At an affordable $800, the OnePlus 12 has managed to carve out a healthy place in the market as an alternative to some of the best smartphoneslike the Samsung Galaxy S24 and the Google Pixel 8. But OnePlus’ latest flagship hasn’t stopped its mid-range sibling, the OnePlus 12R, from being just as impressive – dropping the price even further without sacrificing nearly as much as one would expect from phones. it costs almost twice as much.
OnePlus 12R – Design and Features
For smartphone enthusiasts, choosing a OnePlus device from the crowd probably won’t be a challenge. Much like how Samsung and iPhone devices are easily identified by their camera layouts, the OnePlus 12 and 12R both feature the same circular camera module that has become a vital part of the lineup’s identity.
Thanks to this shared design language, the OnePlus 12R manages to look as premium as the OnePlus 12. I was happy that it has a sturdy aluminum frame, unlike the plastic frames I’ve seen on so many other mid-range devices. It’s also nice that it has Gorilla Glass Victus 2, so I wasn’t worried about going without a case for a few days.
Less appealing is OnePlus’ commitment to curved displays. This design choice has been largely abandoned by well-known brands in recent years, with even Samsung thankfully abandoning it for the S24 Ultra. This means that the OnePlus 12R continues to suffer from the same accidental presses and visual distortion mentioned in our original. OnePlus 12 reviewand it had an appreciable impact on my enjoyment of watching content or looking at photos.
Despite its disappointing curved edges, the OnePlus 12R’s vibrant 6.78-inch display does everything most users could need. It packs a respectable 2,780 x 1,264 pixel resolution, promises a peak brightness of 4,500 nits, and looks absolutely stunning whether you’re scrolling through your settings. or watch media. Meanwhile, the LTPO panel allows for a variable refresh rate that can drop from 120Hz to 1Hz for noticeable benefits, but without a change in lifespan, when it comes to battery savings.
As this is technically a mid-range phone, you only get IP64 water and dust resistance, meaning you can comfortably risk splashes of water on your phone, but it is less likely to survive immersion. On the other hand, you get the same technology used in the OnePlus 12, which lets you use the phone better when the screen (or your fingers) are wet. It wasn’t perfect in my testing – I still encountered occasional unresponsiveness – but it’s still an overall useful addition in specific circumstances.
Under the hood is where things get more interesting for the OnePlus 12R. It’s powered by last year’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, which brought most of 2023’s best flagships to life, and it’s still one heck of a processor that’s more than capable of handling almost anything you throw at it . You also have the choice of 8GB of RAM with 128GB of storage or 16GB of RAM with 256GB of storage, and if you plan to use the phone for a few years, the extra $100 for the latter guarantees you better sustainability.
No matter which version of the OnePlus 12R you choose, you’ll miss out on wireless charging with this budget phone. But its 5,500 mAh battery helps make up for that with an exceptionally long-lasting charge that can last two days of average use before running out. And 80W charging is a welcome addition, which I think can take the phone from around 5% to 100% in just about 30 minutes. Better yet: a power adapter is included in the box. What year is it?
OnePlus 12R – Software
The OnePlus 12R comes with OxygenOS 14, which is about as close to stock Android as you can get without opting for a Google Pixel device. There are a few small tweaks here and there – some of which can be turned off for an even closer to stock experience – but this very lightweight skin feels like Android overall. And it’s a good thing.
OnePlus promises four years of security updates but only three years of operating system updates. Considering this is a mid-range purchase, most people will probably be ready to upgrade within a few years anyway, but with the industry standard shifting recently towards 4-7 years of upgrades, I would have loved to see OnePlus aim for just a little. a bit higher.
OnePlus 12R – Gaming and performance
Although it was last year’s darling, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 hasn’t suddenly become a slouch in 2024 either. It’s still a very capable processor, and even though it doesn’t won’t give you the performance of a dedicated gaming phone, this makes the OnePlus 12R a reasonably powerful gaming device for anyone on a budget.
I loaded up Call of Duty: Mobile and enjoyed about thirty minutes of nice, calm matches with graphics quality set to Very High and a framerate pushed to Max. But while Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis also defaulted to Ultra settings, Fortnite struggled to hit 60fps in Medium mode – again, it’s all a matter of perspective. This is a $500 phone with specs that would have been considered pretty high-end less than two years ago, and from what I’ve experienced so far, that’s pretty good for most games. Don’t expect it to optimize the most demanding new games in a year or two.
Beyond gaming, the OnePlus 12R performs extremely well and performance is otherwise as snappy as you’d expect from the chip that has defined the biggest and best phones of 2023. I was able to run through OxygenOS 14 by opening multiple apps in quick succession without even a slight stutter. And as I touched on above, the battery life has also been incredible, allowing me to finish days of heavy usage at 40% or more. Honestly, this might be the best battery life I’ve had on a phone, and if it weren’t for the curved screen and mediocre water resistance, it would probably be enough to convince me to use the OnePlus 12R as a main device. This year.
OnePlus 12R – Camera
The OnePlus 12R’s 50 MP main camera takes detailed photos with natural colors in daylight conditions, which often makes it difficult for me to spot significant differences compared to the same photo taken on my Galaxy S24. And its low-light shots are impactful with exquisite dynamic range and a near-total absence of noise. It’s easily one of the best mid-range phones I’ve used for night shots, and I’d say it holds up even to many high-end devices.
The 2x zoom can also take passable photos, but the 5x zoom produces excessively soft images that are too muddy to be useful beyond just capturing a quick memory. And the 2MP macro camera can be fun if you’re looking to get up close and personal with something small, but it loses an awful lot of detail in the process. I still had a good time playing with it, but it’s not intended for serious photography.
The ultra-wide camera does exactly what you’d expect it to do when needed, but zooming reveals the limitations of its measly 8 megapixels, and I wasn’t a big fan of the slightly more washed-out colors. The same goes for the 16MP front camera, which takes perfectly adequate selfies with or without Portrait mode enabled, but won’t win any awards for detail or skin tone accuracy.
The OnePlus 12R can shoot videos up to 4K/60FPS, and that’s pretty good. You probably don’t buy a phone for less than $800 if you plan to regularly film important or professional videos with it, but it will do the job for recording a birthday party or a fun social media clip. But given the shaky stabilization here, I wouldn’t recommend bothering to shoot video when you’re on the move.