OnePlus 13 review

GSMArena Team, 07 January 2025.

4.3

Android 15 with OxygenOS 15.0 on top

The OnePlus 13 is running OxygenOS 15 (an alter ego of Color OS 15) on top of an Android 15 core. The update policy lists 4 years of software updates (presumably 4 major Android version releases) and 6 years of security patches. It sounds like very reasonable future-proofing without reaching Google/Samsung levels of overachieving (7+7).

In more recent times, OxygenOS has become just another reincarnation of Oppo's Color OS, with only minor stylistic tweaks here or there - a brand-specific font and some red color accents, really. The AI features are also largely shared between the brands (Realme included, to some extent).

OxygenOS on the OnePlus 13

The OnePlus 13 comes with Google's Circle to search feature built-in. Also included is the Gemini AI assistant.

Circle to search • Gemini

An AI toolbox of sorts includes a set of utilities to help make your life easier - AI Summary will attempt to condense a text into a numbered list of key points, AI Speak will read a text out loud and AI Writer will try and write a text for you. These are all accessible from the Smart Sidebar when applicable and you may not be able to directly find them with a search on the phone as standalone apps.

The AI Studio app that we saw on the Find X8 Pro isn't here though - you'll need to find a third-party solution to come up with AI-generated photorealistic shots of yourself.

AI features

Sure enough, there's a handful of AI-based photo editing tools in the gallery. We're familiar with some of those from previous Oppo Color OS versions, plus we recently saw them on the Find X8 family. AI Eraser, and AI Unblur are more or less self-explanatory, as is AI Reflection Eraser, while the AI Detail Boost was found on the Oppos as AI Ultra Clarity. The AI Editor can also be set to automatically suggest one of its tools when it sees fit.

AI Editor

Performance and benchmarks

The OnePlus 13, as tradition dictates, uses the latest top-end Qualcomm chipset - the Snapdragon 8 Elite, which we're pretty familiar with by now. The all-new design with in-house CPU cores has already proven its worth in other handsets, and you're probably well aware of its specs - like the record-breaking 4.32GHz performance cores in the octa-core CPU.

Global versions of the OnePlus 13 come in one of two memory configurations - 12GB of RAM goes with 256GB of storage, while the 16GB RAM option comes with 512GB of storage (our review unit). RAM is LPDDR5X while storage is the UFS 4.0 type (ours tested positive, at least). China OP13s also come in 12GB/512GB and 24GB/1TB flavors (somewhat excessive that last one).

Benchmark results on the OnePlus 13 weren't the highest among Snapdragon Elite devices we've tested, though there are no reasons to be alarmed either.

GeekBench 6

Multi-core
Single-core

ROG Phone 9/9 Pro

9973

Snapdragon 8 Elite 1TB, 24GB RAM