OnePlus 13s review: Compact flagship phone with smart AI, standout battery

Business Standard

2 days ago

OnePlus has expanded its flagship lineup with the OnePlus 13s, a compact yet powerful smartphone designed to offer much of the same performance and features found in its higher-end sibling, the OnePlus 13. Powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite and equipped with the company's second-generation AI features, the OnePlus 13s blends premium specifications with a form factor that's easier to handle one-handed. With a few smart hardware decisions and meaningful software upgrades, the device aims to stand out in a crowded premium segment. But does it manage to hit all the right notes? I have been using it as my primary phone, and here's how it stacks up.
OnePlus 13s: Design
As the most compact model in the OnePlus 13 series, the OnePlus 13s feels comfortably handy. It's neither the lightest nor the thinnest device in its class, but its well-balanced weight distribution ensures your hand doesn't tire out during extended use. Its relatively small footprint also makes it ideal for one-handed operation. Despite the flat-frame design, the slightly rounded edges prevent it from digging into your palm, making it comfortable to hold.
The overall form factor is in line with what we've seen from standard models in flagship series by Apple, Google, and Samsung. However, the rear camera module stands out with a distinct design that bears some resemblance to the Pixel 9 Pro Fold. Like most smartphones with a camera module placed toward one side, the OnePlus 13s tends to wobble when used on a flat surface.
That aside, there's little to complain about in terms of the 13s's design and ergonomics. Button placement feels intuitive, and even the new 'Plus Key'—which replaces the iconic Alert Slider—becomes second nature fairly quickly. The only gripe is the position of the under-display fingerprint sensor. It sits too low on the screen, requiring your thumb to stretch more than it ideally should.
OnePlus 13s: Display
The OnePlus 13s features a 6.32-inch AMOLED display with a resolution of 2640 x 1216 (fullHD+). Despite the compact size, the screen offers generous viewing space, thanks to its sleek and uniform bezels. The display holds up well across different lighting conditions, delivering up to 800 nits of typical brightness and peaking at 1600 nits in High Brightness Mode (HBM). While it lacks any dedicated anti-reflective coating, viewing angles are excellent, and glare—even under direct light—rarely becomes a hindrance.
The 120Hz refresh rate ensures smooth scrolling and a snappy overall UI experience. OxygenOS 15 further enhances this by allowing app-specific refresh rate settings, even letting you push some apps beyond their default limits.
Colour reproduction is another strong suit—the screen delivers punchy tones, deep blacks, and vibrant visuals. As with other OnePlus 13 series phones, the 13s includes features like Image Sharpener and Video Color Boost in the settings menu. These enhancements work on select apps and offer noticeable improvements primarily when dealing with low-quality visuals.
For content consumption, the display supports Widevine L1 certification, allowing high-definition streaming on platforms like Prime Video. It also includes support for HDR10+ and Dolby Vision, though these HDR formats do not appear to be supported on Netflix as of now. HDR playback, however, is available on compatible YouTube content.
OnePlus 13s: Camera
The OnePlus 13s features a dual-camera setup on the back, headlined by a 50MP primary sensor with a 24mm equivalent focal length. Powered by the Sony LYT-700 sensor, the main camera captures detailed, vibrant images in daylight. While the colours lean towards being punchy rather than natural, the tuning strikes a good balance—adding just enough vibrancy without appearing overly saturated. However, this tuning doesn't carry over as well in low-light conditions, where processing tends to boost highlights excessively, often smudging brighter areas and leading to only passable results.
The secondary 50MP telephoto camera, which operates at a 49mm equivalent focal length (2x zoom), delivers similar image quality in daylight. It can be pushed up to 4x zoom (approximately 101mm equivalent) and still produce usable results, though low-light performance dips noticeably, with loss of detail and contrast. One thoughtful addition here is the integration of macro capabilities into the telephoto lens—allowing for sharp close-up shots without needing to physically move in too close to the subject.
Portrait mode uses the telephoto camera by default, but offers no option to switch focal lengths, which may feel restrictive depending on the framing you want. Edge detection is generally accurate, and the background blur looks natural, though focus occasionally wavers and may require manual correction.
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In terms of video, both rear cameras can record at up to 4K resolution at 60fps, while the front-facing camera supports 4K at 30fps. OnePlus also includes its Ultra Steady stabilisation mode, which works at maximum settings for both rear cameras. However, when using this mode on the front camera, resolution is capped at 1080p.
OnePlus 13s: Performance and gaming
The OnePlus 13s is powered by the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite found in the flagship OnePlus 13, though it comes capped at 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and up to 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage.
Marketed as a performance-focused device, the OnePlus 13s delivers on that promise. It breezes through everyday tasks like web browsing, multitasking, and media consumption. What's more impressive is its gaming prowess—outperforming most other compact flagships I've used. In demanding titles like Genshin Impact, the 13s maintained smooth and consistent gameplay even on the highest graphics settings, with no visible lag or stutter.
Thermal performance is also commendable. Despite extended gaming sessions, the device stayed within a comfortable temperature range, which is notable given its relatively compact size.
Beyond raw performance, OnePlus enhances the gaming experience with several thoughtful additions. Features like bypass charging, in-game performance boosts, and a floating Game Control Center provide deeper control. The latter includes advanced GPU tuning options, such as toggling the maximum number of MSAA (Multisample Anti-Aliasing) samples, adjusting Anisotropic Filtering levels, and more—making it a genuinely capable tool for mobile gamers.
OnePlus 13s: Software and AI
The OnePlus 13s runs on Android 15-based OxygenOS 15, offering a clean and responsive user experience with minimal bloatware or intrusive notifications—just like its siblings in the OnePlus 13 series. The standout feature, however, is the new OnePlus AI suite, which introduces several smart, productivity-oriented tools.
A key highlight is AI Plus Mind, which integrates with the new customisable Plus Key. Long-pressing the Plus Key brings up a glowing interface that scans on-screen content and delivers AI-generated summaries, along with actionable suggestions like creating reminders or calendar events. Most of the time, the feature works reliably, saving the content into a dedicated AI Mind Space app as visual notes, and automatically setting up events. While you can edit reminders, the ability to add manual notes to saved content would further enhance its utility.
Another standout is the AI Call Assistant, which I found genuinely useful. Integrated into the calling interface, it offers real-time translation (in both text and audio) and call summaries, which are saved into Notes along with the full transcript. Impressively, the feature supports Hindi and works with high accuracy. These capabilities extend to third-party calling apps like WhatsApp and Telegram, though the assistant is labelled AI VoiceScribe in those instances.
Additional features include AI Search, which allows natural language queries to find stored files, settings, or notes; a consolidated Translate app offering visual, text, and live voice translation; and an AI Reframe tool in the photo editor. The latter suggests alternative compositions and aspect ratios for images—similar to Google Pixel's Auto Frame. While it works well in most cases, the suggestions can occasionally feel off-target.
OnePlus 13s: Battery and charging
Battery life is one of the standout features of the OnePlus 13s. Despite its relatively compact form factor, the phone houses a sizable 5,850mAh battery—slightly smaller than what's found on the OnePlus 13, but still impressive given the size.
In day-to-day use, the phone comfortably lasts a day and a half with moderate activity that includes social media browsing, web surfing, casual gaming, and occasional video streaming. With more conservative use, it can even stretch to two full days on a single charge.
Charging is equally efficient. The OnePlus 13s supports 80W wired charging, and the included charger brings the phone to full power in just over 40 minutes. However, the lack of wireless charging may be a drawback for users who expect it at this price point.
Verdict
Priced at Rs 59,999 for the 512GB storage variant, the OnePlus 13s stands out as a compact flagship that doesn't compromise on power, endurance, or user experience. It delivers reliable performance courtesy of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen Elite chip, excellent thermal management, and smooth gaming—even rivalling larger premium phones in this regard. The addition of thoughtful AI features like AI Call Assistant make the software feel genuinely helpful rather than gimmicky.
Its clean design, vibrant AMOLED display, and strong battery life round out the package nicely. While the absence of wireless charging and a few quirks in the camera's low-light and portrait performance may leave room for refinement, these don't overshadow the phone's overall appeal.
If you are looking for a performance-focused, compact flagship with intelligent software features and solid all-round capabilities, the OnePlus 13s makes a compelling case.
OnePlus 13s: Watch unboxing