OnePlus 13s Review: A Compact, Feature-Packed Powerhouse | Tech Tips

OnePlus hasn’t launched a “flagship-killer” smartphone in a while, and the smartphone maker has focused on high-end and mid-range models as part of its number series and Nord lineup, respectively. The new OnePlus 13s, however, might be a strong contender for the title of a flagship killer, with a few notable specifications, including a Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset and a 5,800mAh battery. It’s also the first high-end phone to feature a relatively small 6.3-inch OLED screen that is slightly larger than the regular iPhone 16.

The new OnePlus 13s is available in two variants in India, which are priced at Rs. 54,999 for the base model with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, and Rs. 59,999 for the 12GB+512GB variant. Read on to know whether this smartphone is worth its asking price in our OnePlus 13s review.

OnePlus 13s Design: Compact, Comfortable to Use

• Dimensions – 150.8×71.7×8.2 mm
• Weight – 185g
• Colours – Black Velvet, Green Silk (Featured in this review), Pink Satin

OnePlus has gradually increased the size of its smartphones since the OnePlus 5T (all its previous models were equipped with a 5.5-inch screen), but the company’s latest handset bucks the trend. The OnePlus 13s is slightly smaller than the OnePlus 6, which was released in 2018, and it is very comfortable to use with one hand (I have fairly large hands).

We reviewed the Green Silk variant, which is only available in India

 

The handset features flat edges and rounded corners, and its screen is also flat. The rear panel features a smooth, matte finish that can pick up minor scuff marks in day-to-day use, which can be easily wiped off. There’s a raised aluminium island that houses a dual rear camera setup, as well as an LED flash and an infrared (IR transmitter). Due to the location of the IR transmitter, you have to point the back of the phone at your appliances instead of holding it like a remote.

On the right edge of the OnePlus 13s, there is a power button and a volume rocker, and the former is easily accessible when holding the phone with one hand. The alert slider, which used to be located on the left side, is missing. OnePlus has replaced it with a new Plus Key that can be reprogrammed, just like the Action Button, which was first introduced with the iPhone 15 Pro in 2023.

The handset features a USB Type-C port at the bottom, along with a SIM tray and a speaker grille. The display on the OnePlus 13s has very slim bezels, and the thickest of these is located at the bottom. It has a selfie camera that’s located in the centre of the screen. The optical fingerprint scanner is a little difficult to reach as it is placed near the bottom edge.

OnePlus 13s ships with a colour-coordinated TPU cover

 

In addition to the OnePlus 13s handset, you also get an 80W SuperVOOC charger, a USB Type-A to USB Type-C cable, and a colour-coordinated TPU cover in the box. The smartphone also comes with a preinstalled plastic scratch protector, but I peeled it off in order to test the smartphone’s display.

OnePlus 13s Software: Optimised, No Bloatware

• Software – OxygenOS 15
• Version – Android 15
• Latest security patch – April 1, 2025

While all of OnePlus’ recent phones run on the same version of OxygenOS 15, the company’s number series doesn’t include any bloatware or unwanted applications, unlike the OnePlus Nord lineup. This is also true for the OnePlus 13s, which offers the same software experience as its more expensive sibling, the OnePlus 13.

OxygenOS 15 feels like a more refined version of OxygenOS 14, and the animations and transitions are smooth on the OnePlus 13s. The company has also introduced several new AI features that are part of its OnePlus AI suite and will also make their way to other flagship models.

OxygenOS 15 on the OnePlus 13s (tap to expand)

 

If you use the OnePlus Dialer app instead of Google’s Phone app, you can access a new AI VoiceScribe feature. I tested this feature on the OnePlus 13s, and it worked as advertised, but it sometimes detects or transcribes words incorrectly. You can also access a summarised version of these transcripts in the Notes app.

There’s a built-in Translate app on the OnePlus 13s that lets you translate text and images or use your voice, but it isn’t always as accurate as the Google Translate app. However, it does include a real-time screen translation feature (as well as live captions), which is quite handy as it works inside apps that do not have selectable text, such as Instagram. The handset also offers support for Google’s AI features, including Circle to Search and Gemini AI assistant integration within apps.

The new Plus Key on the OnePlus 13s can be programmed to toggle sound and vibration modes, do not disturb, launch the camera or torch, start or end an audio recording, launch the translator app, or take a screenshot. I tested all of these features, which work exactly as advertised.

The OnePlus 13s is the first handset from the company with the new AI Plus Mind system, which stores relevant information in a central location called Mind Space. You can either set the Plus Key to capture the content of your screen or trigger the same functionality by swiping three fingers upward if you’re using the key for one of the other functions listed above.

The OnePlus 13s ships with new OnePlus AI features

 

In addition to the features listed above, the OnePlus 13s also includes AI-powered image editing features that are baked into the Photos app. It lets you remove reflections from images, erase objects, sharpen blurry images, “upscale” lower resolution images (with mixed results), or even “expand” images using a new AI Recompose feature. The object eraser feature can also remove objects in front of a person’s face, but only if some part of the person’s face is visible.

When the Plus Key is mapped to the AI Plus Mind feature, you can also press it inside apps with text to get contextual suggestions. If you press it while you’re in the BookMyShow app, the feature will pull a movie’s release date and prompt you to add a calendar event.

The new Plus Key can be remapped to perform several functions

 

The company says that the OnePlus 13s will receive four years of Android OS upgrades and six years of security updates. This is a reasonably long support window for a smartphone in this price segment, although it would be nice to see OnePlus trying to match Samsung’s commitment to providing seven years of OS and security updates for the Galaxy S24 FE.

OnePlus 13s Performance: Top-Tier Performance

• Processor – Snapdragon 8 Elite
• Memory – 12GB LPDDR5x
• Storage – Up to 512GB UFS 4.0

Performance on the OnePlus 13s is on par with some of the most powerful flagships available today, including the company’s current top-of-the-line model, the OnePlus 13. The Snapdragon 8 Elite is one of the most powerful smartphone chipsets available for Android phones, and it can handle anything you throw at it with ease, from heavy gaming sessions to accessing on-device AI features.

Left to right: AnTuTu v10, PCMark Work 3.0, Geekbench 6 (tap to expand)

 

I’ve spent nearly three weeks using the OnePlus 13s as my primary device, and there was no lag or stutter in day-to-day use. The 12GB of RAM is sufficient to keep multiple apps in memory, and multitasking between apps is smooth. Meanwhile, the UFS 4.0 storage enables quick app installs from the Play Store.

Resource-intensive games like Genshin Impact and Wuthering Waves run at the highest settings on the OnePlus 13s, and there was no throttling or stuttering after more than an hour of gameplay. You can also play Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) at 120fps with HDR on — the game ran smoothly for several rounds of the battle royale game.

Left to right: PCMark Work 3.0, GFXBench 5.1, 3DMark (tap to expand)

 

The OnePlus 13s performed well on all synthetic benchmark tests, and you can refer to the table below to see how it fares against other smartphones that offer similar performance, like the OnePlus 13, iPhone 16e, and Oppo Find X8

I found that the 6.32-inch 1.5K (1,216×2,360 pixels) LTPO OLED screen gets bright enough for use outdoors, and it is dim enough to prevent eye strain at night. It has a peak brightness of 1,600 nits, and it doesn’t get as bright as other flagship phones like the Galaxy S25 (2,600 nits), OnePlus 13 (4,500 nits) or the Oppo Find X8 (4,500 nits). It’s a decent display for streaming high-resolution video on Netflix and Prime Video, with Widevine L1 support.

The OnePlus 13s sports a compact display

 

The display’s refresh rate ranges between 1Hz and 120Hz, and it was very responsive while playing the aforementioned games. Like other OnePlus phones, the built-in Photos app features a ProXDR mode that enhances colours and saturation when viewing images. However, I recommend turning this mode off, as there’s a noticeable difference when viewing these images on another device.

OnePlus 13s Cameras: A Dynamic Duo

• Primary camera – 50-megapixel (f/1.8), PDAF/ CAF/ LDAF, OIS, up to 4K/ 60fps video
• Telephoto camera – 50-megapixel (f/2.0), EIS, 2x optical zoom
• Selfie camera – 32-megapixel, (f/2.0), EIS, 4K/ 30fps video

OnePlus has equipped this handset with a 50-megapixel primary camera with a 1/1.56-inch Sony LYT-700 sensor and optical image stabilisation (OIS) and electronic image stabilisation (EIS). It’s a very capable camera that takes clear and sharp photos when there’s enough daylight, and images are captured as soon as you touch the shutter button. The company also introduced the dual exposure algorithm from the OnePlus 13, which enables capturing sharp images of moving objects.

Top to bottom: Rear camera samples at 1x (primary), 2x and 4x (telephoto) zoom (Tap to expand)

 

 

For distant subjects and portrait shots, the OnePlus 13s is equipped with a 50-megapixel telephoto camera with a Samsung JN5 sensor and 2x optical zoom. This is the same sensor used on the ultrawide camera on the flagship OnePlus 13, and images captured with this camera are more vibrant and less colour-accurate than those clicked with the primary camera.

Portraits taken with the telephoto camera on the OnePlus 13s are sharp, especially for pictures captured when you’re outdoors. If you’re indoors, you’ll need to ensure that there’s enough lighting to produce softer, smoother images. Your subjects will also need to remain still, to prevent blurred images. There is no OIS, and it’s not as reliable as the primary camera in low-light scenarios, especially with moving subjects.

There’s no ultrawide camera on the OnePlus 13s, primarily due to space constraints, according to the company. This means that you’ll need to step back when capturing images of larger subjects, or taking a bigger group photo.

Top to bottom: Day and low-light camera samples, portraits, AI object eraser (Tap to expand)

 

The built-in night mode on the OnePlus 13s helps both cameras deliver decent images in low-light scenarios, but the primary camera is faster at capturing images. It also delivers better image quality in more challenging scenarios, compared with the telephoto camera.

Selfies captured using the 32-megapixel front-facing camera on the OnePlus 13s are clear, and the camera app doesn’t apply any skin smoothening filters by default. I noticed some softening when taking selfies in darker locations, but the quality of the selfies is still better than that of other handsets in this price segment.

You can capture videos in 4K/ 60fps on both rear cameras, but the videos captured using the primary camera are much better, due to the presence of OIS. That said, there is an Ultra Steady mode that works reliably on both cameras. The selfie camera supports video recording at 4K/ 30fps, but switching on the ultra steady mode drops the resolution to 1080p/ 30fps. The video quality from the selfie camera is quite decent, even in indoor or slightly darker locations.

OnePlus 13s Battery: Hard to Kill

• Battery Capacity – 5,850mAh
• Wired Charging – 80W SuperVOOC

The OnePlus 13s has a flagship-grade chipset that’s paired with a hefty battery. The handset provides more than a day and a half of battery life with moderate usage. I had around 10 to 12 hours of screen-on-time (SoT), and my usage consisted of web browsing, using social media apps, a couple of hours of gaming, and streaming videos on YouTube and OTT apps.

OnePlus 13s offered around two days of usage on a single charge

 

We also ran PCMark’s synthetic battery benchmark test that simulates several apps running on the device, and the OnePlus 13s lasted for 24 hours and 59 minutes. During our offline video loop playback test, the phone lasted for over 32 hours. However, please note that these results are from controlled tests with the phone in flight mode and auto brightness turned off.

You get an 80W SuperVOOC charging adapter with the OnePlus 13s, and takes about 78 minutes for a full charge. The handset also supports reverse-wired charging, allowing you to top up other devices or accessories while you’re on the go. There is no support for wireless charging — OnePlus stated that this was due to the size of the compact smartphone.

OnePlus 13s: Verdict

The Snapdragon 8 Elite chip and the 5,800mAh battery are two of the most notable features of the OnePlus 13s, and the handset delivers performance that is on par with its more expensive sibling, the OnePlus 13. The cameras are the only area where the company appears to have cut corners to keep the handset’s price low.

The OnePlus 13s is a solid phone and could offer even better value in the future with discounts

 

And that’s not necessarily a bad thing — if you’re looking for a handset with an ultrawide camera or a more capable telephoto camera, you might want to take a look at the iQOO 13 (Review) or the recently launched Realme GT 7 Pro.

If you need a smartphone that runs on iOS, the iPhone 16e (Review) or the older iPhone 15 (Review) also available at around the same price on Flipkart and Amazon. Keep in mind that the OnePlus 13s offers a better display, longer battery life, faster charging, and arguably better camera performance.

All things considered, the OnePlus 13s is a smartphone with a reliable display, chipset, primary camera, battery life, and software experience. It delivers the same raw performance as more expensive smartphones, such as the OnePlus 13 (Review) or the Samsung Galaxy S25 (Review), along with long-lasting battery life, and is easy to recommend if you’re in the market for a smartphone priced under Rs. 60,000.