OnePlus just launched the OnePlus 12 globally, and the phone has all the features you could ask for in a 2024 flagship. It has a gorgeous design, delivers incredible performance, has a large battery that lasts up to two days consistently, and you get a bright AMOLED panel that goes up to 4,500 nits.
But its the cameras that ultimately make it stand out, and it is the best OnePlus phone available at the moment. But if you’re not interested in this year’s phone and are looking to wait it out until 2025, then the OnePlus 13 should be of interest.
We haven’t heard much about the OnePlus 13 just yet — which isn’t surprising considering the OnePlus 12 launched just now — but we can make a few guesses, and suggest a list of features we’d want to see on the device.
OnePlus 13: Price and release date
OnePlus followed the same launch pattern over the last two years, releasing its flagship in China in the month of December, and making it available in global markets — usually with a glitzy launch event in India — in the month of January.
The OnePlus 12 debuted on January 23, and I’m estimating a similar cadence with the OnePlus 13. This strategy allows OnePlus to be one of the first to roll out phones featuring Qualcomm’s latest silicon, and it lets the manufacturer get an edge over Samsung and Xiaomi. Even though Xiaomi launched the Xiaomi 14 series earlier, the global launch isn’t going to be until the end of Q1.
OnePlus 13: Design and screen
OnePlus used the same design aesthetic on its devices for a while now, and that’s a good thing. While the camera housing is tweaked with every generation, the smooth curves and rounded edges have been a mainstay on OnePlus phones for the better part of a decade.
As such, I don’t think we’ll see huge changes in the design; instead, OnePlus is likely to iterate on the camera island once again, and make it look a little more differentiated on the OnePlus 13. I like the two-tone design of the Find X7 Ultra, and this could be a direction that OnePlus takes next year.
OnePlus switched from Samsung to BOE for the screen, and it allowed the manufacturer to use a significantly brighter 4,500-nit brightness panel on the OnePlus 12. Given the gains on offer, the OnePlus 13 is likely to use a BOE screen as well, and it may go even higher.
OnePlus 13: Specs
It’s pretty straightforward to guess what sort of hardware the OnePlus 13 may have to offer. It will be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, feature at least 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM, and OnePlus may launch a 1TB model globally next year.
While there is a 1TB version of the OnePlus 12, it is limited to China, and OnePlus could just wait a year and launch the higher-storage model with the OnePlus 13 instead. This is consistent with what the company did in the past.
Elsewhere, I don’t see any changes coming to the 100W charging tech, and the battery should be the same 5,400mAh unit that we got this year.
OnePlus 13: Cameras
The OnePlus 12 introduced a set of new sensors, allowing it to take much better photos than any other OnePlus phone to date. This is set to continue next year, and while I don’t have any details to share at this point, it is likely that the OnePlus 13 will have better telephoto lenses and a new main camera module that has increased light sensitivity.
What I want to see is a new selfie camera that can take good photos and videos. This is the biggest shortcoming on the OnePlus 12, and I want to see the manufacturer address this with the OnePlus 13.
OnePlus 13: More to come
Obviously, there’s very little we know about the OnePlus 13 at this point. But if history is any indication, it shouldn’t be too long before we start getting leaks, and I’ll be continually updating the post as new information about the device emerges.
