OnePlus 13 vs. OnePlus 11: Is it time for an upgrade?

Enthusiast brand OnePlus has given us even more of a reason to be enthusiastic about it. The company has produced an incredibly captivating smartphone in the OnePlus 13 this year, and it’s not just for OnePlus fans. This latest model has enticed quite a few owners of rival Android and even Apple devices to take a fresh new look at what OnePlus has to offer.

With a refined design, a unique new blue Midnight Ocean color with a vegan leather finish, an excellent camera system and outstanding battery life, the OnePlus 13 feels like it hits all the right notes. This is a smartphone that should be at the top of your list if you’re shopping for a new flagship, but OnePlus fans might have a harder time deciding whether it’s the right year to make the jump to a new model.

That’s a tougher call, and it depends on what you’re looking for. The OnePlus 11 may not have hit it out of the park in every way, but it was still a solid and well-designed smartphone that had a lot going for it. Is the trusty OnePlus 11 enough in 2025, or is it time to take the plunge on the OnePlus 13? Let’s find out.

OnePlus 13 vs. OnePlus 11: specs

OnePlus 13 vs. OnePlus 11: design

OnePlus makes some of the most recognizable phones out there, with a certain class that’s unique to the enthusiast brand. While early models were distinct in their own right, the OnePlus 11 took that to a whole new level by adopting a circular camera array that really stood out — and really felt worthy of having the name “Hasselblad” stamped on it.

The company has stuck with that iconic design language for the past three years. The intervening OnePlus 12 made some subtle but significant changes; however, the OnePlus 13 tightens it up to provide what we think is a more no-nonsense look. The latest model embraces the flatness that’s become standard over the past year, following Apple, Samsung, and Google in moving to flat sides and an edge-to-edge display with virtually no curves.

However, unlike its flat 2024 rivals, OnePlus has preserved a subtle curve at the edges of the screen, but it’s nowhere near as pronounced as it was on the OnePlus 11 (or OnePlus 12). Instead, it’s a 2.5D quad-curved screen that has an ever-so-slight raised edge. We quite like it and find it’s just enough to keep the OnePlus 13 from feeling like a completely flat slab of glass and metal.

Stylistically, the OnePlus 13 inches toward more of a professional look without entirely sacrificing the whimsy that made previous models so fun. With the elimination of the curved edges, OnePlus has also eliminated the horizontal tangents that blended the camera ring into the sides. The standalone bump on the OnePlus 13 now looks more prominent, so the company has reduced the watch-like outer ring that it added to the OnePlus 12 to make it more subtle. The stylized H that was replaced the Hasselblad wordmark on the OnePlus 12 model has also moved outside the camera ring, above a new horizontal line that bisects the camera array.

In short, the OnePlus 13 has a more refined design. This is also enhanced by the addition of an entirely new color — Midnight Ocean (aka “Blue Moments” in the original China release) — that’s not only a departure from the company’s traditional shades of green but also gets a new micro-fibre vegan leather finish. That’s a first for OnePlus and we found it was both aesthetically stunning and felt great in the hand. For that reason, we think Midnight Ocean is the OnePlus 13 color to buy this year, but if you prefer the traditional finish, that’s still available in Black Eclipse (or the far cooler-sounding “Obsidian Secret Realm” as it’s called in China).

For the first time, a OnePlus phone is also available in a white shade outside of North America, with an Arctic Dawn OnePlus 13 coming to North American shores. That shade has been exclusive to countries like China and India in the past, and this year’s version has a special coating on the glass to make it silky smooth.

By contrast, the OnePlus 11 stuck with the company’s more traditional black and green colors. Those were dubbed Titan Black and Eternal Green for the North American release, with white Jupiter Rock and Marble Odyssey editions released only in China and India, respectively.

With the OnePlus 12, the company changed its button placement, which continues with the OnePlus 13. With the OnePlus 11, the alert slider was on the right side, above the power button, while the volume rocker was on the left. Later models have reversed those, moving the volume buttons to the right side, below the power button, and the alert slider to the left side, where it now sits alone. That may take some getting used to if you’re upgrading from a OnePlus 11, but we think it’s a change for the better.

The OnePlus 13 has received a significant durability upgrade this year, boasting IP68/IP69 dust and water resistance. That’s a refreshing change from years of middling IP ratings. The OnePlus 11 was rated IP64, and even the OnePlus 12 only modestly improved that to IP65. The OnePlus 13 breaks new ground by not only offering an IP68 rating comparable to the competition, but stacking an IP69 rating on top of that, which certifies it to handle high-pressure and high-temperature water jets.

In raw numbers, the OnePlus 13 can survive a dunk in up to 1.5 meters of water for at least 30 minutes. By comparison, the IP64 rating on the OnePlus 11 means it can shake off splashes and handle some time in the rain, but all bets are off if it falls in the water. The OnePlus 11 uses Gorilla Glass Victus on the front display and Gorilla Glass 5 on the back, while the OnePlus 13 features a new Ceramic Guard glass the company claims is twice as tough as standard smartphone glass. However, OnePlus doesn’t say what it means by “standard” and this appears to be its own formulation, making it tough to compare against Corning’s more common Gorilla Glass.

OnePlus 13 vs. OnePlus 11: display

The OnePlus 13 has a 6.8-inch screen, expanding the already large canvas of the OnePlus 11, while also gaining a bit more thanks to its less curvy edges. The resolution on the latest OnePlus model is 3168 x 1440. That’s a slight drop from the 3216 x 1440 of the OnePlus 11, and the pixel density falls a bit more from 525 to 510 due to the increased screen size. Still, these are very subtle differences that we hardly imagine anyone will notice with the naked eye.

The display specs for the OnePlus 13 are very similar to the OnePlus 12, but that was already a healthy upgrade from the OnePlus 11 in a few key areas, and the OnePlus 13 moves that needle slightly further ahead. First, the OnePlus 13 gains a staggering maximum peak outdoor brightness of 4,500 nits — more than three times the 1,300-nit maximum of of the OnePlus 11.

Secondly, the AMOLED LTPO 120Hz panel supports 2,160Hz pulse-width modulation (PWM) dimming, which can help reduce eye strain and headaches for those who are sensitive to flickering screens. That’s an order of magnitude beyond the OnePlus 11’s 360Hz rate and even other flagship smartphones, which tend to cap out at around 500Hz. This isn’t a problem that affects everyone, but it could be helpful if your eyes are often unusually tired after using your smartphone.

The OnePlus 13 also sports an improved version of OnePlus’ Aqua Touch technology. First introduced on last year’s OnePlus 12 (and therefore missing from the OnePlus 11), this improves the responsiveness of the touchscreen even when it’s wet from rain, sweat, or other moisture. It worked very well in our testing, but we also found the OnePlus 13 screen could be too sensitive sometimes, which could be a side-effect of this new technology.

OnePlus 13 vs. OnePlus 11: performance

OnePlus’ recent flagships have all packed in the latest and greatest Qualcomm chips. In fact, they’re often the first to do so, beating even big names like Samsung to the punch due to earlier release cycles. The OnePlus 13 is no exception here, and was among the first to benefit from the latest Snapdragon 8 Elite chip.

The OnePlus 11 also had the latest chip of its era in the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. Despite being two generations behind, the OnePlus 11 still performs very well. After all, we reached the point of diminishing returns in smartphone silicon years ago; modern chips are more about delivering more power behind the scenes for things like AI and computational photography.

In other words, you’re unlikely to notice any differences in the OnePlus 11 and OnePlus 13 during normal daily use. Both will open apps quickly and multitask efficiently. The OnePlus 13 has an edge by offering more RAM, but that depends on the model. The OnePlus 11 came in 8GB and 12GB configurations, while the OnePlus 13 starts at 12GB and offers a 16GB model (the highest-capacity model — a 1TB OnePlus 13 with 24GB of RAM — remains exclusive to China).

The Snapdragon 8 Elite chip pushes the OnePlus 13 ahead in two key areas: gaming and AI. Qualcomm has significantly souped up the Adreno GPU in its latest chip, adding sliced architecture and support “film-quality 3D environments for total immersion” and the Unreal Chaos Physics Engine, for more immersive realism. That’s not going to make Candy Crush any smoother, but it will definitely make a difference if you’re into games with complex 3D graphics like Genshin Impact and Call of Duty: Mobile.

The other side of that coin is providing enough processing headroom to power the latest AI features. While OnePlus hasn’t embraced these as eagerly as other smartphone makers have, the OnePlus 13 does take advantage of the improved image signal processing and computational photography in Qualcomm’s latest silicon as well as adding its own suite of AI photo-editing tools. We’ll delve into more of these later, but it’s worth mentioning that at least some of these have also come to the OnePlus 11 with the OxygenOS 15 update, so they’re not exclusive to the Snapdragon 8 Elite.

OnePlus 13 vs. OnePlus 11: battery and charging

Although you may not notice much difference in everyday performance between these two phones, one area where the latest Qualcomm silicon gives the OnePlus 13 a significant edge is in power efficiency.

The OnePlus 11 already delivered solid all-day battery life from its 5,000mAh cell. The OnePlus 13 only increases that size by 20% to a 6,000mAh battery, but it easily offers double the run time thanks to the lower power consumption of the processor and other internal components.

In our testing, we only lost 4% while streaming a 30-minute 4K video on YouTube. The same was true while playing Asphalt 9 Unite for about the same amount of time. That’s under load, but during more typical use — about two hours of screen time — we ended the day with about 70% left in the tank. That dropped to a still-impressive 50% when we pushed it past four hours of screen time.

This gives us every reason to believe the OnePlus 13 can easily deliver two-day battery life for most folks, and make it into the better part of a third day with lighter use.

Ironically, this long battery life makes OnePlus’ other class-leading feature less necessary. Like previous models, including the OnePlus 11, the OnePlus 13 can charge over a wired connection at up to 80W in the North American models, provided you use OnePlus’ SuperVOOC charger, which is included in the box with those models. International versions can hit 100W, but typically exclude the charger, so you’ll have to buy it separately or keep your old one if you’re upgrading.

However, the OnePlus 13 also offers wireless charging at insanely fast speeds of up to 50W if you spring for an AirVOOC charger, or 15W with a standard Qi charger. That’s something the company inscrutably left out of the OnePlus 11, which only supports wired charging.

OnePlus 13 vs. OnePlus 11: cameras

Thanks to OnePlus’ partnership with renowned professional camera-maker Hasselblad, the company’s phones have pulled significantly ahead in photographic prowess over the past few years. The OnePlus 11 produced exciting results for its era, and each subsequent model has built on the success of its predecessor.

With a trio of 50-megapixel (MP) shooters, the OnePlus 13 boasts a 3x optical zoom on its telephoto lens and an increased 120-degree field of view on the ultrawide. Combined with the Snapdragon 8 Elite’s more powerful image processing and Hasselblad’s color tuning, the result is an excellent camera that leaves Samsung’s latest Galaxy S25 cameras in the dust.

While the OnePlus 11 still delivers solid results, it’s starting to feel a bit dated compared to the competition. The primary 50MP camera is joined by a 48MP ultrawide and weaker 32MP telephoto that only offers a 2x optical zoom. This “portrait tele lens” was primarily designed to capture portrait mode shots designed to match bokeh portraits from Hasselblad’s XCD 30mm and 65mm camera lenses. It’s quite impressive at these, but it falls down in distance photography unless you want to sacrifice quality by resorting to a digital zoom.

The OnePlus 13 not only offers a 3x optical zoom, but a hybrid sensor-cropped 6x zoom that’s enhanced by AI to produce near-optical-quality images. The camera system is arguably the most significant improvement from the OnePlus 11 to the OnePlus 13, producing balanced, vibrant, and detailed photos that we never felt needed any editing or adjustments.

OnePlus 13 vs. OnePlus 11: software and updates

The OnePlus 13 shipped with Android 15 and OxygenOS 15 out of the box. However, these same updates came to the OnePlus 11 in December, even before the OnePlus 13 saw its North American release.

The puts both phones roughly on par for software features, but they’re not quite evenly matched. The OnePlus 13 benefits from some exclusive AI features like Intelligent Search and using Gemini Live as the new virtual assistant. Older OnePlus phones remain with Google Assistant as the default.

Still, the OnePlus 11 does get the suite of AI photo-editing tools included in OxygenOS 15, including AI Eraser, AI Detail Boost, AI Reflection Eraser, and AI Unblur. These are equally functional on both OnePlus phones, although they naturally perform better on the Snapdragon 8 Elite-equipped OnePlus 13.

The AI photo tools work as you’d expect from their names, although they’re nothing we haven’t seen before, and they arguably don’t hold a candle to Google’s Magic Eraser and Magic Editor, which are available on the OnePlus with Google Photos. In addition to retouching and editing photos, OxygenOS 15 also adds Google’s Circle to Search, an AI Writing Suite to help summarize, proofread, and rewrite blocks of text in different tones, translate what’s on your screen, and suggest replies to messages. There’s also AI Notes in the OnePlus Notes in the OnePlus Notes app to help organize and structure your notes and polish your text.

The OnePlus 13 should handle this AI processing more quickly than the OnePlus 11, but users of the older model won’t be missing too much once they’ve updated to OxygenOS 15. However, OnePlus 11 users will find themselves left behind two years soon, as even though OnePlus promises four years of software updates for both models, the older one has already used up two of those.

Expect the OnePlus 11 to make it to Android 17 in 2026, with another year of security patches beyond that. Meanwhile, the OnePlus 13 still has a full four years ahead of it, plus a longer guarantee of six years of security patches. This will keep it fresh until Android 19 arrives in 2028, with security patches available until early 2031.

OnePlus 13 vs. OnePlus 11: should you upgrade?

Smartphone manufacturers recognize that most consumers aren’t upgrading to a new phone every year, so they tend to release new models with iterative upgrades that are designed to entice users of 2-3 year old models. The OnePlus 13 is precisely this kind of update.

The OnePlus 13 makes relatively small improvements over the OnePlus 12, but if you’re still toting a OnePlus 11 it starts to feel like a compelling upgrade — although not necessarily a necessary one.

After all, the OnePlus 11 still runs the latest OxygenOS 15 and benefits from most of the same features that it brings to the OnePlus 13. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 delivers more than enough performance for everyday use, and the camera system remains remarkably competent.

On the other hand, the OnePlus 13 boasts one of the best cameras in any smartphone on the market today, packs in a Snapdragon 8 Elite chip that can handle the latest demanding mobile games without breaking a sweat, and fully ushers OnePlus into the Gemini era with support for Google’s significantly improved conversational AI voice assistant. Plus, while it’s more of a subjective call, we think the Midnight Ocean version is gorgeous in fit and finish. If any one of those things are important to you, we’re confident the OnePlus 13 will prove to be a very worthy upgrade.