OnePlus 13: The All-Around Flagship of the Year, One Device, All You Need

OnePlus 13: The All-Around Flagship of the Year, One Device, All You NeedStarting with the OnePlus 11, the OnePlus numbered series has combined the "Mid-Cup" and "Big Cup" concepts, focusing on one top-tier flagship each year with exceptional performance. This allows users to get "Big Cup" product experiences at a "Mid-Cup" price point

OnePlus 13: The All-Around Flagship of the Year, One Device, All You Need

Starting with the OnePlus 11, the OnePlus numbered series has combined the "Mid-Cup" and "Big Cup" concepts, focusing on one top-tier flagship each year with exceptional performance. This allows users to get "Big Cup" product experiences at a "Mid-Cup" price point. This year's newly released OnePlus 13 follows this tradition, fully embodying the "One Device, All You Need" product positioning. How does it actually perform? Let's dive into a detailed experience.

Classic Black, White, and Blue Remain, Design is Simple and Refreshing

When you first get your hands on the OnePlus 13, the design feels familiar. The circular camera module remains on the left, but upon closer inspection, we notice a minimalist approach compared to previous generations. The OnePlus 13 removes the part connecting the circular camera module to the frame, giving the phone's back a cleaner and more refreshing look. There are also subtle embellishments, like the "Hasselblad logo" moving to the top right of the back panel and a thin line bisecting the circular camera module. OnePlus officially calls this new design language "Dawn," as the camera decoration resembles a sun slowly rising above the horizon.

In terms of color, the OnePlus 13 comes in three options: "Black Obsidian," "White Dew Dawn," and "Blue Moment." The black model boasts intricate details, reminiscent of OnePlus' previous black silk glass designs. In reality, it's the first to utilize a black ebony wood grain glass process, revealing wood-like textures on the rear panel while offering a silky smooth, skin-friendly feel.

I personally adore this year's white option. Visually, it's simply stunning. The white is translucent, bright, and free of impurities. The bare-metal feel is exceptional. Enhanced by the new generation of silk glass technology, it's completely fingerprint-resistant, ensuring the device remains pristine. A perfect choice for those who favor white phones.

Eastern Screen Reaches New Heights, Screen Quality Evolution

Back in mid-October, OnePlus and BOE jointly launched the "Second Generation Eastern Screen." This screen is hailed as the pinnacle of Chinese screen technology. The OnePlus 13 we're reviewing features this "Second Generation Eastern Screen," delivering exceptional experiences in screen format, screen quality, high brightness display, and eye protection.

First, let's look at the evolution of the screen format. The OnePlus 13 upgrades to a "full equal depth soft edge straight screen," currently the industry's most advanced format. Its advantage lies in combining both comfortable and smooth scrolling of curved edges with reduced accidental touches on a straight screen.

In terms of screen quality, the OnePlus 13 continues to stand out. As the world's first 2K screen to receive DisplayMate A++ certification, it supports multi-scene, multi-level adaptive high refresh rates, significantly improving color display and power consumption control. I'm particularly impressed by the "Sun Display Technology." In simple terms, it addresses the issue of screens becoming unreadable under direct sunlight. We compared the OnePlus 13's "Sun Screen" with the iPhone 16 Pro Max, known for its good screen, in a simple test. Under the scorching midday sun, we opened the settings interface for browsing. The OnePlus 13's screen was clearly brighter and displayed more vividly.

There have been advancements in eye protection as well. The OnePlus 13 is the first to feature the Eyesafe 2.0 technology, supporting the brand new "Full Brightness Low-Frequency Flash" technology. This is genuine full brightness DC dimming, providing eye protection even in low-light scenes. The dimming performance is truly exceptional! Let's compare the OnePlus 13's eye protection performance. We opened the same white background photo on two phones, lowered the screen brightness, and increased the camera shutter speed for recording. We can see that the OnePlus 13's screen has a narrower black frame width than the 16 Pro Max in low light conditions. In simpler terms, the OnePlus 13 effectively reduces screen flicker in low light, mitigating the harm to eyes caused by screen flicker. This allows users to enjoy more eye protection while browsing in dim environments. However, the most effective way to protect your eyes is, of course, to reduce the frequency of phone usage in low light.

In terms of touch control, the OnePlus 13 supports ultrasonic fingerprint unlocking and brings a new generation of self-developed rain-proof touch technology. This is incredibly useful for people who work outdoors for long periods. For example, in case of sudden rain, you can still handle urgent tasks without worrying about a wet screen. Or if you're working outdoors in the winter, you can use your phone without taking off your warm gloves, offering peace of mind and convenience. This showcases the OnePlus 13's advancement in popularizing practical functions, prioritizing the real needs of a wider user base.

Flagship Chip Pushes the Limits, Performance Experience Soars

When you think of OnePlus phones, what comes to mind first? Most would instinctively answer "performance." Exceptional performance has always been deeply ingrained in the DNA of OnePlus phones, and this year's OnePlus 13 is no exception.

The first major upgrade comes in the form of performance hardware. The OnePlus 13 is equipped with Qualcomm's most powerful flagship processor this year, the Snapdragon 8 Elite, known in Chinese as "Snapdragon 8 Supreme Edition." The Snapdragon 8 Supreme Edition no longer adopts the ARM public version Cortex architecture CPU. Instead, it's the first mobile platform to introduce the self-developed Oryon CPU. The core distribution is also upgraded from the previous generation's Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 "1+5+2" model to a "2+6" arrangement, with two 4.32GHz super-large cores accompanied by six 3.53GHz large cores. Thanks to this architectural upgrade, the Snapdragon 8 Supreme Edition is currently the most powerful mobile chip on the market. When combined with the performance-driven OnePlus 13, the Snapdragon 8 Supreme Edition becomes a runaway horse, unleashing its performance with abandon. We can see this clearly from the benchmark scores.

With performance mode enabled, the OnePlus 13 achieved a benchmark score of 3,035,478 on AnTuTu, shattering our perception of smartphone performance limits. Geekbench 6 also delivers impressive results, scoring 3,200 in single-core and a staggering 9,997 in multi-core. This makes it the phone with the highest benchmark score among all the new models we've tested in this round. It's truly a standout in the mobile world.

Game Experience Breakthrough, Native 120 FPS Gameplay

For the game testing segment, let's try something different. Testing "Honor of Kings" and "PUBG Mobile," which are staples in phone testing, doesn't seem to hold much value for the OnePlus 13. Its performance capability far surpasses the requirements of these games. So, let's focus on "Genshin Impact" and "Honkai: Star Rail," both of which feature 120 FPS gameplay. Yes, you read that right!

The OnePlus 13 delivers the industry's only native 120 FPS gaming experience and supports these two resource-intensive mobile games: "Genshin Impact" and "Honkai: Star Rail." Let's see how they actually perform.

In Performance Mode, with Maximum Graphics and 120 FPS, running "Genshin Impact" for 30 minutes in Sumeru City resulted in an average frame rate of 121 FPS, an average power consumption of 5.6W, and the highest temperatures on the front and back of the phone reaching 45.1C and 44.9C, respectively. Similarly, in Performance Mode, with Maximum Graphics and 120 FPS, running "Honkai: Star Rail" for 30 minutes in the Star Rail Sea Center resulted in an average frame rate of 119.7 FPS, an average power consumption of 5.3W, and the highest temperatures on the front and back of the phone reaching 39.5C and 39.9C, respectively.

From the framerate curves, we can see that both games maintain a frame rate consistently close to 120 FPS throughout the tests, resulting in a smooth and fluid gameplay experience without any frame drops or stutters. If you're a fan of these games, I highly recommend trying the OnePlus 13. Enabling 120 FPS makes it feel like a completely different game, it's so smooth.

Extra-Large Battery with Long Endurance, More Powerful Fast Charging Technology

Another hardware upgrade is the battery capacity. The OnePlus 13 is equipped with a 6,000mAh extra-large capacity "Ice Glacier Battery" with an energy density of 805 Wh/L. This allows the OnePlus 13 to achieve a thickness of just 8.5mm. It also features a 100W Super Flash Charge with a 50W Wireless Flash Charge