There’s good and bad news for OnePlus 15’s zoom camera

OnePlus makes some excellent Android flagships, and the current generation OnePlus 13 checks all the right boxes, so we’re very excited to see what the company has in store for its successor, the OnePlus 15 (Chinese culture regards the number “4” as unlucky). The company recently confirmed that its Hasselblad partnership is over, and that it is building its own DetailMax Engine for photography. Now, more specifications of the OnePlus 15’s camera have leaked, and there’s both good and bad news.

Leaker Digital Chat Station has shared that the OnePlus 15 could come with a 50MP periscope telephoto camera. This camera could have an 85mm equivalent focal length and f/2.8 aperture.

With that equivalent focal length, we’re looking at ~3.5x to 3.7x optical zoom, depending on the focal length of the primary camera. For reference, the OnePlus 13 comes with a 23mm 50MP primary rear camera and a 73mm 50MP periscope telephoto camera, giving us 3x optical zoom. So we’re looking at a higher zoom factor from the periscope telephoto camera. This would be great for framing over longer distances, presuming the quality is maintained or improved, but the aperture value is narrower on the OnePlus 15.

The OnePlus 13’s periscope telephoto camera had a wider f/2.6 aperture, which is better on paper as it lets in relatively more light (so lesser noise and reduced motion blur, especially in low-light scenarios) and creates a shallower depth of field. So, a narrower f/2.8 aperture on the OnePlus 15 would effectively be a downgrade if you were happy with the 3x zoom factor on the OnePlus 13.

The OnePlus 15 could be cheaper, though

A post from OnePlus Club (which is not affiliated with OnePlus) mentions that the OnePlus 15 will be priced “significantly lower” since the company has cut most of the costly components. The post also suggests that the phone is designed as an “ultra-performance” device, seemingly because the iQOO 13 was the top seller in China, allegedly surpassing the combined sales of the realme GT 7 Pro and the OnePlus 13.

It’s not clear if the post is a leak or just speculation. However, it’s worth noting that other leaks suggest OnePlus has indeed cut back on some of the overkill that shipped on the OnePlus 13.

For instance, a previous leak from Digital Chat Station mentioned that the OnePlus 15 could get a 6.78-inch 1.5K resolution flat LIPO display. To recall, the OnePlus 13 comes with a larger 6.82-inch QHD+/2K display that is almost flat but with quad-curved edges (instead of the more pronounced curved edges on the older OnePlus 12), while the OnePlus 13R has a flat 6.78-inch 1.5K display. If this leak from the reliable leaker is correct, the OnePlus 15’s display could be similar to the OnePlus 13R’s flat display.

The Hasselblad partnership is also not in place anymore, so OnePlus presumably no longer needs to pay licensing fees to Hasselblad for using their logo on the back of the OnePlus 15, so that’s one more saved cost.

However, given the uncertain economic and trade environment, it remains to be seen which of these cost savings gets passed on to customers.