Our rating — 3.5/5

OnePlus has earned its popularity among Indian users by offering smartphones with premium specs at lower prices than the major players. The Chinese smartphone brand launched its latest flagship lineup, the OnePlus 12 series last month which includes two models — the vanilla OnePlus 12 and the less-expensive OnePlus 12R.
The OnePlus 12R was launched at the same price as last year’s OnePlus 11R but claims to offer multiple upgrades over its predecessor.We have been using the 16GB RAM + 256GB storage variant of the OnePlus 12R in Cool Blue colour for a few weeks. Here we will analyse if the OnePlus 12R can be a good investment as it promises to pay its debts, (just like a Lannister from Game of Thrones). Here’s what we think about the new phone:

Design

The design of the OnePlus 12R is very similar to the OnePlus 11R. It has a glass back, and an anti-fingerprint matte frame and weighs 209 grams. The smartphone has a premium design and feels good in the hand.

However, the phone’s weight wasn’t well distributed and seemed a little top-heavy. The left-aligned circular camera module which includes three sensors and the LED light wasn’t much protruding and seemed to mix nicely with the back panel.
Yet, it’s important to note that the glossy back panel is quite slippery and a fingerprint magnet. It’s better to use it with a cover, especially if you have to frequently operate the phone with one hand. The company also hasn’t revealed the IP rating of the smartphone so we don’t know if it’s water resistant.

Also, OnePlus has retained the Alert Slider for the OnePlus 12R which made a comeback last year with the OnePlus 11 series. The slider which is placed on the left spine of the phone is a convenient feature that comes in handy in several situations.

The phone’s right rail is home to the power button and volume control keys. The SIM slot, USB Type-C charging port, and speaker grille for the Dolby Atmos-tuned, downward-facing dual speaker configuration are located underneath the screen

The OnePlus 12R features a centrally-aligned punch hole on its curved display, housing the front camera and protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2. The phone also includes an in-display fingerprint sensor, which provides fast and responsive unlocking.

Display

The OnePlus 12R sports a 10-bit AMOLED ProXDR 6.78-inch Full HD+ LTPO 4.0 panel that supports a 120Hz variable refresh rate that makes the phone more power efficient. The display is quite bright and can produce vivid colours.

With HDR10+ and Dolby Vision support, the content viewing experience on the smartphone was quite pleasing. We watched movies like Dune on Netflix and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power web series on Amazon Prime on this phone. We were very satisfied with the visual experience offered by the smartphone during our testing.
OnePlus claims that the display can reach a peak brightness of 4500 nits. The screen was bright enough for sunny outdoor situations.

Camera and Performance

The OnePlus 12R has a triple rear camera setup which includes a 50MP main sensor, an 8MP ultrawide lens and a 2MP macro unit. The overall camera performance has been improved over the OnePlus 11R and we were able to take good photos in various lighting conditions.

Meanwhile, the performance of the ultrawide (Sony IMX355 sensor with 112-degree field of view) and the macro sensor didn’t seem as good as the main Sony IMX890 sensor. With both OIS and EIS support, the smartphone was also able to record stable 4K videos. Photos clicked with the Portrait mode looked nice while the Night mode seemed to decently enhance the images clicked in low-light situations.
The OnePlus 12R also offers up to 5x optical zoom. However, with increased zoom the stability and image quality deteriorated. This smartphone can also shoot 1080p slow-motion videos at up to 240fps and can record 4K time lapses at 6ofps. The smartphone’s camera also supports a Pro mode and has all the other bells and whistles used for image enhancement.
The selfies clicked with the 16MP front-facing camera were also decent. However, the front unit was restricted to recording 1080p videos at 30fps. The FaceID authentication system also seemed snappy and worked nicely even during low-light conditions.

The OnePlus 12R is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, which was Qaulcomm’s flagship mobile platform last year. This is one of the most powerful processors from the US-based chip maker. The chipset is also backed up with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. The overall performance of the phone was smooth and speedy. The smartphone which is also powered by the Trinity engine helped it to handle even the most demanding tasks with ease.
The gaming performance on this phone was also commendable. During our testing, we played multiple heavy and graphics-intensive games like Asphalt 9, Genshin Impact, BGMI and Call of Duty on this device.
All these games seemed to run effortlessly even during extensive sessions and were able to offer smooth and ultra-responsive gameplay. We were able to play Genshin Impact and Call of Duty at 60 fps while BGMI at 90 fps at higher graphics settings. The loading times needed by the games on the device were also very low.

For heat dissipation, the OnePlus 12R is equipped with a 9140 mm2 dual vapour chamber. The aluminium frame also helps the phone to remain cool while handling heavy games and apps. During our testing, we didn’t face any lag, stutter or heating issues even while playing games for hours.
The OnePlus 12R runs on OxygenOS 14, which is based on Android 14. The company has also promised four years of Android updates and five years of security patches for the phone. The OxygenOS Android skin is smooth and user-friendly.
We didn’t notice many bugs and glitches while running the phone. However, the in-display fingerprint sensor made a hit-and-miss at times. The audio produced by the speakers on the phone was also quite loud and punchy

Battery

The OnePlus 12R has a massive 5500mAh battery, which is one of the largest batteries in a phone at this price point. The battery life was excellent during our testing days as the phone easily lasted a full day on a single charge (which also included light gaming and content viewing).
OnePlus 12R also supports 100W fast charging. The company claims that the smartphone can get charged from 0 to 100% in about 20 minutes. However, during our testing, the phone took a little less than 30 minutes to get fully charged. It is also important to note that the OnePlus 12R doesn’t support wireless charging (even after having a glass back).

Verdict

Starting at Rs 39,999, the OnePlus 12R is a very good option for the price. It has a large, bright display, a long-lasting battery, a powerful processor and looks beautiful. However, it is missing out on a few features, such as an IP rating and wireless charging. The camera is also not the best, but it is still good enough for most people. This can be a good buy if you’re looking for a near-premium experience from your smartphone at a mid-range price point.