The OnePlus 11 5G initially debuted in China earlier this year but made its global debut on February 7th 2023. We managed to get our hands on an early sample for testing over the last couple of weeks before its global launch and wrote our initial impressions as well as our unboxing experience here.

After we’ve put it through its paces, here’s our OnePlus 11 5G review where we share our thoughts on if their latest flagship is worth your money.

OnePlus 11 Review – Performance and Benchmarks

In terms of specifications, our OnePlus 11 review sample is impressively equipped with a suite of hardware that can go toe-to-toe with almost any flagship in 2023. Thrumming beneath its 8.53mm-thin, Gorilla Glass 5 (backplate) and Gorilla Glass Victus (display) protected chassis is the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 3.19GHz CPU that is rated to offer 35% faster CPU performance and 25% better GPU performance compared to its predecessor. Baked into the CPU is the Snapdragon X70 5G modem solution for 5G connectivity along with WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.3.

This is paired with 16GB of the latest LPDDR5X RAM along with their RAM-Vita virtual RAM solution that allows up to 12GB of additional virtual RAM that can be allocated off the available 256GB UFS 4.0 onboard storage. 

In other regions, the OnePlus 11 can be acquired with various permutations that include combinations of 8GB LPDDR5X RAM and 128GB UFS 3.1 of storage. Under the hood, the phone runs Android 13 with full access to the Google Play store, overlaid with their latest Oxygen OS 13 user interface that offers a host of helpful features and tweaks. Here’s how our OnePlus 11 review sample looks on paper.

Price	USD$799 (16GB RAM/256GB) Review sample| USD$699 (8GB RAM/128GB)
Display	6.7-inch 2K 120Hz Super Fluid AMOLED QHD+ (3,216 x 1,440 pixels) with LTPO 3.0, Dolby Vision Support, HDR 10+, 515 ppi, 1-120Hz dynamic refresh rate, 20.1:9 aspect ratio
Processor	16GB LPDDR5X RAM + RAM-Vita (up to 12GB) / 256GB UFS 4.0
OS	Android 13 with Oxygen OS 13
Memory	16GB LPDDR5X RAM + RAM-Vita (up to 12GB) / 256GB UFS 4.0
Camera	50MP F/1.8 Sony IMX890 camera w/ OIS + 48MP F/2.2 Sony IMX581 ultra wide angle camera + 32MP F/2.0 Sony IMX709 | 16MP F/2.45 Sony IMX471 camera w/ EIS
Battery	5,000mAh (dual 2,500mAh cell) + 100W SuperVOOC charging
Size/Weight	163.1 x 74.1 x 8.53mm / 205g

Compared to the current line-up of flagship phones as of early 2023, the OnePlus 11 is among the most powerful Android phones available in Malaysia and is one of the scarce few with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor save for the Samsung Galaxy S23 series, though that in itself is an outlier as it uses a custom version of Qualcomm’s chipset. 

To keep the hardware cool, OnePlus has added what they refer to as a Cryo-velocity VC Cooling System that has a new heat dissipation design which implements sheets of graphene to dissipate waste heat from critical areas. This cooling system with its generous 16GB LPDDR5X RAM and fast UFS 4.0 storage work in tandem to minimise potential performance bottlenecks.

When subjected to synthetic benchmarks, our OnePlus 11 review sample with the default 4GB of RAM-Plus VRAM in its settings scored the following results:

3DMark Wild Life	Maxed out
3DMark Wild Life Unlimited	14,602
3DMark Wild Life Extreme	3,608
3DMark Wild Life Extreme Unlimited	3,644
Geekbench 5 Single core	949
Geekbench 5 Multi core	4,546
Geekbench 5 Vulkan	9,219
PCMark Battery Life	N/A
PCMark Work 3.0	10,637

When compared side by side with the older Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor used in the prior OnePlus 10T 5G that we reviewed, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 CPU in our OnePlus 11 review sample runs rings around it with improved performance in almost every benchmark across the board. Unfortunately, the PCMark battery life benchmark kept crashing which meant we had to default to more practical tests to determine its actual endurance.

When used as a daily workhorse phone, the OnePlus 11 did not disappoint with performance befitting a flagship. The phone and its surfeit of fast 16GB LPDDR5X RAM meant that swapping around between multiple open apps was an absolute doddle. According to OnePlus, the provided 16GB RAM and 4GB of virtual RAM on our OnePlus 11 review sample enables it to easily swap between up to 44 active background applications without issue, which is an impressive figure by any measure of the word. 

The phone was easily able to swiftly and smoothly swap between Call of Duty Mobile as well as a dozen open Chrome browser tabs, YouTube, Google Docs and a slew of social media apps like Facebook and TikTok too in seconds. Fortunately, their Cryo-velocity VC Cooling System is up to snuff and even after an extended hour-long gaming on CODM the phone remained comfortable enough to wield though the upper portion near the camera housing became a bit warm.

Movies and games were served up with lush hues and great contrast on account of the excellent AMOLED display. Clarity was also excellent even under daylight conditions. By default, the display is set to a dynamic 120Hz refresh rate that adjusts itself based on what content is being played onscreen with a minimum of 5Hz if viewing static menus or a webpage, before going up to 120Hz when scrolling through a page or settings such as for Chrome and Gmail to ensure silky smooth animations onscreen.

The majority of popular games like Genshin Impact, CODM and more commonly used apps like TikTok and YouTube run at a standard 60Hz. While the display is stated to be able to go as low as 1Hz, we didn’t come across this in testing and it’s presumably restricted to the Always On display when the OnePlus 11 is left idle. 

Seeing is only half the picture and the OnePlus 11 does feature a pair of stereo speakers emplaced at the base of the phone and just at the top of the display, with the whole affair packing Dolby Atmos support. Call of Duty Mobile was a literal blast with a pleasant soundstage and good sound separation.

Even with multiple different small arms going off simultaneously including an air strike overhead, the speakers were sufficiently capable enough to acoustically depict these separate guns distinctly and were still able to hold up even when cranked up to maximum volume without distortion. 

The opening battle of Ridley Scott’s toga epic Gladiator proved to be an exciting affair with the built-in speakers – the sound of Roman-issued naptha pots shattering and setting the forest ablaze over the sound of whistling Scorpion bolts and onagers was both distinct and mildly terrifying. 

In terms of display quality, speakers and performance, our OnePlus 11 review sample excelled with the kind of visual quality as well as speed and smoothness expected of a flagship phone.

In terms of battery life, the OnePlus 11 features a generously sized 5,000mAh battery but rather than a single large cell, they’ve opted to split it into two 2,500mAh cells for faster charging and better power efficiency along with 100W SuperVOOC fast charging support.

Overall endurance is excellent and with data or WiFi on and regular usage, our OnePlus 11 review sample was easily able to last a full day of work, calls and a bit of light gaming with a bit left for the commute home to read a few ebooks. Bafflingly, the phone lacks both wireless charging and reverse wireless charging while the USB-C port is relegated to a USB 2.0 standard which means slower data transfer rates. 

Fortunately, the provided 100W SuperVOOC charger and cable offers extremely fast charging rates. On paper, the OnePlus 11’s 100W SuperVOOC fast charging is rated to fully charge it from dead zero to full in just 25 minutes and with the provided cable and charger, it works as advertised, juicing the phone up completely in just a hair over 25 minutes. 

Mentioned at launch is that the OnePlus 11 is has support for the upcoming WiFi 7 standard though it retains support for current standards which include WiFi 6. 

On a side note, the backplate of the phone uses Gorilla Glass 5 while the display uses the newer Gorilla Glass Victus. Over the time we’ve used it, toting it around in a pocket as well as a sling bag, the OnePlus 11 remained relatively scratch free though its finish is still a fingerprint magnet.

OnePlus 11 Review – How are the Cameras?

OnePlus has leveraged their relationship with Hasselblad to tune the colour science and hardware of the OnePlus 11 in almost every way. In terms of hardware, the rear triple camera array consists of a 50MP F/1.8 primary camera with OIS and a Sony IMX890 sensor, a 48MP F/2.2 ultrawide angle camera with Sony IMX581 sensor and a 32MP F/2.0 telephoto camera with a Sony IMX709 sensor.

Combined, the rear camera is capable of capturing up to 8K@24fps video; one of the few outside of Samsung’s own Galaxy series phones at this point in time capable of doing this along with 2X optical zoom and up to 20x digital zoom.

Up front, the OnePlus 11 features a single 16MP F/2.45 fixed focus selfie camera using a Sony IMX471 sensor with the ability to capture up to 1080P videos. In terms of overall image performance, the OnePlus 11 and Hasselblad’s tuning enable ‘true to life’ colour rendition that result in colours closer to what the human eye would perceive. 

Autofocus was fast and nimble with shots from the ultrawide and primary, all the way to 2X, looking crisp with excellent detail in brightly lit conditions, while results were good in dim light conditions with great dynamic range albeit with the trade-off of a few seconds of additional shutter lag to let more light into the sensor. There’s a bit of mushing with details, especially with foliage if you pixel peep but it otherwise renders pleasing results for most users in all but the most challenging light conditions.

Portraits for the front camera are surprisingly good with great skin tones and detail while deftly defocusing the background especially in the daytime with good light. The OnePlus 11’s camera suite will hold you in good stead as a very solid point and shoot.

Should you buy the OnePlus 11?

The OnePlus 11 5G is a rather unique design as flagship phones go with an emphasis on performance. In that regard, it’s an impressive design with a top-of-the-line Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, fast LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.0 storage along with a good AMOLED display.

However, it still falls short of greatness on account of a few omissions like the lack of water resistance and no wireless charging. At the time of writing, we did not have access to the exact prices for Malaysia though seeing their prior track record, local prices shouldn’t wander too far off global prices with the USD$799 (about RM3,438) price tag of our 16GB variant/256GB making the OnePlus 11 a competitively priced proposition for what it offers.

If you prize flagship-grade performance and value, the OnePlus 11 5G is worthy of consideration.

[UPDATE]OnePlus Malaysia has revealed the price and what configurations will appear in Malaysia for the OnePlus 11. Our OnePlus 11 review sample with 16GB RAM and 256GB storage in Eternal green retails for RM3,599 while the 8GB RAM and 128GB storage variant in Titan Black is available for RM3,299. At this price point with its camera, this is one of the most reasonably priced flagship phones available in the market especially seeing the pedigree of its processor and its Hasselblad tuned camera.

Oneplus 11 review sample courtesy of Oneplus 11. For more details and to preorder, please visit https://www.oneplus.com/my