WEBVTT 00:00:00.480 --> 00:00:05.759 The OnePlus 13 marked a return to form for the company, and let's see if they 00:00:04.319 --> 00:00:11.120 can continue that hot streak with the OnePlus 15. I am the owner of a OnePlus 00:00:09.120 --> 00:00:14.400 13R, which is their more budgetoriented version of the device. And I'm very 00:00:12.800 --> 00:00:21.359 excited to see what they've done on the 15. Nothing interesting in there except 00:00:16.960 --> 00:00:22.080 for a USBA to USBC adapter. What? Maybe 00:00:21.359 --> 00:00:27.359 this is something to do with the charger. I don't know. We'll set that aside for now. Before we get to the phone, we'll look at the rest of the 00:00:25.199 --> 00:00:32.480 box. One of the most exciting parts of the OnePlus 15 is that it is the debut 00:00:29.679 --> 00:00:37.360 of Snapdragon's latest high-end chip, the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. The names 00:00:36.079 --> 00:00:43.120 just keep getting longer, ladies and gentlemen. Inside we have a wa my gosh, 00:00:40.719 --> 00:00:49.840 we get their Super Vuk fast charger, their proprietary still USBA charging 00:00:47.039 --> 00:00:53.920 brick. It charges 120 watts on 240 volt and 80 watts on 120 volt. And that's 00:00:52.399 --> 00:01:00.399 good that it's going to be nice and fast because it's a big battery. The dual 00:00:56.079 --> 00:01:04.000 cell battery in this thing is 7,300 00:01:00.399 --> 00:01:05.600 MIA, which is freaking large. It is 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:08.960 USBA, which is kind of annoying cuz you won't be able to use this with as many 00:01:07.439 --> 00:01:14.560 devices as you'd hoped. And I guess that means that this thing is not for the 00:01:12.799 --> 00:01:19.280 charging because you would want this to be a male USB. But that's all extra 00:01:17.520 --> 00:01:24.560 goodies. Let's take a look at the phone itself. 00:01:22.159 --> 00:01:28.320 Oh wow. The first thing I'm noticing is this interesting texture on the side. 00:01:26.720 --> 00:01:33.280 Usually it's just like an aluminum or a titanium, but on this version, the 00:01:31.119 --> 00:01:37.360 sandstorm colorway, OnePlus is using something called microarchc oxidation. 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:41.600 And what that basically allows them to do is apply a coating to the aluminum 00:01:39.759 --> 00:01:47.920 that provides it with a lot of extra durability. They're claiming 3.4 times 00:01:44.079 --> 00:01:50.720 harder than aluminum and 1.3 times 00:01:47.920 --> 00:01:54.560 tougher than titanium. Hardness refers to like its scratch resistance and 00:01:52.560 --> 00:01:59.280 toughness refers to its ability to bend without snapping. It's even more 00:01:57.040 --> 00:02:03.119 iPhoneesque than it used to be. Um, I think maybe that's just the rounder 00:02:01.280 --> 00:02:08.399 curves compared to the more square corners of the OnePlus 13R and also the 00:02:06.399 --> 00:02:13.440 OnePlus 13. And we're also getting that hint of that vertical oval glass that is 00:02:11.280 --> 00:02:18.319 on the very pronounced camera bump, though I don't think it's substantially 00:02:14.959 --> 00:02:20.000 more pronounced than uh it was on phones 00:02:18.319 --> 00:02:24.560 past. And you even get the Apple inspired uh kind of pill-shaped island 00:02:22.800 --> 00:02:29.920 there. All three of these sensors are 50 megapixels. You have a 116 degree 00:02:26.720 --> 00:02:32.080 ultrawide and a 3.5x optical zoom 00:02:29.920 --> 00:02:38.400 telephoto. And on the front, we get a 32 megapixel camera with a RGBW sensor that 00:02:35.360 --> 00:02:40.319 OnePlus claims gets 60% more light in 00:02:38.400 --> 00:02:45.599 your low light selfies. It's hard to see, but there is this almost paper-like 00:02:43.200 --> 00:02:53.280 texture to the coloring of it that is just really nice. No, 00:02:49.680 --> 00:02:55.920 no. Look how they've massacred my boy. 00:02:53.280 --> 00:02:59.920 They got rid of the slider again. It's a BUTTON NOW. NO. 00:02:58.400 --> 00:03:04.879 AS disappointing as that is, you don't have to worry that it's going to be a one-use button, like a Bixby sort of 00:03:02.720 --> 00:03:08.239 thing. This action button is meant to be programmed for a ton of different 00:03:06.159 --> 00:03:12.560 actions, just like say the action button on your iPhone. What those actions are, 00:03:10.959 --> 00:03:19.440 we'll get into a little bit later. Let's continue our way around the phone. At the bottom, we have our dual SIM tray, 00:03:15.920 --> 00:03:22.879 USBC port, and speaker. Looks basically 00:03:19.440 --> 00:03:24.480 identical to last gen. And at the top, 00:03:22.879 --> 00:03:27.760 you can see our microphone as well as it looks like another port for a speaker. 00:03:26.159 --> 00:03:32.720 And on this side, you have your volume rocker and your power button. One 00:03:31.360 --> 00:03:37.920 downside of like these brighter colorways, especially when they wrap around the edge, is that like you really 00:03:35.680 --> 00:03:41.040 see the edge of this phone compared to the edge of the bezels on this thing. If 00:03:40.080 --> 00:03:46.239 it's anything like my previous OnePlus's, it's a plastic screen protector that is included on the front. 00:03:44.560 --> 00:03:49.680 That's actually a quite nice screen protector, and I always appreciate when 00:03:48.480 --> 00:03:56.000 they give you something like that for free. Let's turn the phone on, but not before I turn you on to our sponsor, 00:03:53.440 --> 00:04:01.200 Dbrand. Fun fact, by the way, as part of Dbrand's Black Friday sale, up to 50% 00:03:58.560 --> 00:04:06.080 off, by the way, and not like 50% off the terrible products. I'm talking 40% 00:04:03.360 --> 00:04:11.439 off Ghost and Grip bundles, $45 off Kill Switch kits, plus they're giving away a 00:04:08.400 --> 00:04:13.120 free deck of Dbrand themed playing cards 00:04:11.439 --> 00:04:17.040 with every order. They wanted me to show off the cards by just playing a quick 00:04:15.040 --> 00:04:20.000 game. It's empty. What game am I supposed to 00:04:19.280 --> 00:04:25.800 play? >> All right, I got the cards right here. You ever played 52 pickup? 00:04:29.680 --> 00:04:36.960 From here, Lionus spends the next couple of minutes picking up the cards and 00:04:33.919 --> 00:04:39.919 commenting on them as he goes. I will do 00:04:36.960 --> 00:04:45.280 no such thing. I'll pick up one card. You get one card, Dbrand. I'll pick up 00:04:42.400 --> 00:04:49.919 the king. And you know what? I got to give you credit. It looks pretty badass. 00:04:47.520 --> 00:04:57.280 It's like a beast king. And that's pretty cool. Don't forget to save money 00:04:52.080 --> 00:04:59.199 with Dbrand's Black Friday sale. That's 00:04:57.280 --> 00:05:06.199 52pickup.com. f i ft ty t w p i c k k k k k k k k k k 00:05:02.320 --> 00:05:06.199 k k k k k k k k k k u p.com. 00:05:07.039 --> 00:05:12.639 Look at that. It's liquid glass. It's transparent. That means it's it's 00:05:10.800 --> 00:05:18.880 copying Apple. The OnePlus 15 is running Oxygen OS 16 based on Android 16, which 00:05:16.400 --> 00:05:22.240 I think is actually a very good Android skin and it offers a lot of improved 00:05:20.479 --> 00:05:25.600 features. I think it really handles multitasking better than almost any 00:05:23.759 --> 00:05:29.840 other operating system at the moment and has stuff like this useful side dock 00:05:27.600 --> 00:05:32.880 that I use all the time. I am interested to see what this button is going to do 00:05:31.120 --> 00:05:36.560 though. So, let's press that. It's a little blatant, don't you think? Look at 00:05:34.960 --> 00:05:41.280 this. The animations are just cool. You want to be recognized. I don't want to change your settings though. Um, just 00:05:39.600 --> 00:05:45.440 like on iOS, you get a lot of different options, but they're pushing this thing 00:05:42.800 --> 00:05:49.520 called Mind Space, which is basically going to be like an AI assistant that's 00:05:47.680 --> 00:05:54.639 going to be based on your notes and screenshots. And now they're integrating 00:05:51.039 --> 00:05:56.240 it with Gemini so you can get better 00:05:54.639 --> 00:05:59.840 insights and give all of your data to Google if that's like your thing. It's a 00:05:58.080 --> 00:06:04.080 very similar concept to the essential space on nothing phones. And the idea 00:06:01.840 --> 00:06:08.960 that OnePlus has is, and I quote, a unified and searchable repository for 00:06:06.240 --> 00:06:12.080 your digital memories, which honestly, if you can take a bunch of screenshots 00:06:10.560 --> 00:06:15.680 and then have them in here and then be like, "Oh, I need my Blue Jays tickets 00:06:13.840 --> 00:06:20.880 or whatever." And then it'll just pull up those tickets out of your screenshots, that would be pretty cool. 00:06:18.800 --> 00:06:25.360 It remains to be seen. I think OnePlus's has a kind of a bad track record with 00:06:22.720 --> 00:06:30.319 special features. Like they do have a dynamic island like feature, but very 00:06:28.240 --> 00:06:34.639 few things use it. As far as I can tell, only Spotify and Uber uh use that. 00:06:33.440 --> 00:06:39.120 Though I don't know if Apple has a better track record with the dynamic 00:06:36.720 --> 00:06:43.280 island support. So like, who knows? Maybe could be really awesome. Maybe 00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:47.440 it'll be just another thing on your phone. The plus key is assignable to 00:06:45.520 --> 00:06:51.759 several other tasks. Like you can make it be your alert slider again but with a 00:06:49.840 --> 00:06:55.039 press and hold or you can make it a camera button or flashlight button. 00:06:53.360 --> 00:06:58.319 Whatever your heart desires as long as it's one of these eight options. There 00:06:56.960 --> 00:07:03.360 might be apps that will allow you to implement it into more complex automations. But right now you have a 00:07:01.440 --> 00:07:08.720 solid selection of tasks that you would probably want on a hotkey like this. Uh 00:07:06.400 --> 00:07:13.120 let's keep it at mind space for now. And that is pretty bright. It's blowing out 00:07:11.039 --> 00:07:16.400 the camera for sure, right? Hell yeah. OnePlus claims 1,800 nits for its high 00:07:15.199 --> 00:07:22.240 brightness mode, but according to our lab's testing, it reaches 1,951 00:07:19.759 --> 00:07:26.080 nits in a 1% window. By fiddling around with the settings, we were actually able 00:07:23.440 --> 00:07:30.960 to get it as high as 2,859 nits. It's not the brightest screen on 00:07:28.400 --> 00:07:34.479 the market, but in my opinion, it's about bright enough as you'll ever need 00:07:32.720 --> 00:07:37.360 for almost any setting. And I think that the brightness arms race is kind of 00:07:35.919 --> 00:07:42.479 coming to an end on phones. But as somebody who was chronically on my phone before bed, what I think is a pretty 00:07:41.280 --> 00:07:48.960 cool feature is that this reportedly gets to 0.5 nits, which is really low 00:07:46.479 --> 00:07:54.720 brightness. But what isn't low on this is the 165 Hz refresh rate display, 00:07:52.800 --> 00:07:59.440 which it will only be some of the time. In day-to-day usage, this will just be a 00:07:57.039 --> 00:08:02.560 120 Hz display, LTPO, so the refresh rate can go down to 1 Herz if there's a 00:08:01.039 --> 00:08:07.039 static image on there to help with battery life. But if you want access to 00:08:04.240 --> 00:08:11.039 the 165 Hz display, you do need to be in game mode. So, it's really just kind of 00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:13.919 a gaming thing. And if mobile gaming is your thing, you'll be happy to know that 00:08:12.319 --> 00:08:19.599 they have a super high sample rate digitizer for super responsive touches, 00:08:17.520 --> 00:08:24.720 sweeps, and whatever you do in a game. You'll whle like never before. And with 00:08:21.440 --> 00:08:26.800 the new Snapdragon chip, this thing is 00:08:24.720 --> 00:08:31.840 pretty damn fast. Across our suite of benchmarks, the OnePlus 15 performed 00:08:28.319 --> 00:08:34.640 better than the OnePlus 13 by 19 to 22% 00:08:31.840 --> 00:08:39.440 and better than the S25 Edge by 14 to 19%. That's a pretty impressive 00:08:36.560 --> 00:08:43.839 generational uplift, assuming that this isn't just sucking back even more juice 00:08:41.599 --> 00:08:47.120 than the last Snapdragon Elite chip did, because if your phone is sucking back 20 00:08:45.600 --> 00:08:50.880 watts, it's just going to overheat and throttle. Qualcomm claims that they made 00:08:49.040 --> 00:08:53.680 substantial efficiency gains on this generation of chip, but let's see what 00:08:52.480 --> 00:08:57.279 it looks like in our stress test benchmark. And in that stress test, on 00:08:55.519 --> 00:09:03.680 average, the OnePlus 15 outperforms the OnePlus 13 by 10%. But destroys the S25 00:09:00.959 --> 00:09:08.160 Edge by 56%. You can tell that cooling is very important for keeping these high 00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:11.920 power chips running smoothly, but it's not quite the same uplift that we saw on 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:15.440 our shorter benchmarks. While the thermals might not be 100% solved, 00:09:13.680 --> 00:09:19.600 efficiency gains should translate into improved battery life. And boy howdy, do 00:09:17.680 --> 00:09:25.839 we have improved battery life. The OnePlus 15 gets 29 hours in our battery 00:09:23.519 --> 00:09:30.640 test. Compare that to the 20 hours of our OnePlus 13. That's like a 50% 00:09:28.720 --> 00:09:34.080 increase in screen on time. We actually ran the whole battery test again just in 00:09:32.720 --> 00:09:38.720 case there was a fluke. But no, this thing is a battery life champ. And that 00:09:36.320 --> 00:09:42.959 big battery will charge super fast with their included Super Vuke charger. Our 00:09:40.959 --> 00:09:48.000 charging test doesn't use proprietary chargers. We stick to a standard 45watt 00:09:45.279 --> 00:09:52.240 USBC charger. And to get this phone from 0 to 100, it took about 1 hour and 20 00:09:50.800 --> 00:09:58.560 minutes, which is about 20 minutes better than the Galaxy S25 Edge. So 00:09:55.519 --> 00:10:00.720 cool. It does support chi charging, but 00:09:58.560 --> 00:10:04.000 it doesn't include magnets, so no Mag Safe, but you're probably just going to 00:10:01.920 --> 00:10:07.839 use the included charger. Oh, and one more cool feature that OnePlus tossed in 00:10:05.600 --> 00:10:10.640 there is bypass charging. So, if you're playing a game and you're plugged into 00:10:09.200 --> 00:10:17.360 the wall, you don't have to worry about heating up the battery by charging the battery. You can just power the phone 00:10:14.000 --> 00:10:17.360 directly from the wall. 00:10:21.279 --> 00:10:25.839 They don't get that loud, but they do sound quite good. One thing I do 00:10:24.640 --> 00:10:32.320 appreciate is that they've added a vent at the top for better stereo sound. So, it's not like a big bottom speaker plus 00:10:29.600 --> 00:10:34.880 a tiny earpiece speaker. You get a little bit better performance from the 00:10:33.519 --> 00:10:41.360 top, which is going to be great if you're somebody who likes watching movies cameras. The camera experience on 00:10:38.320 --> 00:10:43.680 Oxygen OS is very reminiscent of iOS and 00:10:41.360 --> 00:10:49.120 has not deviated substantially from previous camera modes. And 00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:53.440 let's see about that low light performance. Honestly, pretty impressed. 00:10:51.760 --> 00:10:56.800 You do you did make you look pretty pale, Belle. Overall detail in the 00:10:55.200 --> 00:11:01.120 darker parts of the scenes are pretty good. And the studio lights didn't 00:10:58.640 --> 00:11:07.120 absolutely destroy all the detail in the corner. The color 00:11:04.399 --> 00:11:11.680 uh might need some work, but the the quality on the telephoto 00:11:09.680 --> 00:11:16.240 is quite like quite good for this low light shot. 00:11:13.760 --> 00:11:21.200 It did do the longer exposure. Does this have optical image stabilization? I sure 00:11:18.160 --> 00:11:22.800 hope so. 00:11:21.200 --> 00:11:27.760 Taking the video right now, the phone struggles with matching the image 00:11:24.880 --> 00:11:30.640 between the lenses, at least in the viewfinder. That's something that 00:11:29.440 --> 00:11:34.160 Apple's gotten really good at. So, it's a lot less jarring when you zoom all the 00:11:32.560 --> 00:11:38.000 way in on something and then zoom all the way out. A pretty stable video. I 00:11:36.399 --> 00:11:43.360 was shaking the camera that whole time. What we're doing right now is not enough to give a full conclusion on the cameras 00:11:41.200 --> 00:11:47.519 for this, especially for those who are worried about the lack of the Hasselblad 00:11:45.839 --> 00:11:50.880 partnership that ended. I'm pretty impressed by it in this room, but 00:11:49.040 --> 00:11:54.720 obviously your mileage may vary. I'm not really a videographer, but OnePlus has 00:11:52.959 --> 00:11:59.360 included a bunch of cool new features for creators, which includes log video 00:11:56.880 --> 00:12:04.000 recording in OnePlus's proprietary color space. OnePlus has also added what they 00:12:01.440 --> 00:12:07.680 claim is an industry first, and that is live LUT previews. So, if you're 00:12:06.079 --> 00:12:12.639 recording in RAW, instead of monitoring a washed out gray image, it'll apply a L 00:12:10.800 --> 00:12:15.600 that will make your footage look more like how it should after editing. And 00:12:14.639 --> 00:12:21.920 that's going to be cool if you're somebody who's maybe a travel vlogger because this also has an underwater 00:12:19.920 --> 00:12:27.040 mode, which allows you to use the camera app with just the buttons on the phone. 00:12:24.399 --> 00:12:31.680 And you might be thinking, "Oh, wow. It must be IP rated to be underwater." And 00:12:29.200 --> 00:12:36.959 oh boy is it ever IP rated. It's IP66, IP68, IP69, and IP69K, 00:12:35.360 --> 00:12:41.519 which means it can be submerged and blasted with water up to 80° C. Who's 00:12:40.079 --> 00:12:44.880 doing that to their phone? I don't know. But it is really nice to see the focus 00:12:43.120 --> 00:12:49.200 on durability. And OnePlus claims you can even use this in minus 20. And Labs 00:12:47.600 --> 00:12:53.519 actually confirmed that by tossing this in our environmental chamber and it 00:12:51.200 --> 00:12:56.880 still works. So, if you are a Canadian who forgets their phone in their car, 00:12:55.279 --> 00:13:03.279 you don't have to worry unless it's lower than minus 20, which happens. 00:13:01.279 --> 00:13:06.720 It's I I don't know. I'm not That's not an impressive selfie. Being a flagship 00:13:05.680 --> 00:13:10.880 phone, there's an endless list of features. So, we're going to just speedrun through some of the interesting 00:13:08.720 --> 00:13:15.279 ones. It's got Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, UAVra gyroscope. It's got the world's 00:13:13.519 --> 00:13:19.120 fastest smartphone RAM. We're talking LPDDR5X 00:13:16.880 --> 00:13:23.440 running at 10,667 megabits per second in the 16 gig 00:13:20.880 --> 00:13:28.399 variant. It's got a dedicated Wi-Fi chip for 50% faster Wi-Fi. 360 cryo velocity 00:13:26.800 --> 00:13:33.040 cooling where it's trying to avoid sending too much heat to your display. 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:34.560 It's got 4K 120 FPS Dolby Vision HDR, 00:13:33.040 --> 00:13:39.200 real-time tone mapping, and a bunch of AI stuff if you're really into that. 00:13:37.519 --> 00:13:43.440 Combine that with the performance, the battery life, the screen, you have a 00:13:41.279 --> 00:13:46.800 solid package in this phone. And speaking of the screen, it's actually 00:13:45.040 --> 00:13:50.160 fully flat, so it's easy to apply a screen protector and it's less fragile. 00:13:48.240 --> 00:13:55.519 the OnePlus 13. It was not completely flat and it was super annoying, but now 00:13:52.480 --> 00:13:57.360 it's it's it's good. It's nice. Yeah, I 00:13:55.519 --> 00:14:02.240 think that if you are looking for a phone, this should be a real contender. 00:13:59.920 --> 00:14:06.079 However, the question remains, what does it cost? OnePlus has gone from flagship 00:14:04.320 --> 00:14:13.839 killer to flagship and it will be available for $899 for the 1256 gig 00:14:09.600 --> 00:14:15.680 version or $999 for the 16 gig 512 00:14:13.839 --> 00:14:18.560 version. So, what do you think? Is that a fair price? Let us know in the 00:14:17.199 --> 00:14:25.480 comments below. And if you enjoy this video, why don't you check out some of our other phone videos? Uh maybe the 00:14:21.680 --> 00:14:25.480 Pixel 10 perhaps.