OnePlus 13: How will the Snapdragon 8 Elite redefine performance in this Flagship smartphone?

OnePlus has launched its flagship smartphone, the OnePlus 13, for 2025. The smartphone is the successor to last year’s OnePlus 12. The OnePlus 13 was launched alongside the OnePlus 13R on January 7. The smartphone will be the first flagship from major brands in 2025.

The smartphone has got some significant changes from its predecessor, the OnePlus 12. It features the new flagship chipset, the Snapdragon 8 Elite, instead of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset. The other differences include increased battery capacity and new technology, display features, camera specs, connectivity features, and charging features.

Its younger sibling, the OnePlus 13R, also has some significant changes from the OnePlus 12R. In terms of differences with the 13R, the 13 has an upper hand in the performance and build. The 13 now has new AI features too, which is now a common trend in most smartphones. The 13 also has a new Silicon Nanostack battery with a 6000 mAh capacity, which has been a worthy update from last year’s 5400 mAh lithium-ion battery. The new battery technology has allowed OnePlus to make the flagship lighter and thinner with more battery power and usage time.

In terms of competition, the OnePlus 13 will compete against the previous year’s flagship smartphones and the upcoming flagships like the Samsung S25 series, Google flagship series, and Apple iPhone flagship series.

Let us see what the smartphone delivers in terms of specifications.

Specifications of the OnePlus 13

Design

The OnePlus 13 has a similar design to the OnePlus 12 with some slight changes. The 13 has a simpler and cleaner camera module by removing the large silver design bridge. Instead, it now features a single line, giving a clean, minimalist appearance. The OnePlus 13 comes in three colour options; the Midnight Ocean (Blue) version has a vegan leather back that feels soft and provides a good grip. The Arctic Dawn (White) and Black Eclipse (Black) versions have shiny glass backs that resist fingerprints, offering a mix of style and comfort.

The frame of the OnePlus 13 is made up of aluminium with a shiny finish for proper build and strength. At the front, the smartphone has a premium design with a centre-hole punch cutout for the selfie camera and thin bezels all around the sides. The OnePlus 13 has a 6.82-inch display with a sharp QHD+ resolution of 3168 x 1440 and a pixel density of 510 ppi. It features a 19.8:9 aspect ratio with a peak brightness of 4500 nits. It adjusts the screen smoothly with a dynamic refresh rate between 1 and 120 Hz. The screen uses advanced LTPO 4.1 technology and supports vibrant, accurate colours with 100% Display P3 and 10-bit colour depth.

The display on the OnePlus 13 is loaded with useful features like nature tone mode that adjusts the screen’s colours and an eye comfort mode to reduce strain on your eyes. It is also a bedtime mode that softens the screen brightness for nighttime use and improves images and video’s look with tools like a sharpener and a colour booster.

Users can adjust the screen’s colour, brightness, and temperature to fit their needs, and it has modes for HDR video and night use. Auto and manual brightness settings make the screen always easy to see, and the colours stay consistent in any lighting.

As for the build quality, the OnePlus 13 has not compromised either. It has a Ceramic Guard on the display, which is rated 2 times tougher than standard smartphone glass with higher drop and scratch resistance. It is also rated IP69 and IP68, ensuring excellent dust and water resistance.

Performance and Storage

The OnePlus 13 is powered by the advanced Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, built on a 3nm process for faster and more efficient performance. Its octa-core CPU features two high-speed cores running at 4.32 GHz and six additional cores at 3.53 GHz. For graphics, the smartphone uses the Adreno 830 GPU, which is excellent for gaming and demanding apps.

The smartphone comes with 16 GB of RAM paired with 512 GB of storage. While other memory options are available, Nepal rarely gets access to all variants. It runs on OxygenOS 15, based on Android 15, and offers up to four major Android updates and six years of security updates.

The OnePlus 13 delivers next-level performance for gaming, featuring genuine zero-latency 120 Hz gaming with advanced HyperRendering display technology for ultra-smooth gameplay without delays. It stays cool even during intense gaming sessions, with the 2nd-gen Cryo-Velocity Cooling System, which includes the largest-ever VC chamber and an innovative dual-layer Super Graphite design, ensuring optimal performance under pressure.

Camera

The OnePlus 13 comes with an updated triple-camera setup on the back for capturing high-quality photos and videos. The main camera uses a Sony LYT-808 sensor with 50 megapixels and a large 1/1.4″ sensor size for detailed and sharp images. It has an aperture of ƒ/1.6, a 23 mm equivalent focal length, and a 7P lens with ALC coating for clear, vibrant shots. Both optical and electronic image stabilisation ensure steady photos and videos, and the camera has a wide field of view of 85° with fast autofocus for precise focus in any situation.

The telephoto camera is built for zoom photography, featuring a Sony LYT-600 sensor with 50 megapixels and a 1/1.95″ sensor size. It offers 3X optical zoom with an aperture of ƒ/2.6 and a focal length of 73 mm. The lens includes ALC coating, optical image stabilisation, and electronic image stabilisation for sharp, stable, zoomed-in images. The telephoto lens supports up to 120X ultra-resolution digital zoom, making it ideal for capturing distant objects in great detail. Its field of view is 32.8°, and autofocus ensures accurate focus at all zoom levels.

The ultra-wide camera has a 50-megapixel S5KJN5 sensor and a 1/2.75″ sensor size. It has a 120° field of view, an aperture of ƒ/2.0, and a focal length of 15 mm. The 6P lens ensures bright and sharp images, while electronic image stabilisation and autofocus provide smooth and steady results. For video, the rear cameras can shoot in 8K at 30 fps, 4K at 60 fps, and 1080p at 60 fps. Additional features include steady video, Dolby Vision, movie mode, time-lapse, slow motion up to 720p at 480 fps, and multi-scene video recording is also supported at 1080p 30 fps.

As for features, the rear camera has a tonne of camera modes, including Photo, Video, Portrait, Nightscape, Master, High Pixel, Panorama, Movie, Slow Motion, Timelapse, Long Exposure, Multi-Scene Video, Document, Axis Shift, and XPAN for creative and professional photography.

The front camera features a 32-megapixel Sony IMX615 sensor with a 1/2.74″ sensor size and an aperture of ƒ/2.4. It offers a 90° field of view and fixed focus for clear selfies. The lens uses a 5P design with electronic image stabilisation for smooth video recording. The front camera supports 4K video at 60 fps, along with steady video and Dolby Vision options. The front camera also has features such as photo, video, portrait, night scene, panorama, time-lapse photography, and multi-scene video recording.

AI Features

The OnePlus 13 introduces advanced AI features such as Intelligent Search; the AI understands information from your files and notes, allowing users to search quickly using conversational prompts. Google’s Gemini AI assistant helps users generate ideas, plan, and learn efficiently. The Circle to Search feature lets users highlight, scribble, or tap on any text, image, or video to search instantly without switching apps. Users can also scan and save their boarding pass to Google Wallet for hassle-free travel and use AI suggestions to customise their messages in Google Messages.

For photos, the OnePlus 13 uses AI to enhance every detail. AI Detail Boost ensures the photos stay sharp, even when cropped or zoomed in. AI Unblur delivers clear and natural portraits for both people and pets. The AI Reflection Eraser removes glare with one tap, making photos look perfect.

Battery and Others

The OnePlus 13 comes with a powerful and new 6000 mAh battery using the new Silicon Nanostack technology that provides long-lasting usage of up to two days on moderate usage. It supports 100W wired fast charging for quick recharges, 50W wireless charging for convenience, and 10W reverse wireless charging to power other devices. Additionally, it offers 5W reverse wired charging for even more flexibility.

The phone also supports the latest connectivity options, including Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, and dual nano-SIM slots for LTE and 5G networks. It has stereo speakers for clear audio and a range of sensors, such as proximity, ambient light, color temperature, compass, accelerometer, gyroscopes, ultrasonic fingerprint, Hall, laser focus, spectral, infrared remote, and barometer.

The OnePlus 13 s available in three colour options; Midnight Ocean, Arctic Dawn, and Black Eclipse.

We can expect the OnePlus 13 to launch soon in Nepal along side it sibling, the OnePlus 13R. When it arrives in Nepal; it can be expected to cost around Rs 145,000 for the 16GB RAM and 512GB storage option.