OnePlus 15 review: the ultimate athlete

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15.01.'26 15:48
11 min

Jens Jonkers

The OnePlus 15 ticks all the boxes for what you could want from a flagship smartphone. No other device reconciles power, endurance, and speed better.

OnePlus seems to have miscalculated the numbering of its latest flagship smartphone. After the OnePlus 13, you would expect number 14, but the new device is indeed called OnePlus 15. A deliberate miscount, because according to the manufacturer, the OnePlus 15 is so much better than its predecessor that a double generation leap is appropriate.

The launch date is also remarkable. This time, OnePlus didn’t wait for the turn of the year and already placed its showpiece under the Christmas tree. OnePlus doesn’t shy away from big promises, but are they justified? The short answer is yes, the long answer is a bit more nuanced.

The OnePlus 15 ticks all the boxes for what you could want from a flagship smartphone. No other device reconciles power, endurance, and sprint speed better.

Dressed in black

The OnePlus 15 keeps it fairly simple in terms of design. We had secretly hoped for a purple device, but we got the black version. The black housing fits around the device like a tight suit. Everything looks and feels neatly finished, and the manufacturer has spared no expense. The OnePlus 15 doesn’t stand out, but the design suits its price range.

You don’t have to worry about the durability of this device. OnePlus achieves the highest eco-label and the IP68 and IP69 ratings indicate high resistance to water and dust. We are more surprised by the lower rating for drop resistance. We were able to test this extensively, because just like the Oppo Find X9 Pro, this smartphone tends to slip out of your hands.

If there is any visible damage, you can usually wipe it off quickly. After an extensive test period of longer than a month, we only have one corner with visible damage. So you don’t have to get velvet gloves.

Hz above nits

On the other hand, you can feel free to wear those gloves. OnePlus introduced Glove Mode with the previous generation, allowing you to operate the screen with gloves on. No unnecessary luxury during winter. Simple things like typing a message, using navigation, and even taking a photo are possible without taking off your glove.

In the large 6.7-inch screen, there is room for 1,272 x 2,772 pixels: exactly as many as Oppo crams into the screen of its top device. However, the OnePlus 15 can increase the refresh rate to 165 Hz, dynamically scalable to save battery. The image is razor-sharp and scrolls smoothly, making consuming media a real pleasure with this device.

Only the maximum brightness, with a measured peak of 1,109 nits, is somewhat lower than with competitors, although this certainly does not compromise readability in bright sunlight. You get a top display with all the bells and whistles, which you can also expect at this price level.

Performance champion

The OnePlus 15 is equipped with the latest Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. We will see this processor in many flagships this year, but OnePlus can claim the scoop. An advantage of launching as early as the end of 2025. OnePlus also adds its own modules to improve touch sensitivity and Wi-Fi connectivity.

As expected, the new processor generation is once again accompanied by a performance leap. The OnePlus 15 trumps everything and everyone in the performance tests, including the Oppo Find X9 Pro, which opts for MediaTek. Both the CPU and GPU of the OnePlus 15 are currently unmatched. Add to that 16 GB of highly coveted RAM and 512 GB of storage, and you get a smartphone that is ready for battle.

However, the question is whether you actually feel that performance leap in practice during average use. The OnePlus 15 is fast and running multiple apps is smooth, and even with heavier games, the smartphone will barely break a sweat. However, we said that a year ago about the OnePlus 13. The baseline in the highest segment is now so high that a processor refresh is far from sufficient to claim a double generation leap.

Charging champion

The OnePlus 15 will therefore have to prove itself in several areas. By no means all the trump cards are already on the table. Charging has been a matter of honor for the manufacturer for years, and it manages to impress every year. The (large) battery of the OnePlus 15 charges with a brand charger at 120 W, with a Power Delivery cable at 55 W, and without a charger at 50 W.

With the chrono in hand, we measure 21 minutes to reach fifty percent and 34 minutes to eighty percent. Only Samsung does better, but the figures only tell part of the story here: the OnePlus 15 has a much larger battery to fill (7,300 mAh). Don’t think that Samsung has suddenly become a charging specialist.

37 minutes

That’s why we also take a calculator to compare how efficiently the OnePlus 15 charges compared to its competition. And here it proves to be the undisputed charging champion. Per minute on the cable, you get about 37 minutes of usage time, a lot more than, for example, Oppo and Samsung.

Near-battery champion

Charging only has to take a small bite out of your time. Even better is that you will also last a long time with a full battery. As already mentioned, the OnePlus 15 has a monster battery of 7,300 mAh. Only the Oppo Find X9 Pro (7,500 mAh) and the OnePlus 15R (7,400 mAh) do better.

This means you no longer have to charge your smartphone every day. Depending on how intensively you use your device, the OnePlus 15 will last one and a half to two days. If you only view some messages and social media, then two days will just work, but intensive applications such as gaming or turning on a hotspot will make you reach for the charger a little faster.

The OnePlus 15 is a battery specialist, but this time not the absolute champion. The little bit of extra capacity of the Oppo Find X9 Pro and OnePlus 15R does make a difference in the end. But the difference with the previous generation of premium phones is clearly visible. The trend of longer battery life is gradually moving from laptops to smartphones.

Cameras

OnePlus is doing it this year without the help of the Swedish camera manufacturer Hasselblad. That has been felt with the OnePlus 15R, which disappointed in terms of cameras. For the OnePlus 15, the manufacturer doesn’t change the setup too much: we see a triple 50 MP camera again. OnePlus has tweaked the sensors.

In optimal light and weather conditions, your photos are of excellent quality. Sharpness, color, exposure: the cameras cannot be caught making a mistake. You switch effortlessly between main and wide-angle camera without sacrificing quality. Both cameras also don’t turn their hand for special effects such as macro photos and portrait photos.

At nightfall, the OnePlus 15 chooses not to push the artificial light switch too hard, which used to be different with phones from the brand. On the one hand, that gives you less artificial photos, but in the dark some sharpness is lost. In particular, the telephoto camera suffers a bit from this.

Telephoto Camera

That telephoto camera has a 3.5x optical zoom. Up to this point, you zoom in at full resolution, which yields sharp and detailed images, which are sometimes a bit underexposed. The further you zoom in, the more artificial intelligence comes into play. That is not unusual, and the editing is less extreme than with the Google Pixel 10 Pro, where the algorithms fill in with varying success what the naked eye does not see.

That the OnePlus 15 has qualitative cameras is not up for discussion, but the final verdict depends on what you compare it with. We don’t notice a visible leap forward compared to the previous generation. The Oppo Find X9 Pro and the Google Pixel 10 Pro have a slight edge in terms of cameras. The zoom capabilities of Oppo’s top model are unparalleled.

More AI

A smartphone cannot appear in 2025/2026 without the (un)necessary AI functions. OnePlus is now also fully embracing the AI hype. There are few truly unique functions. Either they are directly taken over from Google, think of photo functions such as Magic Eraser, or you can find them at sister brand Oppo, such as the Memory Expansion.

The OnePlus 15 runs on OxygenOS 16 at launch, OnePlus’ interpretation of Android 16. We applaud that OnePlus plays it much more correctly with pre-installed apps than Oppo. You will find a folder with OnePlus apps and the manufacturer assumes that everyone uses Facebook and Netflix, but it does not take on scandalous proportions. OnePlus tries to link software to physical buttons with the Plus Key button where the notification slider used to be. You can use the button as a shortcut to open apps faster, but the functionality remains limited and we forget the existence of the button.

Support

With four Android updates and six security updates, OnePlus does what it is supposed to do according to European rules, but no more than that. If Samsung and Google offer seven years of support for the same price, we wonder why OnePlus couldn’t do this. Nevertheless, you are set for six years with this device; nothing makes us doubt that the hardware will give up sooner.

Neck-and-neck with Oppo

The OnePlus 15 is an impressive smartphone. OnePlus has had to search for a long time how it should play along in that price segment as a self-proclaimed flagship killer, but now it has shown for several generations that it belongs with the big boys. Like a top athlete, the OnePlus 15 combines power and explosiveness with endurance. The bar for smartphones that will appear this year has been set high even before the turn of the year.

Is the OnePlus 15 a ‘double generation leap’ as the marketing department shouts? We think that’s a bit of an exaggeration. The battery is the biggest, tangible improvement, but we do miss some progress in terms of camera. OnePlus takes a big step forward, but no one would have crowed if this had simply been the ‘OnePlus 14’.

Then there is one question left: is the OnePlus the provisional champion of 2026? You will notice that we have made the comparison with the Oppo Find X9 Pro several times in this review. It is no coincidence that both devices come from the same stable, because the ingredients are similar: performance coupled with endurance. Both devices are neck-and-neck without an objective winner.