OnePlus 15R review: Heavy-duty performer

OnePlus on Wednesday (December 17) launched the much-awaited OnePlus 15R along with the OnePlus Pad Go 2 in Bengaluru, India.

The new device comes with big upgrades over the predecessor in terms of build quality, better display, more powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset and a big battery.

Design, build quality and display

OnePlus 15R shares the design philosophy of the original premium phone, OnePlus 15.

As there is one less camera sensor than the premium version, the camera deco at the top is more compact, and the OnePlus logo right at the centre ensures the device retains its trademark minimalistic style.

Our review unit is the Mint Breeze variant, which looks very refreshing to the eyes. The company also offers the device in charcoal black with a soft matte finish. Both models come with high-quality glass.

OnePlus 15 (left) and OnePlus 15R (right).

For India, OnePlus is offering an exclusive Electric Violet colour option. It flaunts a purple tone with sturdy fibreglass to withstand daily wear and tear, better than the other two.

Like the top-end model, it comes with IP66, IP68, IP69 and IP69K ratings. It can survive under water up to two metres depth for close to 30 minutes and can even withstand high-pressure water jets at temperatures up to 80°C.

OnePlus 15R colours-- Charcoal Black and Electric Violet.

Further, the display is protected by Corning's Gorilla Glass 7i shield. Additionally, the company pre-fits the screen guard.

Further, OnePlus also offers a soft silicone case, which protects the device from getting dented or scratched during a hard fall on the surface.

OnePlus 15R features Plus Key button, which replaces the trademark alert slider we have seen in almost all OnePlus phones for over a decade.

OnePlus 15R with colour-matching silicone cover case, which by the way comes free of cost with the retail box.

Unlike the alert slider, which allows the user to switch between ring, silence and vibration modes, the Plus Key can be programmable to do multiple functions such as turn on silent/night mode, do not disturb, launch camera, shortcut to take screenshots, take voice memo, torch, and Mind Space, OnePlus’ AI feature.

OnePlus 15R supports Plus Key and Mind Space AI feature.

By default, it will trigger Mind Space, which, by the way, is now integrated with Google Gemini AI.

With a short-press, the phone captures the screen content to save or look up on the internet to get more details of a particular object in the screenshot. With a long-press, users can add a voice note to be reminded later.

And, a double-press opens Mind Space to check for older saved screenshots. This feature comes in handy for certain scenarios, where the user comes across an interesting thing on the internet and wants to research it later during free time.

The new OnePlus 15R sports a 6.83-inch 1.5K (2800×1272p) AMOLED display with a dynamic refresh rate and a pixel density of 450 ppi (pixels per inch).

OnePlus 15R.

Though it lacks a dedicated anti-reflective coating, the screen is great for binge-watching TV series on OTT apps, and doom scrolling on Instagram, watching reels endlessly.

It supports up to 165Hz refresh rate, which ensures the display works buttery smooth while scrolling social media newsfeed, browsing the internet, reading news and while gaming.

Also, it comes with 'Intelligent Eye Care' tech to lessen the emission of blue light and protect the eyes from getting strained while reading long-form news articles or e-books at night.

OnePlus phone supports up to 3200Hz instant touch sampling rate, powered by a dedicated Touch Responsive Chip. It comes in handy while playing highly competitive battle royale games, where every fraction of a second is crucial to make that kill shot and eventually win the round.

The device also features dual-SIM slots, an infrared sensor and an in-screen ultrasonic fingerprint sensor. The latter works pretty neatly with a lower false rejection rate.

Performance

OnePlus 15R is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 5. It comes with a custom-built Qualcomm Oryon CPU and supports peak speeds up to 3.8 GHz. Along with faster speeds, it can deliver 36 per cent performance improvement and 76 per cent better web browsing responsiveness.

Further, Qualcomm Adreno GPU features an innovative sliced architecture, which unlocks higher clock speeds and boosts gaming and graphics performance by 11 per cent.

OnePlus 15R single-core and multi-core CPU performance score on Geekbench 6.0.

It also has Qualcomm Hexagon NPU (Neural Processing Unit), and can deliver up to 46 per cent improved AI performance. With this, the OnePlus 15R will be able to support advanced agentic AI assistants. The latter can work independently on-device and be able to offer context-aware interactions and personalised suggestions to the smartphone owners.

In practical terms, too, the device managed handle all activities smoothly. Even while playing graphics-rich games, it remained stable, and there was over heating as such. That credit has to go to the 360-degree Cryo-Velocity Cooling system. It has a big 5,704mm² 3D vapour chamber which is lined with an Aerogel cooling layer in addition graphite layer to ensure efficient heat dissipation when performing heavy-duty tasks such as 4K recording, running generative AI applications and more.

OnePlus 15R.

Also, the device chip houses a dedicated Wi-Fi G2 chipset. It promises stable wireless internet connectivity up to 27 metres, much better than more than 50 per cent of the devices in the market.

The OnePlus 15R runs Android 16-based OxygenOS. It is clean and very easy to navigate through the settings. Also, it offers a plethora of customisation to enhance the visual appeal of the lock screen. The device is guaranteed to get four years of Android OS updates up to 2029 and six years of security patches for protection against emerging cyber threats up to 2031.

OnePlus 15R series colours-- Electric Violet (left), Charcoal Black (middle) and Breeze Mint (left).

The new phone comes with a massive 7,400mAh battery. It can easily last more than one and a half days with normal usage. If you are one of those who binge-watch reels for several hours a day, the device will still be able to run for a whole day.

OnePlus 15R supports 80W SuperVOOC fast charging. It can go from zero to 50 per cent in around 30 minutes and can hit 100 per cent in a little over an hour. It also supports reverse wired charging. With this, users can use the device as a power bank to pass extra battery power to a friend's phone.

OnePlus 15R's camera sample.

Photography

It sports a dual-camera module -- main 50MP (with OIS: Optical Image Stabilisation) + 8MP 120-degree ultra-wide camera with LED flash. It can record 4K at 120 frames per second.

OnePlus 15R's camera sample.

It has really good photos in natural light conditions. The colour tones of the subject, such as the human face, are near-accurate, and with flowers, the RGB colours tend to be warmer and punchier. This is not a complaint, as you can see the sample pictures, they look very pretty.

OnePlus 15R's camera sample.

Even the close-up range photos are good, as the camera manages to neatly capture all the minute details.

OnePlus 15R's camera sample.

At night, the picture quality is decent, on par with rival brands in its class.

OnePlus 15R's camera sample.

OnePlus 15R's camera sample.

Indoors with controlled light conditions, the device manages to get quite decent sharp photos.

OnePlus 15R's camera sample.

OnePlus 15R's camera sample.

OnePlus 15R's camera sample.

It does a fine job with wide-angle shots. It manages to capture a wide area in the frame pretty nicely.

OnePlus 15R's camera sample with ultra-wide angle mode.

OnePlus 15R's camera sample.

The device manages to get lossless quality images at 2X and 5X digital zoom, but beyond that, the photos begin to accumulate noise and become grainy by the time it reaches 20X zoom.

OnePlus 15R camera sample with 2X zoom.

OnePlus 15R camera sample with 5X zoom.

OnePlus 15R camera sample with 10X zoom.

OnePlus 15R camera sample with 20X zoom.

Also, the portrait mode does well with sharp focus on the subject and artfully blurs the background to create a perfect bokeh effect.

OnePlus 15R's camera sample.

The device comes with several gen AI tools such as AI Recompose, AI Eraser, AI Perfect Shot, AI Unblur, AI Reflection Eraser and AI Portrait Glow to enhance photography experience.

OnePlus 15R's camera sample.

It also supports 4K video recording at 120 frames per second.

And, it can also record ultra-slow 1080p full HD videos at 240fps.

OnePlus 15R's camera sample.

On the front, it features a 32MP sensor. It takes really good selfies in sun-lit conditions. It can also record high-quality 4K and full HD 1080p videos at 30 fps.

Final thoughts

The photography hardware is not the best in its class, but it does a decent job. However, OnePlus 15R punches above its weight in delivering smooth performance and long battery life, all thanks to custom-developed, powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 silicon.

OnePlus 15R.

Even the build quality and display is really good, which makes the OnePlus device more compelling than others in the market.

OnePlus 15R comes in two storage options— 256GB and 512GB— for Rs 47,999 and Rs 52,999, respectively. It is being offered in three colours-- Charcoal Black, Mint Breeze and Electric Violet. It will be available for purchase from December 22 onwards.

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