Ain't no stoppin' Plus now

A fresh face, even fresher silicon and a behemoth of a battery have sent the OnePlus 15 into the smartphone stratosphere. Should the big names be worried?

- TOM MORGAN

Any pretence of OnePlus being an underdog in the phone world has been thrown out of the window here.

The firm's latest effort takes what made its predecessor stand out – rapid performance, a bigger battery than any of its Western rivals, enough water-resistance to survive a keelhauling – and turns it all up another notch, while still undercutting the competition on price.

The styling might feel like a shakeup for many phone fans, but the OnePlus 15's fully flat frame and offset square camera bump are actually an evolution of the India-only OnePlus 13S. The unique finish of the 'sand storm' variant, though? That's new. A process called Micro Arc Oxidation makes it three times tougher than aluminium and feel almost pebble-like to hold.

A slightly more manageable 6.78in screen means it sits more comfortably in the hand than the outgoing OnePlus 13, and that camera bump doesn't get in the way of my fingers. It contains three 50MP snappers, each with smaller sensors than before, but the new image processor claims it can make up for that with software. OnePlus is going it alone on imaging this year, having parted ways with long-time collaborator Hasselblad.