OnePlus 12R review: the best phone under $500
OnePlus has come out swinging with a mid-range take on its latest flagship, and it's crazy good.
OnePlus has been on an amazing run with its recent phones. Starting with the OnePlus 11 from last year, the company has introduced a number of new smartphones that, at risk of sensationalizing this review, have blown us away. And now, they’re doing it again – but this time, at a much lower price.
Say hello to the OnePlus 12R. It’s OnePlus’ latest “flagship killer” smartphone that promises to deliver a high-end experience for an affordable price. At $499, the phone offers about 80% of the experience you’ll find with the flagship OnePlus 12, and side by side, these phones don’t feel all that different.
While yes, there are some downsides that are hard to ignore, there’s no denying that the OnePlus 12R is one of the best phones you can get for under $500, and it’s likely it’ll stay that way throughout 2024.
So, what makes the OnePlus 12R so special? Let’s dive in.
OnePlus 12R review
Pros
✅ 💡 Fantastic display that’s brighter than any other phone
✅ 💰 Amazing performance for the price
✅ 🔋 Multi-day battery life and blazing-fast charging
✅ 📱 Premium design for $500
Cons
❌ 📸 Inconsistent camera system
❌ ⚡ No wireless charging
❌ 🤖 Only three years of major Android upgrades
❌ 🫧 OxygenOS might not be your cup of tea
🏆 Review score: 4 out of 5
Best features
💡 Extreme peak brightness at 4,500 nits. It’s hard to find a flagship phone that can get brighter than 3,000 nits, but how about a mid-ranger that can reach 4,500 nits? The OnePlus 12R keeps the same peak brightness spec as the OnePlus 12, making it incredibly easy to see its screen outdoors in bright conditions. For reference, in our Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra review, we noted that Samsung’s 2,600 nits of peak brightness was very good, and in our iPhone 15 Pro Max review, that Apple’s 2000 nits of peak brightness was good. OnePlus bests those top brands.
💰 Powerful performance and battery life… for under $500. Use this phone for five minutes and you’d think you were using a flagship. That’s because OnePlus uses flagship chips from last year for the 12R, which gives it insanely good performance no matter what you’re doing. Plus, the battery can easily last two days on a full charge and recharge in under 40 minutes, all of which is wildly impressive for a phone priced at $500.
📱 A design that feels like $1,000. OnePlus didn’t skimp on the design of the 12R. From its glass construction to the elegant curves on the sides, you’d think the device costs twice its asking price.
Specs
📆 Release date: February 13, 2024
💰 Price: $499 ($399 with trade-in of any phone)
📺 Screen size: 6.78 inches
🖥️ Resolution: 2780x1264
🏃♂️ Refresh rate: 120Hz adaptive
💡 Brightness: 4,500 nits (peak with HDR)
📸 Main camera: 50MP
🔭 Macro camera: 2MP
👐 Ultra-wide camera: 8MP w/ 112-degree field of view
🤳 Selfie camera: 16MP
⚙️ Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2
🐏 RAM: 8GB, 16GB
🗄️ Storage: 256GB UFS 3.1, 512GB UFS 3.1
🔋 Battery: 5,500mAh
🔌 Wired charging: 80W SuperVOOC (charger included in box)
⚡ Wireless charging: None
🔈 Speakers: Stereo (two drivers)
📶 Connectivity: sub-6GHz 5G, Wi-Fi 7, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3
👇 Fingerprint scanner: Yes (in-display)
🔘 Alert slider: You bet!
🤖 OS: Android 14(three OS upgrades, four years of security patches)
📐 Dimensions: 6.43-in x 2.96 in x 0.35 in
⚖️ Weight: 207 g (7.30 oz)
🎨 Colors: Iron Gray, Cool Blue
🪨 Durability: Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on front, aluminum rails, glass on back
💦 Water resistance: IP65
OnePlus 12R review in-depth
Price
The OnePlus 12 is now on sale through OnePlus.com, Amazon.com, and Best Buy. It starts at $499 which gets you 8GB of RaM and 128GB of internal storage. If you want to upgrade that to 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, it’ll cost an extra $100 and set you back $599.
However, there’s some good news for those who want to save even more. During the entire lifespan of the OnePlus 12R, OnePlus is offering $100 off for any phone you trade in during the purchase process. I sat in a meeting with OnePlus to be briefed on the new 12R, and when this trade-in offer was brought up, the company’s PR rep pulled out an old school landline which he said was eligible for the program, which means you can trade in any phone you can get your hands on.
Oh, and if you’re curious, the OnePlus 12R won’t be available to purchase through carriers. However, it’s certified to work just fine on AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile’s networks, which also goes for a majority of MVNO providers like Mint and Visible.
Design and display
💰 Premium design that feels like $1,000. The OnePlus 12R has a really nice design, which is starting to become quite common in the $500 range. OnePlus did a good job at maintaining a premium aesthetic that could easily be found on a phone that costs twice as much, with curved edges and a comfortable weight.
📐 It’s on the bigger side. This is no compact smartphone. With a 6.78-inch screen, the OnePlus 12R is on the bigger side of the spectrum. It’s about as tall as the Galaxy S24 Ultra I have sitting on my desk, and that phone is one of the biggest on the market. Luckily, the 12R is skinnier and easier to hold. Still, keep in mind that this is a pretty big phone to handle.
📺 The display is fantastic. Speaking of the screen, OnePlus includes a great display on the 12R. It uses an AMOLED panel covered in Gorilla Glass Victus 2 for protection against drops. There’s a 2,780x1,264 resolution that keeps everything pin-sharp, and for extra smoothness, there’s a 120Hz dynamic refresh rate that can drop down to 1Hz when you aren’t touching the screen. The best part? It shares the same 4,500 nits of peak brightness as the flagship OnePlus 12, which means you’ll never have a problem seeing this screen no matter how bright it is outside. (For context, this is more than twice as bright as the latest iPhone 15 Pro.)
🔘 Yup, there’s an alert slider. Look near the top left corner of the screen and you’ll find an alert slider mounted to the side, letting you switch between silent, vibrate, and sound with the flick of a switch. It’s been a staple of OnePlus’ phones since the company’s inception, and while there have been some devices over the years that skipped out on it, it looks like OnePlus is dedicated to including it on its future devices. It’s an even bigger deal now that the iPhone has started moving away from the ring switch, giving OnePlus a pretty big advantage.
💦 It’s safe against light splashes. The OnePlus 12R comes with a IP64 certification, which can protect you against light splashes of water. It’s not as strong as the more common IP68 certification that can protect your phone if it falls in a pool, but at least you have a bit of protection nonetheless.
📸 How much do you care about a big camera bump? I’ve always heard mixed opinions about the size of the camera bump that OnePlus includes on its phones. With the 12 and 12R, the company says the bump was inspired by luxury watches, and you can see some of that influence if you look long and hard. But I know there are many folks that think it’s the most hideous thing in the world. Luckily, you won’t have to look at it very often since it’s on the back of the phone.
🎨 Just two colors. I really like the finish on the back of the Iron Gray model; it feels like plastic more than glass, but that also means it’s grippier than glossy glass. The Cool Blue model goes all-glossy if you’re a fan of that look. I’d like to see more color options akin to the seven Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra colors.
Performance
💪 Solid specs for a mid-ranger. We’re passed the days of companies throwing in mid-range processors just because their phones have mid-range prices. Instead, they include older flagship chips that still pack a punch, and the OnePlus 12R is a prime example. It includes last year’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 which is far from slow silicone, along with 8GB or 16GB of RAM and your choice of 128GB or 256GB of storage.
🏃♂️ This phone flies. No matter what you do on the 12R, you’ll experience incredible performance. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 makes apps quick to open and switch between, and the chip runs efficiently so you don’t experience excess battery drain or heating. I was sent the 16GB RAM version to review which is helpful for the heaviest of multitaskers out there, but I think most people will be fine with 8GB.
🗄️ Get the 256GB model if you want faster storage. I also think most people can get away with 128GB of storage, but there are two big perks if you go for the upgraded model. Not only do you get 256GB of storage (twice the base model), you also get faster storage so your phone performs a bit better. OnePlus uses UFS 3.2 storage for the base tier and UFS 4.0 for the upgraded model, which can do everything from open apps to save your photos faster. It’s not a night-and-day difference, but it’s there.
🎮 It’s not as good for gamers as the regular OnePlus 12. If you enjoy gaming on the go with your smartphone, the OnePlus 12R will serve you just fine. But it’s not as good as what you can get from the pricier OnePlus 12, which is one of the top-tier Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 phones. According to our testing, the OnePlus 12 has this more powerful chip, an advanced cooling system, and support for more intense game settings that help reduce framedrops and overheating. The 12R can certainly handle the same games out there, but if you want the best experience and most consistent gaming experience, you’re not going to find it here.
Camera review
50MP main camera
📸 Good enough in the day, dicey at night. The 50MP main camera on the back of the OnePlus 12R is a fine shooter in broad daylight. With an f/1.8 aperture and optical image stabilization, it’s able to capture solid photos with good color and detail. Once the sun starts setting, things can get a little dicey with blown-out highlights and poor color reproduction. Video is the same way; the 4K clips I recorded during the day are mostly fine, but at night they tend to struggle. Of course, tweaking the camera’s settings in OnePlus’ “Pro” camera mode can help in cases like this, but it’s by no means as convenient as pointing your camera at something and tapping the shutter button.
8MP ultra-wide and 2MP macro cameras
📷 Not really worth your time. The two other cameras on the back, an 8MP ultra-wide and a 2MP macro, are there simply so that OnePlus can say it offers various focal lengths. The ultra-wide camera does, indeed, widen the angle of the scenes you capture, but it fails to collect the detail and sharpness of the main camera and struggles with producing accurate colors in any lighting condition. Likewise, the macro camera is for getting up close to your subjects, but the significant drop in megapixel count means you’ll be getting fuzzy photos that you’d rather delete than share to Instagram. I’ve seen far better ultra-wide cameras and macro modes on phones around this price range, and it’s unfortunate that OnePlus couldn’t achieve the same quality.
16MP selfie camera
🤳 It’s fine for occasional selfies. I wasn’t impressed with the selfie camera on the OnePlus 12R, but I’m also not let down by it. It’s perfectly fine for taking a quick selfie with a friend to share to your Story, and at the end of the day, isn’t that all you need from a selfie camera?
How it compares
🤼 Far from the leader of the pack. With phones like the Pixel 7a setting the benchmark for what a mid-range phone’s camera can do, the OnePlus 12R’s camera system feels inadequate at best. OnePlus’ photo processing has gotten better over the years, but its latest processing chops aren’t available on the 12R–they’re reserved for the flagship OnePlus 12. So if the most important aspect of a smartphone to you is the camera, you may want to skip the 12R.
Software experience
🫧 OxygenOS is fast and fluid… OnePlus is known for having some of the smoothest software in the game, and it’s still king of the hill on the 12R. The phone runs Android 14 with OxygenOS 14 layered on top, and the experience is silky smooth. Apps open quickly, animations are responsive, and all of the extra touches OnePlus adds like windowed multitasking and UI customization are nice to have.
😬 …but it takes some getting used to. If you’ve never used a OnePlus phone before, OxygenOS is going to feel pretty foreign. It looks and acts much different than it did before OnePlus merged the software with sister company Oppo’s ColorOS. Before, it was much closer to stock Android, sort of like what’s on the Pixel. But now, if anything, the system feels like iOS (especially in the camera app which is a straight iPhone rip-off) but worse. It works the same as any other Android phone, but things like the scrolling physics and animations will take some getting used to.
🤖 You only get three major Android upgrades. I’m pretty bummed about this since companies (namely Google and Samsung) are supporting their phones for 7+ years with updates. The flagship OnePlus 12 is only getting four major updates so it makes sense the cheaper 12R gets three, but I’d love to see OnePlus do better in the future.
Battery life and charging
🔋 You cannot kill this thing in a day. I mean this with every fiber of my being. The OnePlus 12R ships with a huge 5,500mAh battery, and no matter what I do, I can’t get it to die within a day. After a full day of my moderate to heavy use, I’d go to sleep with 50-60 percent left in the tank, which is very impressive. This is easily a two-day phone for most people. It also stays very cool during heavy usage, so you shouldn’t have to worry about toasty hands when watching videos or playing games at high brightness.
🔌 This phone charges insanely fast. When the OnePlus 12R eventually dies, you’ll be able to get back up and running very quickly. OnePlus includes its signature 80W SuperVOOC fast charger in the box which can take the phone from zero to 100 percent in about 30 minutes. I timed it myself and got the phone fully charged in about 35 minutes, which is wildly impressive and far faster than even the top-of-the-line S24 Ultra and iPhone 15 Pro Max.
⚡ There’s no wireless charging (womp womp). Unfortunately, if you’re a fan of wireless charging, you may want to skip the OnePlus 12R. OnePlus decided not to include the feature, likely to cut costs. The feature makes an appearance on the regular 12 (with 50W performance to boot), but it’s nowhere to be seen on the 12R. Hopefully, the 13R gets some Qi treatment, but until then, you’ll need to buy OnePlus’ flagship smartphone to charge wirelessly.
Should I buy a OnePlus 12R?
Yes, if…
✅ 💰 You want some of the best performance available for under $500
✅ 🔋 You want insane battery life and charging speeds
✅ 💡 You want a super-bright display
No, if…
❌ 📸 You value camera quality over everything else
❌ ⚡ You religiously use wireless charging
❌ 🤖 You want more than three major Android upgrades