When it was time to change my phone, I was seriously eyeing the iPhone 17 Pro Max, but ended up getting the OnePlus 15 and still don’t understand why I was planning to pay almost twice as much. My colleague Ivan Kuznetsov had already gone down this path and was satisfied, and now it’s my turn to share my impressions. Here’s why I bought the OnePlus 15 instead of an iPhone and how it turned out.
Figuring out whether the OnePlus 15 is worth getting in 2026
How to Replace iPhone 17 Pro Max Without Overpaying
Let’s start with the obvious: it’s very expensive, especially at launch. That’s almost 200 thousand rubles for a phone that, in our reality, comes with a whole set of workarounds. In the App Store, one thing is missing, another app suddenly disappears from the catalog. NFC payments don’t really work properly. So you’re paying top dollar for a flagship of flagships, but half the basic things have to be solved with workarounds.
The smartphone is really cool. And it’s hard to tell it apart from an iPhone visually
The iPhone itself is excellent, no question about that. But when you start thinking about what to replace the iPhone 17 Pro Max with without losing convenience, the price question becomes front and center.
The OnePlus 15 won me over because its interface feels close to iOS in spirit. Not perfect, of course. But iOS 26 today is also far from ideal — over the years many things have actually gotten worse than before. The difference is that for my 50 thousand rubles, I have almost no complaints about OnePlus’s software. But for the iPhone at its price point, I’d definitely have some.
OnePlus 15 vs iPhone 17 Pro Max: Specs Comparison
In terms of specs, the smartphones are roughly on the same level
To keep the conversation specific, here’s a brief specs comparison of the OnePlus 15 and iPhone 17 Pro Max.
| Parameter | OnePlus 15 | iPhone 17 Pro Max |
| Processor | Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 | A19 Pro |
| Memory | 12 or 16 GB, 256 or 512 GB | 12 GB, from 256 GB to 2 TB |
| Display | 6.78 inches, LTPO AMOLED, up to 165 Hz, 1800 nits | 6.9 inches, LTPO, up to 120 Hz, Always-On |
| Cameras | three 50 MP modules, 3.5x telephoto | three 48 MP modules, 4x telephoto |
| Battery | 7300 mAh | approximately 5088 mAh |
| Charging | wired up to 120W, wireless 50W, reverse | wired 40W, wireless 25W |
| OS | OxygenOS 16 on Android 16 | iOS 26 |
| Price in Russia | approximately 50,000 rubles | from 107,000 rubles |
In terms of hardware, it’s more or less on par, but the price difference is almost three times. The only area where the iPhone is honestly ahead is long-range zoom and video quality. Everything else the OnePlus either matches or does better.
OnePlus 15 Design: A Phone That Looks Like an iPhone
The OnePlus 15 design is noticeably more minimalist, though from a distance it’s easy to mistake it for a basic iPhone. It’s one of those rare cases where the Chinese looked over and got it right. I just put an original Pitaka-style case on it and didn’t feel any issues with the form factor at all — the phone fit in my hand like it belonged there.
The smartphone really looks like an iPhone thanks to the camera module and rounded shape
Funnily enough, this has long been common among Android flagships. So there’s definitely nothing to be embarrassed about when it comes to the OnePlus 15’s appearance.
By the way, I wouldn't have taken the OnePlus 13 — that was a completely different device. But the fifteenth feels like they finally built it the way it should have been.
Switching from iOS to Android — Honest Talk About Drawbacks
If you’re currently wondering what phone to get instead of an iPhone, I’ll warn you honestly: the move from iOS itself isn’t always smooth. My data transfer to the OnePlus 15 went frankly poorly — contacts, notes, and calendars didn’t come over completely, and some photos had corrupted metadata. I had to fix things manually.
Android itself is no longer what it was in 2016. Apps look uniform, everything is neat. But a couple of things still scratch after iOS: in some places the font bleeds past the edge of the screen, lines don’t align properly, and the menu translation occasionally shows traces of its Chinese origins. These are minor drawbacks of the OnePlus 15 — all fixable with updates, and the iPhone, let’s be honest, sometimes suffers from this too.
What’s the Camera Like on the OnePlus 15
This is my main pain point. Many people rightfully want to know what camera the OnePlus 15 has after the departure of Hasselblad, and I’ll answer directly: photo quality has noticeably declined. Not dramatically, but it’s no longer at iPhone level. If you specifically need a good camera phone, then it’s either the iPhone or something more expensive. Although to be fair: if you’re getting an iPhone just for photos, even a basic model like the iPhone 15 Plus would be enough.
Overall, the camera isn’t that bad. But sometimes it lacks colors
The photos seem decent, but when cropped everything gets much sadder
