OnePlus 13R Review: Misses out on style, makes up for it in substancenews24

Over the years, OnePlus’ ‘R’ series smartphones have earned a reputation for offering outstanding value, with the brand proudly calling them “flagship killers.” I reviewed the OnePlus 12R last year and was thoroughly impressed, ranking it among the best phones I’ve used. That said, the OnePlus 13R doesn’t quite hit the same marks – and not in the ways you might typically assume. So, does that mean it’s a bad phone? Far from it; it’s just a bit more complicated than that. Let me clarify in this detailed review of the OnePlus 13R, which I’ve now used for almost two months.

Unboxing:

If you’ve used a OnePlus device before, you’ll know what to expect. Inside the OnePlus 13R’s red box you get the device itself with a plastic screen protector applied, a Type B to Type C cable, a red USB cable, a power brick, a SIM ejector tool and some paperwork that most of us will never bother to look at.

Enough about the box, let’s dive straight into the device and this is where my complaint with the OnePlus’ latest flagship killer begins. Having used a fair share of devices over the past year, I felt that the OnePlus 12R was one of the most premium-feeling phone with its curved AMOLED display and rounded edges on the back, making it not only easier to hold but also premium-looking, especially with the blue colour variant.

Unfortunately, the OnePlus 13R fails to live up to my expectations. The phone has the same metal frame and round camera module as last year, but almost everything else has changed. There is a flat panel on the front, while the glass back on the 12R is now replaced by a metal exterior with sharp edges, making the phone look boxy and, frankly, a little uncomfortable to hold for long periods of time.

Now, I know that looks are subjective and some people may just find this phone appealing, but it’s my job to point out the obvious that the design here feels like a major step down, especially since OnePlus did such a great job last time around.

Another disappointment here is that OnePlus has only offered a minimal upgrade in terms of waterproofing, going from IP64 on the last generation to IP65 on the 13R, meaning you still need to keep it away from deep water.

The good news is that OnePlus has decided to ditch the optical fingerprint sensor on the 12R in favour of an ultrasonic one on the new phone, and I am happy to report that the sensor is just as fast and responsive as the one on the OnePlus 13 (Review).

Display:

OnePlus 13R features a 6.78-inch LTPO AMOLED display with a resolution of 2780 x 1264 pixels and a peak brightness of 4,500 nits; 1600 nits in high brightness mode (HBM). The flat screen means it will be easier to find third-party screen protectors for the phone, and if you don’t want to put anything on your screen, know that the front display is protected by Gorilla Glass 7i.

OnePlus continues to deliver excellent displays with its Number series and the OnePlus 13R offered excellent viewing quality both indoors and in bright outdoor conditions. The display is paired with a stereo speaker setup that is quite loud and leaves little to complain about. A minor annoyance is that the speakers no longer have Dolby Atmos support, but this didn’t hamper my experience too much as the stereo speaker doesn’t seem to be lacking in many areas.

Battery and software:
OnePlus 13R comes with the same 6,000mAh battery as its elder sibling but strangely enough, OnePlus has cut down the fast charging capability from 100W to 80W this time around.

The slower charging speed paired with a larger battery (up from 5,500mAh last year), means that the phone takes around an hour to completely fill up. But once it’s up to its steads, one can easily expect it to last a full day – if not more- even while running battery draining tasks like gaming, video editing and continuous OTT streaming. In case you want specific numbers, expect a screen of time of around 8-9 hours from this device.

The 13R runs on the latest OxygenOS 15 based on Android 15 and OnePlus promises 4 years of OS updates and 6 years of security patches with this device. Mere statistics aside, OxygenOS 15 on this phone is perhaps the most fluid UI in the market at this point with blazing fast animations and ultra-smooth transitions that making the whole experience fluid and lag free.

There are limited number of pre-intalled third party apps which includes LinkedIn, Facebook and Netflix. Apart from that there are no ads to be found anywhere in the UI but that may not stay the case as OnePlus’s OS takes a more and more Colour OS twist.

Performance: This is where the real upgrade lies

The OnePlus 13R is powered by Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, the processor found on most flagship devices from last year, including OnePlus 12 and the iQOO 12. Another major upgrade this year is the pairing of a minimum of 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM (up from 8GB last year) and 256GB of UFS 4.0 storage (yes, it’s confirmed this time around).

It’s an understatement to say that the 13R handles all the tasks you throw at it with ease be it hardcore gaming, video editing and switching between different apps. I am not a big time gamer but I did try some popular titles on this device including BGMI and Call of Duty Mobile, the phone fared well and there were no heating issues to report.

As for benchmarks, the OnePlus 13R garners a score of 18,31,677 on Antutu. On Geekbench 6, it gets a single core score of 2,236 and a multi-core score of 6757.

Meanwhile, on 3D Mark’s Wild Life Extreme Stress Test, the 13R comes out with a best loop score of 5036 and a lowest loop score of 2,758 with 54.8%, suggesting the device could struggle with some throttling issues. I also ran the throttling test on this device where the performance dropped to around 65 percent after 15 minutes of running the test.

Camera:

OnePlus has refreshed its camera system this time around with the primary sensor continuing to be a 50MP shooter but with the Sony LYT 700 lens while the 8MP Sony IMX 355 ultra-wide angle shooter carried forward from last year. The best upgrade, though, is the removal of gimmicky 2MP macro shooter for a 50MP 2x Samsung JN5 telephoto but sadly it doesn’t come with optical image stabilization (OIS).

Just the like last year, the primary shooter continues to be a very capable one with almost as good images – both day time and night time- as the OnePlus 13. It’s not the best primary camera out there but it will get the job done on most occasions.

Which is not something that can be said about the ultra-wide angle shooter, which continues to show a significant colour shift and loss detail as compared to the primary lens. The 50MP lens does help in taking portrait shots during day light but the lack of OIS means night time shots are tend to get blurry easily and aren’t generally as good as some of the other telephoto shooters out there.

The front-facing shooter is a 16MP Sony IMX480 that offers shots with plenty of detail and cooler skin tones that we have come to expect from OnePlus. I do feel that the selfie shooter loses a bit of detail when taking pictures in low light, but the well-lit selfies come out as sharp as ever.

Verdict:

Purely in terms of in-hand feel, the OnePlus 13R is a big letdown from last year, and the removal of Dolby Atmos branding for the speakers and downgrading the charger to 80W are a few steps in the opposite direction. The OnePlus performance phone is also stuck with an IP65 rating, while the competition is getting to IP68 and beyond.

That being said, the OnePlus 13R also gets many important upgrades from last year, including a much more powerful processor, a bigger battery, the inclusion of an in-display ultrasonic fingerprint scanner and a telephoto lens, making it one of the best flagship killers on the market right now. In fact, let me put it to you this way: if you are in the market for a phone in the ₹40,000 price range, there is no looking beyond the OnePlus 13R.