OnePlus 13R Review: Great Phone, Excellent Price

It is a model new yr and we have got model new OnePlus quantity collection telephones. The OnePlus 13 and OnePlus 13R have been launched in India earlier this week with the newest {hardware} and new design. OnePlus has managed to maintain the pricing very aggressive as properly. Speaking about being aggressive, the underdog OnePlus 13R is as soon as once more seeking to be an awesome package deal, at the very least on paper. I have been utilizing the 13R for about two weeks to seek out out if the brand new mid-range flagship is an effective improve from the OnePlus 12R.

The OnePlus 13R is priced at Rs. 42,999 for the 12GB + 256GB storage possibility, whereas the 16GB + 512GB mannequin will price you Rs. 49,999. It’s obtainable in Astral Path and Nebula Noir color choices. We received the Astrail Path variant for overview within the prime trim.

OnePlus 13R Design: Premium and flat

• Dimensions – 161.7 x 75.8 x 8 mm
• Weight – 206g
• Colors – Astral Path and Nebula Noir IP Score – IP65

OnePlus 13R will get a brand new design this yr, with a flat body and a flat show. You may nonetheless inform that it is a OnePlus telephone, due to the left-aligned round rear digital camera module, which has been a staple because the OnePlus 11. The telephone does have a barely totally different implementation of the module, although, because it’s not connected to the aspect body.

The rear digital camera module is not connected to the aspect body

 

The 13R feels very premium in hand, and the glass rear panel has a patterned matte end to it. The Astral Path model we received for overview has a pleasant texture that’ll remind you of these cool star path pictures on the web.

I actually appreciated the star trail-like sample on the again

 

The body is aluminium, has a matte end, and may be slippery. Fortunately, it isn’t a fingerprint magnet, although. OnePlus does present a pleasant silicone case within the field, although. You may discover the clicky quantity and energy buttons on the best aspect, with the left housing the long-lasting textured alert slider.

The alert slider is in the identical place as final yr’s OnePlus 12R

 

The SIM card tray, which might accommodate twin SIMs, is positioned on the underside alongside a loudspeaker, twin microphones, and the USB Sort-C port. There is a third microphone on the prime, together with one other speaker and the IR blaster.

The telephone will get an IR blaster

 

General, the telephone feels nice to carry in hand, though the flat body does are likely to dig into your palm after some time. The OnePlus 13R will get an IP65 score, barely higher than its predecessor.

OnePlus 13R Show: High quality of life upgrades

• Dimension and sort – 6.78-inches LTPO 4.1 AMOLED, 1.5K decision
• Refresh price – 120Hz
• Safety – Gorilla Glass 7i

The show on the OnePlus 13R is now flat and makes use of a more recent LTPO 4.1 AMOLED panel. The specs are nonetheless the identical as earlier than, although, and also you get a 120Hz refresh price, 1.5K decision, 19.8:9 facet ratio, HDR10+ assist, Dolby Imaginative and prescient, 10-bit color depth, and one hundred pc Show P3 assist.

The telephone will get slimmer bezels in comparison with final yr’s mannequin

 

The show is nice for watching movies and streaming content material on Netflix and different streaming providers. It additionally will get fairly vivid, with a claimed excessive brightness mode of 1,600nits and a peak brightness of 4,500nits. Once more, the identical figures as final time, and it continues to be extremely legible even underneath direct daylight. The viewing angles are additionally fairly good. The panel additionally helps Aqua Contact 2.0 and Glove Mode.

The panel provides HDR10+, HDRViVid assist together with Dolby Imaginative and prescient

 

The telephone’s color copy was very true to life, particularly within the Pure color mode. It additionally provides Vivid, Cinematic, and Sensible color profiles. You may select between a typical and excessive display decision, with the latter draining extra battery. As for the refresh price, you’ll be able to toggle between auto (1 to 120Hz), 60Hz, and 120Hz.

The optical fingerprint scanner labored properly all through the overview interval

 

OnePlus appears to have additionally managed to barely enhance the screen-to-body ratio due to slimmer bezels throughout. The show has a punch gap cutout on the prime centre for the selfie digital camera and an under-display fingerprint scanner, which is of the optical selection. The scanner labored very properly in the course of the overview.

OnePlus 13R Software program: Clear with a contact of AI

• OS – Android 15
• UI – OxygenOS 15
• Newest safety patch – December 5 2024

The OnePlus 13R comes with the newest Android 15-based OxygenOS 15, which is a lot better than earlier iterations of OxygenOS. There’s nearly no bloatware and I like the general smoothness and animations when navigating the UI. You do get just a few pre-installed apps, resembling Fb, LinkedIn, and Netflix, however these are apps that I might obtain anyway. OxygenOS 15 can be claimed to be 40 % lighter than earlier variations, which implies you get extra storage on your apps and information.

The telephone is confirmed to obtain 4 years of OS updates

 

OnePlus has additionally included some AI options on the telephone. You get AI-backed options within the Pictures app, resembling AI Element Increase, AI Unblur, AI Eraser, and AI Reflection Eraser. There’s Circle to Search from Google, Google Gemini, AI Assistant for Notes, PassScan in Google Pockets, and Magic Compose for rewriting textual content. Whereas some options resembling AI Element Increase and AI Unblur are hit-and-miss, I discovered the AI Eraser, Reflection Eraser, Magic Compose, and the AI Assistant for Notes fairly helpful.

A brand new Share with iPhone function allows you to simply share information along with your iPhone mates. OnePlus additionally added the brand new Open Canvas function for multitasking from the Open. I attempted each of those options, they usually labored fairly properly. Nevertheless, Canvas is greatest suited to bigger screens.

Through the overview interval, the telephone acquired two OTA updates and is at present on the December 5 2024 Android safety patch. OnePlus has promised 4 years of OS updates and 6 years of safety updates.

OnePlus 13R Efficiency: Buttery clean

• CPU – Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
• RAM – 12/16GB LPDDR5X
• Storage – 256/512GB UFS 4.0

OnePlus telephones are identified for his or her clean efficiency, and the 13R would not disappoint. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is a flagship chipset from final yr, so you have received nothing to fret about. The telephone carried out extraordinarily properly in all our artificial benchmark assessments, and I confronted no lag or stutter throughout day by day or heavy utilization.

Benchmarks	OnePlus 13R	iQOO 12	Xiaomi 14	Oppo Reno 13 Professional
AnTuTu v10	19,14,550	19,83,471	19,73,937	13,73,029
PCMark Work 3.0	15,043	13,320	N/A	12,032
Geekbench 6 (Single)	2,112	2,225	2,210	1,372
Geekbench 6 (Multi)	4,943	6,726	6,808	4,163
GFXB T-rex	60	143	121	93
GFXB Manhattan 3.1	60	143	121	120
GFXB Automobile Chase	60	127	N/A	120
3DM Slingshot Excessive OpenGL	Maxed Out	Maxed Out	N/A	Maxed Out
3DM Slingshot	Maxed Out	Maxed Out	N/A	Maxed Out
3DM Wild Life	Maxed Out	Maxed Out	N/A	Maxed Out
3DM Wild Life Limitless	19,178	Maxed Out	N/A	11,518

The telephone additionally runs fairly cool, and I hardly confronted any heating points in the course of the overview. That is largely due to the 9,925mm sq. vapour chamber, which saved the warmth away even throughout heavy gaming classes. Relating to gaming, I performed BGMI on the very best settings obtainable, and the telephone dealt with it with ease. Genshin Influence additionally ran easily with none hiccups. It is undoubtedly an awesome telephone for gaming.

Gaming is tremendous clean on the telephone, and it would not warmth up a lot both

 

You get twin audio system on the telephone, they usually can get fairly loud. There’s additionally some bass, which is good. The earpiece and microphone additionally labored properly throughout telephone calls.

OnePlus 13R Cameras: Higher than earlier than

• Important rear – 50-megapixel Sony LYT-700, f/1.8, OIS, Autofocus
• Telephoto – 50-megapixel Samsung S5KJN5, 2x Optical zoom, f/2.0, Autofocus
• Ultrawide – 8-megapixel, f/2.2, 112 diploma FoV
• Entrance – 16-megapixel, f/2.4, Fastened focus

The OnePlus 13R has an improved digital camera setup. The corporate listened to customers and reviewers and removed the 2-megapixel depth/macro sensor. You now get a helpful 2x optical zoom digital camera. The first digital camera has additionally been up to date, however the ultra-wide sensor seems to be the identical. However, the telephone does see much-needed enhancements.

The two-megapixel macro digital camera is lastly gone

 

The digital camera app is straightforward and has a number of modes, together with Time-lapse, Hello-Res, Lengthy Publicity, and Professional. You additionally get devoted Portrait and Night time modes.

Loads of modes can be found within the Digicam app

 

Coming to digital camera efficiency, I seen enhancements in pictures taken from the primary digital camera in daylight circumstances. The colors are on level, there’s loads of element, the dynamic vary is extensive, and the white steadiness can be good.

Pictures shot from the primary digital camera in 1x (Faucet to increase)

 

This yr, the brand new telephoto digital camera is a pleasant addition and produces superb ends in daylight circumstances. As soon as once more, there are many particulars, the colors carefully match the first sensor, and the picture has a great dynamic vary.

Samples shot utilizing the 2x telephoto digital camera (Faucet to increase)

 

Subsequent, the ultrawide digital camera, which stays the identical as final yr, takes good pictures when there’s loads of mild. The photographs have good element, however the colors are extra saturated than pictures from the opposite cameras.

Digicam samples from the ultrawide digital camera (Faucet to increase)

 

The 2x telephoto digital camera can be fairly respectable relating to Portrait pictures. You get 1x and 2x crop within the digital camera app, and the sting detection just isn’t too dangerous both. Nevertheless, the photographs are likely to have loads of noise and softness in lowlight circumstances.

Portrait pictures with the 2x telephoto; Daylight (High), Lowlight-indoors (Backside) (Faucet to increase)

 

Speaking about lowlight circumstances, the primary sensor continues to carry out properly, with pictures providing good element, pure colors, and a fairly correct white steadiness.

Lowlight digital camera samples from the first rear digital camera at 1x (Faucet to increase)

 

Nevertheless, ultrawide and telephoto cameras aren’t superb when there’s not sufficient mild. You may discover a whole lot of noise and softness in pictures.

Lowlight samples: Ultrawide (High 3); 2x Telephoto (Backside 3)

 

The entrance digital camera on the OnePlus 13R produces fairly good pictures in daylight circumstances. There are good particulars, and the pores and skin colors are fairly correct. Nevertheless, the digital camera would not carry out properly in lowlight circumstances. There’s a whole lot of noise and softness in selfies taken with much less mild.

The OnePlus 13R can file movies at as much as 4K 60fps, and also you do get optical picture stabilisation, nevertheless it solely works in 1080p 60fps. Movies taken on the telephone, utilizing the primary digital camera in 4K, have a great quantity of element with barely boosted colors. Lowlight movies lack the identical quantity of element, and you may begin seeing some noise and darker shadows. Stabilisation is nice when utilizing Extremely Regular video mode in 1080p decision, however you will see some shakiness and sudden jumps when operating or panning.

OnePlus 13R Battery: Huge in all methods

• Capability – 6,000mAh
• Charging pace – 80W
• Charger – 80W (Within the field)

The OnePlus 13R makes use of a brand new Silicon-Carbon battery that’s denser and bigger than earlier than. Regardless of packing a bigger 6,000mAh cell, the 13R is slimmer than the 12R. In my day by day utilization, the telephone constantly delivered over 7 hours of screen-on time. Most of my days normally ended with over 40 % of battery nonetheless remaining. In our HD video loop take a look at, the telephone lasted 32 hours and 16 minutes, which is kind of spectacular however not stunning.

A full cost takes about 1 hour 30 minutes

 

OnePlus gives an 80W SuperVOOC charger within the field, which might cost the telephone from 0 to one hundred pc in about 1 hour and half-hour. I ran some extra assessments and located that you could get about 40 % cost after half-hour of being plugged in and about 60 % in 45 minutes. General, I might say this is a wonderful efficiency.

OnePlus 13R Verdict

Is the OnePlus 13R an awesome package deal? Sure. Is it full worth for cash? Sure. Has it improved over final yr’s 12R? Sure. The brand new OnePlus 13R is unquestionably well worth the improve. It will get higher cameras, a bigger battery with longer life, higher construct high quality, longer software program assist, and different minor enhancements.

As for options, I can solely assume of some. There’s the newly launched Oppo Reno 13 Professional (Evaluation), which prices greater however lacks in key areas resembling efficiency and battery life. There’s additionally the Xiaomi 14 (Evaluation), which will get the identical chipset, provides higher cameras, a compact design, and likewise prices about a bit of greater. You may as well go for the iQOO 12 (Evaluation), which, though older, nonetheless provides nice efficiency and a good digital camera setup.