OnePlus 12R Review: The more affordable OnePlus 12

OnePlus might have gotten into the premium flagship zone with its main number series. Still, the R variants of its premium flagships are a reminder that it has not forgotten its flagship-killing roots.

The OnePlus 11R was a similar looking, slightly less powerfully specced, and much more affordable avatar of the OnePlus 11, and the OnePlus 12R follows in its footsteps. In many ways, it is the OnePlus for those who want that very OnePlus flagship appearance and feel but do not wish to shell out the bucks for its premium price tag.

But just how many corners does the OnePlus 12R cut to become more affordable, and just how much of a difference do they make to people looking for a budget flagship?

OnePlus 12R looks and appearance: Isn’t that a OnePlus 12?

At first glance, the OnePlus 12R is a dead ringer for the OnePlus 12. So much so that if OnePlus were a Bollywood film, the OnePlus 12 and the OnePlus 12R would be like similar-looking twin siblings who got separated at a festival, with one ending up in a wealthy household. At the same time, the other went to an upper-middle-class family. It has a similar curved front and back appearance with a slightly convex aluminum frame, eschewing the ‘straight sides’ and ‘flat back’ trend going around in tech town. It even has a very similar large circular camera unit with grooves on the back.

Although both have slightly different color variants – the OnePlus 12 has the marble textured Flowy Emerald green and subtle shiny Silk Black, while the OnePlus 12R has the very glossy and shiny Cool Blue and slightly darkish Iron Gray – from a distance, both look like different color variants of the same phone (they even have the alert slider on the same side – the left!). Which is not a bad thing, given that we like the quietly elegant looks of the OnePlus 12.

A closer look at the phone, however, reveals the differences. At 163.75 mm in height, the OnePlus 12R is ever so slightly smaller than the OnePlus 12 (164.3 mm) and very slightly less wide (75.3 mm against 75.8 mm), although it is slimmer at 8.8 mm against 9.2 mm and lighter at 207 grams against 220 grams of the 12. Most notably, the circular camera unit on the back does not have the Hasselblad branding that the one on the OnePlus 12 has. The finish on the back of our Cool Blue OnePlus 12R was also a little more mirror-like and glossy, making it super susceptible to smudges.

Look at the specs, and you will realize that while the OnePlus 12 has Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the front and Gorilla Glass on its back, the 12R has Gorilla Glass Victus on the front but unlabelled glass on the back. There is also a slight difference in the level of dust and water protection – the 12 gets IP65, while the 12R gets IP64, which means that while the OnePlus 12 is protected against jets of water, the 12R is only splashproof.

All said and done, the OnePlus 12R is a big phone, although very slightly smaller than the OnePlus 12, and has a similar premium look and feel to it. If you like the design of the OnePlus 12 (we did), you will like that of the OnePlus 12R too. Just keep a cloth handy if you get the Cool Blue edition, as it gets smudged all too easily.

OnePlus 12R spec sheet: The OnePlus 12 Lite, really

The external similarities between the OnePlus 12 and the OnePlus 12R do not extend to their hardware souls. The OnePlus 12R is very much a notch below the 12 in this regard. Its display is only slightly smaller (6.78 inches as compared to 6.82 inches of the OnePlus 12). It is also an LTPO AMOLED display with a 120 Hz refresh rate and a very impressive maximum brightness of 4500 nits, but its resolution of 2780 x 1264 is less than the 3168 x 1440 of the OnePlus 12. The OnePlus 12R also gets last year’s flagship chip, the still-very-good Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, with three RAM and storage variants (8 GB/ 128 GB, 8 GB/ 256 GB, and 16 GB/ 256 GB), and while it too has LPDDR5X RAM like the 12, the storage is UFS 3.1 as compared to the UFS 4.0 on the OnePlus 12.

The difference in cameras is very significant as well. Not only does the OnePlus 12R not have the benefits of a Hasselblad tie-up, but its camera lineup comprises a 50-megapixel main Sony IMX890 sensor with OIS, an 8-megapixel ultrawide and a 2-megapixel macro sensor, whose very presence is a surprise (and not a pleasant one) on a device in this segment. The front camera is also a 16-megapixel one, as compared to the 32-megapixel one on the OnePlus 12. One area where the 12R beats the 12 is in terms of battery – it comes with a 5500 mAh battery as compared to the 5400 mAh one on the 12 and also supports 100W SuperVOOC charging, although unlike the 12, it supports no wireless charging. Like its R-less sibling, the OnePlus 12R also comes with stereo speakers and with OxygenOS 14 on top of Android 14.

Seen in terms of pure specs, the OnePlus 12R is a worthy successor to the OnePlus 11R and follows the sample principle of placing a more affordable yet still flagship heart inside a similar-looking frame. It is definitely not as premium flagship-py as the OnePlus 12, and it is easy to refer to it as a OnePlus 12 Lite, but on its own, it packs in enough to be called a budget flagship.

OnePlus 12R cameras: Classic OG OnePlus shooters (steady performers that improve after updates)

Cameras were not the forte of the OnePlus flagship series for the longest time (things got better around 2021). It was not as if OnePlus devices had bad cameras. It was just that they did not quite belong in the league of the Galaxy S, Pixels, or the iPhones.

The OnePlus 12R is a bit of a blast from that camera’s past. Its main 50-megapixel camera with the flagship-level Sony IMX890 sensor is a very good performer, capturing a fairly good amount of detail and delivering slightly over-saturated but very pleasant-looking colors. It seemed to struggle a little in the video department (especially in terms of stability) and in low-light conditions, but those issues seem to have been resolved with a software update in the best OnePlus tradition.

If you stick to the main sensor, you are assured of close to flagship-level performance, especially in good light conditions. It is the secondary camera department in which the OnePlus 12R comes a little unstuck. The 8-megapixel ultrawide camera does provide a wider perspective, but it does not handle detail very well, and the less said of the 2-megapixel camera, the better. You can take pictures from as close as 4 centimeters, but the colors are disappointing, and even detail is not what you expect from a camera at this price point. The absence of a dedicated telephoto sensor means that the zoom ability of the phone is limited, and so are its portrait modes.

That said, the main sensor is a sterling performer, especially after the update. The selfie camera takes useful enough photographs but is steady rather than special. And that actually sums up the OnePlus 12R camera experience – steady rather than special. Stick to the main sensor, and you can get some very good pictures, even in low light (post the update).

OnePlus 12R gaming and general performance: A super smooth operator

It might lack the specs of the OnePlus 12, but in terms of gaming and general performance, the OnePlus 12R runs the OnePlus 12 very close. The star of the OnePlus 12R show is that brilliant display, which is perhaps one of the brightest in the segment. That, combined with very good speakers, makes the OnePlus 12R a very good phone for viewing videos and other content.

The phone can lay claim to being a bit of a gaming beast, too, as the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor powering it is still more than capable of playing titles like Call of Duty, Asphalt, and Genshin Impact at high settings without breaking into a sweat – in fact, OnePlus has even released a special Genshin Impact Edition of the OnePlus 12R. The phone also stays remarkably cool for such a slim device (it did get a trifle warm initially, but hey, this is a OnePlus – an update fixed matters within a few weeks!).

The big, bright display combined with all that processor power and RAM also means that the OnePlus 12R is great for everyday tasks like browsing the Web, social media, messaging, and mail, which it sails through without any problems whatsoever. We often had close to a dozen apps open on the device and never faced any lags. OxygenOS 14 on top of Android 14, works very well indeed and remains a very uncluttered, clean interface – Netflix was the only third-party app we found on our device.

The in–display fingerprint scanner works smoothly, and call handling is very good indeed. Like the OnePlus 12, the OnePlus 12R also has an IR blaster, which means you can use it to control household devices like televisions and air conditioners. All in all, the OnePlus 12R is a great everyday gaming phone – one of the best in its segment!

OnePlus 12R Battery and charging: Live long with warp speed, Mr Sulu!

There is one spec department in which the OnePlus 12R not just comfortably matches the OnePlus 12 but actually beats it – battery. The OnePlus 12R comes with a massive 5500 mAh battery (slightly bigger than the 5400 mAh one on the OnePlus 12), and just like the OnePlus 12, it also charges at 100W using the SuperVOOC charger in the box.

That large battery, combined with a slightly smaller and lower resolution display, gives the OnePlus 12R extremely good battery life – we comfortably got through a day and a half with it. We sometimes came close to two days of relatively normal usage. The charger gets it from zero to full in less than half an hour, which is extremely impressive for this segment. There is no wireless charging, which is hardly a deal breaker in this segment.

OnePlus 12R Price: Affordable by OP 12 standards, but swimming in competitive waters

The OnePlus 12R is available in these RAM and storage variants and at these prices:

• 8 GB/ 128 GB: Rs 39,999
• 8 GB/ 256 GB: Rs 42,999
• 16 GB/ 256 GB : Rs 45,999

Those prices are significantly lower than those of the OnePlus 12, which starts at Rs 64,999, and make the OnePlus 12R a great option for OnePlus flagship fans on a tight budget. That lower price tag, however, also means that the OnePlus 12R faces a lot of competition. Its fiercest rival is the iQOO Neo 9 Pro, which brings an almost similar spec sheet and a much more striking design at a starting price of Rs 34,999. Those looking for a clean Android interface inside a different design and interface might also consider the Nothing Phone (2), which runs an older Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor but comes with the LED-laden Glyph UI on its back, improved cameras, and a super clean interface, and also starts at Rs 35,999. And well, those in pursuit of great cameras and smart features will be tempted by the sill-superb Google Pixel 7a, which is often available for under Rs 40,000 these days.

OnePlus 12R Review Verdict: Should you buy it?

At its starting price of Rs 39,999, the OnePlus 12R is a very good option for those who are looking for a high-end OnePlus experience but do not have the budget for the OnePlus 12. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor and superb display make it a very good gaming device, and its main camera delivers excellent images in good light.

The Pixel 7a might deliver better images, the Nothing Phone (2) might look more noticeably different, and the iQOO Neo 9 Pro might deliver comparable (some might say better) specs at a lower price, but if you are looking for a OnePlus flagship experience at the most affordable possible price (and such is OnePlus’ aura in the market that many are looking for just that), then the One Plus 12R is the device for you. It may lack the flagship specs of the OnePlus 12, but it has the flagship-killing soul of the OnePlus.

Buy OnePlus 12R