OnePlus 12R review: All the goodies of a flagship for $300 less – Ultra-Sim

OnePlus 12R Intro

Frankly, the 12R is what you might call a “safe” upgrade, but that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. You get a brand new, flagship-level chipset, a much brighter display, better durability, and longer battery life. And, considering all of the goodies that come inside the box, the price OnePlus is selling the 12R for is more than justified.

That being said, there are some details which need to be addressed, so let’s dive in and see what the new mid-ranger from OnePlus has in store for us!

What’s new about OnePlus 12R

Table of Contents:

OnePlus 12R Specs

The OnePlus 12R keeps that large circular camera island that its predecessor had, which can be an acquired taste for some. The flagship OnePlus 12 that also released recently has the same design at the back, but somehow the R model doesn’t give that premium feel. Then again, that’s to be expected given the $300 price difference.

The phone feels heavy in the hand, and with its glass back and tactile buttons it really gives off a premium feel. Thankfully, despite its large size, it is easy to hold and use thanks to the curved edges and somewhat thin body. The back panel has a frosted look to it, but in actuality is a massive fingerprint magnet, so don’t be fooled.

As for durability, besides the Gorilla Glass Victus 2 that protects the OnePlus 12R, the phone is also IP65 certified for water and dust resistance. Just know that this is not quite the same as the IP68 you see on more premium models, and you should avoid any situations where the phone can fall into a body of water. You can comfortable take it out in the rain, however.

As for colors, you can get the OnePlus 12R in Cool Blue (the one you see on our images) or Iron Gray.

The unboxing experience that OnePlus offers with its phones remains one of the best in the industry, especially as far as phones sold in the US are concerned. This is what’s inside the OnePlus 12R box:

OnePlus 12R Display

The 12R inherits some flagship features

The OnePlus 12R comes with a massive, gorgeous OLED display measuring at 6.78 inches and a resolution of 1264 x 2780 pixels. It also comes with a variably 120Hz refresh rate and it was bright enough (4,500 nits peak brightness) for us to enjoy content on it in bright conditions. Quite frankly, this is on of the phone’s best aspects.

Not to mention that the 12R also inherits the new water detection and reactive touch capabilities of its more expensive sibling that came out recently. We tested this new feature out, and the phone’s display continued to be responsive even when there was plenty of sprinkled water on top. And that includes the responsive fingerprint reader embedded in the screen.

The display is also slightly curved at the sides, as opposed to most other phones that have come out recently. Now, usually we are not the biggest fans of curved displays, but the one on the 12R is not that extreme, so we didn’t really mind it as we were using the phone, with light reflections remaining at a level that wasn’t too distracting.

Display Measurements:

OnePlus 12R Camera

No telephoto camera, but high-level performance

The OnePlus 12R comes with three cameras on the back, which includes its main (wide) camera, an ultra-wide, and, sadly, we still have the a macro camera instead of a dedicated telephoto one. The hardware making up the camera system on the new R model from OnePlus is the same as it was on its predecessor, the OnePlus 11R.

However, we can’t really complain, as you will notice the performance of the 50MP main camera is plenty good, especially for a phone that comes with a $500 price tag. That’s understandable, given that it is powered by the Sony IMX890 image sensor, which by all accounts is still a capable one in 2024.

The ultra-wide camera also delivers surprising detail and good HDR performance. The one place where we were hoping to see an upgrade, however, was swapping that macro shooter for a dedicated telephoto one, but alas.

The good news is that the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset makes the camera app snappy, smooth, and lag free. We also feel that it has contributed to the overall image processing going on behind the scenes, which is noticeable in the accuracy of the portrait mode.

Main Camera – Day

The Main camera of the OnePlus 12R produces impressive images for a phone with a $500 price tag. There is enough sharpness for most use-cases, as well as good HDR performance with shadows and highlights generally showing plenty of detail.

What’s also noticeable, especially when we compare to older models, is the more accurate reproduction of colors. Images appear more true-to-life, with natural hues.

Main Camera – Low Light

The main camera handles low-light conditions better than we expected it to. There is some noise, but it is handled well by the camera software, retaining enough detail and avoiding a smudgy, blurry look. The awesome color reproduction continues to be present in such conditions too.

Zoom Quality

With the lack of a dedicated telephoto camera, it goes without saying that zoomed in photos don’t exactly have the desirable quality. A 5x digital zoom is decent enough to upload the image online, but the 10x zoom can only suffice as a tool to check something up close.

Portrait Mode

The portrait mode on the 12R is a bit aggressive and looks overly-processed, but as far as edge detection and precision goes, it handles the job pretty well.

Ultra-wide Camera

We were pleasantly surprised to see that the 8MP ultra-wide camera, which can easily be underestimated because of its low resolution, actually performed admirably. The image quality is good enough to snap some pretty photos. And the good news is that this camera also benefits from natural colors.

Selfies

The 16MP selfie camera is great on the OnePlus 12R. We have zero problems with its performance. Photos are sharp, they pop, and are well exposed.

Video Quality

One issue with the 12R that we wish OnePlus would change in the future is the inability to change from the main to the ultra-wide camera while recording video. You have to stop recording, and only then you have the ability to do so. other than that, we are very happy with the image quality, the image stabilization, and low-light performance.

Performance Benchmarks:

OnePlus 12R OS / Android version

But of course, there is OnePlus’ Oxygen OS 14, which comes with enhanced security and privacy, and the same simple and light version of Android that we know and love.

As for the topic of software support, things don’t look that good for the OnePlus 12R, as it will only be getting 3 years of it. This means that the latest Android version the phone will get is Android 17. The company has promised 4 years of security patches though, so at least there’s that.

OnePlus 12R Battery

Won’t leave you hanging

Like its more expensive brother (the OnePlus 12), the OnePlus 12R comes with a massive 5,500 mAh battery. Despite the phone’s high-res bright display, this puppy easily lasted us more than a day of use, and comfortably until the end of the second day if we weren’t excessively using it.

PhoneArena Battery Test Results:

The international version of the OnePlus 12R, which is the one we reviewed, comes with 100W of wired charging speeds, which is the same as with the OnePlus 11R. OnePlus advertises the phone being able to charge from 0-100% in about 26 minutes, although we expect that to be around 37-38 minutes just like with the pricier OnePlus 12.

Unfortunately though, there is no wireless charging on board.

OnePlus 12R Summary and Final Verdict

OnePlus started its journey off as the “flagship killer,” and we definitely see that heritage in the OnePlus 12R. The phone manages to get the best out of its more expensive variant, the OnePlus 12, such as the amazing display with OnePlus’ new tech to make navigation easier when the phone is wet.

There is also the fact that you have a great main and ultra-wide cameras on board, which in most cases produce images that will leave you satisfied. That being said, there is no dedicated telephoto camera, and there is also the fact that you only get 3 years of software support in a time where most manufacturers are starting to offer at least 4.

Nevertheless, we think the pros outweigh the cons in this particular case, and can recommend this OnePlus mid-ranger, as it offers more than enough for what it asks in return.