OnePlus 12R Hands-On: Comes With a Small Price, but Big Compromises

The OnePlus 12 impressed us already with its powerful performance and epic battery life, but if its $800 starting price is too steep, you might want to look toward the $500 or 649 (roughly AU$1,250) OnePlus 12R. This cheaper alternative to the flagship shares some of its pricier sibling’s visual cues, along with a capacious battery. Yet it makes some key tradeoffs to achieve its more affordable starting price.

It runs on a slightly older Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor — rather than the brand new 8 Gen 3 chip found in the flagship — so you can expect different performance here. It also has a pared-back camera setup, featuring a 50-megapixel main camera, 8-megapixel ultrawide and a 2-megapixel camera with a macro lens. I’ve used similar low-resolution macro lenses on previous OnePlus phones (including the 10T) and often find them essentially redundant.

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Both these tradeoffs are absolutely to be expected for a more budget-focused phone, but what I find less excusable is the shorter support period. OnePlus offers only three years of software updates and four years of security updates on the OnePlus 12R — a year less of each than the company offers on the standard OnePlus 12. Longer support means your phone will remain usable for longer, which is better for you and better for the planet.

Intentionally offering shorter support periods on its cheaper model is a disappointing stance for OnePlus to take here, as it suggests that sustainability is a premium offering only available to those willing to spend more on the top model. I already argued that OnePlus needs to offer longer support on the OnePlus 12, as both Samsung and Google offer at least seven years of support on their higher-end phones. And even Samsung’s more midrange $599 Galaxy S23 FE is getting four years of software updates and five years of security updates. At the very least I’d want to see OnePlus offer the same support periods on both phones, but ideally take that even further to remain competitive with its rivals.

On the upside, the phone packs a whopping 5,500-mAh battery, which is even bigger than the one found in the OnePlus 12. The 12 put in some of the best results I’ve ever seen on our battery drain tests, so it’ll be interesting to see how the 12R fares here. While it’s easy to think that a bigger battery will last longer, it’s important to keep in mind that the OnePlus 12’s cutting-edge 8 Gen 3 chip will offer different power efficiency over the older 8 Gen 2 in the 12R.

The 12R sports a frosted glass back, which I find offers a sturdy, premium feel when you hold it. The 6.78-inch display looks very bright and vibrant in my testing so far, and it offers the same wet-touch tech seen on the 12 that allows the screen to still be responsive even when wet.

Other key features include IP64 water resistance, an in-screen fingerprint scanner, 80-watt fast charging (in the US, 100W in the UK), and a vapor-chamber cooling system to help keep the processor running at full whack during demanding tasks like gaming. Unlike the OnePlus 12, the 12R doesn’t come with wireless charging.

I’m still testing the OnePlus 12R so I’ll reserve my judgment on it for the full review. But so far it seems like a capable phone with a reasonable price. While it’s no flagship killer, it’s got a solid lineup of specs for those of you looking for a good all-around Android phone that doesn’t require emptying your bank.

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