Words – SRINI SWAMINATHAN
We reviewed the newly launched OnePlus 13s (Green Silk, 12GB RAM, 512GB ROM) intended for the Indian market. As expected from OnePlus, the phone boasts a polished design with subtle elegance, with a new compact size, along with cutting-edge performance, and a feature-rich experience at an aggressive price point—positioning itself as a top contender in the premium mid-range category.
Given the compact ‘fits-like-a-glove-in-hand’ form factor you may have many questions such as – “Does the battery life do justice to the expectations? How does the phone handle multiple tasks without heating up? How well do the cameras capture images and videos?”. Stay tuned as well unbox this small beauty and take it for a spin and put it to tough tests on the streets of Mumbai. The unboxing experience is clean, premium, and signature OnePlus. e box includes a high-speed 80W SUPERVOOC charger, a red Type-C cable (USB-A to C), SIM ejector tool, and essential documentation. Unlike some brands that skimp on accessories, OnePlus delivers the complete kit – the phone comes with a pre-applied screen protector and a precisely cut phone case that feels great in the hand and is not slippery.
The design is immediately noticeable, the new Green Silk finish is soft matte with a metallic hue that feels luxurious without being flashy. The squared camera module houses dual cameras with a vertical visual arrangement. The phone has a boxy profile with subtly curved corners and a metal frame, offering solid build quality and a premium in-hand feel. At 8.2mm thickness and ~200g weight, it feels reassuring in one hand but never bulky or heavy. The alert slider has been replaced by the customisable Plus Key (on the left). The OnePlus 13s has a IP rating of 3R IP65 similar to the 13R. The OnePlus 13s is powered by Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Elite. This delivers better AI performance that powers the new AI features spread across various areas which we found to be pretty useful and neatly integrated. In day-to-day usage, this translates to effortless performance—whether it’s app switching, gaming, or streaming. With 12GB LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB UFS 4.0 storage, multitasking is seamless. Even in hot weather conditions (think Indian cities in summer!) the cooling system performed well.
The 6.32-inch (16.05cm) 1.5K AMOLED display is a visual treat. With 120Hz refresh rate, 1600+ nits peak W brightness, and HDR10+ support, everything looks punchy and vibrant even in bright daylight. Colour accuracy is commendable and outdoor visibility is top-tier. Unlike many phones in this range, the OnePlus 13s maintains uniform bezels, and the haptics feel tight and clicky. Consuming media on this phone, hence, is a good experience with both video and audio being superb. Though the One Plus 13s does not have wireless charging, it makes up for that with a superb 5850mAh++ battery capacity which easily lasts a full day with heavy use and supports 80W SUPERVOOC charging, going from 0 to 100% in about <60 minutes. Ok. Design – tick. Display, battery, processor – tick. Now, let us focus on one of the top expectations -photography. So, camera-wise, the setup is modest: two 50MP back cameras paired with a 32MP AutoFocus front camera. In daylight, the shots are detailed, contrast-rich, and color accurate. Low-light photos are good enough but get better with the help of Smart Scenes. For those who prefer seeing the various photography features and adjust them in real time, you can choose the PRO mode and manually adjust ISO, Shutter Speed, EV, WB etc.
You can shoot Video up to 4K 60fps and in our experience shooting videos, it did well with ample lighting conditions. You can use the “Ultra Steady” feature to shoot stable videos. Both Photo and Video options have inbuilt “Smart Scenes” to shoot ‘stage’, ‘silhouette’ or ‘fireworks. Once the images are captured, when you set about to edit them, the inbuilt AI Editor (works only if the phone has internet) has five useful modes to elevate the images and we found these to be mostly very useful and not gimmicky. With OxygenOS 15 latest software update, the OnePlus 13s has several interesting and useful AI Features neatly integrated into the system. By customising the Plus Key or with three finger swipe up, you can capture the summary of anything on screen and save it to the “Mind Space” app with cool and colourful animations. This feature is quite useful when you have a lot going on and you want to quickly save it to the clipboard and revisit it later. And when the Mind Space quickly fills up, the intuitive and quick AI Search comes in very handy with natural language queries.
With AI VoiceScribe, you can record, summarise and translate calls and meetings within popular messaging, video and online meeting applications. The India exclusive AI Call Assistant (with OnePlus Call Dialer) offers options for call summaries or in-call translation and notes on OnePlus Dialer. It is useful in various situations and is superbly integrated. The AI Translate feature works well with various options inbuilt such as Live Translation (with scripts on screen from spoken audio), text based conversations or images and live camera and full web page translations. When we put this to the test by speaking in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu, Kannada, Bengali, Gujarati, Malayalam, Telugu or Punjabi audio, the AI Translate did an impressive job of translating it to English though you have to Select Source Language and Final Language first.
We were also impressed with the AI Editor in photography editing page. The AI Recompose, AI Detail Boost, AI Unblur and AI Reflection Eraser worked mostly well with some misses when we tried the AI Eraser feature. For those who have concerns about privacy, OnePlus assures that the entire AI processing is done on-device and with Private Computing Cloud processing keeping it safe and secure without compromises. The onscreen fingerprint sensor is positioned well and worked as expected, fast without a lag. The Face Unlock worked well without any issues. In summary, the OnePlus 13s is a superbly balanced phone with a solid hardware that is paired with OxygenOS 15 and integrated AI features that elevate the experience.
Verdict
WE’RE IMPRESSED
Superb overall performance
Premium hardware without compromises
Well integrated AI features
WE’D IMPROVE
Ultra-wide camera quality
No wireless charging
Better IP rating
THE LAST WORD
The OnePlus 13s is a rare mix of refinement and raw power. It delivers much of what a flagship does, for
significantly less. If you want performance, style, and superb software in a mini package, this phone is a
solid recommendation.
Rating 4.5/5
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