OnePlus 13 Shows What Flagships Can Offer For Less Than Rs 1 Lakh

The OnePlus flagship is here for 2025 and the 13 series has got everyone excited for what the product offers. The OnePlus 13 upgrades are quite evident, most notably, the use of a new battery tech that allows the brand to make a sleek device without compromising on the backup.

The OnePlus 13 also sees a drastic design tweak which promises better grip and comfort for using a tall device. But can the overall package of the OnePlus 13 at Rs 69,999 offer enough to become a strong contender to be one of the phones of 2025? That’s what we’re on a mission to tell you over here.

The Flat Design Focus

The latest trend with smartphones has caught up with OnePlus as well and in some ways we like this new change. The OnePlus 13 features a flat frame like the Pixel 9 series or even the iPhone 16 models from last year. This design tweak offers a better grip on the phone, and the quad-curved nature means you are not bothered by false touches anymore.

The use of a new battery tech (more on that later) allows OnePlus to pack a bigger capacity battery and still keep it under 9mm in thickness and weight also under 215 grams which is a big feat.

The camera module strays away from the corner which many say looks unbalanced visually and we have to agree but this is not really a deal breaker.

The textured finish on the white variant that we got looks good and even its long-term durability feels assured. You also get the IP68 and IP69 rating for these phones this year which means the 13 can handle water a lot better. Even then, we don’t recommend you venture out underwater with the phone for a long time. The design changes from OnePlus 12 are not drastic but the minor tweaks give it a better touch for our liking.

Raw Flagship Power With Some Quirks

OnePlus opting for the latest hardware for its new flagship was hardly a surprise and the performance levels from the Snapdragon 8 Elite once again give you good value for the big money. The brand has gone with up to 24GB RAM this year, but we got to try out the 16GB RAM variant which is not a slouch by any means.

The benchmark scores with this combo were on the higher side as expected, and all that raw power is well utilised to give you balanced performance without any heating issues to get you worried. It goes without saying that you would enjoy playing games on this device, not only because of its ability but also the overall experience in motion.

Coming to the software, OnePlus is offering the OxygenOS 15 version based on Android 15 version out of the box. The brand will offer up to Android 19 version for this device which is lower than the flagship standard these days, even though you get 6 years of security updates.

We already know that Oppo has a big role in OnePlus developments these days which has sadly trickled down in the form of preloaded apps that nobody likes. That’s not all, some of the apps like App Picker and Theme Store (from ColorOS) now push the annoying alerts and you can’t even delete them. We have lauded OnePlus for a clean OS experience but now you have to disable these apps to that get with the OnePlus 13

Display Dazzles Again

OnePlus 13 sports a 6.82-inch AMOLED display which supports useful features like aqua touch and adaptive 120Hz refresh rate for the screen. The brand has gone with a custom ceramic guard glass for protection for its new flagship. The display itself is bright, sharp and produces rich colours which is a heavy focus on these panels with the blacks also looking deeper than usual.

The screen motion is fluid with the help of the refresh rate technology that has been nicely tuned with the software to make the experience smooth and swift at the same time. OnePlus has also upgraded to the ultrasonic fingerprint sensor which is quicker to respond and minimise the errors while unlocking.

The Camera Effect

OnePlus has made some intriguing moves with the camera on the new flagship phone. It has the same primary sensor and the ultrawide lens but the telephoto sensor has been upgraded.

The decision with the camera sensors might not have made a different because the overall processing has improved this year and you notice the value of a better telephoto lens with better portraits and yes, the main camera is still capable of shooting bright, detailed and crisp photos in daylight and even when the light gets dims out.

Never Leave You Stranded

Remember we talked about a new battery technology on the OnePlus 13 which has allowed the phone to remain sleek? Yes, it is time to talk about that segment. The device packs a 6,000mAh battery which is a new trend but one that will quickly catch up as 2025 goes. The silicone carbon battery tech allows brands to pack more capacity in higher density and still offer fast charging support. OnePlus 13 gets all of it and benefits in a big way.

The 6,000mAh battery offers 8.5 hours screen-on-time regularly on heavy usage which includes watching videos for hours and other basic mobile tasks. That is more than adequate for most users and normal people will get 1.5 days worth of juice out of the unit. And when you see the low battery alert trigger, the 100W charging support gets you to 100 percent in around 30 minutes.