I like your telephones OnePlus, however I am not on group XL

OnePlus is at present within the strategy of unleashing its newest and biggest flagship smartphone, the OnePlus 13, onto the world stage. The handset is already out there 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 filled with high-tech {hardware}. The corporate is talking a big game with this 12 months’s OxygenOS 15, as nicely, 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 high billing on the subject of OnePlus’ newest tackle the cellular software program expertise.

To date, I like nearly the whole lot I am seeing, save for one gripe specifically: the telephone is just out there in a single, unwieldy 6.82-inch measurement class. For followers of large-screen smartphones, that is maybe a really perfect type issue. Sadly for compact telephone aficionados like myself, OnePlus does not provide a non-XL sized mannequin to fall again on. That is hardly a OnePlus-specific problem throughout the business, after all. 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.

Associated

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 arms definitely aren’t

One thing feels ‘good’ once I’m utilizing a compact handset

OnePlus

Over the previous a number of years, smartphones have grown in measurement at a staggering charge. At launch, the unique 3.5-inch iPhone was thought of a large-screen gadget, and the unique 5.2-inch Galaxy Note was dismissed as too giant to realize mainstream enchantment. In hindsight, we are able to see a transparent shopper choice for spacious show panels. Nevertheless, I firmly imagine that after we surpassed the 6-inch threshold, we nicely and actually entered into unwieldy territory.

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

With the latest launch of the Pixel 9 lineup of handsets, Google went out of its method to provide the full-blown Professional expertise in each customary 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 gadgets 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 carry these competing handsets up as they supply OnePlus with a template to attract inspiration for a theoretical next-generation handset.

Associated

OnePlus 12 vs OnePlus 13: What’s the difference?

The OnePlus 13 has formally launched in China, with a world launch within the works — how does the handset examine 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

After all, there are deserves to delivery a smartphone the scale of the OnePlus 13. Apart from offering a a lot bigger canvas for having fun with content material, there isn’t any denying the physics of the scenario. Flagship smartphones have ballooned in footprint to accommodate extra superior optics, bigger battery packs, and extra thermally demanding chipsets.

There is a cause 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 change into extra frequent, it turns into dearer to supply smaller panels of equal flagship high quality.

With the OnePlus 13, the corporate is leveraging the interior 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 nicely, with a pointy 3168 x 1440 pixel decision and a 120Hz adaptive refresh charge.

The telephone’s battery measurement must be lowered with a purpose to squeeze right into a smaller body, and its high-end SOC would thermally throttle as a consequence of having much less room to breathe. Competing {hardware} producers provide non-XL flagships with this trade-off in thoughts, and so they accomplish that to supply an possibility that satisfies small-phone lovers like myself.

General, I am extremely impressed with the OnePlus 13 so far. With regard to {hardware} specs, OnePlus has left no stone unturned. I am additionally notably keen on the corporate’s choice to prioritize person interface fluidity on this 12 months’s accompanying software program package deal.

I will as soon as once more (begrudgingly) settle for the trade-off of a telephone I can barely match into my pocket, however it’s a disgrace that I’ve to take action. Each Google and Apple have confirmed {that a} full-fledged flagship handset will be match right into a extra compact package deal, and so I anxiously await the day OnePlus decides to as soon as once more by no means settle.

Associated

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 digital camera forward of its world launch that is anticipated quickly.