OnePlus 15 smartphone review – Gaming at 165fps, despite being slower than the predecessor

Although the OnePlus 15's specifications show it isn't intended to be Oppo's flagship camera phone, it's still capable of taking good photos.

The main focus is on performance, which is designed to operate without any artificial limitations. The downside, however, is that this can cause the phone to overheat and shut down. Furthermore, the phone throttles significantly under sustained load. Despite this, its Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 means you won't have to worry about running out of power for apps or games.

The chassis is very high-quality, and its satin-finish frame lends the device a particularly premium feel.

The large 7,300 mAh battery has also made its way to Europe thanks to its dual-cell design. While it doesn't quite take the battery life crown, the OnePlus 15 is still a significant upgrade over its predecessor.

The screen displays movements very smoothly, and the phone feels very responsive thanks to its dedicated touch controller chip.

However, users will have to put up with PWM flickering, so anyone sensitive to such issues should try out the screen before parting with their cash.

The sub $1,000 price makes the OnePlus 15 attractive for budget-conscious users for whom the camera isn't the most crucial factor.

When it started out, OnePlus was revolutionary: significantly cheaper than the established competition, yet very well-equipped and boasting premium workmanship. Furthermore, they always cared about what the community had to say and implemented feedback in future models.

However, OnePlus's current models no longer quite live up to this legendary reputation. This is partly because the brand has had to differentiate itself internally from the smartphones of its sister company, Oppo, and often comes up short in this regard.

Nevertheless, the OnePlus 15 is once again an exciting smartphone that is somewhat cheaper than other high-end phones, yet still well-equipped.

When it comes to the case, OnePlus is trying to forge its own path, and is also clearly inspired by the smartphone giant, Apple: The rounded screen corners, the action button placement, and the printed antennas could fool a less experienced user into thinking they're holding a phone from California rather than Shenzhen.

However, the design is also unique thanks to its matte finish: OnePlus uses a process called Micro-Arc Oxidation, which leaves a ceramic protective layer both on the metal of the frame and camera module.

Unfortunately, this finish is only available for the Sand Storm color option, which we were able to test. Opting for this color, however, means you'll have to accept that the back is made of fiberglass-reinforced plastic. In contrast, the Infinite Black and Ultra Violet versions have a glass back.

The phone is sturdy, but we heard a very faint creaking sound when attempting to twist it, and this is something that should be absent in this price range. It offers IP68/IP69 water and dust resistance.

The front features very thin display bezels, and screen protection is provided by the modern Gorilla Glass Victus 2.

OnePlus offers repair manuals and spare parts for its smartphones, enabling users to carry out repairs themselves. According to the EPREL database, the repairability has received a B rating, the second-highest possible grade. Repair costs can also be viewed in advance.

According to the manufacturer's website, the phone is over 90% recyclable; however, no information has been provided regarding the recycled materials used. There is also no information concerning its carbon footprint.

Modern WiFi 7 is supported, but our Asus ROG Rapture AXE11000 reference router only supports WiFi 6E. This allows for a connection via the less congested 6 GHz band.

In our test, the OnePlus 15 achieved only mediocre transfer speeds, and other smartphones, including its predecessor, were faster. A gigabit internet connection can easily be utilized with the OnePlus 15, but anyone who relies on even higher speeds within their own networks will quickly find their limits.

Both the Chinese import and the European versions of the OnePlus 15 are truly global phones and can connect to mobile networks almost anywhere in the world. Reception is excellent, even in challenging situations, as demonstrated by several spot tests during our analysis, including in narrow streets.

If you're using the Chinese ColorOS, you have your own dedicated phone app, while OxygenOS uses Google's phone app. The OnePlus app can even detect if a caller's voice is AI-generated.

The call quality via the earpiece is very good, and our voice was also transmitted clearly in a test call. Calls work flawlessly via the speakerphone and the hands-free microphone, although the noise cancellation could be improved.

We would like to have seen a bit more sharpness under full studio lighting, but the subject was still very clearly recognizable at only 1 lux illumination.

The OnePlus 15 comes with a charger in China, but not in Europe. OnePlus traditionally offers a wide range of accessories, such as stylish cases and charging cables.

OnePlus phones purchased in Europe come with a 24-month warranty. TradingShenzhen allows warranty claims for its Chinese imported devices to be processed via a German address.

The OnePlus 15 features the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 GPU, which makes it one of the fastest SoCs currently available. However, our observations in other smartphones have shown that it isn't always able to deliver its full potential, heating up too quickly to be adequately cooled within the compact smartphone's chassis.

The OnePlus 15 seems to have particular problems with this, with it even lagging behind its predecessor, the OnePlus 13, in almost every benchmark. Under very heavy load, some benchmarks even crashed, such as our temperature monitoring test using the Burnout benchmark or the stress tests. However, the SoC remained stable during our tests running demanding apps or games.

The graphics performance also highlights that the SoC is unable to reach its full potential. However, the manufacturer and Qualcomm might be able to improve this with patches. Nevertheless, every kind of mobile game should run on this graphics card, and this ought to continue for the next few years.

Technologically, it has almost everything you could desire. From ray tracing and mesh shading to tile memory heaps, many current gaming technologies are available.

Web browsing is fast and, in most cases, lag-free. Images are almost always available immediately while scrolling.

Despite this, the phone performed poorly in benchmarks, with the OnePlus 13 and its previous generation chip almost always faster. 

The UFS 4.1 flash handles data transfers quite quickly, and loading times are short.

We measured a noticeable increase in the case temperature under load, hitting almost 50°C. The burnout benchmark repeatedly failed to complete as the device needed to cool down.

A few 3DMark stress tests also failed to run. When we finally managed to complete runs, the throttling was severe, with the remaining performance after several benchmark runs ranging between 52% and 62%.

The two speakers housed inside the OnePlus 15 sound very clear and perform well even at maximum volume. Although 80.4 dB(A) isn't record-breaking, the phone still gets loud enough to fill a medium-sized room with sound.

Anyone preferring to connect external audio devices or headphones can do so via Bluetooth or USB. The most important codecs are supported for wireless transmission: SBC, AAC, aptX, aptX HD, aptX Adaptive, aptX TWS+, as well as LDAC and LHDC.

Power consumption was relatively high even under light loads, and the review device never dropped below 1.2 watts. The maximum power consumption of 12.3 watts is also slightly higher than most comparable devices, but significantly lower than the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra. All in all, the OnePlus 15 proves itself to be only moderately efficient.

The phone can be charged at a generous 120 watts, but only the Chinese import version comes with a compatible charger. This allows the phone to be fully recharged in just over an hour. Wireless charging is possible at up to 50 watts, and reverse charging with or without a cable is also supported.

The 7,300 mAh battery is divided into two cells, which means there are no regulatory issues with the European model.

In our everyday Wi-Fi test, the phone kept going for over 30 hours. That might not be a record result, but it's a very good one nonetheless. Two days without charging are usually possible.

Under load, the phone doesn't last quite as long and runs out of power after just over 4 hours of gaming.