With today’s worldwide launch of the OnePlus 15, the smartphone market has a new yardstick to be measured by. That, at least, is what OnePlus is hoping for. Putting aside an iterative approach to build on top of 2024’s OnePlus 13, the Shenzhen-based company has redefined its flagship to address issues in the broader mobile ecosystem.
OnePlus has packed a long list of tweaks and new ideas into the OnePlus 15. There’s a 1.5K resolution display that offers a 165Hz refresh rate, a precision gyroscope to support tilt aim in gaming, and three 50-megapixel camera lenses paired with AI-enhanced post-processing and editing software.
OnePlus has brought a new design language to the handset, with equally curved corners around the outside of the OnePlus 15 and in its minimalist display bezels. Crucially, it is certified to IP68, IP66, IP69, and IP69 K standards. That means you have protection for dust and water, water submersion to 2m for 30 minutes and high-pressure water jets up to 80 degrees Celsius.
A lot is going on here, but there are three areas that will stand out to consumers considering the OnePlus 15.
The OnePlus 15’s Monster Battery
Upon first glance at the specs sheet, the 7,300 mAh battery capacity stands out. Thanks to the use of silicon-carbon technology, the energy density of the battery system is higher, allowing the OnePlus 15 to maintain a size broadly expected in a flagship device, albeit with improved endurance. Reports from those who purchased the Chinese variant of the OnePlus 15 indicate a screen-on time of 15 hours in use.
OnePlus has stated that the battery health will remain above 80 percent after four years of use.
Thankfully, OnePlus is offering fast charging on the OnePlus 15 to fill up the larger battery quickly. A OnePlus Supervooc wired charger, rated at 120W, will charge in under 40 minutes, while the Airvooc wireless charger offers 50W of charging.
Note that these chargers are not included in the retail packaging and must be purchased separately if you do not already have them.
OnePlus 15’s Three-Chip Engine
Sporting the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon chipsets is now seen as table stakes for most smartphone manufacturers. While there are alternatives from companies like MediaTek, with its Dimensity series, and Samsung, with its Exynos series, Qualcomm has placed the Snapdragon name at the heart of the conversation around specifications.
The latest top-end mobile chipset is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, which is found inside the OnePlus 15. Yet OnePlus is pushing not just the Snapdragon, but two other chipsets alongside it – one dedicated to touch responses on the display and another to offer advanced Wi-Fi connectivity.
Between them, they form OnePlus’ “revolutionary triple-chip setup,” which the company says will contribute to “a seamless and exceptionally smooth experience across every task,” with a particular focus on gaming.
This isn’t as restrictive a target as you might think at first. While high-end gaming is likely to benefit from faster response times on the screen, reduced lag and ping times due to optimised Wi-Fi connectivity, and the impact of the latest Snapdragon improvements, the same hardware is also used for office applications, creative apps, and processing images and videos.
What works for gaming works just as well as these. Gaming may be one of the most demanding targets, but when you can meet that, you are going to meet the levels required by everything else.
Qualcomm has been working hard to support AI processing, particularly at the local level. The 8 Elite Gen 5 features silicon specifically designed to support artificial intelligence functions, allowing them to run faster while also being optimised for a mobile setting, especially one that is advancing with AI.
OnePlus 15 And The Maturing AI Space
As part of Oxygen is 16 (the latest version of the company’s Android implementation), it is bringing more AI to the foreground, with Plus Mind taking the lead. This is a digital scrapbooking system that allows you to save isolated bits of information from across all your apps and moments.
A three-finger swipe, or a press of the Mind Space button on the side of the OnePlus 15, and a screenshot is taken. This is parsed through routines on the OnePlus 15, allowing Plus Mind to process and store the content, which can be easily retrieved or searched through when needed.
Plus Mind is also integrated into Gemini, so those using Gemini as the voice assistant on the OnePlus 15 will be able to ask about information in Mind Space, as Gemini uses it as a source of information.
AI is becoming a ubiquitous technique in smartphone apps as we approach the end of 2025. Adding “AI” to the start of every software and service is still the done thing, but the law of diminishing returns, I think, is here. Plus Mind notably does not need to add the AI moniker; it simply gets on with its job of capturing and processing data. Something like AI Recorder, which can record audio, transcribe it, distinguish between different speakers, and create summaries, does utilise AI techniques. However, if every app does, then there’s no need to prefix it with ‘AI.’
The OnePlus 15 Slider Tells The Story
For many, though, the biggest change in the OnePlus 15 is the removal of the OnePlus Alert Slider. The iconic switch that allowed you to feel whether your phone was in silent, vibrate, or ringing mode has been taken away. Physical switches take up space, require a different approach to waterproofing, and incur penalties when designing a robust phone.
The OnePlus 15 does have a programmable button in its place. Called the Plus Key, this can be set to cycle through the same functions as the Alert Slider. You can also change this to toggle other features or actions; no doubt the OnePlus AI team would like you to stick with the default ‘recognise and save screen content to the Mind Space AI clipboard.
I have no doubt that the die-hard OnePlus community will lament the loss of an iconic OnePlus feature in the rush to promote artificial intelligence software.
The OnePlus 15 Challenges The Boring Flagships
Yet this button actually typifies the approach to the OnePlus 15. It is about making significant changes over older models and the old way of doing things to ensure that the OnePlus 15 is set up not only for the trends of today, but also for the challenges of tomorrow and the opportunity to stay relevant for the full seven years of updates the flagship will receive.
Progress is all about moving forward. With the OnePlus 15’s combination of high-performance silicon, new levels of endurance from the battery, and the benefits across all applications gained by targeting cutting-edge gaming, OnePlus believes that it is worth revisiting the recipe.
