I bought the OnePlus 13T.
A high-performance compact smartphone
The OnePlus 13T is a high-end smartphone with a 6.32-inch screen and a width of 71.70mm, making it a smaller device, yet it is equipped with the Snapdragon 8 Elite.
Its battery capacity is an impressive 6260mAh, a large capacity that surpasses that of ordinary large smartphones, something often compromised in smaller models from other companies.
However, due to its small size, heat generation is an unavoidable issue, and combined with a metal frame that easily conducts heat, it’s tough to get through the summer without an external cooler.
This review is based on the 16GB+512GB version, model PKX110_15.0.2.107(CN01).
- High performance with Snapdragon 8 Elite
- Bright 1330nit display
- 6260mAh battery with bypass charging support
- Weighs 185g, with good weight balance
- IP65 water and dust resistance
- Metal frame gets hot during gaming or charging
- Heats up quickly, limiting its ability to fully utilize its gaming performance
- The telephoto camera is slightly prone to blurring
| OnePlus 13T | |
| OS | Android 15 |
| RAM | 12GB / 16GB LPDDR5X |
| Storage | 256GB / 512GB / 1TB UFS4.0 |
| SoC | Snapdragon 8 Elite |
| Display | 6.32-inch FHD+ 2640×1216 1-120Hz refresh rate |
| Size | 150.81 × 71.70 × 8.15mm |
| Weight | Approx. 185g |
| SIM | nano SIM + nano SIM |
| Rear Camera | 50MP Wide (f/1.8, OIS, AF) 50MP Telephoto (f/2.0, 2x optical zoom, AF) |
| Front Camera | 16MP (f/2.4) |
| Battery | 6260mAh |
| USB Terminal | USB Type-C (USB 2.0) |
| Bands | 2G GSM: 850/900/1800MHz 3G WCDMA: Bands 1/4/5/8 4G LTE FDD: Bands 1/3/4/5/8/18/19/26/28A/66 4G LTE TDD: Bands 34/38/39/40/41/42/48 5G: n1/ n3/ n5/ n8/ n26/ n28A/ n38/ n40/ n41/ n48/ n66/ n77/ n78/ n80/ n81/ n83/ n84/ n89 |
Index
A manual, protective case, charging cable, and charger are included.
A protective film is pre-applied.
The charger supports 80W fast-charging.
Display: Bright and Beautiful
The OnePlus 13T is equipped with a 6.32-inch FHD+ 2640×1216 resolution display.
With a width of 71.70mm, it is compact, and its even weight distribution makes one-handed operation easy.
Even in a compact form, the battery capacity is 6260mAh, on par with a typical high-end smartphone. I think it’s perfect for those who want a compact smartphone but aren’t looking for extreme lightweighting and don’t want to sacrifice battery capacity.
The layout is a diamond pixel arrangement.
When measuring the brightness with an LX-1336B while displaying a full white image at maximum brightness, it reached a maximum of 1331 nits.
It’s easy to see even outdoors in bright daylight.
It is a unit that indicates the degree of brightness, with a higher number meaning brighter.
It is said that a level of 400-500 nits is needed for comfortable viewing indoors, and 800-1000 nits outdoors.
Incidentally, on many models, the maximum value is limited unless automatic brightness adjustment is turned on.
It supports a 120Hz refresh rate.
It can be set individually for each app.
When measuring the touch sampling rate with Touch Sample Rate Tester, the Movement Rate for both single-touch and multi-touch averaged around 120Hz.
It is related to the sensitivity of the screen when touched.
A higher number generally means a quicker response to touch.
However, the final touch latency is not determined by this alone; other factors can also have an impact, sometimes resulting in a larger overall touch delay.
As a guideline, a Movement Rate that is about twice the screen’s refresh rate is considered normal. If it’s more than three times, it’s considered high, and for gaming smartphones, it’s often around 5 to 6 times.
The touch latency measured with WALT Latency Timer was a total of 33ms.
It is the time it takes for the screen to respond after being touched.
A smaller number means a quicker response.
For gaming smartphones, it is around 25ms, while for regular smartphones, it is generally in the range of 30-40ms.
With Widevine L1, you can play high-quality streaming content on services like Amazon Prime Video.
Back: Matte finish that resists fingerprints
The back has a matte finish, making it smooth and resistant to fingerprints and smudges.
It weighs 188.1g.
While it is heavier than other companies’ smartphones that aim for being small and lightweight, this weight is understandable given that it is equipped with a high-end SoC and a large-capacity battery.
Camera: Sufficiently beautiful in daylight
The OnePlus 13T features a dual camera setup with a 50MP wide-angle and a 50MP telephoto lens.
Although the specs are a step down compared to models like the OnePlus 13, it is more than sufficient for daytime photography.
Unfortunately, it is difficult to take “telephoto macro shots” of nearby objects with the telephoto camera, and macro mode uses digital zoom.
Handheld photos are saved here.
2x optical zoom is available.
The telephoto camera does not support OIS (Optical Image Stabilization), making it somewhat prone to blur.
Night shots are captured brightly.
However, the image compositing process seems to fail occasionally, resulting in a blurry appearance.
Speaker: Stronger mid-to-high frequencies
The OnePlus 13T is equipped with stereo speakers.
The bass is somewhat weak, with vocals and mid-to-high frequencies being more prominent.
The top speaker also serves as the earpiece for calls and is asymmetrical.
Checking the supported codecs with Bluetooth Codec Changer, it supports AAC / aptX / aptX HD / aptX Adaptive / LDAC / LHDC.
LHDC V5 compatible earphones are not restricted by manufacturer and can be used with those from other companies.
The OnePlus 13T is IP65 water and dust resistant, so minor water exposure is not a problem.
It is equipped with a large 6260mAh battery and supports 80W fast charging.
During fast charging, it generates considerable heat, with the frame becoming particularly hot, so it is advisable not to use the device while charging.
In game mode, bypass charging can be enabled only when wired charging is used, prioritizing power to the system over charging the battery, with a threshold of 20-80%.
Supported bands are:
- 2G GSM: 850/900/1800MHz
- 3G WCDMA: Bands 1/4/5/8
- 4G LTE FDD: Bands 1/3/4/5/8/18/19/26/28A/66
- 4G LTE TDD: Bands 34/38/39/40/41/42/48
- 5G: n1/ n3/ n5/ n8/ n26/ n28A/ n38/ n40/ n41/ n48/ n66/ n77/ n78/ n80/ n81/ n83/ n84/ n89
The power button and volume buttons are on the right side.
The alert slider, a long-standing feature of OnePlus, has been replaced with a shortcut button.
The shortcut button can be assigned to switch to silent mode, as well as functions like taking a screenshot, launching the camera, or translating the screen.
By using the screen translation function, you can translate on the spot, eliminating the need to go through the hassle of “taking a screenshot, sharing it with Google Lens for translation…”.
Performance: Prone to overheating
The OnePlus 13T is equipped with the Snapdragon 8 Elite, providing high performance.
However, perhaps due to the fate of small smartphones, heat dissipation is insufficient, and the time it can perform at its full potential is short, requiring an external cooler for long gaming sessions.
In Geekbench 6, the package name spoofed version (= not affected by the manufacturer’s unfair boosting) scored 1068 for single-core and 4383 for multi-core, while the normal version scored 2890 for single-core and 8674 for multi-core.
There is a large difference, indicating that performance control based on package name detection is being implemented.
An increasing number of manufacturers are cheating by detecting well-known benchmark apps like AnTuTu by their package names and then loosening thermal controls or locking the clock speed to a higher frequency to make their scores look better during benchmarks.
Since this behavior is different from normal app usage, it can lead to situations where “the benchmark scores are good, but the performance of other apps is not so great.”
Since the boosting behavior differs for each manufacturer, comparing boosted results is meaningless.
Therefore, it is important to change the package name to disguise it as a general app and obtain the correct, unboosted score.
This is explained in detail in this article.
It is a benchmark that quantifies the processing performance of the CPU, which is used for tasks such as background blur and text processing.
Single-core performance is important for light, everyday tasks, while multi-core performance is important for demanding games.
A single-core score of 1200 and a multi-core score of 3000 or more should provide a comfortable experience for most users.
Benchmark results are summarized in this article.
In the 3DMark Wild Life Extreme Stress Test with a spoofed package name, the score was 6087→2719.
The stability is on the lower side.
Normal apps, which are not identified as benchmark apps, have strict thermal throttling. When the package name is spoofed, the app is treated as a normal app and is force-closed during the test.
By adding it to the game mode, I was able to complete the test, but the battery temperature reached a very high 48°C, and the frame became too hot to hold comfortably.
Wild Life Extreme is a benchmark that quantifies GPU performance using the Vulkan API with 3840×2160 resolution graphics.
A higher score indicates the ability for smoother 3D display in games and other applications, and a high Stability rating means that high performance can be maintained for extended periods.
It is only a general, simplified indicator for Vulkan API usage, so considering that popular games hardly use the Vulkan API, the score is not very useful, and the main purpose is to check the heat generation when the GPU is used.
One can only make inferences such as, if it performs well in Vulkan, it will likely perform well in OpenGL as well, and if it is prone to overheating, it will be difficult to maintain a stable FPS in actual games.
In PCMark Work 3.0 (package name spoofed version), which measures performance in everyday use such as document operations, the score was 18512.
For everyday use, a score of around 13000 is more than enough, so it seems to be excessively over-performing.
It is a benchmark that quantifies the processing performance for tasks such as web browsing, and image and video editing.
A higher score indicates faster processing, but the balance with battery consumption is also important, so a lower score is not necessarily bad.
A score of 8000 or more is sufficient.
It is equipped with UFS 4.0 storage and LPDDR5X memory.
The results from the CPDT Benchmark showed that both read and write speeds were quite fast.
Sequential read/write is the read/write speed that affects tasks such as copying large files and video encoding/decoding.
Random read/write is the speed of reading and writing small files, and this speed is important when using apps and games.
When playing Genshin Impact, which has high CPU usage, for 30 minutes in performance mode, highest graphics settings, 60FPS setting, in Natlan (using a skill at Mualani and moving along the path), and measuring with Scene 8, the average FPS was 59.8 with a power consumption of 75.25mW per FPS.
The battery temperature rose to a maximum of about 40.7℃.
It seems that Genshin Impact has been specially tuned, as the heat generation is considerably suppressed compared to Honkai: Star Rail, which is discussed later.
The lower the power consumption per FPS, the better the power efficiency.
Good power efficiency results in low battery consumption, while poor power efficiency leads to high consumption.
Smartphones with poor power efficiency in games also tend to have high battery consumption in other apps, so you will often feel that the battery drains quickly.
Average FPS (frames per second) indicates how smoothly the display can be maintained, and higher is better.
(To be more precise, a higher average FPS and fewer “junks” or flickers result in a better perceived smoothness.)
Playing Honkai: Star Rail, which has high GPU usage, for 30 minutes in performance mode, highest graphics quality, in Penacony “Golden Hour” while repeatedly using Acheron’s technique, resulted in an average of 37.8 FPS.
Performance was throttled in less than 5 minutes, and by the 10-minute mark, it was limited to a maximum of 30 FPS.
The battery temperature rose to a maximum of 49°C, and the frame became so hot that it was impossible to hold by hand.
Long sessions are difficult without lowering the graphics quality or using an external cooler.
In popular games like Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail, you can use features such as frame interpolation, upscaling, and HDR.
This also contributes to heat generation, though…
In Genshin Impact, you can use features like “auto-collect items,” “auto-release from restraints/freezing,” and “auto-run” in the AI Lab.
The ability to automatically collect items just by getting close to them is particularly convenient, making it easier to collect enemy drops without having to move your finger.
Summary
- High performance with Snapdragon 8 Elite
- Bright 1330nit display
- 6260mAh battery with bypass charging support
- Weighs 185g, with good weight balance
- IP65 water and dust resistance
- Metal frame gets hot during gaming or charging
- Heats up quickly, limiting its ability to fully utilize its gaming performance
- The telephoto camera is slightly prone to blurring
Despite being compact, it features a large-capacity battery, making it easy to operate with one hand without sacrificing battery life.
Although the high-end SoC is difficult to fully utilize due to excessive heat generation, it still provides benefits in terms of overall comfort, such as smooth processing.
If you want to use this device for both everyday use and gaming, it is recommended to prepare an external cooler.
In China, it can be purchased starting from 3399 yuan.