Battery drain test highlights abysmal efficiency of the OnePlus 13

Equipping a phone with a bigger battery is a reliable way to improve its battery performance, but the trend of chasing bigger batteries may have come at the cost of efficiency. A new battery drain test has now compared some of the current-gen flagship smartphones on the market, highlighting their efficiency, with the OnePlus 13 standing out—and not in a good way. 

In a test by TechNick, the iPhone 16 Pro Max, Galaxy S25 Ultra, OnePlus 13, Vivo X200 Pro, and other premium phones were pitted against each other, with some rather interesting results. As is becoming the norm, the iPhone 16 Pro Max displays the best battery life of the lot, lasting 12 hours and 44 minutes. The Vivo X200 Pro came in second at 12 hours and 18 minutes, while the iPhone 16e finished third, lasting exactly 11 hours.

Other than those, the Honor Magic7 Pro comes fourth, followed by the OnePlus 13, Galaxy S25 Ultra, and Galaxy S24 Ultra—in that order. While this provides a baseline index of battery performance, it gets a lot more interesting when considering the battery capacities of the devices. 

The tested iPhones lead the pack by a distance, showing class-leading efficiency on a mAh/min basis. The iPhone 16e is the most efficient, with 6.068mAh/min, and is followed closely by the iPhone 16 Pro Max at 6.132mAh. That difference can likely be chalked up to the 16e's lower-res and lower refresh rate display. 

The Vivo X200 Pro is the most efficient of the Android devices, at 8.130mAh/min, highlighting MediaTek's stellar work on the Dimensity 9400. The Snapdragon 8 Elite-powered Honor Magic7 Pro and Galaxy S25 Ultra (buy on Amazon) follow right behind with 8.145mAh/min and 8.224mAh/min. The OnePlus 13? A distant last, with 9.852mAh/min.

These results offer a clear picture of the OnePlus 13’s struggles in efficiency, with it being up to 20% less efficient than its Snapdragon 8 Elite-powered peers. The flagship phone's thermals were the worst of the bunch as well. It recorded the highest temperature of any device on the test, at a whopping 63.5°C. In comparison, the Galaxy S25 Ultra peaked at a significantly lower 52°C. This isn't a one-off either—we had similar issues with the OnePlus 13 in our in-house tests, with poor thermals hampering the phone's sustained performance. 

Thankfully, OnePlus's next flagship phone promises to right the wrongs of the OnePlus 13. The OnePlus 13T has been confirmed to launch later this month and will arrive with a bigger battery than the OnePlus 13, and better heat dissipation. If properly implemented, it wouldn't be surprising to see the 13T launch with the best battery life of current-gen Android flagship phones.