OnePlus is done pretending it’s the quiet overachiever in the smartphone scene. The new OnePlus 15 Series may not have an actual fan or water-cooled system, but damn, it sure is charging straight into gaming-phone territory with a display that refreshes faster than your thumbs can move. We’re talking 165 Hz, people—a number so high it will make other “flagship” phones feel like they’re running slideshow mode.
This so-called “super high refresh rate Eastern screen” is a 6.78-inch FHD+ OLED panel (2,772 x 1,272 pixels) with 450 ppi, 1 Hz–120 Hz adaptive refresh, which, of course, can go up to a ridiculous 165 Hz when the situation demands, and a peak brightness of 1,800 nits.
Under the hood, the new OnePlus 15 [CH] is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, which forms part of what OnePlus calls the “gaming triple-core” setup that also includes the G2 gaming network chip, and a “telepathy” touch chip. Together with a console-grade gyroscope, they deliver a symphony of overkill—stable ping, zero input delay, and precision movement so tight it practically merges you with the phone. Now, man and machine can finally become one. No, it won’t turn you into a Jaeger pilot, but it comes dangerously close. Me think.
OnePlus even claims the next-gen “Fengchi gaming core” taps into the CPU, GPU, and NPU simultaneously for 165 FPS sustained gaming, complete with “superframe rendering” and “1% low frame rate” optimization. In short, it’s aiming to melt faces, not frame rates.
Keeping things cool is the new “Glacier Cooling System”, which allegedly dissipates heat twice as fast, letting you game at full throttle without turning your palm into a frying pan. Keeping the beast juiced is a 7,300 mAh glacier battery that supports 120 W ultra flash charge, 50 W wireless charging, and bypass power mode—perfect for marathon gaming sessions where every second counts.
Photography hasn’t taken a backseat either. The LUMO condensed light imaging system borrows from Oppo’s flagship camera setup, minus the Hasselblad wizardry—obviously. It packs a trio of 50 MP shooters: a wide (f/1.8, 24 mm), an ultra-wide (f/2.0, 16 mm, 116°), and a telephoto (f/2.8, 85 mm) with 3.5x optical and up to 120X digital zoom, all with OIS and autofocus.
Other niceties include LPDDR5X RAM, UFS 4.1 storage, ColorOS 16, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6.0, USB 3.2 Gen 1, dual nano SIM, and a body rated IP66/IP68/IP69/IP69K—so yes, it’s basically waterproof, dustproof, and apocalypse-proof. OK. Maybe not the last one, but you get the idea.
Oh, and it’s got a metal “magic square” DECO, a 1.15 mm ultra-thin bezel, a multi-function side button (no longer a slider, sadly), and those “golden radius corners” every designer keeps bragging about (at least, in China). OnePlus ditched the iconic physical slider in favor of a multi-function button starting with the OnePlus 13T.
The OnePlus 15 Series will be available in configurations up to 16 GB RAM + 1 TB storage, and presented in 3 lovely colorways. The handset was launched earlier today in China with a starting price of 3,999 yuan [CH] (about US$562).
In case you have not noticed. OnePlus has dropped Hasselblad imaging. OnePlus stopped collaborating with the Swedish imaging company halfway through the OnePlus 13 series. The 13 still rocks Hasselblad touches, but it was no longer Hasselblad, starting with the 13T. OnePlus has been working with Hasselblad since the 9 series in 2021, before Oppo joined up with the Find X5 Pro.
Also, keen-eyed tech heads may have noticed that there isn’t a OnePlus 14. That’s right. OnePlus skipped the 14, likely due to the number 4, which is kind of an Oppo thing (remember the Oppo Find X5?). So, no, you did not miss anything.
Images: OnePlus [CH].
