OnePlus is a brand that came to fame by releasing what I would call "almost flagships" — devices that packed many top-of-the-line components but ultimately omitted some extra bells and whistles that keep them from being premium. This wasn't a bad thing; at 60-70% the retail price of top-of-the-line flagships, the math worked in consumers' favor. However, a few years ago, OnePlus began pumping out actual flagships with extra features like capable camera sensors, wireless charging, and official IP ratings. The price went up as a result, inching close to what Samsung, Apple, and Huawei ask for their best phones.
Longtime fans weren't happy, and mainstream consumers weren't quite sold on seeing OnePlus as an ultra-premium phone brand. But then, OnePlus and Oppo officially unveiled their close ties a year and half ago — thus officially making OnePlus a sub-brand and all but axing those premium ambitions.
The result is the OnePlus 11. There is no "Pro" model this year, and the phone's $699 starting price in the U.S. is the lowest since the OnePlus 8. But unlike the OnePlus 8, which compromised quite a bit (it had a 90Hz display and no zoom lens when all other Android flagships had 120Hz panels and a zoom lens), the OnePlus 11 looks and feels very much like a tip-top flagship, ready to take on the Galaxy S23 Ultras, Google Pixel 7 Pros, and Vivo X90 Pro Pluses of the world. However, if you know where to look, you'll see the OnePlus 11 also compromises in a few areas.
In other words, the OnePlus 11 is a return to the company's original roots: It's an "almost flagship" that will probably end up about 90% as good as the Galaxy S23 Ultra, but at a much lower price point.
About this review: This review was written after two weeks of testing a OnePlus 11 provided by OnePlus. The company did not have input in this review.
OnePlus 11
The OnePlus 11 is the company's return to form, offering an almost-flagship experience at a lower price point than what Samsung charges.
- Brand
- OnePlus
- SoC
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
- Display
- 6.7-inch 2K 120Hz Super Fluid AMOLED, LTPO 3.0
- RAM
- 8GB/16GB
- Storage
- 128GB/256GB
- Battery
- 5,000 mAh
- Operating System
- OxygenOS 13, over Android 13
- Front camera
- 16MP
- Rear cameras
- 50MP wide (f/1.8, 1/1.56-inch), 48MP ultra-wide (f/2.2), 32MP telephoto (f/2.0)
- Dimensions
- 163.1 x 74.1 x 8.5 mm (6.42 x 2.92 x 0.33 in)
- Colors
- Titan Black, Eternal Green
- Weight
- 205g
- Price
- $699
- Premium build quality on par with other flagships
- Excellent thermals
- Strong main camera
- Telephoto lens' optical range is short by 2023 standards
- No wireless charging
- Peak brightness not as bright as other phones
Oneplus 11: Price and availability
- The phone comes in two variations
- It starts at $699 and increases to $799 for the higher RAM/storage option
- Preorders are now open
The OnePlus 11 starts at $699 for the base model with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage and increases to $799 for 16GB RAM and 256GB storage. It's available for preorder beginning Feb. 7, with the product set to arrive on Feb. 16. In the U.S., the device will sell on Amazon, Best Buy as well as OnePlus' own online store. Unlike in previous years, it will not be carried by T-Mobile.
Design and hardware: Great to hold and use
- Evolution of the OnePlus 10 series' design
- Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and UFS 4.0
- UFS 4.0 storage, excellent haptics
The OnePlus 11 continues the design aesthetic of the OnePlus 10 series, featuring a stainless steel camera module on the left side of the device's back that blends into the aluminum frame. Instead of last year's square-ish camera module, which some said looked like a kitchen stove top, OnePlus placed the triple-camera system on a circular island. I was a fan of last year's design and still think this evolved version looks even better. Also, the alert slider, which went missing in the OnePlus 10T, is back, located in the thicker chassis where the camera bump blends into the sides.
But more importantly, the OnePlus 11 feels tremendous to hold. The front and back glass panel (Gorilla Glass Victus front, Gorilla Glass 5 back) curve subtly on the left and right side to blend seamlessly into the camera module. Unlike the OnePlus 10 phones, which had a matte but slippery back, this year's glass returns to a slightly glossy texture that provides more grip. While this glossy finish now does attract some fingerprint smudges again, it is nowhere near as bad as the OnePlus 9 or most Android phones circa 2019. Clearly, there's some anti-smudge coating at work.
The phone's complete lack of sharp edges and seamless unibody design feel reminds me of the Oppo Find X5 Pro, but slightly less premium due to its ceramic body. At 205g and 8.5mm in thickness, the device is not too big or heavy by recent standards. I like holding the OnePlus 11 a lot, more than the iPhone 14 Pro Max or Galaxy S22 Ultra, for sure.
SoC and memory
Despite compromises in other areas, the OnePlus 11 didn't compromise and went all out in regards to its SoC. It features the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and either 128 or 256GB of UFS 4.0 storage. The latter is the newest memory standard that's faster and more energy efficient. The processor speaks for itself — it's the most powerful chip in any Android device right now.
Battery and miscellaneous components
The 5,000 mAh battery here is just about standard among flagships in 2023, and it can be charged at 80W speeds in North America and 100W everywhere else (this has to do with North America's voltage). There is no wireless charging — another sign of cost-cutting — but it doesn't bother me too much because the phone can last all day.
OnePlus has enlarged the haptic engine this year, and the results are strong and full haptics. I set my phone to vibrate at all times, and the vibration motor is so strong that if the device gets a phone call while on a hard surface, the rumbling sound can be quite loud.
Stereo speakers are also here, and they're fine, as is the optical in-display fingerprint scanner. The phone has IP64 protection, which means it's dust-proof and can withstand splashes of water but can't be submerged entirely.
Display: Great for its price
- It has a gorgeous 6.7-inch OLED panel with a variable refresh rate
- The Samsung E4 panel could be better
The OnePlus 11 has a killer display. The 6.7-inch OLED panel looks gorgeous, and most people won't find a single aspect to complain about. It's a Quad HD LTPO 3.0 panel with a refresh rate ranging between 1-120Hz, wrapped by almost completely symmetrical bezels.
But as I said earlier, if you know where to look, you can see this is where OnePlus settles a bit to reach a lower price point. This display is a Samsung E4 panel, which is still great and better than around 99% of other screens. But there are Android phones, namely the Vivo X90 Pro+ and Xiaomi 13 Pro, using Samsung's latest E6 panel, which has superior viewing angles, higher maximum brightness, and is more power efficient.
But this is completely nitpicking. You'd have to be a display expert and have a Vivo X90 Pro+ side-by-side to see the difference. In a vacuum, the OnePlus 11 screen is perfectly great, and its maximum brightness of 800 nits or 1300 nits when pushing HDR content is bright enough.
Cameras: Great against other basic flagships
- Has 50MP main camera, 48MP ultrawide, 32MP telephoto, and 16MP front-facing
- The main camera produces natural colors and often better HDR than the iPhone 14
Generally speaking, the OnePlus 11 camera system handles all the basics well. Colors and dynamic range are consistent across all three lenses, so if you snap an ultrawide, a wide, then a telephoto shot in succession, they don't look like they were taken at different times of the day.
The 50MP main camera with a 1/1.56-inch sensor is responsive and captures accurate colors, supposedly due to Hasselblad color science. It's fast to focus and generally produces very aesthetically pleasing images. In low-light conditions, night mode does a great job of eliminating noise and resisting over-sharpening.
The 1/1.57-inch image sensor size can't be called large in 2023 anymore, and when compared to the 1-inch sensor seen in the Vivo X90 Pro Plus, we can see OnePlus 11's images have less depth.
But it's not quite fair to compare the optics of a $699 OnePlus 11 against an absolute overkill premium Vivo camera system. The OnePlus 11 should not be expected to compete and win against the Pro Pluses, Pro Maxes, or Ultras, but rather base-level flagships like the iPhone 14 or Google Pixel 7. And I think OnePlus does a great job against those two. In fact, the OnePlus 11 consistently handles dynamic range better than the iPhone 14. Look at the samples below.
I've uploaded more full-sized photo samples to the Flickr album below, I think we can all agree OnePlus 11's main camera does a great job considering its price range.
The OnePlus 11's telephoto zoom lens only has a 2x optical zoom, which is not as long as the 3.3x from previous OnePlus phones, but in return, the telephoto lens gained a larger sensor, which improves shots at 2x and even 3x ranges. OnePlus says this focal range is more suitable for portraits, and to that end, the OnePlus 11's portrait shots are quite good, with great edge detection. Below are all portraits captured by the telephoto camera. But if you zoom beyond 5x or so, image quality drops off quickly. I enjoy snapping 5x and 10x photos daily, so the OnePlus 11's long zoom prowess leaves me wanting.
The ultrawide and selfie cameras are fine. As usual, ultrawide shots lose details in low-light conditions, but shots look good during the day. The selfie camera captures natural skin tones without the aggressive beautifying features of a Samsung or Xiaomi phone.
Software and performance: OxygenOS is super fast
- Features OxygenOS over Android 13 — OxygenOS looks and feels like Oppo's ColorOS
- Many Oppo-specific gestures are now in OxygenOS
OnePlus used to run on arguably the most beloved Android software of them all. However, that changed when OnePlus and Oppo officially conceded they were basically the same company and that OxygenOS would "merge" with ColorOS. The backlash was swift, which led to a sort of backtracking, but sort of not.
The whole thing was dramatic and, in my opinion, a bit overblown because I've enjoyed using ColorOS for years. ColorOS and OxygenOS had long shared features dating back to when OnePlus was still pretending to be a totally independent company. For example, OnePlus phones were known for having very intuitive quick launch gestures, such as drawing a circle to launch the camera from a sleeping phone or swiping down with three fingers to grab a screenshot. These features have been in Oppo phones running ColorOS for years.
The OnePlus 11 runs a version of Android 13 the company calls OxygenOS, but I really can't tell much of a difference between it and the ColorOS running in recent Oppo phones. Even previously Oppo-specific gestures, such as using an exaggerated swipe up to "push" an app into a small floating window, are now in OxygenOS. I don't mind at all. Animations are buttery smooth, and the UI can be heavily customized — if you want. If you want to keep it like a plain Android look, you can.
Another win for the OnePlus 11 is that the company promises four major Android updates and five years of security updates for the device, which beats most Android OEMs, including the Google Pixel series.
With a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and the latest standards in RAM and storage, the OnePlus 11 zips around super fast like the company's phones always have. Little things, like cycling through all your background apps, feels super fast, thanks to the fluid animations.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 here is under-clocked, so the benchmark numbers won't reach the heights of other Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 devices I've tested, like the Vivo X90 Pro Plus or iQoo 11. But this, combined with the excellent VC cooling backplate, keeps the OnePlus 11 cool. I ran the "Wild Life Extreme Stress Test" on the app 3D Mark, and the OnePlus 11 finished with the phone feeling barely warm. The Google Pixel 7 finished the test piping hot, and last year's Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 flagships, like the Xiaomi 12 Pro, couldn't even pass the test.
Interestingly, while the OnePlus 11 finished the test cooler and also scored a higher peak score, the Google Tensor G2 chip in the Pixel 7 was able to keep stable performance all the way through the end while the OnePlus 11 did begin to stumble towards the latter stretch. Still, it's obvious the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is a more powerful chip than the Tensor G2.
With excellent haptics, stereo speakers, and a comfortable in-hand feel, the OnePlus 11 is a great lounge-around-sofa-binging-YouTube device. I had no issues with performance over two weeks of use, although I'm not a heavy gamer, so wasn't hopping into, say, a 40-minute Genshin Impact session.
I found the battery life on the OnePlus 11 to be good but not amazing by my very high standards. Generally speaking, the OnePlus 11 can definitely last an entire 13 or 14-hour day on a single charge, but when I had a very heavy use afternoon — I was on a five-hour bus ride from LA to Las Vegas and was on the phone the entire ride scrolling through social media and streaming Spotify — the phone dropped by about 40% battery (with the screen on for four and half hours). This isn't bad, but an iPhone 14 Pro Max or a Vivo X90 Pro+ can make it through the same stretch with more battery left.
Long story short, you'd really have to push it and be on the phone for hours at a time to drain the battery before your day ends. The lack of wireless charging will probably annoy some, but with the superfast 80W charger, which can top up 45% battery in 10 minutes (and around 25 minutes for a full charge), I don't mind too much.
Should you buy the OnePlus 11?
You should buy the OnePlus 11 if:
- You want an almost top-tier Android phone but nowhere close to four-digit pricing
- You prefer OnePlus' superfluid and fast UI and shortcut gestures over what the more plain Pixel Launcher offers
- You want a very comfortable in-hand feel
You should not buy the OnePlus 11 if:
- You care about having a great zoom lens
- You can afford to pay more money and want the best of the best
- You already were considering the Google Pixel 7
The OnePlus 11 is a very polished, well-performing all-around phone. I didn't have the chance to test the Galaxy S23 Ultra by publication time, but I am pretty confident the OnePlus 11 is going to lose to the Galaxy S23 Ultra but beat the Galaxy S23 and S23+ as a great phone for many people (I'm talking camera performance, battery life, UI fluidity, and general ease of use).
This puts the OnePlus 11 in a good value proposition spot between the two top Samsung slabs. But as mentioned at the beginning, there's the Google Pixel 7 lurking, and it's even more affordable than the OnePlus 11 at $599. The Pixel 7 also has a better main camera because of its larger image sensor and Google's superior software image processing. However, the OnePlus 11 has a better screen, with higher max brightness and refresh rate, a faster and more powerful processor, and, ironically, a longer "guaranteed" software update period (four years compared to the Pixel 7's three).
I think the OnePlus 11 priced itself correctly this time and should be a good option for those who don't necessarily need the overkill Galaxy S23 Ultra but also want something a bit better than the nerfed Galaxy S23 or Pixel 7 phones. I say "should" because brand reputation and marketing help from carriers play a big role in the U.S., and the OnePlus 11 not being on any major U.S. carrier's store shelves will likely hurt its appeal. It's an uphill battle for OnePlus, but I'm glad the company is trying.
OnePlus 11
The OnePlus 11 is the company's return to form, offering an almost-flagship experience at a lower price point than what Samsung charges.
- Brand
- OnePlus
- SoC
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
- Display
- 6.7-inch 2K 120Hz Super Fluid AMOLED, LTPO 3.0
- RAM
- 8GB/16GB
- Storage
- 128GB/256GB
- Battery
- 5,000 mAh
- Operating System
- OxygenOS 13, over Android 13
- Front camera
- 16MP
- Rear cameras
- 50MP wide (f/1.8, 1/1.56-inch), 48MP ultra-wide (f/2.2), 32MP telephoto (f/2.0)
- Dimensions
- 163.1 x 74.1 x 8.5 mm (6.42 x 2.92 x 0.33 in)
- Colors
- Titan Black, Eternal Green
- Weight
- 205g
- Price
- $699
FAQ
Q: What colors does the OnePlus 11 series come in?
We may end up seeing more colors for this phone in the future, but these are the only two colors you can get for the OnePlus 11 5G in the U.S. right now. We'll update this space if/when more color options are made available, so stay tuned.
Q: Does the OnePlus 11 have a SIM card slot? Does it have eSIM?
The OnePlus 11 comes with dual SIM slots, and you can use two nano SIM cards with the phone. Notably, the OnePlus 11 5G units sold in the U.S. also support eSIM, which means you don't necessarily have to insert a physical SIM card to use a number with your device. It is, however, worth mentioning that you can only have two active numbers at any given point, meaning you can either have two nano SIM cards or a single nano SIM and an eSIM active.
Q: Does the OnePlus 11 support wireless and reverse wireless charging?
OnePlus has decided to ditch wireless charging this time around, meaning there's no support for wireless or reverse wireless charging on the OnePlus 11. This is essentially a downgrade from the OnePlus 10 Pro, which came with support for up to 50W AirVOOC wireless fast charging. It's not necessarily a dealbreaker considering you still get extremely fast charging speeds compared to a lot of other flagships in the U.S., but it's still worth considering nonetheless.
Q: How many software updates will the OnePlus 11 get?
OnePlus recently committed to supporting its "select devices" for a longer period of time. Thankfully, the OnePlus 11 is a part of the new update policy, which means you can expect to receive up to four major Android updates and five years of security updates for this phone. It beats most Android OEMs with its updated software update policy, including the Google Pixel series, and is now in line with what Samsung offers for its flagship phones. The OnePlus 11 5G, in case you're wondering, ships with OxygenOS 13 based on Android 13 out of the box.
Q: Does the OnePlus 11 have expandable memory?
The OnePlus 11, just like its predecessor, doesn't have a microSD card slot for storage expansion. Instead, you get to pick between either 128GB or 256GB of storage. It is worth noting that only the unit with 256GB storage uses UFS 4.0, whereas the base variant with 128GB storage uses UFS 3.1. UFS 4.0 storage is the newest memory standard that's faster and more energy efficient, and you can learn more about it in our UFS 4.0 storage guide.
Q: Does the OnePlus 11 have a good warranty?
By default, the OnePlus 11 5G comes with a standard warranty mandated by the law. In the United States, that means you get a 12 months limited warranty that covers basic repairs for the OnePlus 11 as long as it doesn't break due to external factors and misuse. In some countries, including a few in Europe, the minimum limited warranty period is 24 months. You can always choose to spend more money to extend your limited warranty or purchase OnePlus Care which covers your device against damages by accidental drops, crashes, breakage, or liquid spill for up to two years.
Q: Does the OnePlus 11 support satellite calls?
No, the OnePlus 11 does not support the satellite communication feature like the iPhone 14 series. Qualcomm recently introduced Snapdragon Satellite to enable two-way messaging on smartphones with Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, but the feature isn't available on the OnePlus 11 5G, at least not yet.
That wraps up our frequently asked questions section for the OnePlus 11 5G, in which we've answered many of your burning questions. Be sure to use the comments section below to let us know if you have any other questions about this phone.
