After the China-specific release of its flagship Android smartphone, OnePlus is looking to start the new year with the global unveiling of the highly anticipated OnePlus 13 and the value-oriented 13R. The Chinese brand, known for its premium devices without premium prices, has had the devices on sale in China since October 31st of this year.
What Makes the OnePlus 13 and 13R Special?
The OnePlus 13 features Snapdragon’s most advanced ‘8 Elite’ SoC, which consists of an 8-core CPU and the Adreno 830 GPU on a 3nm die. The slightly dialed-down 13R houses the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, which also has an octa-core processor paired with the Adreno 750 GPU. The 13 and the 13R have a large 6.82-inch and 6.78-inch LTPO AMOLED display with a refresh rate of 120 Hz. The OnePlus 13’s base variant comes with 256 GB of UFS 4.0 storage and 12 GB of RAM, while the top variant packs a terabyte of storage and a whopping 24 GB of RAM. The 13R is close behind with its base variant also getting 256 GB of storage, but only 8 GB of RAM, and the maxed-out version gets 512 GB of space paired with 16 GB of RAM.
Both smartphones are quite different in terms of camera quality. The more expensive 13 packs a triple 50-megapixel wide-focal length rear camera setup with a class-leading 32-megapixel selfie shooter on the front. The more modest 13R also houses a triple rear camera setup, which is quite similar to the 13, except the wide-angle camera offers only 8-megapixels. The selfie camera gets a bit more attention here, bringing half the megapixels of the 13. Both phones can record videos at 4K 60 FPS, but the 13 takes it up a notch by shooting at 8K 30 FPS.
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The smartphones don’t come with a lithium-ion battery; instead, they sport a 6000 mAh silicon carbon one that packs in more ions with its tighter form factor. The batteries are efficient enough to last an entire day of extensive usage without needing to plug them in. But if you need to, the 13 can fully replenish its dead battery within 20 minutes of charging thanks to the included 100W Super VOOC charger. The OnePlus 13 supports fast wireless charging at 50W and 10W reverse charging, though the 13R is unfortunately neglected.
Both devices will launch with OxygenOS 15, based on Android 15, rather than the Chinese release version, which uses ColorOS 15. The entry-level variant of the OnePlus 13 costs around $675 when converted from Chinese Yuan, while the decked-out version can be as expensive as $885. When OnePlus One launched, the brand’s tagline was “The Flagship Killer” due to its flagship-level specs at a third of the price. This isn’t entirely accurate now, as prices have kept climbing over the years. That being said, OnePlus smartphones still rank among the best in features, build quality, and user experience, making them popular among Android devotees.
As per OnePlus’s official website, the upcoming new models will be released globally in January 2025, though the precise date is still unknown. The smartphones are likely to be subject to bonus promotions, such as a free OnePlus Watch 2, a 5% discount for students, a $100 bonus on a trade-in value, or a 12-month interest-free EMI program. Those eyeing a new phone in 2025 might want to look out for the OnePlus 13 early in the new year.
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