OnePlus 12R Is Reliable, but Not a Flagship Killer
The OnePlus 12R costs $500, which is about $300 cheaper than the flagship OnePlus 12. It looks like another great option for those who want a faster, more powerful Android device at a lower price.
Being a declared flagship killer, I tested the OnePlus 12R to see how well it stands up to other flagships, including the iPhone 15 Pro Max , Pixel 8 Pro , Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra – the very flagships it claims to kill.
Design and display
Right from the start, the OnePlus 12R’s design and display are great. The phone comes in two styles: a dark gray frosted glass back; or the sleeker, cooler blue glass back I was able to test. The steel gray design is more similar to the same design we saw on the back of the 12, which I tested and which I really liked because it did a good job of resisting fingerprints.
However, in Cool Blue, the lack of frosted glass means the back is very shiny. Even though it’s beautiful, fingerprints and smudges stick to it like glue. Sure, they’re easy to wipe off, but if you end up picking up the Cool Blue, you’ll definitely want to add a case or something to it to keep fingerprints and dirt out.
The display is as beautiful as the back, however, and features OnePlus’ 120Hz ProXDR display that delivers a smooth touch experience and vibrant colors in all conditions. It also comes with Aqua Touch, a feature that the OnePlus 12 also comes with. This means your phone can still be used even if it’s wet, and I once tested it in the rain and I was still able to open apps, make phone calls, and even scroll through TikTok.
With a peak brightness of 4,500 nits, the 6.78-inch HDR10+ and HDR Vivid display is a marvel to look at and use. Games look fantastic on it, and I tested it with Genshim Impact and Asphalt 8 without any problems. We’ll talk more about how these games performed below, but they looked amazing on the OnePlus 12R’s large display.
Of course, the overall design of the 12R is very similar to the OnePlus 12, which means the display is slightly curved on the sides of the phone. It’s still not my favorite design, but it never feels uncomfortable in my hands. Next to each other, the two devices are almost impossible to tell apart.
Characteristics
While the OnePlus 12R shares many of the same features as OnePlus’ latest flagship, it also trims down some internal details to make room for that price cut. The processor here is the older Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, so it uses slightly older hardware than the new flagship models. However, Gen 2 is still very good and you shouldn’t have too much trouble running anything on it. Here’s what the 12R looks like overall:
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SoC: Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
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RAM: 8 GB/16 GB
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Memory: 128 GB/256 GB
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OS: OxygenOS/Android 14.
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Display: 6.78-inch AMOLED ProXDR panel, 2780 x 1264, 1-120Hz dynamic refresh rate.
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Battery: 5500 mAh
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Charging: 80W SUPERVOOC wired charging.
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Audio: Dolby Atmos
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Rear camera: 50MP Sony IMX890 primary sensor, 8MP ultra-wide-angle camera, 2MP macro lens.
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Front camera: 16 MP
None of this is particularly exciting, but it should be more than enough to get you through the day and provide hours of gaming and entertainment. However, the lower quality camera is disappointing to say the least, and the lack of wireless charging definitely feels like a missed opportunity to keep up with other budget devices.
There’s no removable storage option or headphone jack, so those hoping OnePlus will add one will be disappointed.
Performance
As budget phones go, the OnePlus 12R’s specs are nothing to scoff at, especially at just $500. But how does all this affect productivity? As I noted above, I tested the OnePlus 12R using two fairly intensive games: Genshin Impact and Asphalt 8. Both games ran as smoothly on the device as I expected, which is not surprising since this same chipset has only recently been spotted in flagship devices. year. There were a few more issues here and there than I noticed on the OnePlus itself, but for a $500 phone the performance was really good.
Navigating through apps was also a pleasure, and I never noticed any major performance issues while using the OnePlus 12R. As I said, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is still a really good chipset. Tests on GeekBench 6 showed a single-core score of 1559 and multi-core score of 5059 when running in normal mode, while in high-performance mode, the OnePlus 12R scored 2043 in single-core mode and 5557 in multi-core mode. It actually performed better in tests than I’ve seen from the OnePlus 12, which was somewhat surprising.
For those unfamiliar with the tests, these tests essentially make the phone perform a variety of different actions designed to mimic what you do in everyday life. The higher the score, the better the phone systems perform. They’re not an accurate indicator of how the phone will handle day-to-day use, but they can give you a good starting point for comparison.
The OnePlus 12R also features a newly updated dual cryo-speed cooling system just like the regular OnePlus 12, which was a pleasant surprise as it helped keep the phone cool for most of my testing. The only time it got even slightly warm was during a four-hour session of Genshin , but as I noted above, this game is extremely intense, so I’m not surprised that I felt some warmth in the back of the phone. Overall, there is nothing to worry about here when it comes to heat distribution.
But what about battery life? Since the OnePlus 12R actually has a larger battery than the OnePlus 12, you can expect it to last longer. The reality is that the old 12R processor doesn’t have as many tweaks and optimizations as the newer processors, meaning that extra battery capacity is essentially a waste of time. However, battery life was still very good, especially for a more budget phone. I could use it heavily throughout the day and when I got home in the evening I would have 25 to 30 percent left. On days when I didn’t use it as much, I could go a day and a half without having to charge it.
Camera
The camera is usually a big stumbling block for more budget phones, and the same is true with the OnePlus 12R. The OnePlus 12R does not have a Hasselblad partnership and the 64MP telephoto lens has been replaced by a 2MP macro lens. Personally, I’ve never seen much use of low-resolution macro lenses, and the same can be said for the OnePlus 12R’s lens.
Overall, the camera performance is exactly what you’d expect from a stripped-down version of the OnePlus 12’s camera array. The 50MP sensor still produces sharp photos, although as I mentioned earlier, the OnePlus produces much less rich photos than the iPhone 15 Pro Max or Galaxy S24 Ultra.
Low light images weren’t very good; due to the camera’s compensation systems, they often came out too bright and were often grainy. The Pixel 8 Pro still continues to take some of the best low-light photos we’ve seen on a smartphone this launch season, and it will always be hard to beat due to Google’s powerful AI systems.
However, for a $500 budget phone, the photos are more than enough, unless you expect it to always keep up with the more powerful sensors found in more expensive smartphones.
Is this really the flagship killer?
Despite how right the OnePlus 12R gets, I have to say that I don’t really want to call it a flagship killer. This smartphone is really good for its price, but OnePlus made some big concessions to achieve this goal.
One of the biggest and most glaring in my opinion is the shorter support time of the OnePlus 12R compared to the more expensive OnePlus 12: OnePlus only guarantees three years of software updates and four years of security updates for the 12R. compared to the four that come with the standard OnePlus 12. Other low-cost phones like the Galaxy S23 FE still offer four years, so it’s strange to see OnePlus reducing that as part of its “price-cutting” technique.
Overall, however, the OnePlus 12R is still a really solid device. If you’ve been looking for something different but still want to save money, the OnePlus 12R is a great choice that delivers on OnePlus’ “Never Settle” promise, at least in most important ways. .
OnePlus 12R is now available for pre-order. You can get it starting at $499.99 for the 8GB/128GB variant or starting at $599.99 for the 16GB/256GB variant. You can also get $100 off when you trade in any phone, with up to $450 in credits available depending on the device.