OnePlus 13s hands-on review

Conclusion

The OnePlus 13s is a neat little package. It is compact and easy to handle with a pleasing design. The display is great and the cameras, at least the ones that are present, perform well. The Snapdragon 8 Elite still packs a punch and the large battery will make it last longer than any other phone in this size category.

But while the OnePlus 13s is a lot of things, it isn't a flagship. Like an ill-conceived RPG build, the OnePlus 13s blows all its points on two stats while ignoring the rest. The phone appears to be built almost entirely around the concept of a big chip and big battery in a compact body, and many compromises had to be made along the way to achieve that. The build quality, cameras, speakers, and charging all suffer as a result, along with a few baffling omissions, including an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor and USB 3.

So, the claims of being a flagship don't quite hold up, but it's easy to look past that, as at INR 55,999, it's also not priced like one. It's not as feature-complete as something like the Galaxy S25 or the Pixel 9 Pro but it's also a heck of a lot cheaper than either of those. If you have flagship aspirations but don't have the budget for it, the OnePlus 13s might just get you most of the way there without breaking the bank. A phone that's easy on the pocket, both literally and figuratively.

Pricing

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