The holiday season is upon us, and so is the smartphone season. While Google and Apple stuck to their regular timelines, OnePlus decided to bring things forward a bit with its latest flagship. The OnePlus 15 may be a big visual departure from the OnePlus 13’s (yeah, there wasn’t an OP14 in between) circular camera island — which had honestly become a trademark OnePlus feature — but it brings some serious upgrades on the inside. The kind that can genuinely convince me to pick the OnePlus 15 over the Pixel 10 Pro XL.
Which one would you buy — the OnePlus 15 or the Pixel 10 Pro XL? 3 votes OnePlus 15 33 % Pixel 10 Pro XL 67 %
The processor advantage
C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
You’ve probably already guessed where I’m going with this, and you’re right. Snapdragon flagships have always had a clear performance advantage over Pixel’s Tensor chips, despite the Elite Gen 5’s shortcomings this year. We had high hopes for the Pixel 10 series and its TSMC-made Tensor G5, but it didn’t impress performance-wise. It still fell short compared to the latest chips from Snapdragon and Apple by a solid margin.
While performance is a clear advantage, it goes hand in hand with gaming, and the OnePlus 15 has a lead there too. It packs a 165Hz display that the company is proudly boasting about. I know that marginal jump won’t make a visible difference for most people coming from 120Hz displays. But those who game will notice it and benefit from titles running at a mouthwatering 165fps. A few games like Call of Duty, Real Racing 3, Blood Strike, Standoff 2, and PUBG (via frame interpolation) support it right out of the box.
It’s a solid gaming phone that doesn’t look like a flashy gaming phone.
Massive battery and fast charging
Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority
When people say phones should be thicker so they can hold as much battery as possible, it’s almost as if OnePlus was closely listening and actually delivered. The OnePlus 15 comes with a massive 7,300mAh battery. That’s almost 50% bigger than what the Pixel 10 Pro XL offers. And to top up a battery that large, you obviously need super-fast charging.
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