If you’re on the lookout for an all-rounder priced at ₹40,000, the OnePlus 12R emerges as a compelling option. Boasting a plethora of premium features typically found in flagship devices, such as a sturdy aluminium frame, an LTPO 4.0 AMOLED display with Dolby Vision support, and lightning-fast 100W SUPERVOOC charging, it undoubtedly delivers on multiple fronts. The OnePlus 12R epitomises versatility.
The OnePlus 12R was unveiled to the world alongside its flagship sibling – the OnePlus 12. The OnePlus ‘R’ series of smartphones has always been ridiculously popular due to the value proposition it offers when compared to its flagship counterpart. While the sentiment around OnePlus prices and software is polarising (with some feeling the glory days of OnePlus’ ‘flagship killer’ status are over), 2023 proved to be a great year for the company – a return to form in a way with great launches like the OnePlus 11, OnePlus 11R (review), and OnePlus Open (review).
The company is also putting things into high gear in 2024 and has already kicked off the year with the highly-anticipated OnePlus 12 and OnePlus 12R (oh, and the OnePlus Buds 3). The OnePlus 12R has some worthy upgrades over its successor such as a new aluminium frame, an improved display, and a larger battery, but it certainly doesn’t appear to be a generational leap, on paper. Nevertheless, let’s dive into my detailed OnePlus 12R review to determine if it’s a good option to buy under ₹45,000 in 2024.
OnePlus 12R Review: Build and Design
Part of the reason why the OnePlus 12R doesn’t come across as a massive upgrade over the 11R is because they look nearly identical. Yes, there are a couple of structural changes such as a premium new aluminium frame that replaces the plastic on the 11R and IP65 dust and water resistance. However, the facade is still nearly the same.
The OnePlus 12R is available in two colourways – Cool Blue and Iron Gray. While the Iron Gray variant’s rear panel is largely resistant to fingerprints and smudges due to a matte texture, the Cool Blue review unit I got attracted hordes of fingerprint marks that made the back look unattractive within seconds of laying hands on it. This is why I don’t appreciate when the variants are not consistent across the board because some buyers may unknowingly get the worse end of the deal. Nevertheless, the colour-matched case inside should solve this issue for most people (unless you enjoy rocking your phone without a case).
Everything from the placement of the OnePlus logo to the camera module to the iconic OnePlus slider stays the same. The only difference is that the flash now sits outside the circular camera module. The phone feels good to hold in hand, thanks to the curved contours of its body, but my Cool Blue review unit was very slippery to hold. The buttons are nice and tactile, but the optical fingerprint reader disappointed me because it is quite slow.
Overall, the OnePlus 12R is well-built – it even has an IP65 rating for extra protection against the elements. However, the fingerprint magnet rear panel holds back the phone from scoring higher in this segment.
OnePlus 12R Review: Display
OnePlus has improved the display considerably on the new 12R. For starters, this is an LTPO 4.0 AMOLED panel that can dynamically switch the refresh rate all the way from 1 Hz to 120 Hz. It worked flawlessly when I tested it out. In fact, if you scroll slowly, it doesn’t bump the refresh rate all the way up, which can improve battery efficiency.
The 6.78-inch display supports HDR10+ and Dolby Vision, and it is one of the best displays I’ve reviewed at this price point. HDR works flawlessly on apps such as YouTube and Netflix. Colours look vivid, content looks sharp, and the viewing angles are great. The phone has a 1.5 K resolution and 450 PPI, making things look super crisp.
Furthermore, the brightness has taken a huge leap. This year around, the OnePlus 12R hits 1,600 nits of peak rated brightness in High Brightness Mode and a whopping 4,500 nits of peak brightness in Auto Mode. Of course, these numbers are tested in a controlled lab environment and the maximum reading I got in my testing under sunlight was around 2,200 nits, which is still staggeringly bright.
As for the display’s aesthetics, it is a curved AMOLED display with narrow and nearly even bezels all the way around. There’s a punch-hole cutout for the front camera which doesn’t get in the way of an immersive viewing experience.
How good is the performance?
The OnePlus 12R is powered by an upgraded Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset – a flagship offering until last year, that’s now available under ₹40,000 on the 12R. You get 8 or 16 GB of the latest LPDDR5X RAM and 128 or 256 GB of internal storage. There’s no expandable memory, which is a disappointment since even 256 GB could be inadequate for some users’ needs in 2024.
Another qualm of mine is that the base 128 GB variant uses slower UFS 3.1 storage while the 256 GB variant has UFS 4.0 speeds. So, if you’re buying the base models, note that you may not get the same speeds as we did in our storage benchmarks.
Edit: It is since come to light that both variants of the OnePlus 12R features UFS 3.1 storage speeds. OnePlus made a mistake in its official listing but has fixed the error since.
Speaking of benchmarks, let’s dive into that. I compared the OnePlus 12R to similarly-priced phones such as the HONOR 90, Vivo X29 Pro, and iQOO Neo 7 Pro across a slew of synthetic benchmark tests. In AnTuTu, the 12R came out of the top but barely. The iQOO Neo 7 Pro with the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 was only behind by a slight margin (and it costs only ₹34K).
In fact, the OnePlus 12R was behind the iQOO Neo 7 Pro (and now, it is behind the newer iQOO Neo 9 Pro as well) in every other CPU benchmark we ran. But it does overtake the HONOR and Vivo significantly in the GeekBench Multi-Core Test.
In GPU benchmarks, the scores were pretty decent across the board in 3D Mark and GFXBench, however, the numbers do indicate there’s some level of throttling going on here. To confirm this, I ran the CPU Throttling Test for 15 minutes and the phone did throttle to 79 per cent of its peak performance. But when I ran the test for 30 minutes, it throttled further to 60 per cent of its peak performance. Either way, in real world usage, I didn’t really feel the implications of this too much other than intensive gaming (and I’m talking 30 minutes of Genshin Impact).
Performance was smooth in real-world tasks, multi-tasking was a breeze and the animations look great. The phone also manages to hold its own when playing games such as BGMI and Call of Duty: Mobile.
As for the software, the OnePlus 12R runs OxygenOS 14 on top of Android 14. OnePlus has promised three years of OS updates and four years of security upgrades which feels decent for the price. The bloatware is under control too. There are no ads and very few preinstalled third-party applications. The UI looks clean, has tons of customisations, and no surprises, it is similar to a certain colourful OS.
Have the OnePlus 12R cameras improved?
So far, the only upgrade on the OnePlus 12R that has felt generational rather than incremental is the display brightness and the introduction of LTPO technology in the R series. The cameras, sadly, aren’t even an incremental upgrade. In fact, the OnePlus 12R uses the same 50 MP Sony IMX890 primary camera as the 11R and the configuration of the other lenses is also the same.
You get an 8 MP ultrawide lens (with a narrower FOV than the one of the 11R) and a 2 MP macro. It blows my mind why a ₹40K smartphone still has a token 2 MP camera when phones around the ₹25K mark are now including telephoto lenses!
Rants aside, the primary camera of the OnePlus 12R is actually pretty good for the price. The Sony IMX890 has been used in the Nord series, the R series and the flagship series of OnePlus phones, so the company clearly knows its way around this sensor. Pictures in daylight look super crisp, the dynamic range is well-controlled, and colours look closer to natural than on previous OnePlus phones.
I briefly faced an issue where low light images were extremely soft and fuzzy but OnePlus has issued an update that has alleviated this issue in most instances. The digital 2x and 5x zoom photos look decent in terms of colour and dynamic range, but there’s a clear lack of clarity in the latter.
Portrait photos have good edge detection, and although human subjects’ skin tone still doesn’t look ultra-realistic, it is closer to that than it has ever been. Ultrawide photos are decent in daylight, but the edges miss out on detail and low light shots are mediocre. Low light photos from the primary camera are crisp enough, but they do have quite a bit of noise in most instances.
The 16 MP selfie shooter is just… fine. It has the capability of clicking some flattering images but the skin tone is off once again and it handles tricky lighting poorly with haloing and blooming issues.
Battery life
The battery life has seen a pretty significant improvement on the OnePlus 12R. The company has increased the battery capacity to 5,500 mAh which translates to significantly longer screen-time. In our 4K video loop test where we play a 4K video in a loop on VLC from 100-0 per cent, the phone lasted north of 16 hours, which is fantastic.
You will easily get 6-8 hours of screen-on time with the OnePlus 12R unless you’re playing games pretty much constantly. The charging speeds are also impressive. You get 100 W SUPERVOOC charging which takes the phone from 0-100 percent in just 29 minutes, according to our tests. However, OnePlus has skipped out on wireless charging, yet again.
Verdict
If you’re on the lookout for an all-rounder priced at ₹40,000, the OnePlus 12R emerges as a compelling option. Boasting a plethora of premium features typically found in flagship devices, such as a sturdy aluminium frame, an LTPO 4.0 AMOLED display with Dolby Vision support, and lightning-fast 100W SUPERVOOC charging, it undoubtedly delivers on multiple fronts. The OnePlus 12R epitomises versatility.
However, it’s important to consider whether it’s truly worth the upgrade if you already own a OnePlus 11R or an iQOO Neo 7 Pro. For those with the former, the enhancements offered by the OnePlus 12R might not justify the additional expenditure of ₹40,000. On the other hand, the iQOO Neo 7 Pro stands out for its superior speed. Nevertheless, for individuals in search of a new ₹40,000 phone who haven’t upgraded in a while, the OnePlus 12R emerges as one of the top contenders and an easy recommendation.
OnePlus 12R Key Specs, Price and Launch Date
| Release Date: | 06 Feb, 2024 |
| Market Status: | Launched |
Key Specifications
Storage
256 GB
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Battery capacity (mAh)
5500
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Rear Camera Megapixel
50 + 32 + 8
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Screen size (in inches)
6.74
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Dhriti Datta
Perpetually sporting a death stare, this one can be seen tinkering around with her smartphone which she holds more dear than life itself and stuffing her face with copious amounts of bacon. View Full Profile
