OnePlus 13s Review: A Compact, Feature-Packed Powerhouse

OnePlus hasn’t launched a “flagship-killer” smartphone shortly, and the smartphone maker has centered on high-end and mid-range fashions as a part of its quantity sequence and Nord lineup, respectively. The new OnePlus 13s, nevertheless, is likely to be a robust contender for the title of a flagship killer, with just a few notable specs, together with a Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset and a 5,800mAh battery. It’s additionally the primary high-end telephone to characteristic a comparatively small 6.3-inch OLED display that’s barely bigger than the common iPhone 16.

The new OnePlus 13s is accessible in two variants in India, that are priced at Rs. 54,999 for the bottom mannequin with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, and Rs. 59,999 for the 12GB+512GB variant. Read on to know whether or not this smartphone is value its asking worth in our OnePlus 13s overview.

OnePlus 13s Design: Compact, Comfortable to Use

• Dimensions – 150.8×71.7×8.2 mm
• Weight – 185g
• Colours – Black Velvet, Green Silk (Featured on this overview), Pink Satin

OnePlus has steadily elevated the scale of its smartphones for the reason that OnePlus 5T (all its earlier fashions have been outfitted with a 5.5-inch display), however the firm’s newest handset bucks the pattern. The OnePlus 13s is barely smaller than the OnePlus 6, which was launched in 2018, and it is extremely comfy to make use of with one hand (I’ve pretty giant fingers).

We reviewed the Green Silk variant, which is simply out there in India

 

The handset options flat edges and rounded corners, and its display can be flat. The rear panel encompasses a clean, matte end that may decide up minor scuff marks in day-to-day use, which may be simply wiped off. There’s a raised aluminium island that homes a twin rear digital camera setup, in addition to an LED flash and an infrared (IR transmitter). Due to the placement of the IR transmitter, you need to level the again of the telephone at your home equipment as an alternative of holding it like a distant.

On the correct fringe of the OnePlus 13s, there’s a energy button and a quantity rocker, and the previous is definitely accessible when holding the telephone with one hand. The alert slider, which was situated on the left aspect, is lacking. OnePlus has changed it with a brand new Plus Key that may be reprogrammed, identical to the Action Button, which was first launched with the iPhone 15 Pro in 2023.

The handset encompasses a USB Type-C port on the backside, together with a SIM tray and a speaker grille. The show on the OnePlus 13s has very slim bezels, and the thickest of those is situated on the backside. It has a selfie digital camera that is situated within the centre of the display. The optical fingerprint scanner is somewhat troublesome to succeed in as it’s positioned close to the underside edge.

OnePlus 13s ships with a colour-coordinated TPU cowl

 

In addition to the OnePlus 13s handset, you additionally get an 80W SuperVOOC charger, a USB Type-A to USB Type-C cable, and a colour-coordinated TPU cowl within the field. The smartphone additionally comes with a preinstalled plastic scratch protector, however I peeled it off with the intention to take a look at the smartphone’s show.

OnePlus 13s Software: Optimised, No Bloatware

• Software – OxygenOS 15
• Version – Android 15
• Latest safety patch – April 1, 2025

While all of OnePlus’ current telephones run on the identical model of OxygenOS 15, the corporate’s quantity sequence does not embrace any bloatware or undesirable purposes, in contrast to the OnePlus Nord lineup. This can be true for the OnePlus 13s, which presents the identical software program expertise as its dearer sibling, the OnePlus 13.

OxygenOS 15 appears like a extra refined model of OxygenOS 14, and the animations and transitions are clean on the OnePlus 13s. The firm has additionally launched a number of new AI options which might be a part of its OnePlus AI suite and also will make their approach to different flagship fashions.

OxygenOS 15 on the OnePlus 13s (faucet to broaden)

 

If you employ the OnePlus Dialer app as an alternative of Google’s Phone app, you possibly can entry a brand new AI VoiceScribe characteristic. I examined this characteristic on the OnePlus 13s, and it labored as marketed, but it surely generally detects or transcribes phrases incorrectly. You may also entry a summarised model of those transcripts within the Notes app.

There’s a built-in Translate app on the OnePlus 13s that allows you to translate textual content and pictures or use your voice, but it surely is not at all times as correct because the Google Translate app. However, it does embrace a real-time display translation characteristic (in addition to stay captions), which is kind of useful as it really works inside apps that shouldn’t have selectable textual content, corresponding to Instagram. The handset additionally presents assist for Google’s AI options, together with Circle to Search and Gemini AI assistant integration inside apps.

The new Plus Key on the OnePlus 13s may be programmed to toggle sound and vibration modes, don’t disturb, launch the digital camera or torch, begin or finish an audio recording, launch the translator app, or take a screenshot. I examined all of those options, which work precisely as marketed.

The OnePlus 13s is the primary handset from the corporate with the brand new AI Plus Mind system, which shops related info in a central location referred to as Mind Space. You can both set the Plus Key to seize the content material of your display or set off the identical performance by swiping three fingers upward should you’re utilizing the important thing for one of many different capabilities listed above.

The OnePlus 13s ships with new OnePlus AI options

 

In addition to the options listed above, the OnePlus 13s additionally consists of AI-powered picture enhancing options which might be baked into the Photos app. It helps you to take away reflections from pictures, erase objects, sharpen blurry pictures, “upscale” decrease decision pictures (with blended outcomes), and even “expand” pictures utilizing a brand new AI Recompose characteristic. The object eraser characteristic may also take away objects in entrance of an individual’s face, however provided that some a part of the particular person’s face is seen.

When the Plus Key is mapped to the AI Plus Mind characteristic, it’s also possible to press it inside apps with textual content to get contextual options. If you press it when you’re within the BookMyShow app, the characteristic will pull a film’s launch date and immediate you so as to add a calendar occasion.

The new Plus Key may be remapped to carry out a number of capabilities

 

The firm says that the OnePlus 13s will obtain 4 years of Android OS upgrades and 6 years of safety updates. This is a fairly lengthy assist window for a smartphone on this worth section, though it might be good to see OnePlus making an attempt to match Samsung’s dedication to offering seven years of OS and safety updates for the Galaxy S24 FE.

OnePlus 13s Performance: Top-Tier Performance

• Processor – Snapdragon 8 Elite
• Memory – 12GB LPDDR5x
• Storage – Up to 512GB UFS 4.0

Performance on the OnePlus 13s is on par with a few of the strongest flagships out there at this time, together with the corporate’s present top-of-the-line mannequin, the OnePlus 13. The Snapdragon 8 Elite is among the strongest smartphone chipsets out there for Android telephones, and it might probably deal with something you throw at it with ease, from heavy gaming classes to accessing on-device AI options.

Left to proper: AnTuTu v10, PCMark Work 3.0, Geekbench 6 (faucet to broaden)

 

I’ve spent practically three weeks utilizing the OnePlus 13s as my main system, and there was no lag or stutter in day-to-day use. The 12GB of RAM is ample to maintain a number of apps in reminiscence, and multitasking between apps is clean. Meanwhile, the UFS 4.0 storage permits fast app installs from the Play Store.

Resource-intensive video games like Genshin Impact and Wuthering Waves run on the highest settings on the OnePlus 13s, and there was no throttling or stuttering after greater than an hour of gameplay. You may also play Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) at 120fps with HDR on — the sport ran easily for a number of rounds of the battle royale recreation.

Left to proper: PCMark Work 3.0, GFXBench 5.1, 3DMark (faucet to broaden)

 

The OnePlus 13s carried out properly on all artificial benchmark assessments, and you may check with the desk beneath to see the way it fares towards different smartphones that provide related efficiency, just like the OnePlus 13, iPhone 16e, and Oppo Find X8

I discovered that the 6.32-inch 1.5K (1,216×2,360 pixels) LTPO OLED display will get vibrant sufficient to be used outside, and it’s dim sufficient to forestall eye pressure at night time. It has a peak brightness of 1,600 nits, and it does not get as vibrant as different flagship telephones just like the Galaxy S25 (2,600 nits), OnePlus 13 (4,500 nits) or the Oppo Find X8 (4,500 nits). It’s a good show for streaming high-resolution video on Netflix and Prime Video, with Widevine L1 assist.

The OnePlus 13s sports activities a compact show

 

The show’s refresh charge ranges between 1Hz and 120Hz, and it was very responsive whereas taking part in the aforementioned video games. Like different OnePlus telephones, the built-in Photos app encompasses a ProXDR mode that enhances colors and saturation when viewing pictures. However, I like to recommend turning this mode off, as there is a noticeable distinction when viewing these pictures on one other system.

OnePlus 13s Cameras: A Dynamic Duo

• Primary digital camera – 50-megapixel (f/1.8), PDAF/ CAF/ LDAF, OIS, as much as 4K/ 60fps video
• Telephoto digital camera – 50-megapixel (f/2.0), EIS, 2x optical zoom
• Selfie digital camera – 32-megapixel, (f/2.0), EIS, 4K/ 30fps video

OnePlus has outfitted this handset with a 50-megapixel main digital camera with a 1/1.56-inch Sony LYT-700 sensor and optical picture stabilisation (OIS) and digital picture stabilisation (EIS). It’s a really succesful digital camera that takes clear and sharp photographs when there’s sufficient daylight, and pictures are captured as quickly as you contact the shutter button. The firm additionally launched the twin publicity algorithm from the OnePlus 13, which permits capturing sharp pictures of transferring objects.

Top to backside: Rear digital camera samples at 1x (main), 2x and 4x (telephoto) zoom (Tap to broaden)

 

 

For distant topics and portrait pictures, the OnePlus 13s is supplied with a 50-megapixel telephoto digital camera with a Samsung JN5 sensor and 2x optical zoom. This is similar sensor used on the ultrawide digital camera on the flagship OnePlus 13, and pictures captured with this digital camera are extra vibrant and fewer colour-accurate than these clicked with the first digital camera.

Portraits taken with the telephoto digital camera on the OnePlus 13s are sharp, particularly for footage captured whenever you’re outside. If you are indoors, you may want to make sure that there’s sufficient lighting to supply softer, smoother pictures. Your topics may even want to stay nonetheless, to forestall blurred pictures. There isn’t any OIS, and it isn’t as dependable as the first digital camera in low-light situations, particularly with transferring topics.

There’s no ultrawide digital camera on the OnePlus 13s, primarily resulting from house constraints, in line with the corporate. This signifies that you may must step again when capturing pictures of bigger topics, or taking an even bigger group picture.

Top to backside: Day and low-light digital camera samples, portraits, AI object eraser (Tap to broaden)

 

The built-in night time mode on the OnePlus 13s helps each cameras ship respectable pictures in low-light situations, however the main digital camera is quicker at capturing pictures. It additionally delivers higher picture high quality in tougher situations, in contrast with the telephoto digital camera.

Selfies captured utilizing the 32-megapixel front-facing digital camera on the OnePlus 13s are clear, and the digital camera app does not apply any pores and skin smoothening filters by default. I observed some softening when taking selfies in darker places, however the high quality of the selfies remains to be higher than that of different handsets on this worth section.

You can seize movies in 4K/ 60fps on each rear cameras, however the movies captured utilizing the first digital camera are a lot better, because of the presence of OIS. That mentioned, there’s an Ultra Steady mode that works reliably on each cameras. The selfie digital camera helps video recording at 4K/ 30fps, however switching on the extremely regular mode drops the decision to 1080p/ 30fps. The video high quality from the selfie digital camera is kind of respectable, even in indoor or barely darker places.

OnePlus 13s Battery: Hard to Kill

• Battery Capacity – 5,850mAh
• Wired Charging – 80W SuperVOOC

The OnePlus 13s has a flagship-grade chipset that is paired with a hefty battery. The handset gives greater than a day and a half of battery life with reasonable utilization. I had round 10 to 12 hours of screen-on-time (SoT), and my utilization consisted of internet looking, utilizing social media apps, a few hours of gaming, and streaming movies on YouTube and OTT apps.

OnePlus 13s provided round two days of utilization on a single cost

 

We additionally ran PCMark’s artificial battery benchmark take a look at that simulates a number of apps working on the system, and the OnePlus 13s lasted for twenty-four hours and 59 minutes. During our offline video loop playback take a look at, the telephone lasted for over 32 hours. However, please observe that these outcomes are from managed assessments with the telephone in flight mode and auto brightness turned off.

You get an 80W SuperVOOC charging adapter with the OnePlus 13s, and takes about 78 minutes for a full cost. The handset additionally helps reverse-wired charging, permitting you to prime up different gadgets or equipment when you’re on the go. There isn’t any assist for wi-fi charging — OnePlus said that this was because of the dimension of the compact smartphone.

OnePlus 13s: Verdict

The Snapdragon 8 Elite chip and the 5,800mAh battery are two of essentially the most notable options of the OnePlus 13s, and the handset delivers efficiency that’s on par with its dearer sibling, the OnePlus 13. The cameras are the one space the place the corporate seems to have reduce corners to maintain the handset’s worth low.

The OnePlus 13s is a stable telephone and will provide even higher worth sooner or later with reductions

 

And that is not essentially a foul factor — should you’re on the lookout for a handset with an ultrawide digital camera or a extra succesful telephoto digital camera, you may want to try the iQOO 13 (Review) or the lately launched Realme GT 7 Pro.

If you want a smartphone that runs on iOS, the iPhone 16e (Review) or the older iPhone 15 (Review) additionally out there at across the similar worth on Flipkart and Amazon. Keep in thoughts that the OnePlus 13s presents a greater show, longer battery life, quicker charging, and arguably higher digital camera efficiency.

All issues thought of, the OnePlus 13s is a smartphone with a dependable show, chipset, main digital camera, battery life, and software program expertise. It delivers the identical uncooked efficiency as dearer smartphones, such because the OnePlus 13 (Review) or the Samsung Galaxy S25 (Review), together with long-lasting battery life, and is straightforward to suggest should you’re available in the market for a smartphone priced underneath Rs. 60,000.