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

OnePlus is at present within the technique of unleashing its newest and biggest flagship smartphone, the OnePlus 13, onto the world stage. The handset is already accessible throughout 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 number 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 package jammed full of high-tech {hardware}. The corporate is talking a big game with this 12 months’s OxygenOS 15, as properly, 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 singular Open Canvas tackle multitasking are prime billing in relation to OnePlus’ newest tackle the cellular software program expertise.

Up to now, I like nearly every little thing I am seeing, save for one gripe specifically: the telephone is simply accessible in a single, unwieldy 6.82-inch dimension class. For followers of large-screen smartphones, that is maybe a super type issue. Sadly for compact telephone aficionados like myself, OnePlus would not supply a non-XL sized mannequin to fall again on. That is hardly a OnePlus-specific subject throughout the trade, in fact. However within the wake of the extra compact-sized Google Pixel 9 Pro, I am unable to 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 world debut in January.

Smartphones are getting greater, however my fingers actually aren’t

One thing feels ‘good’ after 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 of a large-screen machine, and the unique 5.2-inch Galaxy Note was dismissed as too giant to realize mainstream attraction. In hindsight, we are able to see a transparent shopper desire for spacious show panels. Nonetheless, I firmly consider that after we surpassed the 6-inch threshold, we properly and actually entered into unwieldy territory.

In my private expertise, I discover the 6-to-6.2-inch dimension class to strike the very best stability between comfortability and a show giant sufficient to eat content material on usually. I wrestle with the perennial subject of falling in love with any variety of new high-end 6.8-inch telephones, solely to succumb to frustration after I inevitably begin performing finger gymnastics.

With the current launch of the Pixel 9 lineup of handsets, Google went out of its solution to supply the full-blown Professional expertise in each commonplace and XL type components. Equally, Apple gives a non-Max iPhone Professional mannequin, which satisfies my itch for high-end expertise in a extra compact class. These units are nonetheless comparatively giant when in comparison with flagship telephones from a number of years in the past, however I will take what I can get. I deliver 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 telephone’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 scale 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 motive 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 cellular shows develop into extra frequent, it turns into costlier to supply smaller panels of equal flagship high quality.

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

The telephone’s battery dimension must be diminished so as to squeeze right into a smaller body, and its high-end SOC would thermally throttle as a result of 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 choice 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 notably keen on the corporate’s determination 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 telephone 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 might 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 function to its digicam forward of its world launch that is anticipated quickly.