OnePlus 11 5G is the latest flagship smartphone from the house of OnePlus. And after a gap of a few years, OnePlus has nailed the pricing of the product in India. Reminding us of the OG ‘flagship killer’, the OnePlus One, back in 2014.
OnePlus 11 5G
56,999
What Is Good?
- Excellent pricing
- Top-tier performance
- Robust and premium design
- Capable primary camera
- 100W SUPERVOOC fast-charging support
- 4 years of promised Android support
- Excellent battery backup
What Is Bad?
- No IP rating
- Selfie camera gets a downgrade
- No wireless charging
Nine years later, OnePlus 11 5G is fighting it out to be the flagship smartphone king, and we are not surprised. It packs all bells and whistles of a modern-day premium smartphone, like a chiselled physique, a long list of features, and top-notch specs under the hood – all of this at not so premium price.
Before diving into the OnePlus 11, it is crucial to understand how the company’s aspirations have evolved in the last few years, making the 11 series vital for OnePlus this year. For reference, the OnePlus 7 Pro was the last OnePlus flagship launched in India at under Rs 50,000 in 2019. We have seen a gradual price increase, some of which can be justified by the specifications and extended features list. The actual groundwork started a few years back with the OnePlus 8 Pro, OnePlus 9 Pro, and last year’s OnePlus 10 Pro, which were foundation stones for the company.
This year, however, the competition is cutthroat because even Google wants a share of the premium segment and introduced Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro in India late last year. Nevertheless, 2023 is already seen enough launches in its first 50 days that it looks like an exciting year for smartphone enthusiasts.
At a starting price of Rs 56,999, the new OnePlus flagship appeals to consumers looking for a premium all-rounder at a not-so-premium price (something we want to highlight). There’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC under the hood, 100W fast-charging support, a 2K display, Hasselblad tuned camera and a premium design. But does all of it make it worth the purchase? We will answer that in our review.
OnePlus 11 5G Review: Elegant design that you’ll love and a stunning display
OnePlus has been consistently trying out new designs, especially the camera module placement, in the last few years. OnePlus 11 5G is no different, and one of the first things that came to mind when I got my hands on the phone was it looked refreshing. Compared to the OnePlus 10 Pro 5G (review) from last year, OnePlus has placed a circular camera module with Hasselblad embossed in the centre. The triple camera placement is more or less the same as last year, but the entire back feels new, thanks to a fresh layout.
To recall, the OnePlus 8 Pro came in lovely colours and had a solid feel to it; the OnePlus 9 Pro from 2021 had a distinct look, while the 10 Pro 5G introduced an all-new design with cameras in focus. It is good to see a major smartphone brand putting in efforts to try out new design elements every year on its flagship.
Talking about the new 11, I liked the overall hand feel of the handset. It feels premium and solid. The curved edges sit well in hands and make it an excellent device for vertical (for general use like browsing social media) or horizontal usage (for multimedia or gaming). The smooth transition around the edges looks neat, especially the mid-frame, which merges with the camera module.
Attention to detail is something that is taken care of well by the OnePlus design team. The DSLR camera-like texture around the circular housing packing sensors is a nice touch and adds to the overall character.
The front panel is dominated mainly by the screen real estate. There are thin black bezels around the display, which doesn’t spoil the overall multimedia experience—the back sports Corning Gorilla Glass 5, which is impressive. But, again, the back panel is glass, so it can break. The rear panel is also slippery and using the TPU case that ships in the retail box are recommended until you get your hands on some excellent cases for the phone.
The right panel houses the power button alongside the signature alert slider, while the left packs the volume rockers. The tactile feel is nice, and the physical buttons are easily accessible. The bottom panel houses the USB Type-C port, SIM card slot, and speaker grille. The top packs mics.
It is neither among the thinnest nor a light device at 8.53mm in thickness and 205 grams in weight. The Titan Black colour looks fantastic, and I liked it more than the Eternal Green, the other colour option. The rounded camera housing has a shining material inside, which looks good to some extent, but, during our review, at times gave me panic attacks as it tends to look like dust entered inside the glass; at least, it seems that way from certain angles. The camera lens also picks up smudges too easily.
From design to the display. The OnePlus 11 has the same display we saw on the 10 Pro, which is excellent. Why change something if that’s already perfect? Right!
The OnePlus 11 5G features a 6.7-inch QHD+ AMOLED with an LTPO display. It supports a 120Hz refresh rate and an aspect ratio of 20.1:9. The OnePlus 11 sports Corning Gorilla Glass Victus as cover glass and offers 525PPI pixel density.
Much like the 10 Pro, the 11 offers a peak brightness of 1300 nits which we got from our tests during the review, as the brand did not highlight this during device briefings or official documents.
Purely in terms of usage, the display on the OnePlus 11 is stunning. It offers punchy colours sharp texts, and is incredibly bright and is an excellent choice for multimedia consumption, be it videos, games or movies. The sunlight legibility is good, and the display on the 11 offers decent viewing angles. In addition, Dolby Vision support will elevate your overall multimedia experience and comes with HDR10+, the latest HDR format for mobile.
Another factor that enhances the overall multimedia experience is dual speakers, which come with Dolby Atmos support. Right from music to videos to gaming, the OnePlus 11 offers a very balanced sound output. It is loud but also doesn’t miss out on crisp details.
OnePlus 11 5G Review: Top-notch performance guaranteed
OnePlus 11 5G has been packaged well to offer top-notch performance. Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, under the hood, brings improvements over its predecessors. Purely in terms of everyday usage, the OnePlus 11 sails through almost everything. It can handle multi-tasking with ease. During the review, the phone could handle up to 40 apps running in the background without a stutter.
In our gaming tests, the OnePlus 11 5G performed well. You can see the phone’s gaming performance in our Extreme Gaming Test below.
To summarise, the phone handled most of the games without a sweat. We tried Apex Legends Mobile, which launched on Ultra HD graphics settings with High framerates. We noticed around 40fps through our gameplay and higher where there’s not much play. It drops below the 40fps mark when there’s a squad in the vicinity, but that’s something we saw on the iQOO 11 too. For gamers, the OnePlus 11 5G is a powerhouse that smoothly drives through combat sessions without hiccups. When playing 30 minutes of continuous game, the battery test is about a 10% drop which is expected. We also tried tweaking settings to stress the SoC, like switching to Ultra HD and Ultra settings while playing Apex Legends Mobile. There was a noticeable improvement in fps which was around 60fps for most of the time, except in combat. The best thing about the OnePlus 11 5G has been the heat management. It never rose to concern levels.
We also tried COD Mobile, which launched in low graphics and Max settings. There weren’t any drops throughout the gameplay. Similarly, Asphalt 9 Legends works well on High-quality graphics with excellent touch response. Overall, the OnePlus 11 feels like a device that can take it all when it comes to gaming.
The OnePlus 11 5G comes with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage which is UFS 3.1, while the top-of-the-line is the 16GB RAM and 256GB storage model with UFS 4.0. For biometrics, there’s an in-display fingerprint sensor and face unlock. Both work flawlessly. Much like last year, the 11 again sets a benchmark for flagships this year with its Haptic motor. It is precise and can be enjoyed to the fullest while gaming. Typing on the 11 is fun too, and I had an excellent time typing long emails on the device (no pun intended).
Coming to synthetic benchmarks, the OnePlus 11 5G does score well. In AnTuTu, the phone scored 113,0323, just below iQOO 11 and Vivo X90 Pro+. Coming to Geekbench scores, the phone manages 1142 single-core and 4904 multi-core scores. I’m never a fan of benchmark apps, but these are surely a good indicator of how the phone can perform in most stressful situations.
OnePlus 11 5G packs a great set of mics and can latch on to networks in dark zones, something flagships have been managing well in the last few years. The phone supports all 5G bands, a total of 13, including N1, N3, N5, N7, N8, N20, N28A, N38, N40, N41, N66, N77, and N78. We tried using the OnePlus 11 5G with Jio True 5G and Airtel 5G Plus, and we were impressed with the overall speeds we got. In addition, the call quality is excellent on the phone.
OnePlus 11 5G runs on OxygenOS 13 based on Android 13. Compared to OxygenOS 12, the new version brings more refinements and customisation options from Android 13. Unlike many phones in India selling at a premium price, the OnePlus 11 5G hardly has unnecessary apps (or you can call them bloatware). The UI is refined and offers enough features to keep you happy. The promised 4 years of software updates and 5 years of security updates from the company will ensure the device is future-ready. The additional software support undoubtedly enhances the overall package for a consumer.
OnePlus 11 5G Review: Hasselblad goodness reloaded
The OnePlus 11 5G cameras get some important updates this year:
- There’s a 50-megapixel primary Sony IMX890 camera with f/1.8 aperture and, as expected, features like OIS (short for optical image stabilisation) and EIS (short for electronic image stabilisation).
- There’s the 48-megapixel ultra-wide camera with SonyIMX581 sensor and f/2.2 aperture, and 115-degree field of view.
- The telephoto unit is a 32-megapixel Sony IMX709 sensor with f/2.0 aperture.
Surprisingly, there’s a downgrade in selfie shooter spec. From 32-megapixel on the 10 Pro to 16-megapixel on the OnePlus 11, we will get to the quality bit in some time.
This year marks the third anniversary of the Hasselblad partnership with OnePlus. So, users get a host of custom tuning from the legendary camera maker.
Okay, now that we are done with the specs, it is time to talk about how they perform.
The primary 50-megapixel camera is the biggest highlight. We get some fantastic shots with accurate colours, great details, and a good amount of texture in varied light conditions, from capturing the true colour of the bench under the tree to maintaining the true colour of the BMW car. Most importantly, the cameras are capable and can offer good results even in indoor situations.
For macros, the phone uses the 32-megapixel tele camera, and it performs well. The autofocusing is quick, and the rest is automatically handled by the phone. Much like last year, the ultra-wide camera still isn’t the best in business. We could notice colour variation from what the primary camera manages to capture. This was something we noticed on the 10 Pro as well. Overall, the zoom performance is nice and includes as much detailing as possible.
The selfie department was one that was slightly disappointed. In fact, I never thought I would say this, but after using OnePlus 11, I like the selfie shooter on the 10 Pro. That says enough. But, it is definitely not a deal breaker by any means and offers good selfies in different light conditions, which can be used on your social media platforms. The portrait shots on the 11 also come out well with accurate subject isolation and a good amount of blur around the subject.
The one department where I admit that OnePlus 11 trumps the 10 Pro has to be night photography. The results have a good amount of details with controlled chromatic noise. When switched to Night mode, it helps enhances shots and tries to capture more light which is impressive. Even in videos, I loved the stabilisation on the 11. Though it is not as good as seen on Vivo top-tier X-series or iPhone 14 series but it is the best yet seen on OnePlus devices.
Pro camera users, however, will love the Pro mode on the 11. It lets you adjust ISO, white balance, shutter speed, exposure compensation, focus, and RAW (RAW+) format. But, of course, not everyone is a camera expert, and that’s where automatic mode comes to play.
Overall, the cameras on the OnePlus 11 are capable, offering decent exposure, good dynamic range in daylight, and enough details. Moreover, they are consistent in low-light and indoor shots. However, the ultra-wide still feels inconsistent with colours to some extent; hopefully, the company can fix that via a software update. In addition, the selfie downgrade is noticeable in results; hopefully, we expect to see some focus on it in future iterations.
OnePlus 11 5G Review: 100W fast charging is the cherry on the cake!
OnePlus 11 5G gets a big upgrade in terms of fast-charging support this year. The 100W fast-charging support is here to kill your battery anxiety and can literally charge the phone to full while you shower. Compared to 10 Pro’s 80W SUPERVOOC charging, the all-new 11 5G supports 100W SUPERVOOC fast charging. The difference is noticeable in everyday usage. The OnePlus 11 5G can fully charge from 0 to 100% in 25 minutes, which we tested and performed as advertised. The battery capacity remains the same as 10 Pro at 5000mAh.
In the real world, the OnePlus 11 5G performs better than its predecessor. I got a screen-on time of over 7 hours which is fantastic for a heavy smartphone user. A significant omission, however, is no wireless charging. The decision to remove the feature seems more likely to control the base price, so with 100W wired charging and excellent pricing, we are not complaining.
Overall, the phone with heavy usage lasted for over a day, while with medium to light usage, the phone offered more standby time. While during the review, the 11 5G was mostly consistent in its battery performance, 100W fast-charging support is a chef’s kiss.
OnePlus 11 5G Review: Should you buy?
With OnePlus 11 5G’s excellent starting price in India, the brand has got its Mjolnir (Thor’s Hammer) back. Remember, OnePlus made a name in the Indian smartphone industry with its aggressive pricing and something that has been liked/ loved by its community.
At this price, the OnePlus 11 is the cheapest smartphone in India with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, beating the iQOO 11 (priced at Rs 59,999) and Samsung Galaxy S23 (at Rs 74,999). Even the top-spec with 16GB RAM and 256GB storage is priced well at Rs 61,999 and is the one we got for our review.
So who should buy the OnePlus 11? If you want a flagship smartphone at not a very premium price, then this one is for you. What you get is the top-notch performance with a good mix of features. But, of course, there are a few missing features, like no IP rating or wireless charging. Also, the ultra-wide camera isn’t the best in the industry, and the selfie camera doesn’t look as good as its predecessor. So, if you’re fine with these, then go for it.
For OnePlus users stuck with the OnePlus 8 series or older, this is the right phone to make the switch. With promised 4 years of Android updates, you can be assured of getting the new taste of OS until 2027.
