Intro
Today we’re going to pit these two against each other in a preliminary comparison, and even though we know almost everything about the OnePlus 13, the usual caveat applies here as well; the info is still not official, so bear in mind some specs may change.
With that in mind, let’s compare the OnePlus 13 and the Pixel 9 Pro XL.
OnePlus 13 vs Pixel 9 Pro XL expected differences explained:
| OnePlus 13* | Pixel 9 Pro XL |
|---|---|
| Similar size screen, different camera bump, slightly curved screen still | Flat sides, front and back design, similar size |
| 6.8-inch panel with 120Hz LTPO, 6000 nits max brightness | Similar 6.8-inch panel, 120Hz, very bright in real life |
| Triple camera, three 50MP sensors, wide, ultrawide, and telephoto (3x zoom) | Triple camera with 50MP main, 48MP ultrawide, and 48MP telephoto, periscope 5x zoom |
| Less memory in the base version (12GB), but a version with 24GB of RAM | More memory in the base version (16GB) |
| More base storage (256GB) | 128GB of storage in the base model |
| Larger 6,000mAh battery that will potentially deliver better battery life | A smaller 5,060mAh battery |
| Faster wired and wireless charging, 120W and 50W respectively | Slower 45W wired charging |
*rumored specs
Table of Contents:
Design and Display Quality
The flat age is upon us
The design of the OnePlus 13 is already out in the wild, as the company itself teased the flagship in an official video, and the phone also made rounds in a strange gaming event in China. So, the OnePlus 13 follows the same design language of its predecessors, only with a flatter screen and an offset circular camera bump on the back. The exact size and weight of the device are still unknown, but we expect the phone to be very close to the Pixel 9 Pro XL.
Speaking of which, Google made a substantial design turn with the Pixel 9 series moving to flat sides and overall more angular design, as well as a separate camera bump that sticks out quite a bit.
In terms of materials, both phones come with glass and metal, but there are rumors that the OnePlus 13 will have a green option with a faux leather back. Speaking of colors, below are the color variants of both models.
OnePlus 13 expected colors:
- While Dawn
- Blue Moment
- Obsidian Black
- Green Leather (rumored)
Pixel 9 Pro XL available colors:
- Hazel
- Obsidian
- Porcelain
- Rose Quartz
Let’s move to the display portion of the comparison. Another area where these two look very similar.
The OnePlus 13 is expected to land with a 6.8-inch LTPO AMOLED display with a peak brightness of 6,000 nits and 1,600 nits in high brightness mode (HBM). The expected resolution is 3168 x 1440 pixels, which should result in a pretty high pixel density, around 510 PPI.
The Pixel 9 Pro XL, on the other hand, sports one of the brightest panels we’ve ever tested. It’s again 6.8-inch LTPO with real-life brightness of 2,052 nits! We still don’t know how the OnePlus 13 will fare in our display test and if the new flagship will be able to challenge the Pixel, so stay tuned for display tests soon.
Performance and Software
Snapdragon 8 Elite comes to take it all
But we’re pretty sure the new Snapdragon 8 Elite inside the OnePlus 13 will wipe the floor with the Tensor G4, at least when it comes to synthetic benchmarks. The cited scores of around 3,000 single and 9,000 multicore performance in Geekbench 6 are way above what the Pixel 9 Pro XL was able to output in our test. But we’ll have to wait and get the real numbers soon.
The RAM situation is more complex than it probably needs to be. The OnePlus 13 is expected with several different memory configurations, starting with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage as a base and going all the way up to 24GB of RAM. The latter is not confirmed yet, and frankly, who needs that much RAM? But anyway, it is what it is. The Pixel 9 Pro XL has 16GB of RAM onboard and starts at 128GB storage.
Stay tuned for performance benchmarks!
Camera
Three eyes with many, many pixels
Let’s start with the Pixel 9 Pro XL, as it’s not only official but already survived our camera benchmark (and with flying colors). The phone comes with a triple camera system on its back, consisting of a 50MP main sensor under a lens with f/1.7 aperture (this camera scored 84 out of 85 in our camera benchmark), another 48MP ultrawide camera, and yet another high-res 48MP telephoto with a periscope zoom system capable of 5x optical zoom.
The OnePlus 13 is expected to have a similar triple camera system with three 50MP sensors—wide, ultrawide, and a conventional telephoto with 3x optical zoom. But we need samples to judge those (as we all know, post-processing algorithms play a huge role in smartphone photography nowadays), so stay tuned for those.
Battery Life and Charging
Moving toward 6K batteries?
Speaking of, we’re not sure if the OnePlus 13 will come with a silicon-carbon battery, but the latest rumors say that it will be a 6,000mAh cell. The Pixel 9 Pro XL, on the other hand, sports a relatively modest (for its size) 5,060mAh battery, although it managed to perform admirably in our battery test.
When it comes to charging, we know that OnePlus is something of a fast charging champion and has been for the past couple of years, so we expect the OnePlus 13 to sport 100-120W fast charging support and beat the Pixel 9 Pro XL. The latter comes with a 45W wired fast charging, and a full charge takes 83 minutes.
Specs Comparison
Here’s a preliminary specs comparison for the number nerds out there.
| Specs | OnePlus 13* | Pixel 9 Pro XL |
|---|---|---|
| Dimensions | – | 162.8 x 76.6 x 8.5 mm |
| Weight | – | 221 g |
| Screen | 6.8-inch Super AMOLED 120Hz |
6.8-inch OLED 120Hz |
| Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite | Google Tensor G4 (4nm) |
| RAM, Storage and Price | 12/356GB for $799 | 16/128GB for $1099 |
| Cameras | 50MP main 50MP ultra-wide 50MP telephoto, 3x zoom 32MP front |
50MP main, f/1.7 48MP ultra-wide, f/1.7 48MP 5X zoom, f/2.8 42MP front |
| Battery Size | 6,000 mAh | 5,060 mAh |
| Charging Speeds | 120W wired 50W wireless |
45W wired wireless |
*rumored specs
Which one should you buy?
The OnePlus 13 promises to topple all that in typical OnePlus fashion while keeping the price down. The phone is expected to have the fastest Snapdragon chipset out there, a huge battery, and an ample camera system. Stay tuned for our final verdict once we finish reviewing the OnePlus 13.