The highly anticipated compact smartphone from OnePlus is finally here. While many will argue that a 6.32-inch display is hardly compact, it is what passes for a ‘small phone’ these days. Samsung and Apple’s vanilla models in their flagship series are sized at 6.2 and 6.1 inches, respectively. What works in the OnePlus 13s’ advantage is its price. It sits between the OnePlus 13R (Rs 43,000) and OnePlus 13 (Rs 70,000) with a Rs 55,000 price tag. This makes it comfortably cheaper than the Samsung Galaxy S25 (Rs 81,0000) and the iPhone 16 (Rs 80,000). Of course, this means there are some tradeoffs along the way – the most notable ones being the ultrawide shooter and wireless charging. We used the OnePlus 13s for a week to find out how it measures up to other small flagship phones; here is our review of the device.

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OnePlus 13s Review: Design and Display

Here’s what you get inside the OnePlus 13s’ retail box:

• Smartphone
• 80W power adapter
• USB Type-A to Type-C cable
• Silicone cover
• SIM ejector
• Quick start guide

The OnePlus 13s has a flat form factor with rounded edges. The glass panel has a smooth matte texture that lends it a premium in-hand feel. The chassis of the rear camera panel is made of aluminium. The glossy OnePlus branding is embossed in the middle of the back panel. There are 3 colour variants on offer: Black Velvet, Pink Satin, and Green Silk. The last variant is exclusive to India.

One of the biggest highlights of the OnePlus 13s is the new Plus Key. This button replaces the traditional Alert Slider on the left edge of the aluminium frame. This button triggers AI Plus Mind (more on that later) by default, and can be remapped to perform functions like enabling DND, launching the camera, putting your phone on silent, and more. The right edge houses the volume rocker keys and the side button. At the bottom lies the SIM slot, primary microphone, and speaker grille. The secondary speaker and noise-cancellation microphone are positioned at the top.

The 6.32-inch AMOLED display has a 120Hz refresh and can reach up to 1,600 nits in High Brightness Mode. It is surrounded by slim bezels on all sides. The display holds up pretty well in bright outdoor surroundings. The ‘Adaptive tone’ feature in settings adjusts the screen colour temperature based on the ambient lighting conditions. The touch response of the display is smooth, and it registers even the most subtle touches with ease. The optical fingerprint scanner, while not as quick as the ultrasonic sensor on the OnePlus 13, puts up a snappy performance.

During the week-long review period, we used the OnePlus 13s as our primary media streaming device. The AMOLED panel produced brilliant visuals packed with superb details and vivid colours. Features like Image Sharpener and Video Colour Boost made the viewing experience all the more enjoyable. The stereo speaker setup produces a well-rounded output, but its intensity leaves more to be desired.

With an IP65 rating onboard, the OnePlus 13s remains unaffected by water splashes and low-pressure water jets. The OnePlus 13 (our review here) is more adept at handling exposure to water with its IP69 rating.

OnePlus 13s Review: Performance and Cameras

At the heart of the OnePlus 13s lies Qualcomm’s flagship chipset – the Snapdragon 8 Elite. Here’s how the smartphone performed in Geekbench and AnTuTu benchmark tests.

• AnTuTu: 210513
• Geekbench 6: 2,830 (Single-Core Score) | 7,574 (Multi-Core Score)

OnePlus 13s comes with 12GB LPDDR5X RAM and 2 UFS 4.0 storage options:

• 256GB: Rs 55,000
• 512GB: Rs 60,000

The Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset crushes every task that’s thrown at it. During the week-long review period, we did not encounter a single jitter or lag on the OnePlus 13s. Apps took no time to load, and switching between multiple active apps was a seamless experience. The smartphone did a great job of optimising the background apps and ensuring they do not affect the speed of the ongoing tasks. The haptic motor works wonderfully as well. The vibrational responses were well-tuned and added a nice touch to the experience.

OnePlus doesn’t market its compact offering as a gaming device, but it is equipped with a 4,400mm² 3D Cryo-Velocity vapour chamber that does a good job of keeping the internal temperature in check. Selected gaming titles like BGMI can run in the high frame setting of 120fps. We played Call of Duty Mobile on the smartphone and were pleased with its touch response and detailed graphics. The back panel started to warm up after 30 minutes of gameplay.

OnePlus 13s runs the Android 15-based OxygenOS 15 out of the box. There are a handful of bloatware apps on the device, which isn’t a good sight in this price bracket and certainly takes away from the ‘flagship’ experience that OnePlus is trying to sell.

However, the software experience on offer here is sublime. To begin with, the OS feels light and airy. Everything from panel transitions to app minimisation animations has a free-flowing feel to it. OnePlus has also fleshed out its AI package on this device, adding some interesting features to it.

The AI Plus Mind is the highlight of OnePlus AI. It gets triggered when you press the Plus Key on the left edge of the frame. It reads the content on the screen and saves it as a memory in the Mind Space.

The Mind Space extracts key information from these memories and suggests relevant actions. For example, if you captured a WhatsApp conversation about an upcoming meeting, the Mind Space will automatically prompt you to save it in your calendar. If you take a screenshot of a ticket, it will summarise and display the key information (seat number, time of departure, fare, etc.).

Call Assistant is another nifty feature that has been added to the OnePlus AI package. It allows you to translate your phone calls in real time. VoiceScribe can transcribe your recorded phone calls and meetings across third-party apps like WhatsApp, Telegram, Snapchat, Instagram, and more. The PassScan tool adds your boarding pass to Google Wallet by simply clicking a picture. This feature works completely on-device while others rely on cloud servers.

The 5,850mAh battery pack on the OnePlus 13s is the biggest we’ve seen on a phone of its size. What’s more impressive is that this is not a Si/C unit. The battery life offered by this smartphone easily beats every other compact device out there. We were able to coast through the day without any battery anxiety. A screen time of 4.5 hours left us with more than 50% charge in the tank at the end of the day. With more conservative usage, you can push the battery life to 2 days. The 80W power adapter provided in the box takes just over an hour to fully charge the phone. The lack of wireless charging is a bit of a letdown.

The camera system is where OnePlus has made one of the biggest tradeoffs on this device. The rear camera panel packs a 50MP Sony LYT-700 primary sensor and a 50MP Samsung S5KJN5 telephoto sensor with 2x optical zoom. The OnePlus 13R (our review here) uses these two sensors as well. However, the OnePlus 13s lacks an ultrawide shooter in its camera array.

The 50MP primary shooter takes great images in outdoor daylight conditions. The images are sharp and pack a lot of detail. The vivid colours showcased by the images make them ‘pop’. We were quite happy with the dynamic range as well. In limited lighting conditions, the smartphone does a good job of processing the images and brightening the subject. It also clears the noise with ease. While the images are heavily processed, they do not seem artificial.

The 50MP telephoto lens can optically zoom up to 2x. Most primary shooters produce decent results with a 2x digital zoom, so the choice of placing a 2x telephoto in a product that you’re calling a flagship offering is a bit of an odd choice from OnePlus. Regardless, this lens takes good images and retains the colour profile of the main shooter. 

In portrait mode, the camera app defaults to the telephoto lens, offering no option to switch to 1x zoom. This felt like a weird quirk, one we hope gets fixed in a future upgrade. The portrait shots are lively and well-focused. The smartphone does a great job of separating the subject from the background and adding a tasteful background blur.

The 32MP front-facing camera takes good selfies while keeping the skin tone and texture correction effects to a minimum. This camera is also capable of autofocusing on the subject. It can record 4K, 1,080p, and 720p videos at 30fps. Meanwhile, the two rear sensors can shoot 4K and 1,080p videos at 30 and 60fps. The 720p recording chops of these cameras are limited to 30fps.

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Verdict

There aren’t many smartphones in the sub-Rs 60,000 price bracket that can replicate the performance of the OnePlus 13s. The Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset at the heart of this device goes through demanding, power-intensive tasks like a hot knife through butter. The 6.32-inch display, while not ‘compact’ in the strictest definition of the term, is a treat to use. A 2-day battery life on a phone of this size is something we could not have imagined a few years ago.

On the software front, the OnePlus AI package grabs all the attention with its cutting-edge and accessible features. These features are neatly woven into the software, making them easy to incorporate into the daily routine. The lack of an ultrawide lens takes away from the ‘flagship’ experience that OnePlus is trying to curate on this device, but it is certainly not a dealbreaker.

OnePlus 13s Pros

• Neat design
• Big battery
• Plus Key
• AI Plus Mind

OnePlus 13s Cons

• No wireless charging
• No ultrawide lens
• IP65 rating