Why OnePlus Is Sticking To USB-A Charging

With the new OnePlus 13 and OnePlus 13R, the company is still sticking to 80W charging, with a USB-A charging brick. Why? That’s something I wanted to know too, because it’s rather annoying to need to bring their own charging brick and cable with me, versus just using a regular USB-C PD brick and a USB-C to USB-C cable.

Well, it turns out, it comes down to cost. You see, OnePlus is still far cheaper than most of its competitors here in the States. Despite the OnePlus 13 going up $100 to $899, it is still $400 less than the Galaxy S24 Ultra. And it does still come with the charger in the box. And according to OnePlus, it’s cheaper to include a USB-A charger in the box, versus a USB-C charger. Especially one that can output 80W or even 100W charging (remember, OnePlus 13 does support 100W outside of the US).

OnePlus 13 and 13R do support USB-C PD now

The good news, however, is that both the OnePlus 13 and 13R do no support USB-C PD. Meaning that you can use a PD charger to charge these devices. In fact, OnePlus is going to be selling a 80W GaN USB-C PD charger, it’ll cost $49.99. Or if you’re in Canada, it’ll be $69.99.

This new GaN charger is a dual-port charger with a USB-C port and a USB-A port and can do up to 120W, combined. It’ll be available on the OnePlus store, exclusively.

So that’s why OnePlus is sticking to USB-A, just like with a lot of its other decisions, it comes down to cost. This is also why they didn’t get an official IP rating for many years, or didn’t include wireless charging sometimes. For OnePlus, it always comes down to cost, as they are trying to provide the best flagship experience they can, at a lower cost than its competitors like Samsung and Apple.