Flagships have reached a point where we no longer see overwhelming changes between generations, but that’s exactly what OnePlus is doing with the OnePlus 15. While the OnePlus 13 introduced a new design that still paid homage to the manufacturer’s design ethos, the OnePlus 15 does away with all of that entirely, adopting a design that I can only describe as generic.
Honestly, it doesn’t feel like OnePlus paid any attention to the design of the OnePlus 15, and if the OnePlus 13s was an iPhone clone, this is but a poor facsimile that isn’t even trying. That’s just the start of the issues; there’s no Hasselblad integration any longer, with the phone instead getting an in-house DetailMax engine.
It’s almost as if the OnePlus 15 is relegated to second-tier status within OPPO, as there is no other reason to omit Hasselblad tuning on this device — not when both the Find X8 and Find X8 Pro retain the integration. The camera hardware itself has undergone changes this year, with the OnePlus 15 featuring a 50MP primary camera that utilizes the Sony IMX906 module and a smaller 1/1.56-inch sensor (compared to the 1/1.4-inch sensor used last year).
There’s also a “new” 3.5x telephoto lens that uses the 50MP Samsung JN5 sensor, and a 50MP OmniVision OV50D-toting ultrawide-angle lens. I took the OnePlus 15 along with me on a recent visit to the U.S. and Mexico, and shot hundreds of photos with the device — let’s get started.
The main camera of the OnePlus 15 gets a lot right
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The main camera does a better job than the OnePlus 13, delivering cleaner photos with good dynamic range and color balance. There are issues at times with foliage rendition, and I got a few shots that were overexposed even in daylight scenarios.
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What’s particularly irksome is the lack of consistency. All three lenses take different calibers of photos, and most brands tune the resultant photos so they have the same tonal balance — but that isn’t the case here. In the set of shots above, you can see how the 2x photo looks washed out against the image taken with the main lens. And while the 3.5x photo is better, thanks to the dedicated tele lens, it doesn’t quite have the same level of detail as the main camera, and it doesn’t convey warm tones nearly as well.
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Other than that, I generally like the color rendition, and the main camera holds its own against what Google and Samsung are doing in the sub-$1,000 category. I still don’t understand the purpose of the new DetailMax engine, and although it captures higher-resolution photos — they’re saved at 26MP instead of the default 12MP — you don’t actually gain much in the way of additional details.
The 3.5x telephoto is great — but inconsistent
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The JN5 sensor is a known quantity at this point, and it’s annoying that OnePlus didn’t go with any of the newer modules on the OnePlus 15. While the 3.5x tele lens does a good enough job in its own right, it struggles with color rendition in low-light situations, and takes a second longer to focus than other tele lenses I have used in recent times.
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If not the new 200MP Samsung HPB or HP9 modules that are being used on other Chinese phones, I would’ve at least liked to see a bigger tele lens on the OnePlus 15, as it feels like the device is being limited by the sensor. That said, 2x zoom is done via the main lens using in-sensor zoom, and the resultant shots are quite good.
The ultrawide-angle lens is strictly average — but you knew that
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