OnePlus 15 Canadian Review: It’s worth it

In January I had the opportunity to work with OnePlus (OP) 13. I even gave 13 reasons why I really liked this phone, including great battery, stylish design, fast and smooth operation. The OP13 is a flagship smartphone, and while it was launched globally in January, it was first released in China a few months before I got my hands on the device. OnePlus always releases its phone in China first, so it's no surprise that we had to wait a while for the OnePlus 13. However, in the second half of the year, OnePlus is changing things up.

On October 27, OnePlus launched the OP15 in China. Typically we'd have to wait a few months, but the company will be bringing the OP15 to Canada and the rest of North America in November. This means I tested the OnePlus 15 ahead of launch, and while it has a completely different design and some AI capabilities that people would immediately write off, the OP15 is better than its already impressive predecessor in every way.

OnePlus 15 is the latest and greatest smartphone from the company and can easily compete with any other smartphone in the market. Seriously, the device is powerful and can compete with Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and even iPhone 17 pro in various aspects.

Absolute unit

The OnePlus 15 is an absolute powerhouse, capable of handling almost anything you throw at it. The performance of the device is amazing. I can play games, write articles, and scroll through Instagram without any lag or stuttering. At the heart of this powerhouse is a Qualcomm processor. Snapdragon 8 5th generation along with 16GB of RAM, which is why it's so incredibly fast. It's the first Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 device in Canada, and the OnePlus 15 showcases the impressive capabilities of Qualcomm's latest and greatest. Using Geekbench 6, we can determine that the OP15 has a single-core score of 3621 and a multi-core score of 10757, which is by far the best score I've ever seen on a smartphone. This is incredibly impressive. However, at the end of the day, the OP15 is not on the same level as a laptop; We're not there yet.

The smartphone never really gets warm, which is likely due to its 360-degree cryospeed cooling system, which uses a vapor chamber for internal cooling along with an airgel screen cooler, ultimately keeping the device cool to the touch even after playing a few Marvel Snap games.

Not only was I impressed by its fast performance, but the OP15 also boasts amazing battery life, surpassing that of its predecessor the OP13 and even compares favorably, if not better, to the iPhone 17 Pro Max. This is due to the device's 7,300mAh battery, which is significantly larger than any other smartphone in the country. It is truly an excellent source of energy and can last for almost two full days. I once charged the device to 100 percent at about 9:00 pm on a Thursday. The phone lasted until Saturday around 6pm, with just over seven and a half hours of screen life. During this time I played more than three hours in Marvel Snaplistened to music, scrolled through Instagram, flirted on dating apps and watched videos on YouTube. Additionally, the OP15 comes with 120W wired charging, allowing you to charge it very quickly.

Dramatic transformation

Battery and performance were my favorite parts of the OnePlus 15 review, although I wasn't particularly impressed with the design. However, I like that the company has changed the look of the phone so dramatically. A lot has changed, from the camera bump and back panel material to the elimination of the alert slider and the curved screen.

The OP15's design is much slimmer than its predecessor, with a flat screen on the back and sides. Every day it looks more and more like an iPhone. The camera bump is now square in shape with rounded corners to match the corners of the device. The model I'm looking at is the Sand Storm, which has a fiberglass back panel and MAO-treated frame. This means that the frame material has undergone a micro-arc oxidation process, which is used to create a hard ceramic coating on materials such as aluminum. The device also comes in Ultra Violet and Infinite Black colors. I've dropped the phone a couple of times and the coating seems to scratch and crack quite easily, especially the surface on the camera impact. They are tiny and barely noticeable, but worth noting.

The phone feels great in my hand, and when I handed it to my colleague Brad, he immediately commented on how good it was. On the right side of the OP15 there are two buttons: a volume rocker and a power button. On the left side of the device is the new Plus Key, designed with artificial intelligence in mind, which can be reprogrammed. This isn't the first time OnePlus has a Plus button; It was first noticed on the OnePlus 13, but the device did not reach Canada.

On the front, the OnePlus 15 has incredibly thin 1.15mm bezels on all four sides, which is thinner than the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and iPhone 17 Pro. This is impressive and really makes the 6.78-inch 1.5K LTPO panel stand out. Additionally, the OP15 has a 165Hz refresh rate and a 1272 x 2772 pixel resolution display, making videos, games, and images look impressive.

The phone's refresh rate is limited to 120Hz when you're doing everyday tasks like scrolling Instagram, but when you're playing games, the phone can boost the refresh rate to 165Hz. It looked great when I played games like League of Legends: Wild Riftwhich looked fantastic. I played too Marvel Snap and stream games using Xbox Cloud Gaming. However, not every game is liked Marvel Snap Unfortunately, it is capable of using a refresh rate of 165 Hz. I also love its insanely high 3200Hz touch sampling rate, which makes gameplay fast and very responsive.

A breath of fresh air

OxygenOS 16 is a pretty good, if not lightweight, operating system; it has very smooth animation and parallel processing 2.0. Parallel processing was first showcased on the OnePlus 13, but this version lets you open and close apps from anywhere with incredible fluidity. There's also a Predictive Back Gesture feature that shows a small animated preview of what page you'll be taken to when you swipe back to exit the app or return to the previous page. It's a pretty cool little animation, but it doesn't work with all apps.

And, of course, new artificial intelligence features appear in every smartphone. OxygenOS 16 introduces a new Plus key and Mind Space. When you press the Plus key, you will see your phone take a screenshot. However, the AI ​​can understand content, so if you look at a poster or meeting and press the Plus key, it will automatically pull up details about the event and prompt you to add it to your calendar. If you click the Plus button while viewing something in another language and click the popup, you'll also get a translation of the text or a summary, depending on the text.

Plus Mind OP15 is also integrated with Gemini, so you can use search to quickly find recordings. For example, when I forgot the embargo date of the OnePlus 15, I searched for “embargo” and it quickly brought up all the embargos I had saved. You can also ask him questions like I took a screenshot of my homepage showing a samurai standing in a field with red leaves. I asked the question: “Where in the world are there leaves as red as those in this picture?” I didn't specify which image, but the AI ​​looked at all the content I captured, determined which image I was talking about, and told me the image was not from a real location. However, places with red foliage can be found around the world, such as Japan, North America or Europe. I even asked what kind of trees they might be, and they suggested Japanese maples, red maples, and others. However, he was unable to identify the specific tree in the picture or even make a guess.

Other AI features include an AI recorder that records audio content and can transcribe meetings as well as create summaries. There is AI Scan that will help you scan physical papers or documents and turn them into PDF files.

I have an annoying problem: whenever I turn off my phone, the apps on my desktop go back to their original state.

Very capable

I didn't expect much from the OP15, but it's very powerful. The phone has three 50-megapixel cameras including a wide-angle, ultra-wide-angle and a telephoto lens with 3.5x zoom. All three cameras show vibrant colors. I was able to capture the colors of the changing leaves, the deep greens of the fir tree, and the various spray paints used in graffiti. This experience didn't change whether I used the main, ultra-wide or telephoto lens.

You can also see good detail in the images. Of course it's not perfect, as you can see in these photos of my dog, some of his fur is matted, but it's still a great shot of this good boy. Portrait photos show a good sense of depth and can blur the background without ruining the foreground.

Night photos may be better, especially if you turn off the main camera. However, the wide-angle camera does capture a decent amount of light, making these shots acceptable.

Theft

OnePlus 15 starts with 12GB RAM; this model has 256GB of internal storage and costs $1,299.99, which is an incredibly competitive price. The model with 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of internal memory costs only $100 more. Compared to the $1,918.99 Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and $1,749 iPhone 17 Pro Max, the OP15 is a steal. You won't get the same camera experience as you would with the other two options. That said, you get a solid camera, a phone that looks and performs great, has a surprisingly smooth and responsive display, is an absolute beast, and has the best battery.

No phone is perfect, but if you ask me, I would recommend this smartphone to anyone who wants a phone at a reasonable price. Seriously, the OP15 is great and I love spending time with this device. You miss things like a great zoom and MagSafe, but I didn't miss those things during my time with the OP15.

If you purchase the OP15 for a limited time, it will come bundled with the OnePlus Watch 3, OnePlus Buds Pro 3, or a 50W AIRVOOC magnetic charger that gives the OP15 MagSafe capabilities.

OP15 goes on sale today.