I must admit to feeling pretty old these days. I remember when the first few OnePlus handsets did not come out of the box with an Ingress Protection (IP) rating number. At the time, the then-fledgling phone manufacturer needed to save money to keep the price of its devices low. With the OnePlus One, a third-party reviewer took the phone outdoors while it was raining to record a video showing that the device could withstand taking a light rain shower.
No, it wasn’t until the OnePlus 8 Pro was released in 2020 that a OnePlus phone had an official IP 68 rating. But OnePlus has not always made its more recent phones with the same level of protection from dust and water. The OnePlus 12 had an IP65 rating which gave the phone less protection than rival models from Apple and Samsung which featured an IP 68 rating.
The OnePlus 12 is fully protected from dust and water sprayed at low pressure. In other words, you could expect the OnePlus 12 to survive a sweat bath or a light rain. The IP 68 rating on flagship iPhone, Galaxy, and Pixel phones means that dust cannot enter these devices. Some of these flagship handsets can be submerged in fresh water to a maximum depth of 1.5 meters (which is almost five feet) for up to 30 minutes. The iPhone 15 models carry protection down to a depth of 6 meters (20 feet) for half an hour.
Now that we’ve mentioned all of this background information, what does this have to do with the upcoming OnePlus 13? Sit back, relax, and we will explain. A post on Chinese social media site Weibo from a well-known leaker says that the OnePlus 13 will feature an Ingress Protection rating of either IP68 or IP69. If true, at IP69, the upcoming OnePlus handset could sport a higher water protection rating than the latest iPhone, Galaxy or Pixel models. Devices that have an IP69 rating can survive getting sprayed by high-pressure water jets under extreme conditions.
Illustrations showing the rear design of the OnePlus 13 and OnePlus 13R|Image credit-@heyitsyogesh
Besides moving from an IP65 to an IP68 or IP69 rating, the OnePlus 13 is also expected to return to a flat display. Previous rumors say that the OnePlus 13 will sport a 6.8-inch OLED 2K LTPO display with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 application processor (AP) under the hood. We might see a massive 6000mAh battery power the device with support for 100W charging.
The primary rear camera will feature the same 50MP Sony LYT808 image sensor used on the OnePlus 12. Both the ultra-wide and the 3x periscope zoom cameras will be backed with the Sony IMX882 image sensor. This sensor has already been used on the OnePlus Ace 3V, a model released only in China. Speaking of which, the first release of the OnePlus 13 could be limited to China later this year with an international release pegged for a few months later.
