The OnePlus 15 could have been just a regular “upgrade,” but instead it opted for a complete renaissance: a crazy-fast chip, unreasonably durable ceramics, a battery the size of an average eco-bathtub, and water resistance that borders on military-grade. The only shadow? A camera that clearly didn’t take the same self-improvement course.
Every now and then a phone comes along that you expect to see as a solid upgrade, but you get the feeling that the team of engineers was quietly competing to see who could cram more features into the device that no one would notice - but still admire. OnePlus 15 is exactly that: a device that acts as a tribute to all the tech enthusiasts who watch teardowns in their spare time, even though they have no intention of buying the phone that's just being dissected.
OnePlus 15 On paper, it sounds like a device that should have its own parking space in front of a lab. At the heart of the system is the latest Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 – a beast that reaches 4.6GHz and delivers up to 40 % better performance than the previous generation. This is a processor that was clearly not designed for a phone, but for a spacecraft, and yet it was squeezed into a pocket-sized device.
And because OnePlus isn't known for saying "enough," they've added UFS 4.1 storage, which transfers data so fast you'll lose track of your thoughts before you lose a file. The base model has 12GB of LPDDR5X Ultra RAM, while the 16GB RAM version is already flirting with server-grade ambitions.
A design that is both elegant and aggressive
Phones have become as similar to each other as eggs to eggs in recent years, so it's nice to see OnePlus 15 and you think: “Ah, something is different.” The case is completely matte – the back, the sides, even the look of it seems matte. Colors? Matte black, matte sand and matte purple. Minimalism with personality.
The real star, however, is the new micro-arc oxidation surface treatment that transforms the metal frame into ceramic. Ceramic is as hard as triple reality after a Friday night, so an interesting paradox occurs: the phone scratches… but it doesn’t. It scratches the things around it. If you pull the phone out of your bag and notice the scratches, it’s just the material of other objects that have succumbed to its ceramic. A kind of “call an ambulance… but not for me” moment in smartphone form.
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And if you're worried about water – there's no need. The phone has IP66, IP68, IP69 and even IP69KThis means it can survive dust, rain, submersion, high-pressure hot water jets, and probably even a little bit of the washing machine.
A battery that refuses to discharge
OnePlus 15 has 7,300mAh silicon-carbon batteries, which is almost grotesque. This is a power reserve that smiles at your worries and even asks you if you are sure you want to charge at all. In reality, this means 7-8 hours of screen time and often more than two days of normal use. If you only charge to 85 %, the phone still has more battery than many competitors at 100 %.
Fast charging? 80W in the US, 100W elsewhere, 50W wireless, and yes – the charger is in the box. Which is almost romantic in 2025.
A screen and chips that see into the future
OnePlus 15 – has an OLED display that refreshes between 1 Hz and 165 Hz, but only activates the highest mode in certain games. For those who can see the difference between 120 Hz and 165 Hz, this is a small technological delight. For everyone else? Just a number that looks good in the specifications.
A special chip provides an insane 3200 Hz touch sampling, which is the technological equivalent of the responsiveness of a hummingbird's wing.
And then… the camera
OnePlus and cameras have the kind of relationship that psychotherapists would want for research purposes: lots of potential, little execution. The triple 50MP camera system looks like something that will push the boundaries, but then the results come in and you realize that the boundaries have remained intact.
The main camera uses the same sensor as much cheaper models, which is evident in the noise, softer edges, and lack of that “flagship” sharpness. The telephoto is solidly average, and the ultrawide is just good enough not to turn it off, but not good enough to praise.
The Hasselblad is gone – the logo, the color profiles, even the orange shutter. All that remains is the loud shutter sound, acting as a nostalgic reminder of a relationship that has apparently ended.
Conclusion: OnePlus 15
The OnePlus 15 is a brutal phone. Fast, smooth, indestructible, with a battery that could easily be used as a PowerBank for half a village. It works like the ultimate tech manifesto – except for the camera, which takes the whole concept back a few years.
Price? $899, or $999 for the version with 16GB of RAM. (1024 EUR with 16/512 version) Considering everything it offers, this is almost provocatively good value.
The only wish that remains is clear: dear OnePlus, take all of that, add a camera from the right top, and give the world the most balanced superphone. Until then, OnePlus The 15 remains impressive, fun, and outrageously powerful – with a compromise that will be most noticeable to those who value the full photographic experience.
If you want, I can prepare even more in-depth specifications or a separate article just about the battery or the screen. It is available in the EU exclusively via this link - on the German Amazon.de
