The OnePlus 15 Humiliates iPhone 17 Pro Max With 43% Larger Battery

Following its launch in China last month, we now know everything about the anticipated OnePlus 15. Before we get to all the tech specs, can we stop and appreciate its absolutely gargantuan battery? It packs a 7,300mAh “Silicon NanoStack†battery that’s 43% larger than the 5,088mAh unit in the iPhone 17 Pro Max. Pretty wild that only a few years ago, 5,000mAh batteries were considered tops, but now, clearing 7,000mAh is about to be standard.

OnePlus is able to pack a 7,300mAh battery into a phone using a dual-cell silicon carbide battery. These batteries have started to make their way into flagship Android phones in the past year. They have the benefit of larger capacities with smaller footprints. In other words, phones can be made slimmer or even the same size while having more juice to last multiple days on a single charge.

Related to the battery, OnePlus says the OnePlus 15 can charge at up to 100W with a cable and 50W using wireless charging.

Okay, enough about the big OnePlus 15’s big battery. What else does the phone have? Pretty much, what you’d expect from a new flagship Android phone. It includes Qualcomm’s latest and most powerful Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip, up to 16GB of RAM (base is 12GB), and up to 512GB of storage (base is 256GB). That beefy chipset is cooled by a new “3D vapor chamber†that OnePlus says is “made of hand-tearable†steel and an “aerogel cooling layer.†The result is that the OnePlus 15 shouldn’t overheat under heavy loads and should sustain performance for stuff like 3D gaming.

On the topic of gaming, the OnePlus 15 has a 6.78-inch LTPO display with a 1.5K resolution. Compared to the OnePlus 13’s 2K-resolution screen, this may seem like a downgrade, but OnePlus is defending the drop in pixels because the screen has a 165Hz refresh rate, which is more responsive for playing games. Why not go with a 165Hz 2K display? Because it doesn’t exist. The 165Hz screen also has a 3,200Hz touch sample rate, far higher than the 1,440Hz to 2,400Hz found in even some of the best gaming phones.

On the camera front, the OnePlus 15 has a new triple 50-megapixel camera system, consisting of a main, ultrawide, and telephoto, in its new squircle-shaped bump. The ultrawide has a 116-degree FOV, and the telephoto has a 3.5x optical zoom with 7x crop-in. Punched into the display is a 32-megapixel selfie camera with autofocus. Sadly, it’s not a square sensor like the one found in the iPhone 17 / 17 Pro / Air. Personally, I like that OnePlus went the extra mile to add an “underwater mode†which allows the camera and the touchscreen to fully function when it’s submerged.

More pro-oriented users will appreciate the nerdier camera features like slow-mo at 120 fps in 4K with Dolby Vision HDR, O-Log, and wide dynamic range for capturing RAW video that can be color-graded later, and real-time LUT (lookup table) previews (lets you view color grades within the camera).

I’m also not expecting any regression in the Android software experience. OnePlus has been fine-tuning its OxygenOS for well over a decade, optimizing for speed and responsiveness. If you’re familiar with OxygenOS, the new version 16 should feel very familiar. What’s new is all the AI stuff. It’s still not clear how useful any of it is, but FYI, there’s an “AI Scan†feature that extracts the text from any photo or document, an “AI Recorder†that can transcribe meetings and distinguish between speakers, an “AI Portrait Glow†feature that fixes underexposed portrait photos, and an “AI PlayLab†that lets users toggle on experimental AI features.

And, of course, there’s a dedicated “Plus Key†located on the left side of the OnePlus 15. This key, first introduced on the OnePlus 13S, works just like the iPhone’s customizable Action button, and can also be pressed to launch Google’s Gemini AI chatbot. Additionally, the Plus Key can use Gemini to extract information from the screen and save content to the phone’s “AI Plus Mind†for recall later.

OnePlus sent us a OnePlus 15 review unit, and I’ll have a full review on Gizmodo soon. So far, it seems like a solid phone with great battery life. The OnePlus 15 was originally supposed to launch in the U.S. starting today, Nov. 13, but due to the ongoing government shutdown, the release has been delayed. OnePlus sent the following statement to Gizmodo regarding the delay:

As is the case with every smartphone manufacturer, the United States’ Federal Communications Commission certifies OnePlus devices before they are sold in the U.S. Given the current government shutdown, U.S. sales for the OnePlus 15 will be postponed until appropriate certifications are secured. The OnePlus 15 has already finished all the required tests from the FCC’s recognized labs and the certification application has been formally submitted.

Canadians, however, can preorder the OnePlus 15 ASAP for CA $1,299.99 (12GB RAM + 256GB storage) or CA $1,399.99 for the 16GB RAM + 512GB storage, with general availability on Nov. 18. When the OnePlus 15 does launch in the U.S., it’ll be priced at $899.99 (12GB RAM + 256GB storage) and $999.99 (16GB + 512GB RAM).