Following its launch in China last month, we now know everything about the anticipated OnePlus 15. Before we dive into all the technical specifications, can we stop and appreciate its absolutely fantastic battery? It has a 7,300mAh “silicon nanostack” battery that is 43% larger than the iPhone 17 Pro Max’s 5,088mAh unit. It’s pretty strange that only a few years ago, a 5,000mAh battery was considered top of the line, but now, clearing 7,000mAh is about to be the standard.
OnePlus is able to pack a 7,300mAh battery in the phone using a dual-cell silicon carbide battery. These batteries have started making their way into flagship Android phones last year. They get the benefit of larger capacities with smaller footprints. In other words, phones can be made thinner or the same size with more capacity to last for days on a single charge.
Regarding the battery, OnePlus says that the OnePlus 15 can charge up to 100W with a cable and up to 50W using wireless charging.
OK, enough about the OnePlus 15’s big battery. What else is there in the phone? Pretty much what you’d expect from a new flagship Android phone. It includes Qualcomm’s latest and most powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip, up to 16GB of RAM (base 12GB) and up to 512GB of storage (base 256GB). That beefy chipset is cooled by a new “3D vapor chamber,” which OnePlus says is made of “hand-tearable” steel and an “airgel cooling layer.” The result is that the OnePlus 15 shouldn’t overheat under heavy load and maintain performance for things like 3D gaming.
Talking about gaming, OnePlus 15 has a 6.78-inch LTPO display with 1.5K resolution. Compared to the OnePlus 13’s 2K-resolution screen, this may seem like a downgrade, but OnePlus is defending the drop in pixels because the screen has a 165Hz refresh rate, which is more responsive for playing games. Why not go with a 165Hz 2K display? Because it doesn’t exist. The 165Hz screen also has a 3,200Hz touch sample rate, which is much higher than the 1,440Hz to 2,400Hz found in some of the best gaming phones.
On the camera front, the OnePlus 15 features a new triple 50-megapixel camera system, consisting of a main, ultrawide, and telephoto, in its new circular shape. The ultrawide has a 116-degree FOV, and the telephoto has a 3.5x optical zoom with a 7x crop-in. The display has a 32-megapixel selfie camera with autofocus. Sadly, this isn’t a square sensor like the one found on the iPhone 17/17 Pro/Air. Personally, I like that OnePlus made the extra effort to add an “Underwater Mode,” which allows the camera and touchscreen to function fully when submerged in water.
More pro-oriented users will appreciate nerdier camera features like Dolby Vision HDR, wide dynamic range for capturing slo-mo and RAW video at 120 fps in 4K with O-Log that can later be color-graded, and real-time LUT (lookup table) preview (letting you see color grades within the camera).
I’m not expecting any degradation in the Android software experience. OnePlus has been optimizing its OxygenOS for speed and responsiveness for over a decade. If you’re familiar with OxygenOS, the new version 16 will look very familiar. What’s new is all the AI stuff. It’s still unclear how useful any of this is, but FYI, there’s an “AI Scan” feature that extracts text from any photo or document, an “AI Recorder” that can transcribe meetings and distinguish between speakers, an “AI Portrait Glow” feature that fixes underexposed portrait photos, and an “AI PlayLab” that lets users toggle on experimental AI features.
And, of course, there’s a dedicated “Plus key” located on the left side of the OnePlus 15. This key, which was first introduced on the OnePlus 13S, works just like the iPhone’s customizable action buttons, and can also be pressed to launch Google’s Gemini AI chatbot. Additionally, the Plus key can use Gemini to extract information from the screen and save the content to the phone’s “AI Plus Mind” for later recall.
OnePlus sent us a OnePlus 15 review unit, and I’ll have a full review of it on Gizmodo soon. So far, it seems to be a solid phone with great battery life. The OnePlus 15 was originally scheduled to launch in the US today, November 13, but due to the ongoing government shutdown, the release has been delayed. OnePlus sent the following statement to Gizmodo regarding the delay:
As is the case with every smartphone manufacturer, the United States Federal Communications Commission certifies OnePlus devices before they can be sold in the US. Given the current government shutdown, US sales of the OnePlus 15 will be postponed until proper certification is secured. OnePlus 15 has already completed all the required tests from FCC accredited laboratories and the certification application has been formally submitted.
However, Canadians can pre-order the OnePlus 15 ASAP for CA$1,299.99 (12GB RAM + 256GB storage) or CA$1,399.99 for 16GB RAM + 512GB storage, with general availability starting on November 18th. when oneplus 15 does When launched in the US, it will be priced at $899.99 (12GB RAM + 256GB storage) and $999.99 (16GB + 512GB RAM).