OnePlus first confirmed the OnePlus 15 name of its upcoming flagship device last week alongside Qualcomm, but we knew they wouldn’t stop hyping it then and there. In fact, we only expect the tease to ramp up over the coming weeks before it’s all made official, likely in China first, assuming OnePlus follows the same schedule as recent releases.
Today, OnePlus showed off the OnePlus 15 for the first time, letting us see the design of this new device well before we’ll ever hold one. The device, which will come in a “Sand Storm” colorway that they have described as “dune-colored,” looks quite striking and much different than the OnePlus 13 and OnePlus 12 before it. It looks closer to the OnePlus 13T, a device that never made it to the US, but did showcase a much-needed new design language from the smartphone maker.
In a brief video and press release, OnePlus shared that the OnePlus 15 is made with a metal frame that brings aerospace-grade “toughness” using a Micro-Arc Oxidation (MAO) process. OnePlus says that this process creates a material in the middle frame and camera deco that is 3.4 timers harder than aluminum and 1.3 times “as tough as titanium.” Neat.
What we care about is this design! It’s flatter than ever, with a camera housing that looks a lot like the one you’ll find on a Google Pixel 10 Pro Fold. There’s also a noticeable curve to the edges everywhere, which should lead to a more comfortable hold. This is a move Google made with the Pixel 9 series that really helped those devices sit softly in the hand, even with all of their flat sides and backs. This looks to take even that move from Google up a notch.
The other thing to note here is that single button the side – that’s the OnePlus Plus Key, which has replaced the Alert Slider. They made a big announcement about this earlier in the year. It’s a lot like the Action Button on iPhones that allows you to customize an action through presses.
Thoughts on this design?
