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OnePlus 12R Review: Real Flagship Killer Phone

The OnePlus 12R seems to be a really good deal. With the Snapdragon 8Gen 2 processor, a super bright display with 450 nits, and a 5500mAh battery life, it offers impressive upgrades. And even after all of these improvements, the price remains the same as last year’s.

OnePlus 12R Specifications:

Display: 6.78-inch ProXDR AMOLED, 120Hz refresh rate, LTPO 4.0 (1-120Hz)
Resolution: 1.5K (2780 x 1264 pixels), 450 PPI
Color: Iron Gray, Cool Blue
Front Camera: 16MP, f/2.4 (punch-hole)
Rear Camera: Triple (with LED flash)
- 50MP Sony IMX890 primary (OIS), 1/1.56″, f/1.8
- 8MP ultrawide, 112° FOV, f/2.2
- 2MP macro
Processor: Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 5G (TSMC 4nm)
GPU: Adreno 740
Memory: 8/16GB LPDDR5X RAM
Storage: 128 / 256GB UFS 3.1 storage
Software: Android 14-based OxygenOS 14
Battery: 5500mAh with 100W Supercharging

OnePlus 12R Design

I want to talk about design because I love that OnePlus has been committed to establishing a uniform brand identity across its phones lately, at least on high-end phones. From the rounded camera cutout to the gentle curve of the back, the OnePlus 12R feels as premium and comfortable to hold as the OnePlus 12. Things like an alert slider or an IR blaster don’t miss out either, so it’s also cool to look at. However, there are some obvious and some not-so-obvious ways that OnePlus wants you to know that the 12R isn’t a proper flagship phone. And the first thing that stood out to me as soon as I started using this thing was the haptics.

I’m not saying the 12R has terrible, brilliant haptics or anything. Still, compared to the sharp, responsive vibration feedback that complements the user experience on the OnePlus 12 so well, the haptics on the 12R feel a bit weak and bubbly to me. It comes with a USB 2.0 connection instead of the faster and more versatile USB 3.2 The rear glass on the OnePlus 12R is just Gorilla Glass 5 vs the stronger Gorilla Glass Victus on the OnePlus 12. And it also features poor IP54 dust and splash resistance. But I think none of these are absolute dealbreakers by any means.

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OnePlus 12R Display

There’s no compromise on the OnePlus 12R’s display. Yes, you get a slightly smaller and slightly lower-resolution screen, but OnePlus used the same X1 OLED panel from BOE here, protected by Corning’s second-gen Victus glass that you’ll find on the OnePlus 12. So, it’s been great. It has a brightness of 4500 nits.

Color accuracy and everything you’d expect from a flagship smartphone display. So whether I’m out in the sunset or snuggled up under a blanket at night, the OnePlus 12R’s display adapts perfectly to all those conditions. And its AquaTouch feature is also one of my favorite things about this phone. It sounds like such a small thing at first, but it’s able to interact with the display even when it’s moderately wet.

The 12R has Widevine L1 and all the other HDR certifications in the world for a great multimedia experience, complemented quite well with a set of stereo speakers that sound just like the OnePlus 12. Loud and full enough for casual listening, but could use a little better tuning in the treble region.

The 12R also ships with 4th-gen LTPO tech, which is supposed to adjust the refresh rate to as low as 1Hz to save power. However, I can’t get it to work on my unit. It sometimes swings between 60 and 120Hz.

OnePlus 12R Camera

The OnePlus 12 now brings a periscope zoom camera on top of larger, higher-resolution main and ultra-wide-angle sensors. Whereas the 12R uses the same camera setup as last year’s OnePlus 11R, including a 50MP primary and 8MP ultra-wide, and a seemingly useless 2MP macro lens. Unlike the OnePlus 12, the OnePlus 12R still does not get any Hasselblad love.

However, in my test, I found that the OnePlus 12R has a damn good primary camera. So much so that on more than one occasion, I prefer its photos to those of the OnePlus 12 itself, especially when it comes to preserving natural white balance as the OnePlus 12’s shots tend to come off a bit warm. The 12R images, on the other hand, don’t suffer from the same problem.

Photo Compare

But looking a little closer, it’s clear that the OnePlus 12 manages better image processing in one way or another. I noticed that the 12R is simply playing catch-up with the OnePlus 12 during the day, from the way it handles bright highlights to the way it processes rich shadows, contrast levels, and dynamic range. It’s not something that you will notice right away, but in tough lighting conditions, the 12R needs to do better.

Main Photo

But I must say that I’m not a big fan of the selfies from either of these phones. Yes, the OnePlus 12 preserves more details and a wider field of view. Although beautified, the yellowish skin tone of the subject does not look very good, whereas the reddish tint on the 12R’s selfies does not help as well.

As for portraits, the OnePlus 12 has an immediate advantage since it lets me shoot from multiple focal lengths for a better composition and better subject focus. The 12R too has a more than capable main camera to let me shoot 2x portraits just like the Pixel 8, but that’s sadly not available.

Anyhow, its 1x portraits in portrait mode are actually quite nice. It just does not try too hard to handle the subject’s skin tone and oil compared to how the OnePlus 12 tries to make the subject pop a little bit.

Now getting to videos, the 12R can shoot up to 4K 60fps from its main camera, and for still footage, the 12R’s videos are pretty nice, to be honest. But move around a little bit and then you’ll get some wobbly videos from this guy.

The 12R is also weirdly limited to just an 80p 30fps recording from the ultra-wide and the selfie camera, and the video quality on both of them is nothing special. So yeah, there are a lot of positives to talk about the 12R’s cameras, but I wish this thing had more robust hardware as well, especially in the selfie and the ultra-wide-angle lens.

OnePlus 12R Performance

The OnePlus 12R brings Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8Gen 2 chipset inside, which has been coupled with 8 or 16GB of RAM and 128 or 256GB of storage. I do wish that OnePlus would’ve gone with 256GB of storage in the base configuration because 128GB can get filled up pretty fast.

Anyway, with the Snapdragon 8Gen 2 chipset, the 12R is incredibly fast and a reliable performer no matter what you throw at it. And after all this time, I pretty much have zero performance hiccups on this phone.

My gaming tests show very similar results between the OnePlus 12 and the OnePlus 12R. Both of them played Genshin Impact at the highest graphics with a near 60fps average, while I did notice some minor frame drops on the 12R when playing PUBG Mobile at 90fps. Not a big deal though.

Gaming Test

Since these phones have an identical vapor chamber cooling system, however, the more expensive OnePlus 12 has a few gaming tricks that aren’t available on the 12R, like Hyper Resolution that improves a game’s render quality or Adaptive Frame Boost that is a hardware-enabled feature that improves fps numbers. But I wouldn’t say it’s a big deal so far because most popular titles don’t work with it right now.

OnePlus 12R OS / Android version

The software experience on the OnePlus 12R is also no different than on its more expensive sibling. It boots on Android 14 with OxygenOS 14 on top and you get a quite optimized, bloatware-free software experience on this phone.

And speaking of updates, there’s one more piece of disappointing news. While the regular OnePlus 12 enjoys 4 generations of OS and 5 years of security updates, the OnePlus 12R is a year short on both ends.

OnePlus 12R Battery

You are getting a massive 5500mAh battery. I know budget phones get it, but this? Like, I was taking calls, watching videos, occasionally playing games, and all of that. The phone would easily last me one full day. I didn’t charge it for 2 days. And I will share a personal anecdote here.

So the other day, I had only a 2% charge left before leaving for work. I plugged it in for 5 minutes, and it went to 35%. And this, I believe, is the use case of this super fast 100W charging. By the way, it can go from 0% to 100% in about 20-22 minutes.

Oneplus 12R Verdict

So, that was our take on the recently released OnePlus 12R. So, is this the new flagship killer? Well, the OnePlus 12R starts at $600—the same price as last year’s 11R, with no price hike. That’s awesome.

It also has upgrades over last year’s 11R in every way: a better display, better performance, a better battery, and everything else. That being said, it is still missing out on a few features. There’s no IP rating, no wireless charging, and the camera could have been better—features that other phones like the Nothing Phone 2 or Google Pixel 7a offer at this price point. Or even the upcoming I NEO 9 Pro, which will have similar specs but be cheaper.

But then again, if I had to strongly recommend a phone at $600, for most people, the OnePlus 12R is a good choice.

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Alvi Hosain

I am a tech enthusiast with over 1.5 years of experience in phone reviews and gadgets. Passionate about making technology easier for everyone, I focus on creating smartphone reviews and detailed tech guides. Whether exploring the latest devices or providing tips on how to get the most out of your gadgets, I love helping others navigate the world of technology. Known among my friends for solving phone-related problems, I enjoy discussing technology and staying up-to-date with the latest industry trends.