OnePlus 15 release date announced - along with a swanky new colour

OnePlus officially confirmed the OnePlus 15 in late September, getting in on the announcement of the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. It joined the likes of Xiaomi in revealing that it would be one of the first devices to be powered by Qualcomm's new hardware.

At the time, the company said that more details would be released in the "coming weeks" and here we are – it has unveiled the official launch date in China.

Posting on Weibo, OnePlus has confirmed that the full reveal will take place on 27 October, with the launch of both the OnePlus 15 and OnePlus Ace 6.

That follows the timeline of the launch of the OnePlus 13, which was announced on 31 October 2024, so we can predict how the launch is going to pan out for the new device. It's likely that it will be available to buy in China in early November, with the global release in the first week of January.

The OnePlus 13 officially launched globally on 7 January 2025, making it one of the first next-gen phones to arrive, beating Samsung to the punch. And with Samsung launching the S25 family on 22 January, it looks like the OnePlus 15 and Galaxy S26 are going to arrive on a similar schedule.

One complication for OnePlus might be CES 2026 – the huge technology show dominates headlines, so that might see the company push the global announcement back slightly. Or, it might throw itself deep into the mix – time will tell.

What do we know about the OnePlus 15?

Thanks to 9to5Google, we also now know that the OnePlus 15 is going to launch in a Misty Purple colour, alongside the Original Sand Dune and Absolute Black. These colours may change for the global launch, if OnePlus thinks it can hit a better colour trend in different regions.

We know that the OnePlus 15 is going to be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 and we know that there's a significant change to the design, dropping the round camera in favour of a squared unit instead.

The design overall is more squared, so it looks a little like the iPhone 16 Pro. It's going to have a 165Hz display that measures 6.78 inches.

There's also talk of a huge 7,300mAh battery with 120W charging – although the battery capacity may drop for the global release.

It will launch on Android 16 with OxygenOS 16, while it's expected that there will be three 50-megapixel cameras on the rear and a 32-megapixel camera on the front.

The phone is said to be made from aluminium with a ceramic coating, designed to be light with high durability and good heat dispersion.

We should find out more in a week's time.