OnePlus-centric social media universes are abuzz with speculation, wishlists and hopes for the ONEPLUS 13, a phone they’ve scarcely had a chance to buy, much less get to know digitally between firmware updates. Just as tech fetishists’ hearts were beginning to beat for the company’s last phone, the OnePlus 12, rumour fodder for its successor was flying fast and furious. Here’s everything we know – and a few things we desperately hope to know – about the ONEPLUS 13.
Pending. The ONEPLUS 13 is destined to be a big deal. Rumours have it that it will debut in China sometime in December 2024 with an official global release scheduled for the first quarter of 2025. OnePlus, which has released its now-famously annual flagship phones since 2014, has neither confirmed nor denied any of this. The smartphone company has merely let the rumour mill churn, steadily stoking speculation. Early leaks and rising buzz indicate that the ONEPLUS 13 is indeed on the way.
It looks like this is the ONEPLUS 13 will be the brand’s most radical shift yet Ceramic body, new rear camera setup and micro-curved glass – a heralding of ONEPLUS 13 design. OnePlus looks set to buck design trends with its next flagship by trading some of its status quo for something new. Not much is known about the company’s next flagship phone that’ll likely be called the ONEPLUS 13, but new leak info reveals that the company could be in for a design transformation with the new phone. And it looks like this is the ONEPLUS 13 will be the brand’s most radical shift yet. The phone appears to be getting a new body made entirely out of ceramic, and while we can’t see the entire phone, it looks like OnePlus could be changing up the rear camera setup as well. A new design render also gives us the front of the ONEPLUS 13, showing the micro-curved glass wrapping around the front of the handset for the first time. It appears that for the 13th iteration of its flagship, OnePlus is plotting a complete design overhaul, starting with a new coating on the back.
The ONEPLUS 13’s rumoured chipset is Snapdragon 8 Gen 4, implying this would probably a beast in benchmarks tests. Rumoured to come with a 2K LTPO micro-curved display, a 6,000mAh battery without wireless charging is a big deal (at least for me) and enhanced photography chops is to be expected, with the improvement teased around the periscope lens.
OnePlus’s pricing of everything, then, was a kind of circus tightrope walk of balance and surprise. The company has yet to release exact numbers for the ONEPLUS 13, but one can safely bet that the company will price its new device competitively (if that is the right word). If a price advantage proves the one true gimmick that OnePlus has up its sleeve, it will have reduced its entire essence to a single impressive party trick.
I can see that, with the ONEPLUS 13 still some way off, in calendar terms, the OnePlus 12 is suddenly looking like a very tempting alternative, even for someone like me who had been resisting the upgrade itch. For other people, of course, the fast advance of tech means that desirable alternatives – perhaps the Google Pixel 8 later this year, with its suite of AI features and its commitment to major updates over several years – will be available immediately.
As whispers stir, so grow our desires for what the ONEPLUS 13 can be: an IP67 or IP68 rating for water resistance on all models, a leap in the camera department so it shines in any light, the continuation of the alert slider, and a hopeful commitment to seven years of update support, a la the titans.
OnePlus’s position in the smartphone world has been built on the promise of user-focused benefits, technical wizardry and (importantly) listening to users. OnePlus phones have become defined by their pursuit of the bleeding edge of tech that fulfils the desires of enthusiasts and the masses alike. The ONEPLUS 13 promises to continue this tradition – its blend of anticipated features and desired innovation will define the future of mobile.
What we’re looking at is a story. The story of how OnePlus pushes the technological paradigm and becomes a fully fledged member of the community. And, as we await the ONEPLUS 13 launch, the story intercepts the line between fact and speculation and builds our gleaming, shiny, consumerist anticipation of what the future of tech defeatism and egalitarianism actually looks like. Will the ONEPLUS 13 mark a pivotal fulfilment of our tech-hungry fate, or a rather more muted ending to the OnePlus saga? Will the ONEPLUS 13 set new industry benchmarks, or bend them in some other direction, forever altering the equilibrium of the smartphone cosmos? Only time, presumably, will tell.
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