After using the OnePlus 15 for five week, I’ve found what Apple needs for iPhone 18

It’s been over a month since I switched to the OnePlus 15 as my daily driver, and the journey, so far, has been pretty exciting. It’s not a perfect phone, but it has an undeniable charm that is rooted in practical conveniences. 

The cameras are somewhat of an acquired taste, and there are a few hiccups with OnePlus’ approach to performance output. Additionally, the lack of magnetic wireless charging on a flagship phone is yet another stutter.  

But overall, it moves the needles forward in a discernible fashion. I strongly believe that Apple should borrow a thing, or two, from this Android heavy-hitter. And here’s the fun part — the company already has the foundations ready and could easily implement it atop the iPhone 18 series. 

A next-gen digital vault 

I’ve repeatedly said that the Space Mind is one of the best implementations of AI on a phone. Think of it like a digital vault, where you can save a snapshot of your on-screen activity with just the press of a button. Or to put it more specifically, the Plus Key. Apple already offers one such button on iPhones. 

The whole idea behind the Mind Space is to save you the hassle of taking screenshots and organizing them. Or managing bookmarks. Or taking manual notes. Or anything else that is deemed worth saving and requires manual effort. 

On the OnePlus 15, with a single key press, the screen is captured and saved as a dedicated card in the Mind Space app. Now, the app not only stores snapshots, but also saves them with contextual information. 

Each memory gets an AI-generated title, and hashtags to assist with contextual search. When you take a snapshot of a webpage, the URL is automatically picked and stored, as well. In some cases, the app even creates a one-tap shortcut for saving stuff as a reminder or making a calendar entry. 

The best part? It now seamlessly integrates with Gemini. You can go with a command like “hey Gemini, tell me a little bit about the history of the Statesman Building, which is saved as a picture in the Mind Space.” It all works flawlessly. 

Apple already has ChatGPT integrated deeply within the iOS 26 framework. All it needs is to go the extra mile and bake an AI-powered memory bank within the Notes or the Journal app when it pushes the iPhone 18 series to the market. 

Make a charging leap, Apple

Over the past couple of years, Apple has really upped the ante for competitive hardware. Going with some of the brightest display panels out there. All-big rear camera sensors. Top-tier video capture perks. Fantastic battery life. 

But one area where Apple has missed the mark is the charging pace. And it’s quite perplexing, given the fact that Apple is one of the pioneers, at least when it comes to wireless charging. And I’m not just talking about MagSafe, but also how Apple is a member of the Wireless Power Consortium that developed the Qi power transfer tech. 

On the other hand, we have the OnePlus 15. This one supports 50W wireless charging, as long as you have the proprietary AirVOOC chargers. That’s faster than the peak wired charging pace on the iPhone 17 Pro. The charging puck is a pretty stunning piece of kit, as it comes with a built-in fan and side vents to handle heat during wireless power transfer. 

Then there’s the bypass charging system, which only draws power to keep the system on, but doesn’t inject any juice into the battery. It’s a clever way to keep the phone going, without adding to the battery cycle or leading to heat build-up when the device is being used. 

Apple was already one of the early leaders with battery health management features on phones. Now, it needs to make the leap and embrace faster charging on its next wave of flagship phones. A key aspect working in Apple’s favor is that the company already has an ecosytem of brands ready to lap up upgrades and offer fast charging gear in all shapes and forms.  

Let users tune the performance

Apple’s A-series processors fitted inside iPhones are usually at the performance summit. But it’s not just the brute processing might that sets them apart. Instead, it’s how well they are optimized with the software that, despite a smaller battery, they can last considerably longer than Android phones. 

Unfortunately, Apple doesn’t let you tune the performance of its silicon, despite all the firepower at hand. The situation becomes even more perplexing because Apple Arcade is home to a selection of amazing games, and AAA titles such as Death Stranding and Resident Evil have started making their way to the iOS Store. 

On the other hand, you have the OnePlus 15, which lets you pick between three performance modes and offers a granular level of control over GPU and other settings. Devices like the Red Magic 10S Pro, which let the same Qualcomm chip go into overdrive mode.  

A core benefit of this performance tuning is that it’s usually accompanied by a full dashboard of controls. On the OnePlus 15, you get Game Assistant. It’s like a launcher where you can adjust everything from display sensitivity and touch response rate to the network preferences and texture filtering load on the GPU. 

On the more practical side of things, you also get a dashboard of gaming-focused controls that are minimized during gameplay. But with a single inward swipe, they offer quick access to a whole bunch of useful controls. 

With Apple’s performance pedigree, a new Games app landing just a few months ago, and the continued influx of top-tier games on the App Store, the iPhone 18 series should lean into these strengths and let users get the best of their phone. It would be interesting if Apple could create something even better than what we already have on the OnePlus 15 or enthusiast-class devices like those made by Red Magic and Asus’ ROG division.