Last week, a nondescript cardboard box showed up at my door with a trademark red box inside. It marked the arrival of the OnePlus 15 a few months earlier than I originally expected, but OnePlus is forging ahead with a classy new flagship phone design and a bunch of new camera tricks up its sleeve.
This is the first flagship OnePlus phone in years to drop the Hasselblad branding in favor of the company's new in-house DetailMax Engine. If I've had any one complaint about the OnePlus 13's camera since I reviewed it earlier this year, it's that the Hasselblad processing can sometimes be too aggressive with its contrast and often tones down vibrant colors too much for my liking.
So far, the new DetailMax Engine looks to fix both of these issues, giving me a more realistic picture that looked like what my eyes saw, not what the camera software thought might look better. The weather has been fairly abysmal in my part of the world this weekend, but I was able to head up to the mountains at the end of last week while it was a clear, calm morning and capture Fall in a way that felt authentic.
I made sure to leave the watermark on each photo so you can get an idea of the zoom level and other important photo stats, something that's especially important if you're looking to see what the phone is truly capable of.
OnePlus's CEO, Pete Lau, previously said the new DetailMax Engine can "capture and interpret vastly more data, delivering images with unmatched depth and realism, " ensuring that photos never receive "over-beautification or distortion." Again, based on my time with the phone so far, this seems to absolutely nail my experience.
At this time, I'm only able to share a few photos of my adventures with the phone but plan to showcase a full review of its camera capabilities in the coming weeks. OnePlus is rumored to debut the phone at a lower price and earlier than expected. Rumors note a global launch may happen as early as Novemer 13, two full months ahead of the anniversary of the OnePlus 13's global launch.
