OnePlus 15 review: A blazing-fast smartphone with unmatched performance

First impressions?

The OnePlus 15 in Sand Storm showcasing its refined design, slim bezels and durable build in natural light. (Image: Bijin Jose/The Indian Express)

The OnePlus 15 came packed in the quintessential red box. I got the OnePlus 15 in the new Sand Storm colour, and it looks and feels great. I will not wax eloquent about the design, but it’s worth noting that it is different from the previous generation of OnePlus phones. However, picture holding a dice made of fine marble; well, that’s how the new OnePlus 15 feels in your hands. It is a lot cooler than a handful of smartphones that I have been dabbling with for a while.

This time, the company has incorporated a lot of innovations with special focus on symmetry and material refinement. The bezels at 1.15 mm on all sides are ultra slim. OnePlus achieved this with LIPO, or low injection pressure over-molding, technology, which allows the display to stay durable despite super-thin borders.

OxygenOS 16 on the OnePlus 15 delivers a clean, fluid interface backed by faster animations and deeper AI integration. (Image: Bijin Jose/The Indian Express)

Apart from the Sand Storm, the flagship device is being offered in Infinite Black and Ultra Violet shades, each of which has been distinctly made with different material treatments and textures. And I feel durability is one of the key highlights of this device, as it features an extensive set of IP ratings, namely, IP66, IP68, IP69, and IP69K. Evidently, these ratings make the phone one of the most durable devices on the market today. Be it light rains or dust storms, or jet sprays on a water roller coaster, the OnePlus 15 lets you go about carefree.

How about the performance?

To be frank, the briefings of the OnePlus 15 in Singapore underscored the wide extent of features, often too much to the point that I wondered if this was the paragon of a super-efficient smartphone. I even quipped that with all these features, the company may have tired itself into shutting down. Humour aside, the OnePlus 15 is a solid contender among high-performance smartphones in recent years. It builds on what it calls the Power Trinity, which is the combined force of a Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset, a dedicated touch response chip, and a dedicated Wi-Fi chip. All of these chips are designed to work together to offer consistent speeds across multitasking, gaming, and handling heavy workloads. The phone also features a proprietary CPU scheduler that allocates resources efficiently during intense gaming sessions, much more effectively than Android’s standard scheduler.

Call of Duty running smoothly on the OnePlus 15’s 165 Hz LTPO display, supported by its dedicated touch-response and Wi-Fi chips. (Image: Bijin Jose/The Indian Express)

I would describe myself as a feather-light gamer, meaning I would only play once in a blue moon. With the OnePlus 15, gaming performance has been a major focus area. It brings along the industry’s first 1.5K 165 Hz LTPO display. In simple words, this automatically scales between 1 Hz and 120 Hz in regular use, while it reaches the hilt in supported games. With a dedicated touch responsiveness chip, the phone offers a 3,200 Hz instant touch sampling rate. When combined, all of these features yield a smoother motion, faster reaction times, and more precise control, especially in high-speed titles. During my stint, I played Call of Duty, Shadow Fight 3, F1 Clash, and CarX Street.

OnePlus 27W Freezing Point Magnetic Cooler clipped onto the OnePlus 15. (Image: Bijin Jose/The Indian Express)

Again, on the connectivity front, the built-in dedicated Wi-Fi chip greatly augments the overall performance. It not only improves signal strength and latency but also ensures stronger performance indoors during online gaming. Yet another facet that greatly adds to the overall performance is the thermal management. The phone comes with a 360 Cryo-Velocity Cooling system and uses a large vapour chamber, graphite layers, and an aerogel-based cooling layer within the display.

Perhaps the strongest suit of the OnePlus 15 is its massive 7,300 mAh dual-cell battery that is built using Silicon Nanostack technology, which allows for higher energy density. The device ships with a 120W SUPERVOOC wired charger and a 50W AIRVOOC wireless charger. The company claims that wired charging takes around 39 minutes to fully charge, and it stands true. This is perhaps the only phone in my experience that comfortably gave me a battery life of two days, which is a major takeaway in a sea of power-deprived smartphones.

Photography on OnePlus 15

The latest offering from OnePlus comes with a triple 50MP camera system—a Sony IMX906 main sensor, a 50MP ultra-wide sensor with a 116-degree field of view, and a 50MP telephoto lens providing 3.5x optical zoom and 7x “optical-quality” zoom. And, on the front, a 32MP front camera with an RGBW sensor accompanies these. The imaging experience is driven by the DetailMax Engine, which is a combination of computational photography algorithms.

Some of the notable features include ultra-clear 26MP photos that merge multiple frames to offer optimum output. On the other hand, the low-light photography is handled by the Clear Night Engine, efficiently reducing noise or blur. When it comes to videography, the phone is capable of 4K 120 fps Dolby Vision recording, along with offering consistent colour accuracy. Besides, the phone also offers some advanced controls for creators, including pro-level shooting modes and manual adjustments.

Based on my usage, the main camera is highly dependable, as it produces good, social media-friendly photos under the right conditions. Since it has 4K 60 fps on all cameras, the outputs are stable. Also, the main camera can do up to 4K 120 fps with Dolby Vision, making it ideal for vlogging. For selfies, the front camera with autofocus works well in daylight. While the OnePlus 15 is a step down from its predecessor that carried the partnership with experts like Hasselblad, the cameras and the output are good, if not great. Regardless, regular users may not even notice the granular changes at play. Below are some camera samples.

(Image: Bijin Jose/The Indian Express)

(Image: Bijin Jose/The Indian Express)

(Image: Bijin Jose/The Indian Express)

(Image: Bijin Jose/The Indian Express)

(Image: Bijin Jose/The Indian Express)

(Image: Bijin Jose/The Indian Express)

(Image: Bijin Jose/The Indian Express)

(Image: Bijin Jose/The Indian Express)

(Image: Bijin Jose/The Indian Express)

(Image: Bijin Jose/The Indian Express)

(Image: Bijin Jose/The Indian Express)

(Image: Bijin Jose/The Indian Express)

(Image: Bijin Jose/The Indian Express)

(Image: Bijin Jose/The Indian Express)

(Image: Bijin Jose/The Indian Express)

How about software and AI?

The smartphone runs on the new OxygenOS 16, which brings the brand’s emphasis on speed along with deep integration of AI features. The upgraded OS results in a smoother UI experience with a glass-like aesthetic, a refined lock screen, improved widgets, and a cleaner and more eye-pleasing look. App-switching transitions and general responsiveness are faster when compared to OxygenOS 15. It is no longer clunky and lets the user easily navigate through the quick setting panel, app drawers, and, most importantly, greater customisations for widgets. The OS also maintains fluidity through Parallel Processing 2.0, which keeps animation and app switching smooth across the system.

The OnePlus 15 also comes with a slew of AI features. Notable is the Plus Mind assistant, which collects and organises information for the user, eliminating the need for manual notes. Other features include AI Recorder for transcription, AI Portrait Glow for portrait photography, and AI Scan for scanning documents.

Should you buy the OnePlus 15?

The OnePlus 15 is built around the idea of sustained power, fast responsiveness, extended battery life, deep focus on gaming, and durability. For anyone looking to buy an Android device in 2025, the OnePlus 15 checks numerous boxes linked to battery capacity, advanced AI features, durability, etc. If these are your priorities, then the answer is a resounding yes.

The OnePlus 15 starts at Rs 72,999 and is offered in 12GB + 256GB and 16GB + 512GB storage options. For a better perspective, at present, the Rs 65,000-Rs 75,000 range is a hyper-competitive zone, with several strong alternatives from the likes of Samsung, Xiaomi, Vivo, etc. Regardless, the OnePlus 15 promises extremely strong hardware—a huge battery, a very high refresh rate panel, and dedicated chips (for touch and Wi-Fi, etc.), which gives it an edge in raw performance.