OnePlus stepped into 2025 by launching the flagship OnePlus 13 (our review here) and the flagship alternative OnePlus 13R. While its Rs 42,999 price tag places it in the upper-midrange category, the OnePlus 13R can easily go up against premium smartphones that cost twice as much. What makes the R series so competitive is the previous year’s flagship Qualcomm chipset under its hood. However, this year, the 13R has made incredible strides in the camera department as well, replacing the infamous 2MP macro lens with a more practical 50MP telephoto sensor. When it comes to the design the OnePlus 13 and 13R are almost indistinguishable. ‘Flagship killer’ is a term that is thrown around quite liberally these days, but with the 13R, we may finally have a formidable beast on our hands. Here is our OnePlus 13R review.
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OnePlus 13R Review: Design and Display
Here’s what you get inside OnePlus 13R’s retail box:
- Smartphone
- 80W power adapter
- USB Type-A to Type-C cable
- Silicone case
- SIM ejector
- Quick guide
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OnePlus 13R follows the design language established by the flagship OnePlus 13. The panel around the camera island is now gone and the circular cutout now sits freely on the top left section of the back panel. OnePlus’ collaboration with the camera giant Hasselblad is only limited to its flagship offering, which is why the ‘H’ logo is absent on the 13R. The glass back panel comes in 2 shades – Nebula Noir (Black) and Astral Trail (Silver). We used the latter unit for this review. The star trail pattern on the back panel is executed tastefully. It doesn’t stick out when you turn the phone around but adds a subtle flair.
Aesthetically, the form factor sets the 13R apart from the OnePlus 13, and we prefer it to the flagship model. The flat back panel, rails, and display give the device a clean look. Not to mention, the accidental touches are also kept to a minimum. If you’re not a fan of curved panels and displays, the 13R would be more up your alley. The aluminium frame on this smartphone has a matte finish. It houses the iconic tri-state alert slider on the left edge. The volume rocker and side key are positioned on the right edge. At the bottom, lie the SIM slot, primary microphone, USB port, and primary speaker grille. The secondary speaker and IR blaster find their way to the top edge.
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The 6.78-inch LTPO 4.1 AMOLED display has a 120Hz refresh rate and can hit a peak brightness of 4,500 nits. In High Brightness Mode, this panel can reach 1,600 nits. It goes without saying that the display remains clear and legible under direct sunlight. The touch response is smooth and the snappy animations make it all the more better. Since the display isn’t curved around the edges, the accidental touches are almost non-existent.
The AMOLED panel has a 1,264 x 2,780p resolution, making it ideal for binging on HD content. During the review period, we used the OnePlus 13R as our primary media streaming device. The rich image quality remained consistent across all OTT platforms. The punchiness of the colours elevated the viewing experience. The smartphone offers plenty of customisation options for the display, including 4 colour modes, 3 colour temperature settings, an image sharpener, and a colour boost tool for videos.
OnePlus 13R is rated IP65 for dust and water resistance, which is quite mediocre for an upper-midrange smartphone. It can withstand torrential rainfall, but not prolonged exposure underwater. However, when you look at the rest of the spec sheet, this tradeoff makes the most sense.
OnePlus 13R: Performance and Cameras
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset lies at the heart of the OnePlus 13R. This was Qualcomm’s flagship SoC in 2024 and it still holds up very well. The smartphone is available in 2 RAM (LPDDR5X) and storage (UFS 4.0) variants:
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12GB + 256GB: Rs 42,999
16GB + 512GB: Rs 49,999
Here’s how the smartphone performed in Geekbench 6 and AnTuTu benchmarks:
Geekbench 6: 2,188 (single-core) | 6,470 (multi-core)
AnTuTu: 1,823,819
We used the OnePlus 13R for a variety of tasks in the week-long review period. In everyday use, it matched the performance of the OnePlus 13. The smartphone did a great job of handling multiple tasks at once without throwing any jitters. Even with a dozen apps running in the background, the 13R did not move out of second gear. Routine tasks like video calling, media streaming, social media browsing, navigation, and photo editing were handled expertly.
We played gaming titles like Call of Duty Mobile and BGMI on the OnePlus 13R during the review period and were happy with the overall experience. There were no unexpected lags or frame drops to be seen. You can unlock the 120fps frame rate while playing BGMI on this device. The double-layered 9925mm Cryo-velocity vapour chamber does a great job of dissipating the heat and keeping the device’s internal temperature in check. We noticed slight heating around the camera panel after 30 minutes of gameplay.
OnePlus 13R runs the Android 15-based OxygenOS 15 out of the box. OnePlus has promised 4 major OS upgrades and 6 years of security patches for this smartphone – the same as its flagship model. The software experience is clean right out of the box, with only 3 bloatware apps present on the device. The software feels very light and snappy.
The 13R gets the full range of OnePlus AI features. We’ve talked about these features in our OnePlus 13 review, so make sure you give it a read as well. Features like AI Reply, AI Summary, and AI Speak have found their way into our daily usage, mostly due to their ease of access. The AI object eraser does a decent job of eliminating undesired objects from pictures, but it is still a step behind Samsung and Google’s object removal tools.
OxygenOS 15’s strongest suit is its customisation and privacy features. You can apply magazine-style wallpapers on the lock screen (Flux themes) and apply the depth effect on the text and the clock widget. Features like app lock, private safe, and system cloner keep your privacy intact.
OnePlus 13R rocks the same 6,000mAh Si/C battery as its flagship counterpart. This battery pack puts in an amazing shift on both smartphones. We were able to hit 8-9 hours of screen time on a single charge. On heavy usage days that involved a lot of gaming and media streaming, we were left with a 20% charge after a screen time of 6 hours. If you’re more conservative with your usage, you can push this smartphone to 2 days on a single charge. With 80W fast charging support, it takes just under an hour to fully charge the device.
OnePlus 13R’s rear camera panel rocks a 50MP Sony LYT-700 primary sensor, a 50MP ISOCELL JN5 telephoto sensor with 2x optical zoom, and an 8 ultrawide lens. The decision to replace the 2MP macro sensor with a telephoto lens is a welcome one.
The 50MP primary shooter produces brilliant pictures in outdoor daylight conditions. The images are detailed and showcase a good dynamic range. The colours are rich and vivid, without looking overprocessed. In limited lighting conditions, the camera app defaults to Night Mode, which does a good job of brightening the subject, assigning it accurate colours, and getting rid of the grain from the shot.
The 8MP ultrawide lens retains the colour accuracy of the primary shooter, but the images taken from this camera are a tad soft. The dropoff isn’t large, but it is noticeable. Having said that, we found a lot of use for this camera in daily usage. In limited lighting conditions, the ultrawide shots are well-lit but visibly grainy.
The new 50MP 2x telephoto lens is a fine addition to this camera array. It takes well-composed pictures at 2x zoom. The colour palette is quite rich and the images have a lot of detail. The images taken at 5x zoom are quite impressive too. You hit the point of diminishing returns soon after that, but there is the option to zoom up to 20x. In comparison, the flagship model can zoom up to 120x.
OnePlus 13R takes delightful portrait shots, showcasing rich colours and impressive depth of field. The great thing about having a telephoto camera on board is that you can take amazing 2x portrait shots. The smartphone does a good job of separating the subject from the background and applying the appropriate level of blur. The front-facing 16MP camera takes good selfies and keeps the skin correction effects to a minimum. The primary shooter and telephoto lens can shoot 4K footage at 30 and 60fps. Meanwhile, the 8MP ultrawide lens can record 1080p videos at 30/60fps.
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Verdict
The OnePlus 13R is the ideal device for power users who don’t want to spend a small fortune on a premium smartphone. This device can do it all – be it taking stunning portrait shots or running high-end games. Its flat form factor and superior build quality give it an excellent in-hand feel. The LTPO AMOLED display is as smooth as it gets. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC makes this smartphone a true powerhouse. Meanwhile, the OxygenOS 15 brings all the latest AI features. However, the biggest improvement on this smartphone compared to its previous iteration is the 50MP telephoto lens in its rear camera array. Not only does this camera take good 2x shots, but it also produces amazing portraits.
OnePlus 13R: Pros
- Flat form-factor
- Smooth display
- Well-rounded camera array
- Powerful chipset
- Relatively affordable
OnePlus 13R: Cons
- IP65 rating instead of IP67
