The best OnePlus phone 2023

The OnePlus 11 is the company’s current flagship model – there’s no Pro this year – and it’s a winner.

If you want an Android smartphone with top specs in 2023 that’s designed to stay fast and will have software support till 2028, the OnePlus 11 is a great choice. It’s also one of the cheapest high-end phones to offer this.

The absence of wireless charging shouldn’t be dealbreaker for most people. After all, this phone has an excellent screen, top cameras, good battery life and truly fast charging, and the best performance of any Android phone to date. The lack of full waterproofing is more annoying to me.

OnePlus can’t just stand still, it also must evolve – luckily for us, the OnePlus 11 is a fine evolution and one of the best phones you can buy for a price that undercuts many competing products.

The OnePlus Nord 2T is a more affordable alternative, and an updated take on the still-excellent Nord 2, which you’ll find further down this list.

The Nord 2T takes what made the Nord 2 such a good phone and improves on it in two key areas: a more powerful processor and faster wired charging. And despite those upgrades, it’s officially cheaper than the Nord 2 as well.

This is the best OnePlus phone for anyone who can’t justify the full price of the OnePlus 11, but also the best mid-range phone on the market from any company.

The OnePlus 10 Pro is the company’s top flagship phone from 2022, and focussed specifically on photography. It’s since been outpaced by the OnePlus 11, but if you can find this for cheaper then it’s a great option – especially since it includes wireless charging, which the 11 doesn’t.

This is an impressive flagship, with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip, impressive battery life, and nippy 80W wired charging alongside the aforementioned wireless option.

There are downsides. There’s no official IP rating (though a T-Mobile US variant with the same build quality does have the certification – make of that what you will) and while the camera setup is powerful, it’s also inconsistent – and at this price you’ll still find slightly better photography from Samsung or Apple.

The OnePlus 10T is an affordable flagship that packs in the fastest charging OnePlus has to offer.

The design is similar to the 10 Pro, though it lacks niceties like the curved display or alert slider. Like that phone it has flagships specs though, and indeed even outpaces the Pro thanks to the inclusion of a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset and super-fast 150W wired charging – faster even than the newer OnePlus 11.

Where it falls back is on the camera – it packs basically the same photography setup as the Nord 2T, despite costing a fair bit more. It’s the best OnePlus option for gamers or those drawn to the fastest charging, but photography fans will get more from the 10 Pro.

The Nord 2 was for a long time the best OnePlus phone for most people, with a brilliant balance of specs, features, and price – so much so that we named it the best mid-range phone of 2021. It may have been supplanted by the Nord 2T, but if you can find the 2 on sale then it’s an excellent value option.

Powered by a custom MediaTek chipset, the Nord 2 packs in fast 65W charging, a great main camera (borrowed from the flagship 9 series), and an understated glass design.

You won’t get top flagship features like waterproofing or wireless charging, which makes sense for the price. Perhaps slightly more surprisingly the display is limited to 90Hz rather than 120Hz – though this is a sacrifice we suspect few will mind.

The OnePlus 10R is only available in India, but if that’s where you are then it’s well worth considering.

This mid-range handset is similar to the OnePlus 10T in some respects, with the same 150W charging (though a cheaper 80W model is also available) and similar cameras.

It doesn’t pack the same Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip, but the MediaTek Dimensity 8100-Max found here is no slouch. It’s not quite top tier, but it won’t disappoint – and it keeps the phone handily cheaper than the 10T.

Note that the OnePlus 11R has since been announced – also an India exclusive – but we haven’t yet had the chance to review it.

The OnePlus Nord N300 5G, exclusive to the US, is one of the cheapest OnePlus phones around at $229.

Despite that, it doesn’t feel like a cheap phone, with build quality that feels more expensive than it is.

It also benefits from great battery life, easily lasting a day or more and with fast charging once it does wear out.

There are a few negatives to the Nord N300 5G, including a weak vibration motor and the disappointing promise of only one future Android update, but overall there aren’t many better options at this price in the US phone market.

The Nord N20 5G is a good device that provides decent bang for your buck if you’re in the US or Canada, the only countries where it’s on sale.

Despite costing just $300, it doesn’t feel cheap in the hand. The look and feel of the phone are in line with pricier phones like the Motorola Moto G Stylus 5G or Galaxy A53 – a real win for OnePlus.

There’s also the Snapdragon 695 chipset, which delivers solid performance even though it’s not the top-of-the-line chip from Qualcomm.

There are a few downsides of course, including the lack of a high refresh rate on the display, no official waterproofing, a weak vibration motor, and only receiving one Android update, but these won’t be dealbreakers for everybody.

The OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite 5G is a solid lower mid-range phone, but not as competitive in the market as other OnePlus options.

The new 108Mp main camera is decent, though it’s far from the best in its class – especially when the light drops. Meanwhile, the use of an LCD panel rather than an AMOLED feels like an oversight that’s hard to ignore.

There’s a question of value for money here, with the Nord CE 3 Lite 5G coming in more expensive than last year’s model. That might be justifiable with its faster charging and larger display, but rival handsets cast it in a less favourable light.

Factor in average performance and a short software support promise, and you have a phone that struggles to differentiate itself in a competitive field.

It’s a shame the OnePlus 9RT is only officially out in China and India, because it’s probably the best phone in 2021’s 9 series.

It re-uses the broad design strokes of the OnePlus 9 – albeit with a slightly larger, 6.62in display – and also uses the same Snapdragon 888 chipset and 120Hz AMOLED display.

The camera has been chopped and changed, with the 9 Pro’s 50Mp ultra-wide sensor here used for the 9RT’s main camera, but results are solid, especially given the phone’s lower price.

This isn’t the most powerful OnePlus 9 phone, but by aiming for a little less it succeeds a bit more.