OnePlus 13T Review: Is It Worth Buying?

OnePlus has refreshed its T series lineup, but the new OnePlus 13T brings a mix of surprises and disappointments. When I first looked at the specs, I honestly felt a little heartbroken. The OnePlus 13T only offers a dual camera setup, no ultra-wide lens, no wireless charging, and it skips on premium features like an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner. It also sticks with a USB 2.0 port and carries only an IP65 water resistance rating. Honestly, I wondered — what happened to the OnePlus we knew?

At first glance, it seemed like the worst 6.3-inch phone I had seen in a while. But then I saw the price. It’s officially $100 cheaper than the Xiaomi 15S. Suddenly, the OnePlus 13T didn’t seem like such a bad deal after all. It looks sleek, runs a top-tier Snapdragon processor, and even manages to pack a battery of over 6,000mAh into a compact body. There’s no doubt some users will find this to be their ideal phone. If you think the OnePlus 13T suits you and want to pre-order the most affordable Snapdragon 8 Elite compact phone, you can head over to Geek Wheels — they are already accepting pre-orders.

The first time I held the OnePlus 13T, I experienced a strong feeling of déjà vu. It reminded me of many other smartphones. In hand, it feels a lot like the Xiaomi 15. The user interface is similar to the Oppo Find X8s. From the side, it resembles the iPhone 16, and from the back, it brings memories of the old Mi 11 Lite. Even the slightly thicker bottom bezel reminded me of the Vivo X200 Pro Mini. Whether that’s a good or bad thing is up for debate, but one thing is clear — the build quality is excellent.

Despite the affordable price, the OnePlus 13T uses a frosted aluminum frame and frosted glass, giving it a surprisingly premium feel. The smaller, less protruding camera module is tucked neatly into the top-left corner, staying comfortably out of reach whether you’re left- or right-handed. Beyond that, however, there’s not much else to rave about. As mentioned earlier, the phone sacrifices several features you might expect at this price.

If you’re not especially fond of compact phones, you might actually find better value in the more affordable A5 Pro.

Performance, however, is where the OnePlus T series has always shined, and the 13T stays true to that legacy. It’s powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Elite chipset. Personally, I believe using the Dimensity 9400 Plus could have made even more sense — it would have lowered costs without compromising much on performance. Still, the 8 Elite chip in the OnePlus 13T performs impressively well.

I got my hands on the OnePlus 13T during a pop-up event, where OnePlus organized a mobile gaming tournament right under the midday sun. Hosting an outdoor esports event shows how confident OnePlus is in the 13T’s gaming capabilities. After personally testing it, I can say it outperforms other compact Snapdragon 8 Elite phones. Frame rates are smooth, power efficiency is outstanding, and the phone’s temperatures stayed shockingly low, even during intensive gaming sessions. It’s almost unbelievable that a 6.3-inch phone could deliver this level of gaming performance.

The gaming experience doesn’t end there. The OnePlus 13T also includes advanced gaming features such as bypass charging, AI-assisted controls, frame interpolation, and super-resolution — functions typically reserved for dedicated gaming phones. Among compact phones, the 13T is unique in offering all these features together, making it one of the strongest gaming phones in its category today. Only one gripe: the UI still isn’t fully available in English.

When it comes to battery life, the OnePlus 13T continues to impress. It supports 80W fast charging, reaching 28% in just 10 minutes, 82% in 30 minutes, and achieving a full charge in about 52 minutes. While not the absolute fastest, it’s certainly quick enough for most users. Thanks to its massive 6,260mAh silicon-carbon battery, the phone easily lasts a full day on a single charge, even with moderate gaming. In fact, the battery capacity beats many flagship phones today, proving how far compact devices have come.

Moving on to the display, the OnePlus 13T offers near-flagship specs. It features a high-end TMA panel with peak brightness exceeding 800 nits under normal conditions, and an impressive 1,600 nits in high brightness mode. Below 50 nits, the display uses 2,160Hz PWM dimming, although you can switch to DC dimming if you prefer. The display quality overall is excellent. However, the fingerprint sensor is positioned a bit awkwardly low, and the thicker bottom bezel makes the phone’s design look a bit dated, especially compared to its sibling, the Find X8s, which has an ultra-slim chin.

The camera setup on the OnePlus 13T is modest. It features a 24mm main camera and a 49mm telephoto lens. In good lighting conditions, the main camera captures decent photos with ease. Night photography, however, is just average — roughly on par with what you might expect from a $250 phone. Video recording is a definite weak spot. Unless mounted on a tripod, the camera constantly hunts for focus, and the quality in low light is disappointing.

The 2x telephoto lens works reasonably well during the day, and even up to 4x zoom, photos remain usable. But nighttime shots suffer due to the absence of optical image stabilization (OIS), resulting in frequent blurring even in places like subway stations. The lack of an ultra-wide camera also hurts the experience. While panoramic mode tries to compensate, it fails miserably in low-light conditions. The front camera is limited to 1080p 30fps video recording — something that would be acceptable at $400, but less so for a phone priced around $460.

In China, general sentiment toward the OnePlus 13T has been lukewarm. Although its official price is $100 cheaper than the Xiaomi 15, real-world pricing tells a different story. The Xiaomi 15 has been out for six months and its price has already dropped significantly through third-party retailers. Now, the Xiaomi 15 is only about $50 more expensive than the OnePlus 13T.

For that small price difference, Xiaomi offers a much better package: an extra camera, wireless charging, an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor, IP68 rating, and a USB 3.0 port. While the OnePlus 13T has a huge battery, it seems that’s the only major feature it can truly boast about.

Do you like the OnePlus 13T? If you’re interested, you can check it out online or share your thoughts in the comments section below. Thanks for reading, and see you next time!