OnePlus 15 teardown confirms our worst fear: Major camera downgrades

OnePlus launched the OnePlus 15 in China this week, positioning itself as a contender for the best next-gen Android flagship. We expect to see the OnePlus 15 make its way to global markets soon, so if you haven’t already bought a OnePlus flagship, you shouldn’t buy one until the new flagship launches. If you’re curious what parts make the OnePlus 15 tick, we now have a better look at the internals, thanks to teardowns.

Chinese reviewer WekiHome (spotted via the OnePlus Club) has meticulously disassembled the OnePlus 15 and detailed all the components that make up the phone. We get to see the large 7,300mAh dual-cell silicon-carbon battery — the battery is physically larger compared to the last-gen OnePlus 13’s 6,000mAh dual-cell battery.

Moving ahead, we also get to compare the OnePlus 15’s camera setup to that of the OnePlus 13. A cursory glance at the spec sheet would indicate that the camera MP count remains the same across the board; however, we can see that OnePlus has practically replaced all the sensors in a year, but not for the better.

As you can see, the OnePlus 15’s cameras are a downgrade in terms of specifications, with practically all rear sensors featuring smaller sensors and a slower aperture, which is a shame since the OnePlus 13 had a great overall camera setup. Specs aren’t everything, though, and you can check out these OnePlus 15 camera samples to see how the new flagship actually fares in real-life experience.

Interestingly, OnePlus appears to have improved the top speaker performance. Not only is the top speaker larger than last year’s, but it is also symmetric, so you’ll get better stereo performance.

Continuing the downgrades, the OnePlus 15 features three microphones instead of four on the OnePlus 13. On the plus side, OnePlus has drilled slightly longer mic holes to distinguish them from the SIM card ejection hole.

To round things off, the OnePlus 15 features a stainless steel vapor chamber with an approximate area of 5700 sq. mm, compared to the OnePlus 13’s 4,700 sq. mm-sized vapor chamber.

All in all, the OnePlus 15 is an interesting phone so far. It’s a great phone on its own, but it remains to be seen just how much better it is than the OnePlus 13 that it succeeds. For certain users, it might make better sense to buy the older phone instead, especially if it remains on sale with a discount.