The OnePlus 13 could have improved cameras but might ditch the 12’s cool design

This could be one OnePlus that’s worth the wait

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It’s still early days for OnePlus 13 leaks, with theOnePlus 12having only landed back in December (and only getting its global launch in January), but we’re already hearing the first rumblings about the phone, and they suggest big changes are coming to the camera.

This is according to leakerDigital Chat Station, who – posting on Weibo (viaNotebookCheck) – claims that both the design and quality of the cameras will be changing.

They don’t get very specific about the changes, and we’re dealing with translated Chinese text too, so some things might be lost in the translation, but it sounds like the quite distinctive camera housing used by the OnePlus 12 will be changed.

As for the cameras themselves, Digital Chat Station highlights the 50MP main camera and the periscope camera (which in the case of the OnePlus 12 is a 64MP one with 3x optical zoom) as being worked on.

There are some obvious changes that could be made though, since OnePlus is a subsidiary of Oppo, which has arguably superior cameras on its Oppo Find X7 Ultra flagship. These include a different 50MP main sensor and a pair of 50MP periscope cameras, one of which offers 6x optical zoom. So it’s entirely possible the OnePlus 13 will inherit some of these cameras.

More power and security

In any case, that’s not all Digital Chat Station says. They also mention that – unsurprisingly – the OnePlus 13 will apparently use a Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 chipset. The current model uses theSnapdragon 8 Gen 3, so this was always expected, but if it lands in December again then it could be one of the first phones equipped with this top-tier silicon.

They also say that the OnePlus 13 will have a 2K screen (just like the current model), and in another Weibo post a different leaker (Smart Pikachu, viaGSMArena) claims that it will have an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor. Ultrasonic sensors are already used by some phones such as theSamsung Galaxy S24, and they’re typically both more secure and more reliable than optical sensors like those used by the OnePlus 12.

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So while we’d take these claims with a pinch of salt, it sounds like the OnePlus 13 could be a significant upgrade in a number of ways, Though given that ourOnePlus 12 reviewdescribed it as “maybe the coolest smartphone design ever”, the company will have its work cut out to better this with a new design.

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James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.

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