When we first saw teasers of the OnePlus 13T — coming to India as the 13S — I let myself get excited. I thought this was finally a sign that OnePlus was ready to shake up at least parts of the formula it had relied on for years, and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on one. After all, OnePlus had always brought its T Series to the United States, so I couldn’t imagine why the newest 13T would be different.
Well, I was wrong. OnePlus quickly confirmed that its pocket-friendly OnePlus 13T wouldn’t be coming to the US market in any capacity, squashing any hope I had of trying a smaller, more portable flagship. As a smartphone reviewer, I’m disappointed, but here’s why you should be too.
I was finally ready for OnePlus to go small
Joe Maring / Android Authority
As a company, OnePlus has never been one to go small. Sure, it had the 5.5-inch OnePlus 1 and OnePlus 2, but both devices were par for the course over a decade ago. They were hardly considered small then, and would barely make the cut now with their sizable top and bottom bezels. Since then, OnePlus’s launches have only gotten bigger. It’s skewed closer to 7-inch displays at all price points, leaning heavily into the idea that more is more.
Unfortunately, not everyone wants more. As a smaller guy, I rarely opt for the largest phone in a lineup, preferring to save space in my pockets and use something more manageable. Give me an iPhone 16, a Pixel 9 Pro (the smaller one), or a closed flip phone any day over a beast like the Galaxy S25 Ultra or a Nothing Phone 3a Pro. Then, when OnePlus launched the brilliant OnePlus 13, it almost made me change my mind.
Everything about the OnePlus 13T looks like a phone I’d love — and willingly recommend.
Sure, it was massive at 6.82 inches, but it was fast enough and powerful enough, I didn’t mind. I didn’t want to stop using its flexible cameras with their remarkable zoom, nor did I want to put down the convenience of 80W wired SuperVOOC charging. And yet, I also knew that it would be a tough sell to get many of my friends on board with this large of a phone, especially one that didn’t run iOS or Pixel UI.
So, when the 6.32-inch OnePlus 13T broke cover, I thought that OnePlus had finally found its way into more hearts (and hands). It had come up with a design that was half an inch shorter and a quarter-inch narrower than either the OnePlus 13 or 13R, and I was sold immediately. I thought it was precisely the type of device the company needed — a smaller, slightly simpler-looking flagship that you could comfortably use with one hand without giving up many of the things that made OnePlus phones fun in the first place.
With a spec sheet like that, who wouldn’t want a OnePlus 13T?
Then, as if to make the pain of not getting a OnePlus 13T in the US worse, I read the rest of the spec sheet. From top to bottom, the OnePlus 13T looks like a hit and is exactly the type of competition that the likes of Samsung and Google have needed for years. Pick out a spec from the smallest Galaxy S25 or Pixel 9, and there’s something on the OnePlus 13T that matches or exceeds it (except for maybe the IP65 rating).
However, the OnePlus 13T is a winner in all other departments. It’s an instant battery champion thanks to its 6,260mAh silicon-carbon cell — a full 2,260mAh larger than the Galaxy S25 and 1,500mAh larger than the Pixel 9 despite a similar overall footprint. In true OnePlus fashion, it charges faster, too, with 80W wired SuperVOOC speeds and presumably a charger still in the box.
OnePlus also packed its pint-sized flagship (at least I’m calling it a flagship) with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Elite chip, as much as 1TB of onboard storage, and up to 16GB of RAM, which is more than either Google or Samsung can match. Yes, it had to make a few cuts, like ditching wireless charging and dropping down to just two rear cameras — something we haven’t seen on a OnePlus phone in years — but I have to say I’d be willing to make those trades for the power that the OnePlus 13T seems to promise.
Would you buy a small OnePlus phone in the US?
266 votes
Without the OnePlus 13T, Google and Samsung win
Robert Triggs / Android Authority
Ultimately, though, the biggest problem with the OnePlus 13T not coming to the US has nothing to do with the fact that I won’t get my hands on a small, exciting Android phone — that would be selfish. Instead, I’m worried that it sends the message that Google and Samsung have nothing to worry about.
Unless you’re willing to pick up an iPhone, the Galaxy S25 and Pixel 9 are the only meaningful options for small flagships in the US. As such, neither Google nor Samsung has had to change them all that much in a few years. Sure, Google has bumped up its build quality and packed its flagships with AI features, but it can be tough to argue that it’s truly revolutionized its base Pixel since it ironed out a few of the early Tensor kinks. Samsung is worse, rolling out nearly the same phone year after year, right up to the point where our review asked why the Galaxy S25 and S25 Plus even existed.
And now, with news that the OnePlus 13T won’t be launching in the US, it feels like both Samsung and Google got away with another near miss. They saw a well-priced rival with a massive battery and blazing fast charging coming, only for it to stop at the last minute.
Instead of pushing into a new, not-competitive-enough segment of small flagships, it feels like OnePlus is more comfortable settling — something it definitely, totally told us it wouldn’t be doing.
