Everyone keeps saying mid-range phones are all compromise. The OnePlus Ace 5 Ultra and Ace 5 Racing read like a spec sheet that absolutely should not cost €220–310.
These are the kinds of phones that make $1,000 flagships look slightly ridiculous — and also make you double-check the small print for hidden catches.
Specs That Don’t Match the Price Tag
Let’s start with the basics: both Ace 5 models are fully specced 5G phones with GSM/HSPA/LTE/5G support and wide band coverage, including 5G bands 1, 3, 5, 8, 48, 77, 78 (SA/NSA) on both. They’re not “5G” in marketing only; they’re built for the broader sub-6 landscape.
The Ace 5 Ultra lands at about 310 EUR, while the Ace 5 Racing comes in at about 220 EUR. On paper, those prices belong to upper-budget or low mid-range devices. In reality, you’re looking at:
- 3 nm MediaTek Dimensity 9400+ with Immortalis-G925 MC12 GPU (Ultra)
- 4 nm Dimensity 9400e with Immortalis-G720 MC12 (Racing)
- UFS 4.0 storage across the board
- Up to 16GB RAM and up to 1TB storage on the Ultra
These are flagship-class platforms, especially the Dimensity 9400+ with its Cortex-X925 prime core at 3.73 GHz and triple Cortex-X4 at 3.3 GHz. Even the “e” variant in the Racing still brings a 3.4 GHz Cortex-X4 prime and three more X4 cores at 2.85 GHz. That’s not “lite”; that’s serious CPU hardware in a budget shell.
Displays That Punish Lazy Premium Phones
The Ace 5 Ultra’s display is exactly the kind of panel I expect on a premium device, not something hovering around €300. You’re getting a 6.83-inch AMOLED with 1B colors, 144Hz refresh, 3840Hz PWM dimming, HDR10+, Dolby Vision, and HDR Vivid. Resolution is 1272 x 2800 at about 450 ppi.
Brightness hits 800 nits typical and 1400 nits peak. That’s not the brightest on the market, but it’s absolutely in the high-end conversation. At ~90.1% screen-to-body ratio and Crystal Shield Glass on top, this is not some bargain-bin panel.
The Ace 5 Racing downgrades a bit: 6.77-inch AMOLED, 120Hz, 1080 x 2392 at ~387 ppi, 800 nits typical, 1300 nits HBM, plus HDR Vivid. Still 1B colors and still protected by Crystal Shield Glass. For the ~220 EUR price, a 120Hz AMOLED with those brightness numbers is exactly the kind of spec that shames lazy “60Hz IPS at $400” phones.
Neither phone is pretending to be a small, compact device, but that’s the norm now. What actually matters is that both are giving you high-refresh AMOLED with decent brightness at prices where you’d usually be stuck with mediocre panels.
Battery and Charging: Massive Cells, Big Expectations
Here’s where these phones go from “impressive” to “industry pressure.” The Ace 5 Ultra packs a 6700 mAh Si/C Li-Ion battery with 100W wired charging, PD support, and 7.5W reverse wired. OnePlus claims 100% in 39 minutes. Even if that’s optimistic in real-world conditions, the combo of huge capacity and three-digit wattage is something flagship makers love to reserve for their priciest models.
The Ace 5 Racing leans even harder into endurance: 7100 mAh Si/C Li-Ion, 80W wired, 33W PPS, and 18W PD/QC. You’re trading a bit of peak wattage for a monstrous cell size. For road warriors, that’s probably the better call.
There’s no wireless charging on either model, which is the clearest sign these are still cost-targeted devices. But when you’re paying a fraction of flagship prices and getting batteries this large with this charging flexibility — including PD and PPS — it’s hard to complain. Wireless would’ve been nice, but not if it meant compromising on the basics.
Cameras: Sensible, Not Spectacular
Camera is where both phones stop short of outright humiliating expensive flagships. The Ace 5 Ultra uses a dual rear setup:
- 50 MP wide, f/1.8, 24mm, 1/1.56″, 1.0µm, PDAF, OIS
- 8 MP ultrawide, f/2.2, 16mm, 112°, 1/4.0″, 1.12µm
Video tops out at 4K@30/60 and 1080p up to 240 fps, with gyro-EIS and OIS. This is a clean, sensible configuration. No gimmick 2 MP macros, no depth sensors for padding. But also, no telephoto.
The Ace 5 Racing sticks to a 50 MP main with f/1.8, 26mm, 1/1.95″, 0.8µm, PDAF, OIS, plus an undefined auxiliary lens. Again, 4K@30/60 and 1080p at up to 240 fps, gyro-EIS and OIS intact. The sensor is smaller than the Ultra’s, and the ultrawide is gone, which is the obvious corner OnePlus cut to hit that 220 EUR price.
Both get the same 16 MP f/2.4 selfie camera (23mm, 1/3″ sensor, 1.0µm pixels) with HDR, panorama, and 1080p@30 video with gyro-EIS.
Are these “camera phone of the year” setups? No. But they’re honest and balanced for the cost, with OIS on the main sensors and 4K60 on both models. Compared to other devices in this price bracket that still push 1080p-only or lack stabilization, this is a very consumer-friendly trade-off.
Build, Protection, and Everyday Hardware
On size and weight, these are very similar:
- Ace 5 Ultra: 163.4 x 77 x 8.1 mm, 206 g
- Ace 5 Racing: 163.6 x 76 x 8.2 mm, 200 g
You’re not getting featherweights, but that’s the cost of big batteries. The real story is protection: the Ultra is IP65, dust tight and resistant to low-pressure water jets. The Racing is IP64, dust tight with protection against water splashes. Not full IP68, but again, mid-range pricing with meaningful ingress protection is a big win.
Both use Crystal Shield Glass for display protection, and both skip the 3.5mm headphone jack. No surprise on the jack at this point, but it’s still annoying, especially when these are clearly targeted at power users who actually care about audio latency.
The Ace 5 Ultra has stereo speakers; the Racing is listed with a loudspeaker but no clear stereo mention. If stereo is limited to the Ultra, that’s another quiet cost cut, and it’s exactly the kind of thing that separates “looks flagship on paper” from “feels flagship in use.”
Connectivity and Sensors: The Right Boxes Ticked
Both phones ship with Android 15 running ColorOS 15. There’s no stated update policy in the source, so anyone buying these should go in expecting the usual uncertainty from non-Google Android phones.
Connectivity is stacked:
- Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6/7), dual-band
- Bluetooth 5.4 with A2DP, LE, aptX HD, LHDC 5 (and BLE Audio on the Ultra)
- NFC and infrared ports on both
- USB Type-C 2.0
Positioning is actually a little better on the Ultra, with explicit multi-band GPS (L1+L5), GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO, QZSS, and NavIC. The Racing lists GPS, GALILEO, GLONASS, BDS, and QZSS but without the detailed band breakdown. Either way, this is proper global navigation support.
Both use under-display optical fingerprint sensors and the standard accelerometer/gyro/proximity/compass combo. Radio is missing on both, but that’s been dead on most modern smartphones for years.
Who Should Actually Buy These?
The Ace 5 Ultra is the obvious pick if you want more of a full-fat “budget flagship” experience: higher-res 144Hz display, better ultrawide camera, stereo speakers, higher IP rating, and the more powerful Dimensity 9400+. The 1TB/16GB tier is overkill for most, but at these prices, power users finally get to overkill without financial pain.
The Ace 5 Racing is the battery monster for people who value endurance and raw CPU performance over display resolution and fancy extras. You’re trading IP65 for IP64, ultrawide for a simple auxiliary, and 144Hz QHD-ish for 120Hz FHD+, in exchange for an even larger 7100 mAh pack at just ~220 EUR.
Both phones blow a hole in the usual pricing narrative. When you can get 3 nm or 4 nm flagship CPUs, huge batteries, Wi-Fi 7, UFS 4.0, and decent AMOLED panels for this money, there’s no justification for mid-range devices that still cheap out on storage speeds, refresh rate, or charging.
If other OEMs aren’t nervous about these specs at these prices, they’re not paying attention.
Check back soon as this story develops.