Today feels like a turning-of-the-page moment for OnePlus. Its newest phone, the OnePlus 13, proudly stands among the premium phones the brand has always attempted to debase.

The transformation was visible, but the last few generations since OnePlus went back to camp Oppo, upgrades seemed slower than you would expect. Not anymore, though.

OnePlus 13 builds upon the moment that OxygenOS 15 set off in late 2024, and "radical" is the only word I can think of while describing both scenarios.

But let's focus on the star of the show — the OnePlus 13. The 13 is upgraded in nearly every way you can think of. Besides a slight resemblance to the cameras from previous years, the flagship is starkly reformed.

The OnePlus 13 is not perfect. But, it's Good, it's better than the 12, and it's The best OnePlus ever.

IP68 and IP69 finally join the bill, dding credence for the flagship status OnePlus has been chasing since its phones stopped fitting the flagship killer status. The design is flatter, lighter — commendable despite 6,000mAh battery.

It's adorably designed but curves or margins don't imitate the iPhone — which the entire industry has otherwise been after. Despite its associations with Oppo, OnePlus succeeds at maintaining a tailored elegance, especially the Midnight Ocean with a vegan leather finish, which is unquestionably hard to miss.

Even though I loved the OnePlus 12, and especially showered the white variant with an immoderate affection when I wrote about it at Digital Trends, the 13 immediately makes it look archaic.

As an owner of the older OnePlus phones, you may swell up with immediate jealousy, but as an aficionado or someone who has followed and rooted for the brand since its journey began in 2013, you will only appreciate the upgrades.

The camera gets overhauled too, with new 50MP sensors serving the ultrawide and the telephoto snappers. OnePlus speaks of a new camera algorithm it classifies as a new Snapshot mode.

Without diving into the technicalities, it's safe to say the OnePlus 13 does twice the amount of weightlifting than last year's model. This, in turn, leads to better exposure, more accurate HDR, and overall sharper shots, as per OnePlus.

I did experience some of this on a trip to Sri Lanka that was sponsored by OnePlus (though they didn't pay me or Athenil to write this).

I still feel the camera could use some more love, especially with moving scenarios. You will need some patience to get the right shot, but if you and your subject stand still, nothing can step in between and hijack your attempt at taking shots worthy of being printed out and displayed at art shows.

But as a devout OnePlus user myself, I have experienced cameras improve over software update, and I hope this one too. The telephoto also gets AI enhancements, and while that's great for picture quality in general, astronomers and self-imposed purists on r/OnePlus will roil up harder when they see pictures of the moon. I am none of those and have no problems with such enhancements.

I love for a fact that OnePlus 13 gets a bigger boost for videos. While there's no 120fps videos still to compete with the iPhone or the Vivo X200 Pro, there's OIS for 4K 60fps, allowing some less shaky B-rolls.

Now, my favorite bit about the new phone is the new magnetic charging solution. It's similar to MagSafe but instead of the placing magnets inside the phone, they are in specialised cases that you will need to buy separately. My only gripe is that OnePlus should have added this to the TPU case they include in the box. Alas, that's not the case.

The 100W fast wired charging prevails and is as effective as ever. About 40 minutes are enough to jack up the battery entirely, and I have never been more in love with any tech as I am with this.

Of course, the Snapdragon 8 Elite is difficult to ignore, and OnePlus is sprinkling caster sugar in the form of 24GB RAM and 1TB of storage. Intense winters are probably not the best time to investigate how well the phone handles heat that the new Oryon cores, which are also present on the Snapdragon X Elite, make.

With the OnePlus 13 comes the wondrous affordable flagship killer, the OnePlus 13R. Besides a new, flatter design, what truly gains our attention is the new 2X camera that culls the previous 2MP fixed focus macro.

OnePlus says the same Snapshot algorithm serves here but only on the main cameras.

There's Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 underneath, and up to 16GB of RAM, making this a suitable setup for most fervid gamers.

With these, a new blue color of the OnePlus Buds 3 Pro to match with the new blue OnePlus 13.

OnePlus takes leaps in every possible area and these accumulate to create a bigger leap together. OnePlus has not only created its best phone yet, it has also created the most consolidated, well-rounded OnePlus yet, giving it an easy ticket into the club of iPhones and premium Galaxies.