OnePlus 13 will get the inevitable value hike — do you have to nonetheless purchase it?

The OnePlus 13 made its world debut, and it’s now obtainable for $899 within the U.S. and ₹69,999 ($815) in India. It was all the time a provided that the cellphone would get a value hike — the Chinese language mannequin was costlier by $80 than the OnePlus 12, so it was apparent that the worldwide mannequin would additionally observe go well with.

That is the second 12 months the place OnePlus elevated the price of its system by $100; the OnePlus 11 debuted for $699, and the OnePlus 12 for $799 final 12 months. Even in India — the place OnePlus continues to promote a majority of its telephones — the system is costlier by ₹5,000 ($58). With the hike comes the inevitable query: do you continue to purchase the OnePlus 13, or pay extra and get the Pixel 9 Professional XL or the upcoming Galaxy S25 Extremely? That is what I am right here to reply.

Despite the fact that the OnePlus 13 prices $100 greater than final 12 months, you get appreciable upgrades; the cellphone has significantly better sturdiness, a much bigger battery, higher cameras on the again, and the most recent Qualcomm silicon. Out of all these adjustments, the one which I like essentially the most is the design. OnePlus overhauled its design language this 12 months, shifting to an aesthetic with flatter sides.

Whereas I am not normally a fan of this design type, OnePlus added beveled edges to the edges to make holding and utilizing the OnePlus 13 way more snug, and it has higher in-hand really feel than the Discover X8 Professional or the Vivo X200 Professional. The OnePlus 13 is someway lighter than final 12 months — and different telephones with 6,000mAh batteries — and the burden distribution is about the very best of any cellphone I used lately.

If you happen to’re eyeing the cellphone, I extremely suggest getting the Midnight Ocean variant; the blue shade appears to be like implausible, and the microfiber vegan leather-based again has a mushy texture that is not like every other leather-backed cellphone. OnePlus additionally switched to a Goodix ultrasonic fingerprint module this time, and fortunately, there are not any points with positioning — it’s excessive up on the panel, and I did not have any issues with authentication or accessing the sensor.

Then there’s the {hardware}. OnePlus all the time does a great job on this space, and the OnePlus 13 continues that heritage, delivering the most recent {hardware} coupled with wonderful optimization. The interface is noticeably sooner than final 12 months, and the fluidity is among the many better of any cellphone at this time.

It is nonetheless annoying that 120fps gaming is restricted to simply three video games, however in most titles I examined, the cellphone delivered regular framerates with none overheating points. I did not have any issues with the fundamentals — mobile connectivity was nice, and it had a powerful sign all through. Whereas I do not use eSIM but, the cellphone would not miss out on the characteristic, and that is good to see.

One other massive improve is across the battery tech, with the system getting a much bigger 6,000mAh battery that lasts a day and a half. The battery makes use of silicon-carbon tech and has 10% silicon within the anode to ship higher density, and an added bonus is the power to make use of the cellphone in freezing climate with none detriment to battery life.

Curiously sufficient, OnePlus retained the dual-cell configuration even with a silicon battery, and it’s the solely producer to take action — OPPO and Vivo switched to a single-cell design this time round. The benefit with a dual-cell design is you could simply cost each batteries on the identical time, and because of this, the OnePlus 13 takes 38 minutes to totally cost by way of the 80W commonplace; against this, the X200 Professional takes 12 minutes longer.