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Tom’s Guide
Tom’s Guide
Technology
Tom Pritchard

OnePlus 13 tipped for big camera upgrades in this early leak

OnePlus 12 held in the hand.

The first OnePlus 13 rumors are already here, despite the fact the OnePlus 12 has only been available for about six weeks. It may be rather early in the cycle, but we’re not one to turn down information on what the next big flagship phone might have in store.

According to Digital Chat Station over on Weibo, OnePlus is apparently redesigning the rear camera module on the OnePlus 13. The current design first appeared on the OnePlus 11 and didn’t change all that much on the OnePlus 12. 

Unfortunately it’s not clear what new designs OnePlus could potentially employ. It’ll be interesting to see if we get another circular design or if OnePlus might be testing something totally different. There’s a surprising diversity in camera module designs out there, and OnePlus could go in any number of directions — assuming this rumor is true.

It’s also claimed that the OnePlus 13 is currently being tested with a 2K OLED screen, which is no huge surprise considering that’s what the OnePlus 12 has. However, Digital Chat Station claims that the phone will have improved camera hardware, on par with Pro models from rivals. That includes upgrades to the main camera and the periscope zoom.

One thing the OnePlus 13 definitely needs is better optical magnification. Currently the 12 is limited to 3x zoom which, while not terrible, pales compared to the 5x zoom that is common to the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and iPhone 15 Pro Max. Plus improvements like a larger sensor would be a great benefit to the phone’s low-light capabilities — something OnePlus regularly stumbles with.

Finally it’s claimed that the OnePlus 13 will also run on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 chipset. Which is no huge surprise, considering that is more than likely going to be the go-to chipset for flagship Android phones in 2025.

Of course we won’t know for sure until the end of the year, when OnePlus will presumably launch the OnePlus 13 in China — ahead of a global launch in the following months. Until then we’ll just have to make do with the OnePlus 12 or OnePlus 12R.

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