Fantastic OnePlus 13T sales highlight the rising demand for premium compact phones

After weeks of teasers, OnePlus finally launched its 13T in China last month as its entry in the increasingly popular premium compact phone roster. The OnePlus 13T has sold incredibly well since then, strongly indicating the potential in that market. 

As revealed by Louis Lee, President of OnePlus China, the OnePlus 13T was an exceptional sales success at launch, with the company selling CNY 200,000,000 ($27.5m) worth of the compact phone in just ten minutes. Notably, the executive also claimed that the 13T outsold all of its similarly priced peers, as well as creating a company record for most offline pre-orders.

While the OnePlus 13T is priced lower than most other flagships in China—it's sold at CNY 2,899 versus the Xiaomi 15's CNY 4,499 MSRP—its impressive sales numbers indicate substantial interest in compact premium phones. In the Chinese market, at least. OEMs recognize the opportunity too, with devices like the Vivo X200 Pro mini, OPPO Find X8s, and Xiaomi 15 all arriving as current-gen premium devices sized at around the 6.3-inch mark.

Some may not consider a 6.3-inch device to be truly compact but the changes to a taller display ratio and slimmer bezels mean that modern 6.3-inch devices are about the same size as significantly "smaller" devices in the past. The 6.32-inch 13T, for example, is smaller across the board than the 5.5-inch Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge was.

Tragically, however, this recent push for compact devices has failed to translate to the global market and appears limited to China. Neither the Vivo X200 Pro mini nor OPPO Find X8s are lined up for a global release. The OnePlus 13T toes a similar line, as it's only set to be released in India as the OnePlus 13S. 

Lovers of smaller-sized premium Android devices outside of China remain limited to three devices effectively at the moment: the Google Pixel 9, Samsung Galaxy S25, and Xiaomi 15 (buy on Amazon). While that may be considered unfair, it's important to remember that OEMs like Asus and Sony offered compact models in the recent past but ditched them—presumably due to poor sales. Until fans of compact flagships start voting with their wallets, options in that segment of the market are likely to remain limited.