OnePlus 15 review: Solid performer with minimalistic form factor

OnePlus 15 ticks all the key checkmarks we look for in a premium phone, such as premium build quality, smooth performance, long battery, decent camera and super fast charging capability.

Last week, OnePlus launched the new Android flagship OnePlus 15 series phone in India.

It comes with a visually appealing design made of premium build quality, a powerful Qualcomm chipset and a big battery.  

Design, build quality and display

OnePlus 15 flaunts a minimalistic premium design. It has nice curved square camera module, which houses a triple camera sensors and a LED flash.

It features a sturdy metallic mid-frame offering good grip for the fingers to hold on to the device.

Our review unit is special Sand Storm variant. For this particular model, the company has used industry-first Micro Arc Oxidation (MAO) technology to offer a natural, smooth ceramic-like texture to the phone. It has used aero-space grade nano ceramic metal-based alloy, which is touted to be 1.34x times sturdier than titanium, and 3.4X better than aluminium. It will be the most durable OnePlus phone to date.

OnePlus 15.

The device also available in two other colour options including infinite black and ultraviolet.

OnePlus 15 comes with IP68, IP69 and IP69K ratings. It can survive under water up to two metres depth for close to 30 minutes and can even withstand high-pressure water jets at temperatures up to 80°C.

Further, the display is protected by Corning's Gorilla Glass Victus 2. And, on the back, it features Gorilla Glass 7i shield.

However, for the Sand Storm variant features more durable fibre glass-based protection on the rear side. 

The company also offers soft silicone case, which protects the device from getting dented or scratched during a hard fall on the surface. 

OnePlus 15 features Plus Key button, which replaces the trademark alert slider we have seen in almost all OnePlus phones for a decade.

Unlike the alert slider, which allows the user to switch between ring, silence and vibration modes, the Plus Key can be programmable to do multiple functions such as turn on silent/night mode, do not disturb, launch camera, shortcut to take screenshots, take voice memo, torch, and Mind Space, OnePlus’ AI feature.

The device sports super slim 1.15mm uniform bezel around the edges. It has a small camera at the top and the rest is a functional display area with a 90.8 per cent screen-to-body ratio. It comes with  6.82-inch 1.5K OLED display with variable 1-120Hz refresh rate, in-screen ultrasonic fingerprint sensor, supports Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR Vivid, and offers up to 1,800nit peak brightness.

Though the display has 1.5K (1272 x 2772p) resolution compared to the 2K+(3168×1440p) we see on the OnePlus 13, most people are unlikely find any discernible difference. Because, display panel with pixel density of 450 ppi (pixels per inch) is more than enough to content to appear sharp on the compact phone.

OnePlus 15 has a fine display for multimedia consumption and  while gaming, it can attain peak 165Hz refresh rate, to further enhance the user experience. 

The optical fingerprint sensor works fine without any issue. 

Performance

The new device is powered by a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. It is a 3nm class 64-bit octa-core Oryon silicon. With a record peak clock speed of 4.6 GHz, it promises 20 per cent improvement in performance and 35 per cent better power efficiency. This means the devices will be able to deliver one hour and 48 minutes of additional gaming playtime on a phone compared to the previous chipset.

OnePlus 15's single-core, multi-core and GPU score on Geekbench 6.0 performance benchmarking app. 

With the latest Adreno GPU, it promises to deliver 23 per cent improved performance, 20 per cent better power efficiency, and 25 per cent improved Ray Tracing to deliver an immersive gaming experience on smartphones.

Add to that, the OnePlus 15 comes with OP Gaming Core, touted to be the industry-first chip-level technology. It is specifically designed to ensure the device stays stable, runs smoothly and retains high frames per second (fps) rates while playing graphics-rich games.

It supports several popular titles including Call of Duty, Clash of Clans, Brawl Stars, Real Racing 3, Standoff 2 and Blood Strike-FPS with native 165fps to deliver immersive gaming experience. It can remain stable and don’t overheat much when playing in indoors.

It should be noted that it boast of 360 Cryo-Velocity Cooling System, where in the company has incorporated aerogel screen cooler on the front with and 5,731mm² 3D VC vapor chamber on back with an additional layer of white graphite for heat dissipation.

It can easily handle all generative AI features without any issues. Now, Gemini AI is integrated with OnePlus Plus Mind feature to deliver even better user experience.

It runs Android-based OxygenOS 16 with lots of refreshing customisation options.

OnePlus 15.

Also, the device is guaranteed to get four years of Android OS updates (2029) and six years of security patches for emerging cyber threats up to 2031.

Under regular usage, it can easily last more than a day. Also, it supports 120W wired fast charging and 50W wireless charging speed.

OnePlus 15's camera sample.

Photography

It boasts of a triple-camera module featuring-- main 50MP (with 1/1.56-inch Sony IMX906  sensor with f/1.8 aperture, OIS: Optical Image Stabilisation) backed by a 50MP 116-degree ultra-wide camera (f/2.0 aperture) and a 50MP 3.5x periscope telephoto camera (with JN5 sensor, f/2.8, OIS) with LED flash. 

OnePlus 15's camera sample.

The device’s camera is powered by DetailMax Engine, an advanced suite of computational algorithms that promises to make good use of the hardware to high quality pictures. It does a fine job almost all light conditions.

OnePlus 15's camera sample.

It also supports ultra-wide mode. As you can see the sample photos, it manages to capture entire streatch of the lake pretty nicely without any software tricks.

OnePlus 15's camera sample with ultra-wide angle mode.

The device can capture photos with 3.5x optical zoom and 7x high-quality lossless zoom. It also supports Digital Zoom up to 120X. However, it retains crisp quality up to 40X, beyond that, the photos begin to accumulate noise.

OnePlus 15 camera sample with normal field of view.

OnePlus 15 camera sample with 2X optical zoom.

OnePlus 15 camera sample with 3.5X optical zoom.

OnePlus 15 camera sample with 7X optical zoom.

OnePlus 15 camera sample with 30X digital zoom.

OnePlus 15 camera sample with 60X digital zoom.

OnePlus 15 camera sample with 120X digital zoom.

The device works fine with macro mode too. It takes pretty nice close up shots with all the minute details and near-accurate colour of the subjects.

OnePlus 15's camera sample.

OnePlus 15's camera sample.

OnePlus 15 takes really nice Portrait photos with sharp focus on the subject and does a fine job with artfully blur the background to deliver bokeh effect.

OnePlus 15's camera sample.

The device also supports Underwater mode too. Users can capture photos and record videos in fresh water, with the volume keys acting as shutter controls.

OnePlus 15's camera sample.

OnePlus 15's camera sample.

At night, OnePlus 15 takes sharp photos with less grains.

OnePlus 15's camera sample.

Even under controlled light conditions indoors, the device manages to get crisp images.

OnePlus 15's camera sample.

All the Artificial Intelligence-powered editing tools such as AI Eraser, AI Unblur, AI Refine and more work amazingly good to deliver enhanced photography experience on OnePlus 15.

OnePlus 15's camera sample.

It can record 4K video with Dolby Vision HDR at 120 frames per second (fps). It can also record 8K videos at 30 fps.

OnePlus 15's camera sample.

On the front, it features a 32MP camera with Sony IMX709 sensor. 

OnePlus 15's camera sample.

It captures pretty nice selfies and supports 4K recording at 60fps.

OnePlus 15's camera sample.

Final thoughts

Like the previous iterations, OnePlus 15 ticks all the checkmarks such as premium build quality, smooth performance, long battery, decent camera and super fast charging capability.

OnePlus 15.

But, this time, the price is bit more expensive than the launch price of the predecessor. 

If you own a OnePlus 13 series, you can skip this. However, older OnePlus owners will find the OnePlus 15 a really good upgrade.

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