I really like your telephones OnePlus, however I am not on staff XL

OnePlus is presently within the technique of unleashing its newest and biggest flagship smartphone, the OnePlus 13, onto the world stage. The handset is already out there inside the firm’s home market of China, with a global roll-out confirmed for January. In different phrases, North American OnePlus followers want solely wait a couple of extra weeks for the product to land on retailer cabinets.

By all accounts, the OnePlus 13 is shaping as much as be a compelling piece of equipment jammed full of high-tech {hardware}. The corporate is talking a big game with this 12 months’s OxygenOS 15, as effectively, which is the Android 15-based software program pores and skin that the product will ship inside Western markets. Smoother animations, new AI instruments, and a novel Open Canvas tackle multitasking are prime billing with regards to OnePlus’ newest tackle the cell software program expertise.

Up to now, I like nearly all the things I am seeing, save for one gripe particularly: the cellphone is simply out there in a single, unwieldy 6.82-inch dimension class. For followers of large-screen smartphones, that is maybe a great kind issue. Sadly for compact cellphone aficionados like myself, OnePlus does not supply a non-XL sized mannequin to fall again on. That is hardly a OnePlus-specific difficulty inside the trade, after all. However within the wake of the extra compact-sized Google Pixel 9 Pro, I can not assist however want for a equally shrunken-down OnePlus 13 to name my very own.

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The OnePlus 13 is officially set to makes its global debut in January

OnePlus has confirmed the OnePlus 13 will make its international debut in January.

Smartphones are getting larger, however my arms actually aren’t

One thing feels ‘excellent’ once I’m utilizing a compact handset

OnePlus

Over the previous a number of years, smartphones have grown in dimension at a staggering price. At launch, the unique 3.5-inch iPhone was thought-about a large-screen system, and the unique 5.2-inch Galaxy Note was dismissed as too massive to attain mainstream enchantment. In hindsight, we are able to see a transparent client choice for spacious show panels. Nevertheless, I firmly imagine that when we surpassed the 6-inch threshold, we effectively and actually entered into unwieldy territory.

In my private expertise, I discover the 6-to-6.2-inch dimension class to strike the most effective stability between comfortability and a show massive sufficient to devour content material on repeatedly. I battle with the perennial difficulty of falling in love with any variety of new high-end 6.8-inch telephones, solely to succumb to frustration once I inevitably begin performing finger gymnastics.

With the latest launch of the Pixel 9 lineup of handsets, Google went out of its strategy to supply the full-blown Professional expertise in each normal and XL kind components. Equally, Apple offers a non-Max iPhone Professional mannequin, which satisfies my itch for high-end expertise in a extra compact class. These gadgets are nonetheless comparatively massive when in comparison with flagship telephones from a couple of years in the past, however I will take what I can get. I carry these competing handsets up as they supply OnePlus with a template to attract inspiration for a theoretical next-generation handset.

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The OnePlus 13 has formally launched in China, with a worldwide launch within the works — how does the handset evaluate with the OnePlus 12?

Unsurprisingly, the OnePlus 13 is an absolute unit

The cellphone’s 6.82-inch show is expansive, and its 6,000mAh battery cell is downright gargantuan

In fact, there are deserves to transport a smartphone the dimensions of the OnePlus 13. Other than offering a a lot bigger canvas for having fun with content material, there is not any denying the physics of the state of affairs. Flagship smartphones have ballooned in footprint to accommodate extra superior optics, bigger battery packs, and extra thermally demanding chipsets.

There is a purpose why Samsung’s Galaxy S24 Ultra, Google’s Pixel 9 Pro XL, and Apple’s iPhone 16 Pro Max are all equally gargantuan handsets. Moreover, as bigger cell shows change into extra frequent, it turns into dearer to supply smaller panels of equal flagship high quality.

With the OnePlus 13, the corporate is leveraging the inner actual property supplied by an XL-sized chassis. The cellphone’s 6,000 mAh battery is downright large, and it runs the highly effective Snapdragon 8 Elite processor from Qualcomm. The 6.82-inch OLED show is top-of-the-line as effectively, with a pointy 3168 x 1440 pixel decision and a 120Hz adaptive refresh price.

The cellphone’s battery dimension must be diminished so as to squeeze right into a smaller body, and its high-end SOC would thermally throttle resulting from having much less room to breathe. Competing {hardware} producers supply non-XL flagships with this trade-off in thoughts, and so they accomplish that to supply an possibility that satisfies small-phone lovers like myself.

General, I am extremely impressed with the OnePlus 13 up to now. With regard to {hardware} specs, OnePlus has left no stone unturned. I am additionally significantly keen on the corporate’s resolution to prioritize person interface fluidity on this 12 months’s accompanying software program bundle.

I will as soon as once more (begrudgingly) settle for the trade-off of a cellphone I can barely match into my pocket, nevertheless it’s a disgrace that I’ve to take action. Each Google and Apple have confirmed {that a} full-fledged flagship handset may be match right into a extra compact bundle, and so I anxiously await the day OnePlus decides to as soon as once more by no means settle.

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The OnePlus 13 gets a new camera feature before it even launches in the U.S.

The OnePlus 13 has added a macro characteristic to its digicam forward of its international launch that is anticipated quickly.