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A China-exclusive launch event put the OnePlus 11 in front of the public months ago. But on February 7th, 2023, at the Cloud 11 Event in New Delhi, India, the device was unveiled to interested buyers across the globe alongside a wider assortment of products, which OnePlus calls a part of its 1+4+X ecosystem.

And Pocketnow was present at the event to experience and capture information about these new devices. Here we will delve into everything we grasped about the $699 OnePlus 11.

Design and Display

OnePlus 11 Back Panel Eternal Green
OnePlus 11

The most significant changes with the OnePlus 11 are the redesigned camera array and the different build materials. The changes make the phone easy to identify, particularly due to its circular camera inset, which has four more rings for its sensors and a flash, all built into a Stainless Steel mold, which integrates into a familiar, polished aluminum frame.

Regarding the colors and finish on the back panel, OnePlus is shipping two variants — Titan Black and Eternal Green. The former has a matte black back glass panel with a texturized finish that feels good. It isn't as rough as the Sandstone we've seen in the past and is a significant improvement over the one seen on OnePlus 10T. The frame here has a polished black finish that looks beautiful.

With Eternal Green, you're buying a more beautiful smartphone. It has a polished silver frame and a glossy green finish on the back panel. If you don't mind the fingerprints or tend to wipe your device clean, it is a pleasing color for a phone to have!

Flip around to the front, and you'll see the 6.7-inch 2K OLED display. It refreshes at 120Hz — hence comes with OnePlus' Super Fluid branding — and uses LTPO 3.0 technology, which helps with the adaptive refresh rate (from 1Hz to 120Hz).

OnePlus 11 Display

Looking at it upfront, the panel looked great. OnePlus has never really struggled with its displays, and it's strutting high-quality hardware once again, especially when you bring the device's price into context. High resolution, high refresh rate, and high endurance — due to Gorilla Glass Victus protection — are hallmarks of a flagship.

If we had to nitpick, the brightness expectations for flagships are now higher, and the OnePlus 11 falls short here. Reports say typical peak brightness is 800 nits, and HDR content will appear at 1300 nits. Our experience fell in line with these numbers. But as we said earlier, OnePlus' move back to a lower price tag justifies the hardware.

Performance and Software

OnePlus 11 Snapdragon 8 Gen 2

We spent the next bit of our time with the device exploring its UI and the smooth experience its Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor has been marketed to power.

OnePlus stated the CPU units on the processor bring 35% performance improvements with a 40% increase in power efficiency. As for the Adreno GPU, there's a claimed 25% increase in performance and 45% better power efficiency. There's even a new vapor chamber built into the smartphone that uses a crystalline graphene material to dissipate heat better. We'll put all of this hardware to the test in our review.

On OnePlus 11, OxygenOS 13.0, based on Android 13, comes with the familiar visual elements we've seen on the OnePlus 10 Pro and other models over the last few months. On this device, they felt just as snappy and smooth. We're also glad that OnePlus is bringing its improved software update policy to this device, providing four Android version updates and five years of security updates.

Other Hardware

OnePlus 11 Other Hardware

Before we end our hands-on, we'd like to touch upon some other hardware on this device. Firstly, the Hasselblad-powered cameras. The headline-grabbing shooter here is the new Sony IMX890-powered 50-megapixel wide shooter. It has an f/1.8 aperture and OIS to help capture images with the perfect balance of color and stability. Then there's the 32-megapixel telephoto which takes a new approach with a 2x optical zoom and larger sensor size that results in better results. Rounding out the camera system is a 48-megapixel ultrawide and 16-megapixel front-facing shooter. These we noticed maintained consistency with past devices from OnePlus producing good shots.

Second, we'll focus on the battery, which has impressive endurance and charges ridiculously fast. The OnePlus 11 has a 5,000 mAh capacity Li-on cell but doesn't handle like a phone that encloses a unit that huge. The weight balance and in-hand feel that OnePlus has struck with this phone are worth appreciating. Plus, it charges with 80W of power via SuperVOOC (100W in regions other than North America), which will have you up and running with 100% power in about 30 minutes.

Third are the stereo speakers and excellent haptics, which round out the device's overall experience. OnePlus has consistently improved its devices' haptic feedback, and the OnePlus 11 continues this trend with a satisfying ping with every system interaction.

OnePlus 11 Turns Back The Clock

With an increased number of devices — some of which weren't the best — and climbing prices, we feel OnePlus has had a confusing couple of years. But with the OnePlus 11, the brand seems to be turning back the clock and creating a phone that does what most of us loved the brand for, "offering great value."

If you're an interested buyer, the device is shaping up to be a great option, and we suggest looking forward to our full review and comparisons, which will dive deeper into the details.

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OnePlus 11

Featuring a large 6.7-inch AMOLED LTPO 3.0 display and powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, the OnePlus 11 is one of the best Android flagships you can buy right now. It also comes with a Hasselblad- tuned camera system and a big 5,000 mAh battery that supports fast charging.