OnePlus 13R review: Feature-rich flagship phone without premium price-tag

OnePlus 13R made its debut in India along with the ultra-premium OnePlus 13 series in January.

OnePlus 13R comes in two variants-- 12GB RAM + 256GB storage and 16GB RAM + 512GB storage with prices starting at Rs 42,999.

I used the device for a little over two weeks and here are my thoughts on the latest Android phone from the house of OnePlus.

Design, build quality and display

OnePlus 13R comes with a refined design language compared to its predecessor. It has a large circular camera module at the top centre and the rest of the panel features.

The device comes in two visually appealing colours--Nebula Noir and Astral Trail. Our review unit is the latter.

It looks gorgeous in the sunlight. It flaunts a beautiful concentric circle of shiny silver-hued lines with a star trail-like design.

OnePlus 13R.

On top of it, the company has incorporated a sturdy glass cover to protect the device from daily wear and tear. On the sides, the flat mid-rail around the edges of the display is made from sturdy aluminium.

The flat edge offers a really good grip for the fingers to hold onto the device.

Further, the device comes with IP65 water-and-dust resistant certification, meaning it can survive water splashes.

On the front, the display is safeguarded by Corning's Gorilla Glass 7i. Further, there is another layer of pre-fitted plastic-based screen protective cover.

OnePlus 13R.

And, OnePlus offers a free cover case with the device. This way, the company has covered all bases to ensure the phone's display can not only survive an accidental fall but also be safeguarded against getting scratched or cracked during a fall or on when kept in close confines of the pant pocket with coins and keys.

It flaunts a 6.78-inch 1.5K LTPO (v4.1) AMOLED display. It supports HDR10+, Ultra HDR image, Dolby Vision, HDR Vivid, peak brightness up to 4,500nits and pixel density of 450ppi (pixels per inch). It is amazing to watch movies and TV series. It is bright and ensures multimedia content comes off bright and vibrant to deliver a delightful viewing experience.

OnePlus 13R.

With 120Hz refresh rate capability, the display is very fluid and responds to the finger touch. It is buttery smooth while scrolling through news feeds on social media apps.

It also boasts of TÜV Rheinland Eye Care 4.0 certification, meaning the display is designed in such a way, it controls the emission of harmful blue light and lessens the strain on eyes, particularly during the night when reading long-form articles, ebooks or watching TV series for long hours on a stretch.

OnePlus 13R.

It also supports an in-screen fingerprint sensor. And, it works amazingly super fast in terms of recognising the finger impression and unlocking the home screen. What impressed me the most was that it was able to recognise finger impressions when it is wet and sweaty, all thanks to Agua Touch 2.0 technology. It also ensures the user is able to scroll through social media apps or even write messages with wet fingers with less hassle.

Add to that, the device also boasts of Glove mode. It will be able to take tough inputs even if the user is using a glove on their hands.

Performance

Under the hood, it comes with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor with Adreno 750 GPU, up to 16GB RAM with 256GB/512GB (UFS 4.0) internal storage.

Our review unit comes with 16GB RAM + 512GB storage. Also, the virtual RAM via RAM expansion feature is maxed out to 12GB, which sums up to 28GB of RAM.

OnePlus 13R's CPU and GPU performance on Geekbench 6.0 performance testing app.

With such a configuration, the OnePlus 13R did not disappoint at all. It worked smoothly without any pressing issues to complain about.

Not just day-to-day activities, it was absolutely buttery smooth and responsive while playing graphics-rich games.

Also, it is one of the first premium phones to support 120fps refresh rate on games including the popular title BGMI (Battle Ground Mobile India).

And, even when performing generative Artificial Intelligence features, the OnePlus 13R, as advertised, was able to perform perfectly well. In addition to Gemini AI app, audio transcriptions and circle to search, it supports popular gen AI-powered photography tools features such as AI unblur, and AI Eraser. AI Reflection Eraser, AI Detai Boost and more.

OnePlus 13R supports multiple gen AI features.

It never showed slightest signs of lag at any point during the review period. Also, most importantly, the device does not get overheated much. It has a bigger 9925mm2 vapour cool chamber compared to the predecessor, which by the way had a 9144 mm2 vapour cool chamber

The device runs Android 15-based OxygenOS 16. It has several third-party and even app store other than Google Play Store, but thanks to the generous storage offered by the company, there won't be anxiety about running out of space anytime soon.

OnePlus 13R series.

Also, it supports the special 'Share with iPhone' feature, which lets users instantly transfer any file or multimedia content with an iPhone, like the AirDrop feature between any two Apple devices. However, for this feature to work seamlessly, the iPhone owner has to install the O+ Connect app.

The company offers a base model with 256GB and there is also 512GB storage. There is enough space to install hundreds of apps and also capture thousands of videos/photos through the camera.

OnePlus 13R will get four years of Android OS update (up to 2029) and six years of software security support (up to 2031).

Battery life

The device houses a massive 6,000mAh capacity cell, the biggest for any OnePlus phone to date. It can last more than a day under normal usage (with Wi-Fi at home and the office).

Even if you are fully dependent on the cellular data all day, the OnePlus 13R can still be able to deliver one full day.

And, with an 80W wired charger, it can go from zero to 50 per cent in around 20 minutes and hit the 100 per cent market under 55 minutes.

OnePlus 13R camera sample.

Photography

It features a triple camera module-- main 50 MP (f/1.8 aperture, 24mm wide lens, 1/1.56-inch sensor, 1.0µm pixel size, multi-directional PDAF: Phase Detection Auto Focus and OIS: Optical Image Stabilisation) with 50 MP (f/2.0, 47mm lens, 1/2.75-inch sensor, 0.64µm pixel size, PDAF, 2x optical zoom) telephoto camera and a 112-degree 8MP ultra-wide camera ( f/2.2, 16mm lens, 1/4.0-inch sensor, 1.12µm pixel size) with LED flash on the back.

It takes amazing photos in almost all light conditions. As you can see in the sample photos, the vibrant colours of the subject particularly the flowers look lively and beautiful.

OnePlus 13R camera sample.

It also takes pretty good macro photos in close-up range.

With an ultra-wide angle, the device can capture vast areas of the field with good detail.

At night, the OnePlus 13R excels in getting sharp photos with less noise. It also manages to balance the light coming out of the electric billboards and neon lights to deliver a cinematic effect with automatic colour grading.

OnePlus 13R camera sample.

It also supports astral photography and time-lapse modes to deliver dramatic sky pictures and bustling city traffic at night.

OnePlus 13R camera sample with night mode on.

OnePlus 13R camera sample.

The AI Eraser works like a charm. It takes a few seconds to remove the object be it an animal or a person with minimal residue of its existence. Also, ensures to camouflage the empty space created by the removed object with the background. Though it will be difficult to see the minor changes on a compact screen of the phone, but will be able to find them on a big computer screen.

OnePlus 13R's AI Eraser feature.

Having said that, OnePlus has done a good job with this AI feature in the OnePlus 13 series, on par with the Pixel phones.

OnePlus 13R camera sample.

With portrait mode, the device manages to get a visually beautiful bokeh effect with the background artfully blurred, while the subject is captured with sharpness and more detail.

OnePlus 13R's camera sample with portrai mode on.

It supports 4K video recording at 30/60 frames per second (fps), and 1080p at 30/60/120/240fps with gyro-EIS (electronic Image Stabilisation). The video quality is top-class, on par with rival brands in its class.

It has a 16MP front camera for selfies and video calling. It takes brilliant selfies in almost all light conditions.

OnePlus 13R's camera sample.

The video quality during the video call is praiseworthy too.

The new OnePlus phones are guaranteed four years of Android OS updates and an additional year of software security support.

Final thoughts

OnePlus 13R may not have bigupgrade over the predecessor, but it ticks all the crucial aspects we expect from a modern premium phone.

OnePlus 13R series.

It has a solid build quality, a really good display, amazing camera backed by generative AI features, which by the way work like a charm. It delivers a very long battery life and charges super quickly. And, most importantly it costs less than half of the price of ultra-premium phones in the market.

It is a very compelling phone for price-conscious consumers.

OnePlus 13R comes in two variants-- 12GB RAM + 256GB storage and 16 GB RAM + 512GB storage for Rs 42,999, and Rs 49,999, respectively.

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