Ever since I heard about the OnePlus 15, I was sure of one thing — even without using the phone: while it might fall short of a true upgrade to the OnePlus 13, it would be excellent for gaming. It had to be, owing to the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5’s improved architecture, OnePlus’ abiding emphasis on internal cooling tech, the new highly responsive 165Hz display, and the brand’s general fidelity to users who expect more than just the basics from their phones.
But my colleagues’ initial reactions to the phone shook that conviction. In their initial testing, my colleague Robert Triggs found the new phone running at nearly scorching temperatures. That’s a good thing if you’re near the North Pole, helping Santa pack gifts for kids. But for the rest of us mere mortals, those temperatures — I’m talking about nearly 53°C (127°F) on the surface, were bothersome, and especially harrowing for mobile gamers who intend to use it for several dozen minutes, if not hours, holding the phone in their hands while fragging foes in leading FPS games.