The OnePlus 13 officially launched in October 31st – in China. While this means that there’s still to be an official launch in the United States, at least we officially know what the 13 finally is. In plenty of unboxing videos, it is indeed revealed that the device has a flat screen (finally!), which is a good thing because curved displays are overrated and have always suffered from touch issues. I certainly haven’t missed the curved display on my OnePlus Open. It still maintains many features the OnePlus 12 had, which is worth pointing out as OnePlus often adds (then removes) features like wireless charging and official water resistance.
Nevertheless, the significante changes to the 13 include a larger battery, a slightly different design, in which the camera island no longer attached to the frame of the phone, and an IP69 rating. This is a first with OnePlus and actually better than any major phone out there, including Samsung and Apple. What exactly is an IP69 rating? It means the phone has been tested to withstand water jets and steam cleaning. I doubt anyone would ever do that to their phone, but who knows? Finally, the real game changer with the 13 having the world’s first (and only, at the time being) display with localized refresh rates. In short, think of it like how LCD LED TVs have local dimming zones. This feature can significantly improve battery life by having different parts of the display running at lower refresh rates (like a still image, or comment section) and others at high (like a game or video).