Two steps forward for this new flagship killer, though a few drawbacks too

OnePlus is turning on the heat in 2025, delivering its second flagship in a little over 10 months – the OnePlus 15 – replete with the latest Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, a battery that rivals entry level power banks, and the OnePlus staple ‘fast and smooth’ software experience. Yet, it doesn’t quite feel like a OnePlus flagship in the hand. Time was, you could spot a OnePlus from a distance, with the familiar circular camera module and slim edges a dead giveaway. The new look, inspired largely by the OnePlus 13S which itself took inspiration from the flat edged iPhones, is absolutely generic. The signature alert slider is gone too, replaced by a generic button that can be somewhat customised, although its usage is far more limited than it should be. Then again, if you’re new to the brand, you may like the stark, clean look to the new design, and that absolutely gorgeous matte Infinite Black variant is about as close as we’ll get to a vanta black phone – there’s a more vibrant, iridescent violet and a textured Sand Storm as well. Fit and finish is top-notch, the ever-so-slightly curved chassis sits well in the palm, and with the introduction of the all-new IP69K rating on top of the regular dust and water protection ensures that in a spot of hot water, at least your phone will be safe.

All you need to know about OnePlus: The 15

Around the front is a gorgeous, unmistakably punchy and vibrant display, classic OnePlus style, sporting an all-new 165Hz refresh rate that gamers are going to absolutely love. For now, some popular titles like Call of Duty Mobile and Real Racing 3 are aided with frame interpolation (synthesising new frames between existing ones to create smoother motion) and a dedicated touch response chip to keep frame rates high and touch response down to the imperceptible – perfect for first person shooters. If you don’t game, you’ll still enjoy the 1800-nits bright display that refreshes apps and the user interface at 120Hz and goes as low as 0.5 nits for nighttime use. And unless you’re forewarned, you might not even notice that the increased maximum refresh rate has meant that the resolution has taken a slight dip from the 3168x1440-pixel (QHD+) screen to a 2772x1272 pixel (Full HD+) resolution. It’s not ideal, but it is what it is.

Now, even as the choice of hardware – the top shelf Qualcomm chip with 16GB of LPDDR5X Ultra+ RAM, and up to 512GB of UFS 4.1 onboard storage on the higher end variant that I tested – is very gamer friendly, even those picking this up as an everyday carry with no gaming intentions whatsoever will have no cause for complaint. Apps run smoothly, multitasking is a breeze, and Oxygen OS 16 atop Android 16 is clean and highly customisable. OnePlus AI, including its note-taking Mind Space app, is subtle and less in your face than some of its peers, and that’s fine.

Now, if you’re keen eyed, you might also spot the sensor downgrades all of the OnePlus 15’s trio of 50-megapixel cameras (primary, ultrawide and 3.5x telephoto), and with the end of the Hasselblad partnership, does that spell doom and gloom for the cameras? Not entirely – sure, the new DetailMax engine needs some work in handling colour shift between lenses and suffers from occasional issues in exposure and colour reproduction, but by and large, the OnePlus 15 delivers respectable photos in good light and even manages the occasional winner in low-light. It’s just not where its segment peers are, at least for now.

But hands down, the real star for the OnePlus 15 is the battery life, and the high-density, slim profile 7300mAh battery lasts a full two days with moderate-to-normal usage, and even on my heavy cocktail of review-time use cases – maps, streaming music, some benchmark tests and the usual Insta reels and Teams calls – managed to last a full day. That stellar endurance is matched by 120W charging speeds with the included charger – all this in a phone that weighs 211g!

In all, the OnePlus is a solid flagship that will appeal to gamers and everyday users, though slightly less so for heavy snappers, and while certain product choices and pricing may well have courted controversy at launch, but in use, it proves itself to be a reliable workhorse that will keep buyers happy for years to come.

Rating: 8/10

Price: ₹72,999 (12/256GB) onwards.

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