OnePlus 13R review: Monolith of power

Best Prices Today: OnePlus 13R

OnePlus is kicking off 2025 with a bang, bringing its latest flagship – the OnePlus 13 – to international audiences. The 13 wasn’t alone on stage, however, with the more modest (but still highly-specced) OnePlus 13R serving up performance hardware and software at an even more competitive price than its sibling.

2024 saw OnePlus’ R series go international, after having previously been an India exclusive. The OnePlus 12R left us impressed, thanks to its exceptional display, battery and value.

The OnePlus 13R looks as though it’s following a similar blueprint, toting like-minded display and AI-based software upgrades to the OnePlus 13, along with the biggest battery we’ve seen from the company on an international release.

There are some obvious and expected downgrades compared to the flagship 13, but considering the mid-range price point (£679/$599.99) the OnePlus 13R hits, many will likely find such sacrifices justified; provided what’s promised on paper, matches up with expectations. So, let’s find out together.

We’ve also compared the OnePlus 13 vs OnePlus 13R to help you choose which to buy.

Design & Build

• Thinner and lighter than OnePlus 12R
• IP65 rated
• New magnetic accessory ecosystem, compatible with MagSafe

In my OnePlus 13 review, despite offering up an unquestionably premium design, I said that the phone’s aesthetics lacked cohesion; with over-complicated geometry and an overabundance of surface finishes. Not so with the OnePlus 13R.

Following in the footsteps of Apple, Google and Samsung over the past couple of years, unlike both its launch sibling and its predecessor, the 13R is OnePlus’ most squared phone yet.

Flat front and back glass sandwich a straight-edged aluminium mid-frame, and the effect is striking. The 13R looks strong and imposing, and yet the designers have added a near-imperceptible rounded edge to the frame to ensure that it’s still comfortable in the hand.

It’s monolithic aesthetic (especially if you pick the phone up in the Nebula Noir colourway, pictured in this review) is broken only by functional elements, like the offset circular rear camera array, and the brand’s signature three-stage alert slider, along the side.

There’s a pleasing symmetry to the loudspeaker and the SIM tray placement along the bottom, and the microphones and integrated IR blaster along the phone’s top face too. Meanwhile, the contrast of the satin-finish back glass and frame, against the glossy display, make for a pleasing contrast; even when the phone sits idle.

Even with its commanding presence, the 13R is actually thinner (8mm, down from 8.8mm) and lighter than its predecessor, in spite of sporting the same-sized display and a larger battery.

The IP65 rating against dust and water is also an incremental improvement over the IP64-rated 12R, but lags behind the IP68-certification of most flagships, not to mention the OnePlus 13 itself, which is among the few phones that also totes IP69-grade protection (OnePlus even ran a device through a hot dishwasher at the phone’s launch, to show off it’s newly-improved resilience).

One design feature that the 13R does share with the standard 13, however, is support for a new range of cases, which in turn allow for magnetically detachable accessories, including those that rely on Apple’s circular MagSafe magnetic configuration. The only caveat is that with no wireless charging support to speak of, OnePlus’ new magnetic power bank and wireless charger accessories – which launched alongside the 13 series – do nothing for the 13R.

The 13R looks strong and imposing, and yet… it’s still comfortable in the hand

Screen & Speakers

• 6.78-inch 120Hz LTPO 4.1 OLED ProXDR display
• Gorilla Glass 7i
• RadiantView, Aqua Touch 2.0, Eye Care 4.0 and more

The display was one of the biggest strengths of the OnePlus 12R and the same can be said for the panel found on its successor.

A glance at the specs and it doesn’t immediately look like OnePlus has done anything to improve the viewing experience between generations here. You once again get a familiar 6.78-inch 1.5K dynamic 1 to 120Hz OLED panel, with the same impressive 1600-nit overall brightness output and superb 4500-nit peak brightness too. Beyond that though, it benefits from the same upgrades as the full-fat OnePlus 13.

For starters, the upgrade to LTPO 4.1 tech means that dynamic refresh rate can switch significantly faster, resulting in improved power efficiency. Then there are the wealth of technologies dedicated to ensuring the 13R’s screen is easier to see and use.

RadiantView doesn’t just boost brightness panel-wide when the phone detects you’re in bright surroundings, it can adjust different areas of the panel, relative to what’s on-screen, to create better contrast and definition. Taking a leaf out of Honor’s book, new 2160Hz PWM (pulse width modulation) dimming helps support existing eye comfort tech within the software, to reduce eye strain at lower brightness levels.

This 13R also benefits from the latest generation of Aqua Touch, which means typing on a wet screen or with wet hands doesn’t readily phase the phone; resulting in fewer typos. As I write this review during a frigid English January, the phone’s Glove Mode has proven an essential boon too.

Although I wasn’t prepared to bust out a set of Mohs picks and scratch test the 13R’s screen myself, this also happens to be OnePlus’ first phone sporting Corning’s Gorilla Glass 7i (on the front and back).

This is a new mid-range glass from Corning, likely introduced to give manufacturers who otherwise still opt for older Gorilla Glass 3 or 5 on their non-flagship phones a more modern alternative.

Even without a case, after a month’s use, no part of the 13R’s body or screen was showing any discernible signs of wear (no doubt helped by the pre-fitted screen protector). That said, 7i does seem like a technical downgrade compared to the top-spec Gorilla Glass Victus 2 that the 12R boasts.

Like the OnePlus 13, the 13R offers up competent audio from its stereo speakers, but lacks bass throughout its range. And unlike the 13, which has made the move to quicker ultrasonic technology, the 13R still uses an optical in-display fingerprint sensor for unlocking and authentication. While perfectly quick and reliable for most users, I would say it’s positioned a little too low on-screen.

Specs & Performance

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset
• Faster storage compared to predecessor
• RAM expansion up to an additional 12GB

While the OnePlus 13 runs away with Qualcomm’s latest and greatest piece of mobile silicon – the Snapdragon 8 Elite – the OnePlus 13R reverts to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 that resides inside the OnePlus 12, not to mention the majority of the best Android phones from 2024.

The Elite is the headline-grabber right now, but there are still a wealth of excellent flagship phones beyond the OnePlus 12 (the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, Sony Xperia 1 VI and Xiaomi 14 Ultra, to name a few) that highlight just how current and competent the 8 Gen 3 remains, and will do so for a fair long while.

Better yet, OnePlus’ time tuning its systems to get the most out of the 8 Gen 3, not to mention upgrades to the 13R’s cooling system (namely a significantly larger vapor chamber than its predecessor, as well as heat dissipation via that aluminium mid-frame), result in some of the best benchmarking scores for that chip around.

It also handled sustained performance testing well, offering better stability than even the OnePlus 13 in some tests.

OnePlus 13R benchmarks

In most markets, including the UK, Europe and the US, you’ll likely only find one memory configuration of the OnePlus 13R: 12GB of RAM, paired to 256GB of storage. It’s only really India that gets an additional 16GB/512GB variant, but for most people not after the tip-top (in which case you might as well save and swing for the standard 13), this 256GB build should prove ample.

Like the display, these memory specs may at first appear to mirror that of the OnePlus 12R’s, until you learn that OnePlus has also splashed out on significantly faster and more power efficient UFS 4.0 storage, matching that of the OnePlus 13.

Add to that virtual RAM expansion (which lets you reallocate some of that speedy new storage) up to 12GB and you’ll find, as I did, that the 13R is great at keeping background apps in suspension for longer, while still proving power efficient.

…it also happens to be one of the better Snapdragon 8 Gen 3-powered phones on the market right now – especially at its price point

Cameras

• 50Mp main and 2x telephoto sensors
• 8MP ultrawide, 16Mp selfie camera
• OnePlus’ new Dual Exposure Algorithm

With the OnePlus 13R, the series replaces Sony’s IMX sensors with an entrant from their new Lytia range, instead. The phone’s camera system is led by the recent LYT-700: a 50Mp 1/1.56-inch sensor with a pleasantly wide ƒ/1.8 aperture and OIS (optical image stabilisation), designed to let in more light than the 12R’s equivalent lead camera.

Better yet, its predecessor’s underwhelming secondary snappers have also been ditched, in favour of a new 50Mp 2x optical zoom telephoto and an 8Mp ultrawide. A near-identical 16Mp front-facer remains, however.

The overall photographic experience marks a notable improvement from the one provided by the 12R, partly due to the greater versatility and partly as a result of better consistency in terms of colour and contrast between the sensors. New processing tricks, like the company’s Dual Exposure Algorithm, help reduce motion blur and retain detail too.

OnePlus’ colour science is better than its ever been, placing a greater emphasis on accuracy, provided enough light is available. Like the OnePlus 13, the 13R’s HDR processing doesn’t flatten out shadows either; something the likes of the Google Pixel 9 family can over-correct on, at the expense of the artistic integrity of a shot.

Comparing low light and night mode shots between the 13R (below, left) and the 13 (below, right), it shouldn’t come as a surprise that OnePlus’ newest flagship is able to take in more light within the same capture time. However, while the 13 serves up brighter shots that, where possible, work to correctly adjust white balance and colour on subjects (like green leaves on a plant), the shots from 13R usually served up more true to life colours.

With only a 2x telephoto, don’t expect to get great zoom shots. OnePlus has worked its algorithmic magic to offer up respectable 4x magnification through the same sensor, but the telephoto’s main purpose is portrait shooting. Detail and skin tones are both captured with pleasing fidelity, OnePlus just needs to work on its edge detection and the quality of the synthetic bokeh added to such shots, as these prove to be areas of inconsistency across both the 13 and 13R’s cameras.

Although the OnePlus 13 doesn’t feel like it’s ready to be one of the best camera phones right now, within its price range, I’d have an easier time recommending the 13R. An honorable mention goes to the phone’s crisp and well-coloured 4K video capture too.

Want more on the OnePlus 13’s camera? I’ve also written a dedicated OnePlus 13 camera review, highlighting all I’ve discovered after shooting with the company’s flagship for a month.

With only a 2x telephoto, don’t expect to get great zoom shots

Battery Life & Charging

• 6000mAh battery
• 80W wired charging
• No power adapter in-box

With the excellent battery performance served up by the OnePlus 12R last year, I would have understood if OnePlus chose not to mess with a good thing, especially with the power efficiency gains the new chipset, storage, new software optimisations and LTPO display would bring. It meddled anyway, and that proved to be the right call.

On the one hand, the 13R charges slower than its predecessor, albeit at a still-impressive 80W (using OnePlus’ and Oppo’s SuperVOOC charging standard). On the other, both the OnePlus 13 and 13R benefit from the largest battery capacity the company has ever placed inside a phone it’s sold internationally (the China-only equivalent of the 13R – the Ace 5 Pro – packs an even bigger 6100mAh cell).

While the 13 gets the most advanced dual-cell Si-C (silicon carbon) battery, the 13R sports a single cell variant, but that doesn’t exactly hold it back.

In benchmarking, the 13R actually outpaced its launch sibling to become one of the highest-scoring phones I’ve tested, however, in real-world use, the advantage returned to the 13. Even so, the OnePlus 13R consistently delivered a solid 9.5 hours of screen-on time per charge, equating to more than a day of heavy use, or two days of normal use between charges.

This is a great phone for those who suffer from battery anxiety, and that’s before you factor in that fast charging.

Although not as rapid as the OnePlus 12R or 13 between which it sits, the OnePlus 13R’s 80W charging still refilled to full in less than 55 minutes.

Despite taking the same amount of time to replenish completely, out the box the phone hit 60% charge after 30 minutes, while enabling Smart Rapid Charging (which more closely manages device charge against temperature) saw it pass 73% in the same time frame.

Just remember that you’ll have to buy an 80W power adapter separately (the phone comes with a 55W adapter in-box in the US and no adapter at all in the UK or Europe), in order to get those peak charging speeds. Wireless charging also isn’t part of the equation with the OnePlus 13R.

Check out our rundown of the best battery life phones for more.

This is a great phone for those who suffer from battery anxiety, and that’s before you factor in that fast charging.

Software & Apps

• OxygenOS 15 atop Android 15
• AI features and Circle to Search
• 4 years OS + 6 years security update support

Although the company’s OxygenOS 15 user experience (atop Android 15) released ahead of the OnePlus 13 series’ international launch, they’re undoubtedly the best devices to leverage its full potential. This is also one aspect where the 13R suffers little-to-no sacrifice, compared to the fully-fledged flagship 13.

Both come with the same respectable commitment to four years of OS updates and six years of security updates from OnePlus, a new set of system animations (that elevate the look and feel of interaction) and, of course, the most complete suite of the company’s AI tools yet. Google Gemini is also the digital assistant of choice here, and the company’s Circle to Search tech is present too, which I find extremely useful.

The only real fly in the ointment when comparing the experience across both phones is that the 13R comes with a fraction more third-party bloat than the 13; apps like Booking.com, LinkedIn and Amazon Music came pre-loaded on my review model. All can be removed, at least.

Beyond OxygenOS’ tangible interaction snap and polish, it’s filled with useful tools without feeling overwhelming, and the learning curve to leverage them all is pleasingly gradual too.

Game Toolkit lets you free up memory, block notifications, adjust power and performance, and more, all from within a game. The Smart Sidebar keeps useful tools present throughout the user experience, with a notable upgrade this generation being context awareness that surfaces different AI tools based on the use case at hand.

AI-powered semantic search now lets you scour any local files or photos you have stored on the 13R, while a plethora of assistive reading and writing tools help with everything from formatting and prompt-based text generation, within apps like OnePlus’ Notes, to reply suggestion and summarisation.

That Smart Sidebar is great at surfacing these tools when needed, like offering up AI Summary and AI Speak when I open up a web page. This behaviour makes using AI features throughout the OnePlus 13R’s user experience more natural and actionable than having to intentionally seek out the feature you want to use in a given moment.

One other unique feature, exclusive (at the time of writing) to the latest Oppo and OnePlus phones is their ability to share files with iPhones and iPads, wirelessly; AirDrop-style. It’s a feature driven by community feedback, something OnePlus is a lot more active and vocal about then most of its competitors.

Price & Availability

The OnePlus 13R was unveiled to international audiences alongside the OnePlus 13, on January 7, 2025, with pre-orders kicking off on the same day and the phone going on sale a week later, on January 14.

Between the US and UK, American buyers get the better deal, with the phone sporting the same $599.99 asking price as its predecessor. In the UK, there’s been a generational price hike, from £649 to £679, but I’d argue for what’s on offer, that’s still solid value.

At these price points, there’s isn’t much in the way of direct fresh-faced competition, with most rival brands leaving their depreciated previous-gen flagships to serve as alternatives. Entries like the iPhone 15 and Galaxy S24+ are within the same ballpark, while those after newer hardware have options like the Galaxy S24 FE or Google Pixel 9, although in all cases, you’re sacrificing performance, versatility or a combination of the two.

In both the UK and US, you can pick up the 13R from OnePlus directly (OnePlus US store | OnePlus UK store), as well as third-party retailers, such as Amazon. With no carrier partners in those regions, check out our rundown of the best SIM-only deals.

Should you buy the OnePlus 13R?

The OnePlus 13R doesn’t hide its flaws, making it easy to understand just where your money goes.

Like its predecessor, display and battery prowess are among the phone’s best qualities, but it also happens to be one of the better Snapdragon 8 Gen 3-powered phones on the market right now – especially at its price point. While I favour the design, the user experience is superb.

It’s a shame both the protective glass and fast charging got downgraded from the OnePlus 12R, but in all other areas, this phone punches up.

If you want better water resistance and wireless charging, all of the alternatives mentioned in the pricing section will fit the bill, but there’s nothing that quite strikes the same balance as the OnePlus 13R, making it the perfect fit for those who still haven’t quite found what they’re looking for.

Check out our rankings of the best phones to see the top options.

Specs

• OxygenOS 15 atop Android 15
• 6.78-inch, 19.8:9, 1264 x 2780, LTPO 4.1 OLED, 1-120Hz
• Optical in-display fingerprint sensor
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset
• 12GB RAM (LPDDR5X)
• 256GB storage (UFS 4.0)
• Cameras:
  • 50Mp 1/1.56-inch f/1.8 Sony LYT-700 main sensor w/ OIS
  • 50Mp 1/2.75-inch f/2.0 Samsung ISOCELL JN5 2x telephoto
  • 8Mp 1/4-inch f/2.2 112° ultrawide
  • 16Mp 1/3.09-inch f/2.4 112° selfie camera
• Stereo speakers
• Dual-SIM
• Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6/7
• Bluetooth 5.4
• 6000mAh battery
• 80W SUPERVOOC wired charging
• Magnetic accessory ecosystem
• 161.7 x 75.8 x 8mm
• IP65 certified
• 206 grams
• Colours: Astral Trail, Nebula Noir

Best Prices Today: OnePlus 13R