The OnePlus 13 Is Proof Samsung Is Asleep At The Wheel

Joe Maring / Android Authority

We’re almost through the second month of 2025, and already, we’ve seen two of the biggest smartphone launches of the year. OnePlus kicked things off in January with the OnePlus 13, and earlier this month, the Samsung Galaxy S25 series debuted.

Although the OnePlus 13 and Samsung’s Galaxy S25 trio received positive reviews, the two launches couldn’t have been any different. The OnePlus 13 is a significant improvement over the OnePlus 12, offering meaningful internal and external changes that make it a thoroughly impressive year-over-year upgrade. Meanwhile, the Samsung Galaxy S25 series is about as flat of an update over the S24 as you could ask for.

That’s not to say Samsung’s Galaxy S25 phones are bad (they aren’t), and Samsung’s strategy of tepid YoY smartphone changes is nothing new. But in light of how good the OnePlus 13 is and how tame the Galaxy S25 series is, it’s never been more apparent that Samsung is asleep at the wheel.

The OnePlus 13 is what an upgrade should be

Ryan Haines / Android Authority

Last year’s OnePlus 12 was great. It was a solid upgrade over the OnePlus 11 before it and gave OnePlus a strong foundation to work from for the OnePlus 13. The OnePlus 13 isn’t a radically different phone from the OnePlus 12, but there are enough small yet meaningful changes that make it feel like one.

For me, it all starts with the design. The OnePlus 12’s hardware was strong, featuring a lovely “Flowy Emerald” green color and a distinctive camera bump. The OnePlus 13 has the same bones as the OnePlus 12 but is vastly upgraded in every way. This year’s “Midnight Blue” color is one of my all-time favorites. The deep blue contrasts beautifully with the white camera bump and silver accents, creating one of the most handsome-looking phones I’ve ever seen. I’m also a sucker for the vegan leather finish, which is grippy and immune from fingerprints.

OnePlus also seemingly listened to fan/critic feedback and replaced the OnePlus 12’s drastically curved display with a much flatter one on the OnePlus 13. Combined with the flat frame, it makes the OnePlus 13 as functional as it is beautiful. The company could have easily kept the OnePlus 12’s design for another year, but it didn’t, and the OnePlus 13 is better for it.

Another hardware improvement you can’t see, but one that’s arguably more important, is the OnePlus 13’s IP68 and IP69 ratings — a massive upgrade over the OnePlus 12’s paltry IP65 protection. OnePlus has long skimped out on IP certifications for its phones, either forgoing them entirely or delivering less comprehensive ones than the competition. OnePlus is now a leader in the space, offering one of the only IP69-certified phones available today.

The OnePlus 13’s upgrades are smart, well-executed, and the opposite of what Samsung did this year.

But it’s not just the design/hardware that OnePlus got right. The OnePlus 13 has brand new ultrawide and telephoto cameras compared to the OnePlus 12; the battery is significantly larger, the new Snapdragon 8 Elite chip is outstanding, and OnePlus’s OxygenOS 15 is a massive improvement compared to previous versions of the software — so much so that OxygenOS has become my favorite Android skin/interface. The fingerprint sensor is better, too, going from an old optical sensor to a newer (and faster) ultrasonic one.

These upgrades might not seem like much on their own, but in practice, they all come together in a really special way. The OnePlus 12 was a great phone, but the OnePlus 13 is a remarkable one — and a large part of that is thanks to the meaningful and well-executed year-over-year changes from the OnePlus 12.

Samsung’s Galaxy S25 series is the exact opposite

C. Scott Brown / Android Authority

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It’s not news to anyone that the OnePlus 13 is fantastic. However, now that we’ve seen Samsung’s Galaxy S25 series and its striking similarity to the Galaxy S24 lineup, it makes the OnePlus 13 stand out that much more. And simultaneously, it also shows just how painfully safe Samsung played its cards this year.

It starts with the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Samsung’s top-of-the-line flagship is an objectively great phone, and in a bubble, you could even say it’s darn near perfect. But the Galaxy S24 Ultra was a great phone, too, and side-by-side, it’s almost impossible to tell what’s new. Seriously — look at the picture above. One of them is the Galaxy S25 Ultra, and one is the Galaxy S24 Ultra. Can you tell which is which?

Beyond the stale aesthetics, other changes are few and far between. The S25 Ultra’s battery and charging specs are identical to the S24 Ultra. The display is ever-so-slightly larger but is otherwise unchanged. The camera setup is virtually the same, too, save for a new 50MP ultrawide camera. Samsung even made the puzzling decision to downgrade the S Pen, removing the remote Bluetooth functionality it’s had since 2018’s Galaxy Note 9.

The Galaxy S25 and Galaxy S25 Plus are in a similar boat. The designs? The same. Displays? Identical. Cameras? Unchanged. Battery capacity and charge speeds? Los mismos. All of the Galaxy S25 phones have Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, some new AI features, and … well, that’s about it. There’s an argument to be made that Samsung doesn’t need to change as much with its phones every year because it typically starts at a higher point than OnePlus. That may have been true a couple of years ago, but it hardly has any weight today.

For $800 and $1,000 smartphones, respectively, it’s inexcusable that the Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus’s camera hardware is unchanged from the Galaxy S22 series. It’s equally baffling that the Galaxy S25 has the same battery and charging specs as the five-year-old Galaxy S20.

I’m not asking Samsung to reinvent the wheel every year, and I don’t think anyone else is. But it’s also not like the Galaxy S series has been perfect and free of any needed upgrades for the last few years.

Will anything actually change?

Lanh Nguyen / Android Authority

The unfortunate conclusion to this argument is that I don’t think there is one. We can all agree that the OnePlus 13 is a phenomenal upgrade over the OnePlus 12 and one of the best Android phones you can buy. We can also agree that the Galaxy S25 series is a dull, boring successor to the Galaxy S24 lineup. However, unless something drastic happens, it’s hard to see Samsung changing its ways anytime soon.

Samsung has a commanding force in the US smartphone market. Its phones are in every carrier store, its brand awareness is one of the highest, and it has matching sales figures to boot. You and I know the OnePlus 13 puts the Galaxy S25 to shame. But unless that starts eating into Samsung’s bottom line — which it almost certainly won’t — Samsung has little reason to spend a heap of money and R&D talent on new designs, battery tech, etc., if it can keep coasting along with the bare minimum upgrades every year.

I want to see Samsung again be the driving force of smartphone innovation it has repeatedly shown us it can be. Samsung is capable of making far better and more interesting phones than the Galaxy S25, and whether because of the OnePlus 13 or something else, I hope it starts doing so soon.

OnePlus 13

OnePlus 13

Gorgeous design • Clever AI features • Flexible cameras

The OG flagship killer’s killer flagship.

The OnePlus 13 is the company’s most killer flagship to date, offering a massive battery, speedy charging, and powerful cameras that give Google and Samsung something to worry about.