OnePlus has confirmed the global launch of its latest flagship smartphone, the OnePlus 15. However, it’s not the blazing fast internals, AI nous, or cameras that are piquing my interest right now. It’s the new build materials the company is promising will set new standards for mobile durability.
The Chinese smartphone manufacturer is touting a OnePlus 15 Sand Storm Edition with “aerospace-grade Micro-Arc Oxidation ceramic coating”. OnePlus says the material is tougher than titanium or aluminium. It’s the first time it has been used in a smartphone.
OnePlus explains the greater durability is achieved “through a high-voltage plasma process that adds a ceramic coating directly on the metal frame.” OnePlus reckons it amounts to a OnePlus 15 mid-frame that’s 3.4-times harder than aluminium and 1.3-times tougher than titanium.
Titanium has become an en vogue metal for smartphone manufacturers in the last couple of years. Apple uses the material in the most recent iPhone Air and Samsung deployed it for the Galaxy S25 Ultra. Now OnePlus is entering a “tougher than titanium” era with its next generation handset. As always, we’ll be keen to see how these claims play out in practice.
Furthermore, the company is jazzed about the “feather-light fibre glass” rear on the Sand Storm edition it says will give the OnePlus 15 “a sculpted feel with a silky grip”. Not too silky, we hope. Otherwise that new aerospace-grade Micro-Arc Oxidation ceramic coating will be put to the test a little too often.
OnePlus 15 Specs: What we know so far
As is the company’s style, OnePlus is drip-feeding the official information about the 2025 flagship. Over the weekend, we saw the first images of the phone land on Chinese social media, giving us a first look at that beachy Sand Storm hue.
Last week, OnePlus also confirmed the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 Mobile Platform will be around to do the heavy lifting.
The company has teased the phone’s display will have an incredibly rapid 165Hz refresh rate, likely to deliver super smooth visuals for gamers. This would be a major upgrade on the 120Hz display that powered the most recent model, the five-star rated OnePlus 13.
We also know there’ll be a new, homegrown DetailMax image processing engine that’ll replace OnePlus’s longstanding partnership with Hasselblad on camera tech.
OnePlus is promising more information at a future full launch of the OnePlus 15. Speculation suggests the phone will be unveiled in China in October. We await news of the global release plans. The OnePlus 13 was released globally in January 2025 after a release in China during the previous November. A similar release schedule may be observed here.