Performance (Snapdragon 8 Elite)
The OnePlus 13 phones are known for their RAW power, and the OnePlus 13 features the latest Snapdragon 8 Elite. I tested a few phones with this chipset, and it’s one of the best—if not the best—chipset right now. It’s not only powerful but also efficient. I actually did an in-depth analysis of the OnePlus 13’s performance versus the iPhone 16 Pro Max and Vivo X200 Pro, and the OnePlus came out on top. In benchmarks such as Geekbench, it has the best multicore performance and ranks second in single-core performance, just behind Apple’s A18 Pro chipset on the iPhone 16 Pro Max.
Gaming and Thermals
For gaming, I played Genshin Impact on this phone at max settings and 60 frames per second, and it handled it like a champ without any thermal issues or frame drops, while the iPhone, for example, had visible drops.
Regarding thermals, it also showed great results, staying cooler than the iPhone in the Genshin Impact test and only slightly warmer in the video export test.
You can watch the full performance review here.
Battery Life
We can’t talk about performance without mentioning battery life. This phone features a new battery technology that allows it to have a massive 6000 mAh battery without making it heavier or larger than previous generations. For reference, this phone is even 10 grams lighter than the OnePlus 12, and it’s slim and nice to hold. In day-to-day use, when I tested this phone against the S24 Ultra, it was ahead by a large margin. In a “day in the life” test against the Vivo X200 Pro and another test against the iPhone 16 Pro Max, it achieved a similar result. I also conducted a dedicated battery test with the best battery phones available right now, and the OnePlus came in second, just behind the Vivo X200 Pro by a very narrow margin. It achieved 6 hours and 8 minutes of screen-on time with 15 hours of standby time. So, realistically, it’s almost impossible to drain the battery to zero unless you play heavy games nonstop for hours on 5G.
You can watch the full battery comparison here.
OnePlus 13 Camera
The camera was one area that wasn’t the strongest point of the OnePlus 13, but I can tell you that when it comes to pictures, you have nothing to worry about. For video, it’s another story—but I’ll get to that later. There are three cameras on the OnePlus 13. It has a 50MP ultrawide sensor. The main camera is a Sony LYT-808 50MP sensor, which is smaller than those on other flagship phones like the iPhone 16 Pro Max. On the other hand, the 3x optical sensor is much larger than those on mainstream phones like the iPhone 16 Pro Max and S24 Ultra. OnePlus is also collaborating with a Swedish company called Hasselblad to bring a film-like vibe to their pictures and improve color science.
Verdict
My verdict is that you can’t get better performance and battery life on a conventional flagship phone right now. OnePlus has also stepped up its game with the camera system—the main lens is still behind the competition, but I really like the new, improved telephoto lens, which is better than the one on the S24 Ultra and iPhone 16 Pro Max. I am often a bit hesitant to recommend the Vivo X200 Pro because of the large camera bump on the back, but OnePlus does not have this problem. If you’re okay with the slightly curved display, I really couldn’t find anything negative about this phone so far. The 5G connection was also great, and I didn’t encounter any issues with it. For WiFi connectivity, I personally didn’t experience any problems, but I can’t confirm or deny any known issues. Let me know in the comments if you have a OnePlus 13 or OnePlus 12 and what your experience with the phone has been so far. You can watch the video I made for it here: