OnePlus 13 release date predictions and its pricing, features, and specs

The OnePlus 13 is the expected next flagship from indie darling OnePlus. It's going to be the followup of the current OnePlus 12, which was released in December of 2023. Therefore, we expect the 13 to be announced and launch towards the end of this year.

Nothing is yet official, but leaks have started to crop up, and information is being reaffirmed. So, we are slowly starting to get an idea of what OnePlus may be brewing.

The previous OnePlus 11 and OnePlus 12 were very similar externally, but it sounds like we are about to get some facelifts here and there. We also ponder whether it may be powered by a new Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 — due to be unveiled in October, 2024. What else? Let's go deep!

OnePlus' flagship release schedule is set for the early months of each year. The OnePlus 12 launched in China in December, but was released globally in January. The more affordable sibling — the OnePlus 12R — followed shortly, with a February release date. Since the whole industry sticks to that 12-ish-month release cycle, we have every reason to believe that the OnePlus 13 will be available globally some time in January or February of 2025.

Considering how little info is floating about the rumor mill, we think it's safe to assume that the OnePlus 13 is still some months away from release — no case makers have leaked design specs, no mysterious line workers have leaked hardware details. But we still have some clues on design and battery!

The price of OnePlus phones has been fluctuating quite a bit recently. The company tried to shoot for the stars with the OnePlus 10 Pro priced at $900, but it seems the market didn't respond well to that, and the OnePlus 11 quickly dropped in price by a whopping $200. Then, with the OnePlus 12, the company kind of increased the base price again. Only kind of — OnePlus simply removed the cheapest, 128 GB memory entry level. So, even though they are now a bit more expensive, you still get actual value for the "increased" price.

So, since judging by these moves, it seems that OnePlus still wants to keep its phones as value-oriented as possible. So, we don't believe we will see another jump this time. Of course, we'd hate to be proven wrong on that.

So, as we mentioned in the pricing section, the current flagship OnePlus 12 starts at 256 GB and has a 512 GB variant. We fully expect the same options for the OnePlus 13:

Well, the rumors here are kind of conflicting — we've had varying reports between 6,000 mAh and 6,200 mAh. But we are getting more and more reaffirmations of the former. 

And, some leaksters said that OnePlus would have to sacrifice wireless charging to achieve that. But recent reports say that the phone will still come with 100 W wired charging and 50 W wireless charging, so... no? Maybe those rumors were meant for the inevitable OnePlus 13R? The R series are usually a "core" version — bells and whistles are cut to offer a snappy phone at a lower cost.

OnePlus equips its phones with Oxygen OS — a light reskin of Android, which adds some quality of life features and some customization options, but not much. Very practical one-hand use gestures that allow you to reach all the icons on your homescreen with a single swipe, custom Always On Display animations, a Zen Mode that lets you take a break or turn your screen black and white. 

Otherwise, the interface looks and feels very much "vanilla", which also allows it to be super light and snappy. We've enjoyed the OnePlus software for years now — we expect to keep doing so with the OnePlus 13.

We don't foresee OnePlus dipping its toes in the AI sector just yet. The manufacturer's value prop is something else — it offers snappy hardware with a basic software that ensures no bloat, no slowdowns, and no plethora of menus. Plus, Google is dedicated to bringing Gemini to "all of Android" — so, we assume most manufacturers will just let Gemini do its thing, instead of investing in something as big as Samsung's Galaxy AI. After all... all of these AI features do mostly the same stuff, why develop something redundant?

What the OnePlus software specializes in — and it shares that with Oppo — is extremely intuitive and fast gestures to get around the interface quickly and easily. Enter one-hand mode, or split-screen, or take a screenshot with just a motion. There's plenty of customization on how it looks and it gives you ways to personalize the workflow to an extent.

The main OnePlus phones are flagships through and through — even if their prices are quite competitive. The OnePlus 13 is expected to have the yet-unannounced Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 4. We'd love to see some upgrades to thermal management — the OnePlus 12 wasn't throttling for us per se, but it did get battered by the 3DMark stress test. Moreso than (more expensive) flagships from Asus and Xiaomi. It'd be cool of the OnePlus 13 runs cooler for longer!

12 GB of RAM seems like a minimum for OnePlus currently, and since the company has switched to UFS 4.0 modules — a 256 GB storage is guaranteed (UFS 4.0 does not come in less than 256 GB).

Considering the information we have on hand right now, the OnePlus 13 may not be a huge upgrade over the current OnePlus 12, save for a possible facelift in the design. However, we may see big camera improvements. Also, we haven't heard anything about a "OnePlus AI" or anything... We wonder how the company might include the mandatory buzz-feature with its next flagship.

• You should wait for OnePlus 13 if you have a OnePlus 11 or even a OnePlus 10 Pro that's still serving you well. The OnePlus 12 is nice, but you will feel the hump of the upgrade if you hold out a few months and jump straight to the OnePlus 13 when it comes out.

• You should not wait for OnePlus 13 if you have a OnePlus 9, an old flagship or more current midranger from other brands. If you grab the OnePlus 12 today, you can enjoy a snappy performance, pretty screen, and dizzyingly fast performance.