OnePlus Ace 5's key charging feature will not be coming to the OnePlus 13

The OnePlus Ace 5 series is expected to launch soon in China, and unsurprisingly, OnePlus has begun teasing the features of the new phones ahead of their announcement. Although the OnePlus Ace 5 will cost less than the flagship OnePlus 13, it appears it will have some features that place it above its more powerful and expensive sibling. And unfortunately for OnePlus 13 owners, one of those features can't be added via a software update.

According to a OnePlus employee who posted on Weibo, one of the new features of the OnePlus Ace 5 is support for bypass charging which allows the phone to draw power directly from the charger instead of the battery. Some OnePlus 13 owners seem to want the feature, but according to the OnePlus employee, it will be impossible since it is hardware-based and not a feature that can be added via an OTA update.

The OnePlus Ace 5 having support for bypass charging makes sense considering its gaming performance is one of its selling points. During gaming sessions, owners will be able to plug in their phone and draw power directly from the charger without worrying about the battery heating up or reduced performance. This feature can also help increase the battery's lifespan.

The OnePlus Ace 5 will be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, and despite being a last-generation processor OnePlus says it has been able to tune it to match the performance of the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset.

OnePlus has been able to prove this improved performance by carrying out a gaming comparison test that pits the OnePlus Ace 5 against a rival phone with a Snapdragon 8 Elite processor and another Snapdragon 8 Gen 3-powered device.

Based on the results, the OnePlus Ace 5 is able to maintain a framerate of 120fps while drawing comparable power to the Snapdragon 8 Elite phone and at a lower temperature than the other Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 smartphone.

The OnePlus Ace 5 is rumored to be set for launch later this month. So far, it has been revealed that it will have a 6.78-inch 1.5K BOE X2 8T LTPO panel, up to 16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, a 16MP front-facing camera, and a triple rear camera setup made up of a 50MP primary sensor, an 8MP ultrawide angle camera, and a 2MP sensor. It has also been reported that it will pack a battery capacity larger than 6,000mAh with support for 100W fast wired charging.

There will also be a OnePlus Ace 5 Pro but with a Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, three 50MP rear cameras, a battery capacity larger than 6,000mAh, and support for 100W fast charging. However, unlike the Ace 5 which should launch outside China as the OnePlus 13R, the Ace 5 Pro will remain exclusive to China.