OnePlus 13 long-term review: The finest phone of the year…possibly [Video]

The recent OnePlus glow-up needs to be seriously studied, and the OnePlus 13 is the pinnacle of this in action. It signifies the maturation of the “new” company, but is it the best Android phone out right now? Here’s everything you need to know.

Galaxy S25 Ultra long-term review: Perfection of a prescribed formula [Video]

Table of contentsRefined and retooledOxygenOS 15 is…a breath of fresh airAll day and then someCameraFinal thoughts

It has felt criminal to hide the “Midnight Blue” OnePlus 13 away in a case because the simply gorgeous pleather back finish is incredible to hold. I’m a hypocrite, though, so of course, I had had a case applied 90% of the time. However, that hits at a deeper problem. We still do not have a big pool of high-quality accessories outside of first-party options to choose from. I did manage to pick up a super cheap $5 case from eBay that color-matches the blue finish, and while it lacks the magnetic insert, it’s my favorite by some margin.

The increased quality of components is immediately obvious when you start using the OnePlus 13. Samsung still has the “best quality” title all sewn up, but OnePlus – and by extension Oppo – are not far behind. I just wish the screen was truly flat at the front. Yes, the playable area of the panel is flat. The edges not so much.

Granted, the very minor curves help with comfort. Something akin to the Pixel 8 Pro shape would have been my preference, but it’s a nitpick on what is an otherwise stellar piece of tech. Sure, it isn’t the most inspired design, but it’s reliable. I wouldn’t say I’ve babied the phone, and it has held up well. Although with that said, I haven’t put that IP69 rating to the test. In fact, I haven’t even put the phone near moisture. Still, it’s a nice bonus to have.

The display ties all of this craftsmanship together. It’s very much in the upper echelons of smartphone screens. It’s beautifully tuned, incredibly bright, smooth, and, most importantly, easy to use now that it is sans curves. It might not be the outright brightest, but I haven’t had a single issue with the screen. While I don’t watch too many videos or movies on my phone, the experience is truly top-tier.

I am not particularly sad that the Alert Slider is going away, but I say that as someone who sets their phone to silent and never changes the setting. It’s a shame to lose a popular hardware toggle, and I am sad for those who will miss it. If it means we get more utility on the OnePlus 14 with a dedicated button, then count me in.

Dare I say it, but the best haptics around are on the OnePlus 13. The fact that you can tune the feeling is yet another amazing aspect of the software stack – more on that in a minute. From the initial unlock to every vibration, it’s crisp and precise. I do wish the speakers had a little more oomph with regard to bass response, to stop a little bit of the tinniness. Overall, I love most of the hardware choices.

OxygenOS 15 is…a breath of fresh air

We’ve been spoiled with big, bold Android updates from OEMs this year, and to put it simply, OxygenOS 15 is very, very good.

Animation speed improvements aren’t something I expected to care about. The extra attention to detail does improve the feeling of fluidity, and it has only improved with updates since launch. You can disable it entirely if you wish, which is another bonus. The level of tweaking you can make to what are technically “default” settings is something that really helps you tune this version of Android 15 to suit your wants and whims.

I do feel that the “Now Bar” in One UI is better for quick utility than the limited Dynamic Island rip-off that shipped with OxygenOS 15. Maybe if we get more third-party apps to support the function, it’ll be a useful addition. That said, it feels like a solution to a non-existent problem in Android. We already have fairly solid widgets.

My only gripe is that updates are still not all that fast. You can often be waiting a while for the latest Android security patch to arrive on your phone. The quality control of specific updates also needs a little attention. The most recent OnePlus 13 OTA has done some funky things to my Wi-Fi stability. Often, notifications will just stop coming in until I toggle Wi-Fi on and off again.

Because Android 16 is a small update, it’ll be interesting to see how OxygenOS 16 builds upon this solid foundation over the coming months. One of the only disappointments is that the OnePlus 13 is slated to get 4 version upgrades. It’s a bitter pill to swallow when things are this good right now.

The extra attention to detail and refinements, combined with the unbridled power of the components tucked inside the OnePlus 13, mean a seamless and superfast experience. When I switched over from the Pixel 9 Pro Fold to this device in late 2024, I was blown away at how fast it felt — app loading, swiping, and animations. The entire system feels dialed up to the maximum.

Everything is practically instant. Edit a video and render out, it’s done in seconds. Image processing is basically instant. What little gaming I’ve done is, well, as I expected, i.e., flawless. It’s rare to see a modern Android phone slow down within a few months. The OnePlus 13 shows no signs of losing a step, and it’s the fastest experience I’ve had on mobile. Period.

All day and then some

I am no longer a heavy phone abuser. Most of my time is spent using WhatsApp, Discord, Chrome, and Instagram. The odd bit of Android Auto is thrown in, and that nets me multiple days of time with the OnePlus 13.

I’m not talking a day and a bit. I mean two full days without worrying about where my charger is. It’s that damn good. There have been some updates to improve the longevity because it wasn’t hitting these kinds of heights right at launch. Who would’ve thought that having a big battery means you’re not going to have problems with longevity? Well, it’s pretty darn obvious.

It isn’t even just that I’ve fallen in love with. SuperVOOC charging has become so much a part of the cycle that I get annoyed going back to other phones that charge in double or triple the time. You do shift how you charge your phone this way. I’ve never really been a fan of wireless charging, so the new 50W magnetic puck that needs a MagSafe case has merely been an ornament. Just plug in, get a full battery in under 25 minutes, and enjoy using the phone for two more days. It’s bliss.

Camera

The best mobile camera systems are those that can produce high-quality, consistent results. For years, that was something that escaped basically every OnePlus phone I’d ever used until the 12 series dropped last year. That system has an edge courtesy of a marginally better 3x telephoto at a higher resolution. If only we had that lens, I could confidently say the newer phone was the best to date.

With each update, the tuning has improved, and the Hasselblad tuning still wows – but who knows for how much longer? The only thing that I find the OnePlus 13 to sometimes struggle with is overexposure and bright whites. No phone is particularly excellent in this scenario, but it can be quite pronounced on the OnePlus 13 once images are processed. In the viewfinder, photos can look great, but open up in the gallery, and it’s just a bit “off” from what you were expecting.

It’s annoying because the color profile and tuning are the most visually pleasing to my eye of any mobile camera system when things are perfect. Videos are super solid, but still suffer from that processing hiccup in bright lighting. Samsung leads the pack for on-device processed video, but OnePlus is closing in fast.

After using the OnePlus 13 on and off over the past seven months, my overriding feeling is that with a little more time in the tuning stage, we could have had an almost perfect OnePlus camera for the first time. Take what I’m saying with a pinch of salt, though. The camera experience is great, and the modes are plentiful. My advice is to just hit the shutter button a few times to get options when taking photos.

Final thoughts

It’s a tussle at the top of the Android totem this year, with only one other device released in 2025 that can stake a claim to the title of “best phone of the year.” The OnePlus 13 and Galaxy S25 Ultra go toe-to-toe in ways I can’t say I anticipated.

While the Galaxy devices have just refined an already winning formula, OnePlus has been diligently working on an unexpected hit from last year. The biggest upgrades are the battery and the software, but the most notable component is that the price tag remains lower than the competition without major downgrades.

When OnePlus launched, the playing field was a little smaller and a little less crowded, so trying to disrupt it was a sensible play. Now, the market has stabilized. Competition is fiercer, but the fact remains that the best phones usually need to be excellent in all areas. This is the second time in a row that the company has managed to do it, proving it wasn’t a fluke.

Simply put: This is the best OnePlus phone to date, and at $899, arguably the best Android phone period.

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