phone, or if washing it repeatedly in a short span of time would lead to a different outcome, but I was impressed by the waterproofing nonetheless.

The other major upgrade to this model from the previous version is the inclusion of wireless MagSafe charging, in the form of a case with special back panel insert. That panel insert slips seamlessly between your device and the case, and with it, the device can now charge with all MagSafe–compatible wireless chargers. The phone can still charge wirelessly without this panel, but you won’t get that satisfying magnetized “clicking” lock that will hold the charger firmly in place.

I’m torn between loving this feature and loving the cameras as my favorite feature about this device. I use a handful of these chargers in my house and it’s satisfying knowing I can toss on the OnePlus 13 for a quick charge throughout the day. (Though considering it’s one of the first devices on the market with a powerful 6,000mAh battery under the hood, there’s not really a need to charge too frequently.) Keep in mind that when you’re using any wireless MagSafe charger, the setup gets unusually warm—I felt uneasy about leaving the device to charge on it for long periods of time.

OnePlus 13: Software

OxygenOS Is A Mixed Bag

OxygenOS, and this latest iteration, OxygenOS 15, have always felt smooth to me, based on testing other devices like the OnePlus 12 and the OnePlus Open. You don’t need to scroll through pages of apps; instead, the OS offers an alphabetical list to shortcut your way to your preferred apps. It’s a great way to spot check if you have an app or find one, and I find it more useful compared to other operating systems available.

That said, if there’s one thing I absolutely hate about OxygenOS in general, it’s how apps get grouped into folders. I spent way too much time trying to finagle my home screen because while the display is responsive, the software feels very counter-intuitive in this specific instance. By far, this was the most frustrating experience I’ve had setting up a phone for that reason alone.

Aside from the app issues, OxygenOS 15 brings a host of AI features to your fingertips. If you swipe down on the home screen to get what’s called the “Shelf,” you’ll see the Global Search bar at the top. From this bar, you’re supposed to be able to conduct your search or ask AI to help you answer a question, I could never get that voice-activated functionality to work. Instead, I turned on Google Gemini and held a long press button to ask questions.

AI comes jam-packed into this device, with Notes offering a similar experience to other note-taking apps like Samsung Notes. Type something out and you can elaborate on the text or make it more casual or formal. It’s a nice tool to have if you’re stuck on a text, and for the most part, it worked well.

Generally speaking, though if you’re looking to use AI on this device, the marriage between OxygenOS 15 and Android 15, particularly the Google integrations, may be your best bet. It certainly helped made the software suitable for my needs. I wouldn’t expect too much out of the OnePlus AI itself quite yet, simply because I expect it to improve with future updates.

OnePlus 13: Cameras

Simply Put, Blown Away

While we’re still early on in the year with more announcements presumably to come from Samsung, Google and Apple, the camera set in the OnePlus 13 is arguably the best on the market right now. The device’s cameras consist of a 50MP main camera, a 3x 50MP triprism telephoto lens and a 50MP ultrawide lens–all designed by Sony and with lenses that showcase Hasselblad technology. I tested the cameras frequently on my youngest cat; his tabby coat marks looked stunning, no matter whether I was in portrait mode or just snapping a quick pic of his adorable face.

Pitted against my Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, there was a clear winner. My Samsung gave me softer, less detailed images of Toby. It also had a softer ambience around subjects. I wish there was a way to marry the two, as during testing, I loved the softer ambience of the Samsung portraits but loved seeing the image refinement on the OnePlus 13.

What separates it from the pack comes down to two features, though: a dual exposure algorithm combined with a Clear Burst, which helps to capture action shots in real time by merging short and long exposures in real time; and Action Mode, which can double your frames per second from 30 to 60. I could capture action moments in real time, and I was blown away by the detail provided by Clear Burst. Action Mode rendered videos of, say, my cats playing rambunctiously, super smooth.

And that’s without diving into one of the camera’s largest strengths—its zoom capabilities. Using AI, the phone can capture up to 10x zoom images with stunning clarity. Almost every other camera I’ve tested to date runs into the issue of grainy and blurry images when zoomed in all the way, so I almost never opt to use it. The OnePlus 13 may have me changing my tune about zoom functionality generally, and impressed me greatly as hands-down the best zoom I’ve tested on a phone camera to date.

OnePlus 13: Verdict

One Of The Best Right Now

The OnePlus 13 is a great phone—and could very well be the best Android out there right now. But in the battle of the best smartphones on the market, it boils down to the finer details. Let’s recap and tally them up.

Regarding the camera: Move over, Samsung and Google. The tech giants have some seriously stiff competition to contend with. And the long battery life, plus the phone’s MagSafe–friendly charging update, make for a great experience. For the cameras and battery alone, I’m sorely tempted to make this my main everyday device.

Software-wise, while the OnePlus 13 is mostly good, it’s operating system is not enough to win me over from my Samsung device. OnePlus also still doesn’t have stylus compatibility, and that’s somewhat of a dealbreaker for me as a writer and editor who frequently conducts interviews on the fly.

All that said, for anyone who doesn’t mind the lack of a stylus, and is coming from the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, take a look at the OnePlus 13. For MagSafe charging, an incredible camera set and pretty decent software, it’s my favorite phone of 2025 so far.

How I Tested The OnePlus 13

I used the OnePlus 13 as my main phone for nearly three weeks. I took calls, snapped photographs of various subjects, sent messages and more. Diving into the software, I tested the OxygenOS 15 AI features during the day, jotting notes and cross-checking random paragraphs of text to generate new content. From there, I reviewed how well the software reworded text based on the directions I gave it.

A lot of my time with this phone was spent deep testing the camera, taking various pictures across the device’s myriad lenses to see how well each performed. I carefully reviewed each photo for clarity, depth, and image quality, noting how the algorithm adjusted my footage in post-op. I also tested the lenses against the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra to see how its lenses and post-op algorithms held up against the competition.

And, of course, because OnePlus boasted about its waterproofing, I tested the device by putting it in my LG dishwasher on a high temp, turbo setting for 57 minutes. I also tossed it into a load of towels–the roughest material I had on hand–and washed the device on a medium normal warm setting for 37 minutes in an industrial washing machine to see whether OnePlus’s IP69 waterproofing claim stacked up.

My Expertise

I’ve been a tech journalist for over five years, including more than a year as the consumer tech and electronics editor at Forbes Vetted. In addition to testing the best gaming TVs and the best TVs for bright rooms, I’ve spent time interacting with the latest smart wearables and audio devices currently on the market, from the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses to the SteelSeries Arctis Nova GameBuds and more.

In my time testing phones, I focus on aspects of interest to everyone, from folks who want a simple call-and-text device to heavy-duty mobile gamers who want a powerful and seamless experience. For this story, I focused on three features: the new OnePlus 13’s waterproofing, the AI features and OxygenOS software and the camera lenses. As a result, my testing more s0 mimics how general users may interact with this phone, versus content creators who want to capture gorgeous footage for their feeds.

In addition to testing several products from OnePlus, I’ve spent plenty of time testing a slew of mobile devices from other brands. I’ve deep-dived into the Apple ecosystem with the iPhone 16 Pro and reviewed plenty of Android devices, including the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 6, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and the Google Pixel 8. Before testing the OnePlus 13, I tested the Google Pixel 9 Pro.