OnePlus 13s Review: A Compact Feature-Packed Powerhouse

Is OnePlus bringing back the “flagship killer”? Forget small upgrades: gossip has it that the OnePlus 13 might just be a disruptor. Running on a fire-breathing Snapdragon 8 Elite from Qualcomm and with a massive 5,800mAh cell, this is not an ordinary premium phone. Going against the grain of ever-growing screens, the 13 is said to come with a surprisingly pocketable 6.3-inch OLED display a little larger than the iPhone 16 standard. Is OnePlus about to redefine “flagship killer” for a new era?

OnePlus 13s lands in India! Prepare to shell out ₹54,999 for the 12GB/256GB base model, or ₹59,999 for the pumped-up 12GB/512GB version. But is it really worthy of being called a helium wallet? Our OnePlus 13s review dives deep to see if it fulfills its hype.

OnePlus 13s Design: Compact, Comfortable to Use

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

Remembering the days of pocketable powerhouses? OnePlus, infamously known for screen size inflation since the 5T, seems to be turning back the clock. Forget phablets; the rumored OnePlus 13s is actually said to have a smaller footprint than the loved OnePlus 6. And for those gifted with hands that can actually palm a basketball, one-handed operation has reacquired its charm. Would this then mean the return of truly usable, powerful smartphones?

We reviewed the Green Silk variant, which is only available in India

Imagine a sleek, modern slab – with flat planes meeting gently curved corners, framing a display that stretches edge to edge. Flip it over, and your fingers trace over a smooth matte finish; it is fingerprint resistant but allows for the occasional scuff of life-as-easy-as-that-wipe-off kind. The eye travels next toward the gleaming aluminum plateau that is the phone’s photography headquarters: dual lenses stand guard next to a brilliant LED flash and, unexpectedly, an infrared transmitter. Cleverly, this last feature really takes you away from your familiar milieus: point thebackof the phone to change the channel!

The OnePlus 13s shifts things around. The right edge now houses the power button and volume rocker, with the power button perfectly positioned for easy one-handed access. But where’s the familiar alert slider? Gone, it makes way for the new, customizable Plus Key – OnePlus’ answer to Apple’s Action Button from the iPhone 15 Pro.

On the bottom edge, the OnePlus 13s comprises a modern USB-C port flanked by a SIM tray and speaker grilles, which are drilled to absolute precision. Near-invisible bezels surround the brilliant display on all sides, with only the chin ever so slightly suggesting a lower boundary for the phone. At the absolute center is the front camera, perfectly positioned for well-balanced selfies. The in-display fingerprint scanner looks great but is placed slightly low, requiring a little thumb stretch.

OnePlus 13s ships with a colour-coordinated TPU cover

Having gotten into the OnePlus 13s, you are far from just having the phone itself; that is from having the power-up arsenal. That 80W SuperVOOC charger? Warp speed for your battery, I say! And the USB cable is not just mere functionality; it is your data backbone. Last but not least, a rubberized resin case in the same hue as your new baby. It has also got that edge of pre-installed screen protector, which I must confess I took off immediately to genuinelyfeelthe richness of the display beneath.

OnePlus 13s Software: Optimised, No Bloatware

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

OnePlus is keeping its number series very pure. Unlike the Nord line, the next OnePlus 13s and its flagship brother, the OnePlus 13, provide clean OxygenOS 15 free of any bloatware, signifying that clean software is not just for premium devices.

OxygenOS 15: Where Refinement Meets AI Ingenuity. Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 tucked under the hood, this smartphone is now worthy of receiving the upgrade graced with easy transitions and fluid animations. So, obviously, this update would not feel incremental but rather rebirthing. Yet this OnePlus AI debut could be the real game-changer-a set of smarts that seriously alters how we interact with our smartphone. And the great thing is, these AI features are going to trickle down beyond the 13s, creating waves of intelligent functions in future flagship devices.

OxygenOS 15 on the OnePlus 13s (tap to expand)

Say goodbye to Google’s Phone app-OnePlus Dialer has gone through a serious upgrade. Testing out VoiceScribe AI on the OnePlus 13s, from very few transcription errors, the conversion of calls to text works really well. The really cool function is the summarized transcripts getting dumped right into the Notes app, so it’s very easy to recap a call.

Translator inside OnePlus 13s! How fluent does it say? Not perfect as in always with Google Translate, but it provides screen translations in real time, a savior when those Instagram posts come in with text non-selectable. Plus, it uses Google’s AI might to load in Circle to Search and Gemini AI inside apps that you love.

OnePlus 13s owners, get set to unlock a whole new level of control! The customizable Plus Key is the name given to this power at your disposal. Just imagine: One press of the button and the whole world goes into Do Not Disturb mode or that instant click captures an image as it comes to your mind, or the torch is switched on to light the night. And this is not all. You can record crystal clear audio, translate foreign languages, or capture a screenshot at the speed of lightning! I really tested the Plus Key in all kinds of usage, and trust me, this feature does live up to its hype. It is effortless, intuitive, and precisely how you would imagine OnePlus to be.

Accompanying an exceptional AI Plus Mind system, OnePlus 13s creates a portal to your own digital world. Imagine a central hub named “Mind Space,” where all of your integral data lies and is ready at your fingertips. Tapping the power is intuitive and groundbreaking at the same time. Go ahead and give this revolutionary Plus Key a role: to instantly capture anything on your screen; otherwise, if it’s already doing something else, just swipe three fingers up to start searching through the ocean of information. The future of mobile is here, and it is thinking with you.

The OnePlus 13s ships with new OnePlus AI features

Your memories seem to be about to be redefined by yet another expectation for the OnePlus 13s with its AI-powered Photos app. Reflections can be removed just with a tap, with objects disappearing at will, and one can even resurrect the blurry pictures. How about giving some fine details? If the image is small and low-res, AI upscale attempts to work so, with the results being rather questionable. Feeling generous? AI Recompose can intelligently “grow” pictures beyond their original borders. For some digital touch-ups, the object eraser can remove obstructions as long as there’s a good view of the face.

Let the Plus Key conjure contextual magic! Give it that mapping to AI Plus Mind, and you will see it working on all text-based apps. Let’s imagine you are in BookMyShow: the Plus Key springs to life, pulling up release dates for the movie and suggesting you add a calendar event. It’s so easy and intuitive; there is something to simplify your digital life.

The new Plus Key can be remapped to perform several functions

If a OnePlus 13s owner were to rest easy, then arguably, they have that comfort of four years of Android OS upgrades and six years of security patches. This is good enough support for a phone at this price level. Nonetheless, in the wake of Samsung raising the time frame for updates to seven years for the Galaxy S24 FE, one’s curiosity indeed is piqued about whether OnePlus would entertain the notion of entering that longer-lifecycle space.

OnePlus 13s Performance: Top-Tier Performance

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

Not only does the OnePlus 13s bat in the major leagues:It dominates the field. Fully loaded with a Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, this phone just chuckles at demanding tasks. Imagine consistent smooth frame rates with heavy 3D gaming and lightning-fast results from on-device AI generation. Truly a power monster and, for a change, competing with the OnePlus 13 in raw battery power.

Left to right: AnTuTu v10, PCMark Work 3.0, Geekbench 6 (tap to expand)

Three weeks. So far, these have been three weeks of regular day-to-day use of this phone, and honestly-it has been an experience. Never once did I feel the slowness and stuttering that lesser phones suffer from. The 12GB RAM silently multitasks, holding a dozen apps in memory at once. Nice to see that switching between them is smooth and effortless. Considering the UFS 4.0 storage, app downloads are almost instantaneous, like they are being conjured into existence right at the Play Store. This phone is just a flash ahead, seemingly knowing what you’re about to do.

OnePlus 13s doesn’t just play Genshin and Wuthering Waves; it crushes them. All settings maxed, picturing one whole hour of gorgeous gameplay without the faintest stutter or any sign of throttling. But the true test was running Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) at massive 120fps with HDR visuals. A parade of victories took place in smooth-as-glass battle royale rounds and cemented OnePlus 13s’s position as a true gaming champion.

Left to right: PCMark Work 3.0, GFXBench 5.1, 3DMark (tap to expand)

The OnePlus 13s has not just passed through the benchmark test; it has far smothered it. It sparks the curiosity: how does it fare against giants like the OnePlus 13, the elusive iPhone 16e, and the Oppo Find X8? Drop-down the comparative statement below, and the performance speaks for itself.

An in vivo chameleon that blends into its own surroundings regardless of their light condition, the 6.32-inch 1.5K LTPO OLED display goes brighter than ever under the glaring sun and therefore stays fully visible. When the night sets in, it gets quite dim so it would be comfortable to view without any stress to the eyes. While it does not match the off-the-charts brightness of 1,900 or so nits produced by titans such as the Galaxy S25, the OnePlus 13, or the Oppo Find X8, 1,600 nits is still an imposing number for showcasing true colors. Unleash the rich HD beauty of Netflix and Prime Video to the fullest because Widevine L1 enables full resolution.

The OnePlus 13s sports a compact display

The screen danced between refresh rates: a power-saving 1Hz and an ultra-smooth 120Hz, crunching together milliseconds in a gaming session. OnePlus’s ProXDR photo enhancement in the Photos app will juice up colors and saturation-alongside my recommendation, one must uncheck this feature. If you see the photos elsewhere, the super-vibrancy will be gone-the extra boost will be revealed as artificial.

OnePlus 13s Cameras: A Dynamic Duo

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

Let the creative energy flow through you as you use the OnePlus 50MP main camera, with a 1/1.56-inch Sony LYT-700 sensor. It is not just a camera, but a portal to an alternate reality where photos come alive in colors and details-all in stabilization from OIS and EIS, lest they should lose the beauty in the making due to even the slightest motion!

Bounce shutter lag! Grab fleeting moments instantly, going at lightning speed with response. Borrowing technology from its flagship sibling, OnePlus 13, the dual-exposure-algorithm mutates motions into memories-a-credit-based action-dirt-free memory.

Top to bottom: Rear camera samples at 1x (primary), 2x and 4x (telephoto) zoom (Tap to expand)

The OnePlus 13s brings the telephoto camera closer to life with its 50MP sensor. Equipped with a Samsung JN5 sensor and 2x optical zoom, it excels at portrait work and helps with the sharp focusing of far-off subjects. Interestingly, it shares the genetic make-up of the ultrawide lens on the OnePlus 13. Expect images to come out bold and characterful, with colors somewhat leaning toward artistic interpretation rather than clinical accuracy, at least when compared to the output of the main camera.

The OnePlus 13s’ telephoto lens handles outdoor, natural-light portraiture well, with very fine detailing. Indoors, while capturing talent, one requires good lighting conditions plus it softens the looks, giving it the desired effect. Above all, a motionless subject helps, as the elimination of OIS renders it much more unforgiving than its main counterpart in fading light or a moving subject.

Ultrawide photography, for OnePlus 13s, is sacrificed owing to spatial constraints. Get ready to do some physical activity! Whether it is wide landscapes or accommodating a large crowd, the zooming will be manual, by virtue of the feet.

If you want to get your sprinting shoes on, the OnePlus 13s is your phone. The ultrawide camera has had to take a back seat in order to accommodate the larger module for other core camera components.

In other words, any wide shots of anyone and anything will have the zooming done by the bare feet.

Definitely one to put on your jogging shoes! In other words, OnePlus 13s has no ultrawide considering component spacial avenue. Need a wide shot of nature, pretty much squeeze in the whole gang? You will be doing the zooming with your feet.

Say hello to a little workout for you, as the OnePlus 13s is sans ultrawide, tallying with those compromising spatial avenues. Shooting broad landscapes or capturing a whole gang will mean zooming at the pace of your feet.

Indeed, you will require your jogging shoes! On account of spatial avenues, the OnePlus 13s missed ultrawide. Need wide shots of the landscape, or fit the whole gang? Well, now your feet will be doing the zooming!

Top to bottom: Day and low-light camera samples, portraits, AI object eraser (Tap to expand)

With the OnePlus 13s, darkness becomes an ally. In low light, the night mode activates, allowing both cameras to take rather respectable shots. However, the primary lens will just shine brighter while snapping pictures much faster and with better clarity in those truly demanding situations where the telephoto just can’t hold up.

Selfies can’t be an empty term for the OnePlus 13s; with its massive 32MP front camera, it captures crystal-clear portraits. At last, a phone that respects the natural look: unwanted skin-smoothing filters are gone before you even begin. Low-light selfies might remain just a touch soft, yet, during such times, it holds higher to details and clarity on the price level in comparison with anyone else.

Dream it, and make it happen your 4K/60fps movies will surely astonish! While main-camera shots according to OIS get the face value of clarity and fluidity, do not forget the uber times an ultra-wide lens can be thrown. Ultra Steady mode is a must for those super-action moments, wherein smooth footage can be guaranteed on either of the two cameras.

The subject is engaging in a selfie. Such memories shall be captured in crisp 30fps/4K. For extreme stabilization, use the Ultra Steady mode with the resolution set to 1080p at a frame rate of 30fps. Due to the weak illumination, the selfie camera somehow magnetizes the quality of being good-videography.

OnePlus 13s Battery: Hard to Kill

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

Consider the battery-a-geddon. The dread of a low battery sign designer would shriek could barely toy with OnePlus 13s. Your OnePlus is not just a flagship chipset; it possesses a battery that seems to drink lightly on the power while performing its marathon. Battery-wise, a day and a half at liberty from the charger, under moderate daily grind. I mean, 10-12 screen-on hours, with a never-ending to-do list of web browsing, social media dives, intense gaming sessions, and back-to-back viewing on YouTube and OTT platforms! This is not a battery life; this is a lifeline.

OnePlus 13s offered around two days of usage on a single charge

OnePlus 13s battery testing was practically a joke. The gauntlet of simulated apps from PCMark barely managed to scratch the surface, rating 24 hours and 59 minutes. But the real amazement from this was the offline video playback of over 32 glorious hours, as if it watches endless movies during a cross-country flight. Just to be clear, this was done in a controlled environment, airplane mode was on, and brightness was set manually. Real-life usage might differ, but these numbers give away a hint of its staying power.

If you really want to juice up your OnePlus 13s and make use of the blazing 80W SuperVOOC charger, just 78 minutes remain to go full charge from 0! Sharing juice is also a possibility with the 13s, as it supports reverse charging. Going wireless was just not worth the bulk for such a compact powerhouse.

OnePlus 13s: Verdict

The Snapdragon 8 Elite is at the heart of the most powerful pack here, OnePlus 13s, with a big battery of 5,800mAh capable of running for ages. Performance-wise, it’d be OnePlus 13 without the flagship price tag. But here’s the catch: The camera could very well be the only indicator where OnePlus shed some pounds to afford this budget monster.

The OnePlus 13s is a solid phone and could offer even better value in the future with discounts

However, if a killer ultrawide lens paired with the best telephoto reach is at the top of your must-have list, then it’s the iQOO 13 (read our review) or the brand-new Realme GT 7 Pro that will pull your heart away.

Torn between iPhones? The newer iPhone 16e (Review) and the still-powerful iPhone 15 (Review) are battling for your attention (and budget) on Flipkart and Amazon. BUT before you pledge allegiance to iOS, consider this: the OnePlus 13s delivers a knockout punch with a superior display, battery that just won’t quit, warp-speed charging, and a camera that might just steal the iPhone’s thunder. Choose wisely.

Forget flagship prices, never performance! OnePlus 13s punches WAY above its weight category. You get the very raw power of OnePlus 13 and Samsung Galaxy S25 but sans premium prices. Silky smooth performance, super vibrancy with the display, snapping memories with jaw-dropping clarity, and battery life with a never-giving-up attitude. If you are on the radar to buy a phone below Rs. 60,000 with flagship experiences, OnePlus 13s is an easy call.

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