After months of speculation and rumors, the OnePlus 15 is finally here. With a 50MP triple rear camera system, a whopping 7,300mAh battery, and a superfast Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset – the OnePlus 15 is here to challenge the best camera phones of the year.
As expected, OnePlus has skipped the number 14, presumably on account of that number being considered unlucky in China. Although I'm just glad they've not followed suit with Xiaomi, who skipped the number 16 to align themselves with the iPhone 17.
We called the previous-gen OnePlus 13 "a stunning phone with cameras that can play among the best", and you can read our first impressions of the OnePlus 15 here. But first, read on for a rundown of what the latest model offers.
A triple 50MP rear camera system & new image engine
The big story here is OnePlus' decision to park its collaboration with Hasselblad in favor of its own DetailMax Engine. This is a big decision by the company, which has for years promoted Hasselblad's influence in design and color science as a big selling point of its devices.
So why have they done it? Well, OnePlus claims this will not only afford its design team more control of the finer aspects of color and image quality, but it can also introduce a new level of computational photography in its images. The AI-driven engine will include AI deblurring, edge reconstruction, and other features to enhance photo quality. The inclusion of these AI features should help capture high-quality photos even when lighting conditions are far from optimal.
The OnePlus 15 features a triple 50MP rear camera system. As far as resolution goes, this lineup puts it firmly in the realm of more expensive flagships, including the impressive iPhone 17 Pro and Pixel 10 Pro and Pro XL.
The main camera of the OnePlus 15 uses a 1/1.56" Sony IMX906 sensor with a 24mm equivalent focal length, f/1.8 aperture, and OIS. The 1/2.88" ultrawide camera has a 16mm equivalent focal length with f/2.0 aperture, while the 1/2.76" telephoto lens has a 3.5x (80mm) optical zoom, a f/2.8 aperture, and OIS and is capable of lossless shooting up to 140mm (7x).
The front selfie camera adopts a more modest 32MP sensor. Additional specs include an f/2.4 aperture, 21mm focal length, and, for the first time in a OnePlus phone, autofocus.
Video recording is also getting a boost; you can shoot in 8K30p, and now in 4K at up to 120fps for cinematic slo-mo. OnePlus is also introducing Real-Time Tone Mapping to video, which separates the subject from the background for more accurate skin tones and sudden lighting shifts.
Class leading performance and battery capacity
Aside from the triple-camera system, perhaps the most exciting element of the OnePlus 15 is the whopping 7,300mAh battery. That puts it well ahead of the iPhone 17 Pro Max (5,088mAh) and even the Google Pixel 10 Pro XL (5,200mAh). As a result, users can expect to get significantly more use time between charges. OnePlus' SuperVOOC tech also unlocks ludicrous wired charging speeds of up to 120W and 50W for wireless with compatible chargers.
The phone is one of the first devices released to be powered by the latest Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, which OnePlus is promising will bring a 20% higher phone performance with 35% better power efficiency, while the Adreno GPU increases graphics performance by 23% increase with 20% better power efficiency. The phone also includes a dedicated Wi-Fi chip, which should increase speeds by up to 50%
In addition, the phone sports an advanced 6.78-inch 1.5K LTPO display, slightly smaller than the 6.82-inch screen found in the OnePlus 13, but the company has increased the refresh rate to a super-fast 165Hz, which should work with the new processor for smooth gameplay at high framerates.
Availability
The OnePlus 15 is available to pre-order now in Sand Storm, Infinite Black, and Ultra Violet colorways.
The Sand Storm and Ultra Violet colors come in 16GB+512GB variants and will cost $999 / £979, although until Dec 12, you can get these devices for an early-bird discount at $899 / £879. The Ultra Violet version will be exclusive to Amazon and the OnePlus store and available in limited quantities.
The Infinite Black model comes with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage and will cost $899 / £849.
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Find more of the best Android phones for photography or the best camera phones in our guides.
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