OnePlus 12R Review: Call It A Global Flagship Killer

OnePlus got its start in this industry as the plucky little startup that was taking on the big fish. The OnePlus One was dubbed the "flagship killer" because it brought high-end specifications to a midrange price point, and to put it mildly, it was well-received by reviewers and fans alike. That fanbase grew — not to a point where Samsung or Apple would notice — but it was a mighty fanbase, convinced that OnePlus had found the formula for cheap phones that didn't suck.

Skip ahead, and somewhere around the OnePlus 7 or 8, the company shifted its focus away from building "flagship killers" to just plain old building flagships. This was an important step in the company's history because it signaled the end of catering to the vocal, rabid fans of cheap phones, and more toward catering to people who just wanted a good phone experience, regardless of cost. OnePlus then introduced the Nord series to get back to the midrange space that has served it so well, but the "flagship killer" DNA just wasn't there. Sure, the Nord series has produced a good phone here or there, but nary a "flagship killer" in sight.

Enter the "R" series of phones which until now catered largely to an eastern audience (read: India) looking for great specs and a good price. Sound familiar? Finally, the United States and the global audience at large get to experience what those nations had been treated to. As it turns out, it's very not bad. So is the "flagship killer" back? OnePlus sent over a OnePlus 12R review sample to find out. Here's our full review.

On the outside, the OnePlus 12R certainly looks and feels like a flagship. There are two colorways — Cool Blue and Iron Gray. The Cool Blue version is a slick-looking icy blue, almost silver color that really catches the eye. On the back, you get the traditional OnePlus logo in the middle, along with the camera island that is quickly becoming a OnePlus signature. It's a large, circular island that holds the triple-but-not-really camera setup. You get a main sensor, ultrawide sensor, and a macro sensor, which, at this point, should really just not ship on any phones, but we'll discuss the camera setup later.

Like the OnePlus 12, you get a chiseled edge around the circumference of the island which is really great looking along with the matte part of the camera island that gives it its squished-toilet-shaped appearance, and now that you've seen it, you'll never unsee it. You're welcome.

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Around the edges, you have the power and volume rocker on the right side along with OnePlus's signature silence slider on the other. On the bottom, there's a single bottom-firing speaker that gets pretty loud. The earpiece speaker at the top of the phone completes the stereo sound for the phone.

Under the hood, you get a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, 8GB/128GB or 16GB/256GB of RAM/storage, and a 5,500 mAh battery that charges with OnePlus's ridiculous 100W (nerfed to 80W in the U.S.) Supervooc charger that is, of course, included in the box. The phone also boasts an IP64 rating against dust and rain.

Going along with OnePlus's "Fast and Smooth" motto is the LTPO 129Hz Pro XDR Display which is striking. You really notice the 120Hz scrolling smoothness in OnePlus phones and the OnePlus 12R is certainly no exception. Further, the OnePlus utilizes LTPO 4.0 which not only adjusts the refresh rate based on what you're doing but also how you interact with the phone. Slow scrolling might only trigger a 60Hz refresh rate, while a fast flick might push it up to 90Hz or 120Hz. You may or may not be able to tell the difference between the refresh rates — not everyone can, but it's just another way that OnePlus can try to help conserve some battery life.

As for the display itself, it's a 6.78-inch 1.5K display with a 2,780x1264 resolution. Like the OnePlus 12, the screen gets up to a ridiculous 4,500 nits of peak brightness. The screen itself is gorgeous with beautiful deep blacks and a high contrast ratio. The screen wraps around the front of the device and can be prone to the occasional accidental touch if you have particularly unweildy fingers. Most of the time this manifests itself with the phone not registering a touch during a game because your sausage finger has touched the screen near the bottom and is occupying the phone's attention.

As the Oppo-fication of OnePlus's software marches on, you'll be glad to know that some things are staying the same. The OnePlus 12R ships with Oxygen OS 14 which is built on Android 14. It's still the highly customizable software experience that you know and love. It allows you to change the layout of your home screen, enlarge folders to maximize your home screen space, and adjust everything from the shape of your icons to the animation you see when flipping between home screens. Overall, OnePlus has one of the most fun software builds you can find on Android, and that's something that should never change.

One particular highlight of the software comes in folder creation. As described, you can enlarge folders to make more icons accessible in a 2x2 space, but creating folders is also fun and easy. When you pinch your fingers together on the home screen, you get to the home screen customization area. From here you can place checkmarks in all the apps you want to move into a folder, and just tap Create folder at the bottom of the screen. Just like that all of your apps are organized, and it's delightful. Plus, you can drag one folder on top of another folder to combine their contents, which makes organizing your apps deliciously easy.

One of the fun surprises on the phone comes in the form of its camera system. There are two notable cameras on the back of the phone — a 50-megapixel main sensor with f/1.8 aperture, and an 8-megapixel ultrawide camera with a mostly-unimpressive 112-degree field of view. There's also a 2-megapixel macro sensor which is not terribly useful. On the front is a 16-megapixel shooter for your selfies.

Overall, this is a very decent camera set for still, but video is an entirely different matter. During the day all cameras perform well, though there is one rough spot. The camera gives you a 5x zoom option that you really should not use under any circumstances. Pictures get blocky and fuzzy and mostly unusable. OnePlus should have saved us all some time and themselves some lines of code and just removed the 5x option. It's not good.

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At night the camera sensors perform pretty well all things considered. There is a slight green tint over photos taken with the ultrawide lens which naturally throws off the color science between the two lenses. But the main sensor captures unmoving subjects quite well. Once they start to move, things fall apart and fall apart quickly, but for still subjects, nighttime shots are surprisingly good.

Video on the other hand is not very good, even during the day. The OnePlus camera has some stabilization when you're moving, but it seems like the stabilization is overcompensating at times, drifting your center of focus off where you're going. This is especially true when there's no subject in the frame. Panning is pretty good during the day and at night, but if you plan to move, plan to bring a different phone.

There is still a fair amount of grain in videos, but not so much as to be off-putting. If you're focused on just watching the videos on your phone's screen, you probably won't even notice. The video camera at night also struggles with bright light sources, like the headlights of oncoming cars. Until a car gets within 20 feet of you, it just looks like a large flashlight heading your way.

When you flip the camera around, there is no stabilization to be found on the selfie camera when shooting video regardless of light. The picture bounces all around and is generally unwatchable. Front-facing cameras are important to be stabilized because if you ever plan to take a video call while you're on the go, you will make the other callers feel sick trying to watch you, and that is definitely no bueno. If at all possible, take your video calls at a table and don't move.

The OnePlus 12R ships with the largest battery the company has ever put into a phone. It's a 5,500 mAh monster of a battery that easily powers through two days of medium to heavy usage. When you do have to charge, you'll get superfast 100W (80W in the U.S.) wired charging with the included cable and wall charger in the box. That can power your phone to full in under 30 minutes, which changes your relationship with your phone's battery. If you don't have to charge your phone overnight, you can let your phone live its best life by charging it only when it needs it. That's a powerful feeling, no pun intended. But there is no wireless charging here, which is not surprising, but still a bummer.

On the performance side, the phone clocks in with 1,554/4,467 single/multi-core scores on Geekbench which is very consistent with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor. Gaming is great on the phone with titles like "Genshin Impact" and "Call of Duty: Mobile" performing beautifully at default graphic settings. Even after 30 minutes of gaming, the phone only gets warm to the touch.

The OnePlus 12R will be the first OnePlus R-series smartphone to be offered to consumers globally. That's a big deal because this phone is everything you would want in a flagship killer. It has a super fast processor, lots of memory and storage, very good cameras, and smooth software. This is a very good phone.

In terms of pricing, the phone starts at $499.99, and like the OnePlus 12, you can trade in any phone in any condition to get $100 off the retail price on OnePlus.com. Even at $599.99 for the 16GB/256GB configuration (which is the one you should buy) that's a great deal. The phone is available from OnePlus.com, Amazon, and Best Buy, all of which have various pre-order promotions running until February 13th.

At that price point, the only real competition this phone has is the Pixel 7a which is in itself a very good phone, with very good cameras. But the newer processor and future-proofed configuration of the OnePlus 12R makes this a very compelling offering at a very affordable price.