OnePlus is an excellent brand that offers powerful flagship phones at a great value compared to some of its competitors. As 2025 is quickly approaching, OnePlus should be releasing the OnePlus 13 soon enough.
What will the design be like? What specs are we anticipating? Here’s everything we know so far about the OnePlus 13.
OnePlus 13: possible release date
OnePlus has an interesting release schedule. Since it is a China-based company, it typically releases phones in China first before it does a global release in other regions. This has been the typical schedule for OnePlus for the past three releases:
- OnePlus 10 Pro: January 11, 2022 (China) / March 31, 2022 (global)
- OnePlus 11: January 9, 2023 (China) / February 7, 2023 (global)
- OnePlus 12: December 5, 2023 (China) / January 23, 2024 (global)
As you can see, China always gets OnePlus releases first, which makes sense as it’s a Chinese company. And if you take a look at those dates, OnePlus has been releasing it earlier each year.
Though there are no specifics just yet, a post on Weibo from a reliable tipster named Digital Chat Station suggests that OnePlus may reveal the OnePlus 13 before China’s Singles Day festival on November 11. Single’s Day is considered one of China’s biggest shopping event days, so launching the OnePlus 13 before this would be a good strategy for maximizing sales.
Since OnePlus uses Qualcomm’s Snapdragon chips, OnePlus could also wait until after Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Summit in October to reveal the OnePlus 13. In fact, OnePlus China President Li Jie Louis even confirmed on Weibo that the next OnePlus flagship would be announced in October.
If the OnePlus 13 launches in October or November for China, then a global release is likely to happen in December 2024 or January 2025. This would be much earlier than expected, but it would make sense to follow the trend from the past few years.
OnePlus 13: possible price
When it comes to flagship phones, OnePlus has always offered one of the better values on the market. But that may be changing with the OnePlus 13.
Let’s take a look at OnePlus’ previous pricing record for its flagship phones. The OnePlus 11 launched at $700, and the OnePlus 12 was $800.
However, a recent report about the OnePlus 13 price may not be the news you hoped for. A leaker on Weibo says that a OnePlus 13 with 16GB RAM and 512GB storage, which may be the top-tier option, might be around $738 in China. This is a big increase from the OnePlus 12 in a similar configuration, which was $677 upon launch in China and ended up selling for around $800 in the U.S.
If that price increase is true, the OnePlus 13 may start at $900 in the U.S. Still, with most “pro”-level flagships from competitors starting at $1,000 or more, the OnePlus 13 may still undercut them by a tiny bit. But that price gap seems to be getting smaller each year.
OnePlus 13: design and display
It appears that OnePlus is set to make some nice changes to the overall design of the OnePlus 13 to set it apart from its predecessors.
First, Digital Chat Station (the same Weibo leaker that provided the possible release date) says the OnePlus 13 will have a hot-forged ceramic body. This means real ceramic, not ceramic-like glass. It would be interesting to see how this would affect the overall aesthetic and feel of the phone.
The latest leaked image also shows the OnePlus 13 with flat metal edges, which is what the rest of the smartphone market has moved to. The texture of the rear shell is also interesting, as it seems to draw inspiration from rocks or minerals, and it also seems to have a matte finish.
The design of the camera housing is also set to change. OnePlus has used the same toilet-like module (a circle within half a pill shape) since the OnePlus 11. But it looks like OnePlus is getting rid of the excess half-pill housing and just going with the circle that houses the three cameras and LED flash. A thin metal band also goes from the center-right of the camera module and extends into the frame. There is also an “H” above the line, meaning the OnePlus 13 will continue the Hasselblad camera tuning partnership.
It’s a bit reminiscent of what you have on the OnePlus Open, but in a square formation rather than a diamond with one side missing. This is a small and subtle change, but a welcome one.
The same leaker also hinted that the OnePlus 13 could have a “straight screen” with a “micro-curved glass cover design.” In short, it would be flat, but with glass that curves on all four sides, resulting in something that appears symmetrical with no bezels. it seems to be a 6.82-inch BOE X2 display with 2K resolution.
Another interesting feature of this new display could allow users to adjust the refresh rate for localized parts of the screen. For example, you could have a higher refresh rate on the screen for something like YouTube while having a lower refresh rate on another part with text. This feature would theoretically lead to a smoother overall experience and better power efficiency.
There are also whispers that the OnePlus 13 will have a “sun display,” a screen that is more visible in direct sunlight. Such a display type would reduce how bright you need to make your screen before you can see it outdoors.
I terms of durability, the OnePlus 13 may also one-up the competition. Digital Chat Station suggests the OnePlus 13 will have IP69 water and dustproofing. Most flagships right now have IP68, so this would be a nice improvement.
OnePlus 13: performance and software
OnePlus is also expected to use Qualcomm’s latest flagship processor in the OnePlus 13.
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Summit occurs on October 21-23, 2024, when the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 chipset should be announced. Considering that the OnePlus 13 could be released in China in October or November 2024, it’s pretty safe to say that we should see the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 in the OnePlus 13.
For RAM, we don’t know what the starting RAM will look like, but it does seem that the top-tier model could potentially have 16GB RAM and 512GB storage. However, the OnePlus 12 started with 12GB RAM, so it’s likely that the OnePlus 13 will also start with that.
Android 15 is beginning to roll out, so we’re confident that the OnePlus 13 will ship with Android 15 and OxygenOS 15 out of the box. OnePlus has also committed to four years of major OS upgrades and security updates, so the OnePlus 13 should be relatively well-supported for the next several years.
Google will also add some Gemini-powered AI tools to Oppo and OnePlus phones in the coming year, including the OnePlus 13.
OnePlus 13: cameras
Thanks to the partnership with Hasselblad, OnePlus phones have pretty great cameras, and that looks to continue with the OnePlus 13.
Digital Chat Station claims that the OnePlus 13 will once again have a triple-lens camera system similar to the OnePlus 12. But this time, all three lenses could be 50 megapixels each instead of a 50MP primary, 64MP telephoto, and 48MP ultrawide cameras like on the OnePlus 12. The optical zoom range will reportedly remain at 3x. However, the sensors for the periscope and ultrawide cameras will likely see some improvement.
OnePlus 13: battery life
The OnePlus 12 has a massive 5,400mAh battery, and the OnePlus 13 may take things up a notch. It’s rumored to have an even larger battery at 6,000mAh, which is leaps and bounds ahead of the competition. However, that battery life may come at a cost, as some reports suggest that the OnePlus 13 may not have wireless charging. Other leaks indicate otherwise, however, so it remains to be seen what will happen here.
Wireless charging or not, we expect the OnePlus 13 to once again have 100-watt wired charging speeds globally and 80W speeds in the U.S.
