OnePlus 15 review

165Hz LTPO OLED display for gaming

The new OnePlus 15 features a slightly smaller 6.78-inch display, compared to the previous generation, and has a lower 1272 x 2772px resolution, down to FHD+ from QHD+. The downgrade may not look good on paper, but it's merely a sidestep. These resolution changes are far less noticeable, if at all, in such small screens.

On the other hand, the newer display is marketed as brighter and supports a refresh rate of up to 165Hz. Speaking of, this is the industry's first 165Hz display with a resolution higher than 1080p. So in a way, OnePlus traded a few pixels for a higher refresh rate.

When it comes to HDR support, the display has it all - HDR10+, HDR Vivid and Dolby Vision. Last but not least, the display supports the Ultra HDR image standard in its native gallery.

Performance-wise, the OnePlus 15's display doesn't disappoint. It reached 787 nits in manual mode and boosted up to 1,364 nits in auto mode with 75% white fill. At 10% fill, the display achieved 1,940 nits.

Interestingly, the display can go brighter when viewing photos and videos in the default Gallery app. For instance, the 75% fill pattern boosted the display to 2,187 nits, while at 10%, the screen got almost 3,390 nits.

Refresh rate

The OnePlus 15 refresh rate implementation is par for the course. The system will dial down to 1Hz when the screen is idle and will boost to 120Hz in most cases. However, in apps such as Chrome, the software caps at 90Hz, which is a behavior we see more often than in recent times. In most other apps, like system ones, or menus, the display will boost to 120Hz.

Additionally, OnePlus 15 boasts 165Hz refresh rate in select games. The company lists Call of Duty, Clash of Clans, Brawl Stars, Real Racing 3, Standoff 2 and Blood Strike-FPS as natively supported games at 165Hz. That doesn't mean all these games will run at 165 constant fps, though, but you will get the benefit from the high-refresh-rate gaming nonetheless.

Notably, this isn't some sort of interpolation trickery. OnePlus promises that these games will run natively at 165 fps and we confirm that you can play them at 165Hz.

However, in games where the system can't saturate the display's maximum refresh rate, it will resort to interpolation. For instance, BGMI/PUBG will use frame interpolation to reach 165 fps, and we are not fans of how interpolation looks during games.

OnePlus says it will eventually push an update that will allow you to set 165Hz to other apps, besides games, as long as you enable the said option in the developer options.

Battery life

The OnePlus 15 features a more-than-generous 7,300 mAh battery, which is just a tad below the Oppo Find X9 Pro (7,500 mAh), but a significant upgrade over the OnePlus 13 with its 6,000 mAh battery. Unsurprisingly, the OnePlus 15 is the new chart-topper, scoring better than any phone we've tested so far.

The Active Use Score is 23:07h, but the web browsing and video playback runtimes are particularly impressive.

As we've seen with the Xiaomi 17 Pro Max, the new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 is certainly capable of some excellent battery scores, but OnePlus has undoubtedly added some of its own software magic to reach these chart-topping numbers or they are nerfing some of the performance during activities such as web browsing and video playback.

Charging speed

The OnePlus 15 uses a 120W proprietary SuperVOOC charger, which is an upgrade over the 100W chargers that older OnePlus models use. The phone also supports 50W wireless charging over OnePlus' AirVOOC charging pad. 10W reverse wireless, 5W reverse wired and bypass charging are also on the menu.

Moving on, the results from our charging test are nothing short of impressive. The phone fully charged in just 41 minutes and nearly matched the Xiaomi 17 Pro Max at the 30-minute mark. In any case, charging a 7,300 mAh battery in such a short amount of time is outstanding. The peak charging output we recorded was about 77W.

We also took the time to test the OnePlus 15 with a compatible Power Delivery charger, as the handset supports 55W over PD with PPS. The 15 paked at around 40W during the charging process and got pretty close to the charging times achieved with the stock 120W SuperVOOC charger.

In case you feel anxious about battery degradation, OxygenOS has a few built-in battery health-oriented features. For instance, Smart Charging learns your charging habits and tops-off the battery right before you are supposed to pick up your phone. You can also set up a charging limit in 5% increments between 80 and 100%. Turning off the Smart Rapid Charging option will limit the charging rate altogether.

The bypass charging can also be categorized as a battery health-friendly feature, especially when gaming. The system will use the power from the charger directly, bypassing the battery in the process. This reduces heat and the charging cycles.

Speakers

The OnePlus 15 features a hybrid stereo speaker setup - a full-fledged speaker at the bottom plus one at the top that doubles as an earpiece.

Loudness is pretty solid, earning a "Very Good" -24.8 LUFS score, but audio quality is just okay. The vocals and highs are relatively clean, but the bass leaves more to be desired. Compared to the older OnePlus 13, the 15 is definitely an improvement. And compared to the Find X9 Pro, the 15 has a fuller sound.

Use the Playback controls to listen to the phone sample recordings (best use headphones). We measure the average loudness of the speakers in LUFS. A lower absolute value means a louder sound. A look at the frequency response chart will tell you how far off the ideal "0db" flat line is the reproduction of the bass, treble, and mid frequencies. You can add more phones to compare how they differ. The scores and ratings are not comparable with our older loudspeaker test. Learn more about how we test here.