OnePlus 13R Launched as Cheaper OP13 With Many Upgrades

The OnePlus has officially launched the OnePlus 13R as an upgrade to last year’s OnePlus 12R. While it does not directly compete with the flagship OnePlus 13, the 13R includes meaningful upgrades that make it a strong option for those looking for a premium experience at a more forgiving price.

Design and Display

OnePlus has redesigned the 13R to make it more ergonomic and user-friendly. The phone’s chassis is crafted using aluminum, making it thinner and lighter than its predecessor, the 12R. Despite these changes, the 13R houses a larger battery without adding bulk. The device weighs just 206 grams and is 0.8mm thinner than before. Additionally, it is IP65 rated, meaning it can resist water jets and is entirely dust-tight.

The OnePlus 13R offers two colors Astral Trail and Nebula Noir as shown below.

The 6.78-inch LTPO OLED display remains largely unchanged from the previous model but still offers excellent visual quality. It delivers a resolution of 1,264 x 2,780 pixels, resulting in a sharp 450ppi pixel density. The display supports a 1-120Hz adaptive refresh rate, providing smooth scrolling and transitions. With HDR10+ and Dolby Vision support, the screen ensures a rich viewing experience.

Furthermore, OnePlus has upgraded the display protection to Gorilla Glass 7i, making it more resistant to scratches and impacts. The screen reaches a peak brightness of 4,500 nits for outdoor visibility, with 1,600 nits available in High Brightness Mode.

Internals and Software

OnePlus has equipped the 13R with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, which is not at the same level as the 8 Elite, but still the complete flagship package. It can handle demanding tasks from gaming to multitasking with ease. To complement the chipset, the device includes either 12 GB or 16 GB of LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.0 storage, available in 256 GB or 512 GB configurations. These upgrades ensure faster app loading times and smoother overall performance.

Out of the box, the OnePlus 13R runs OxygenOS 15, based on Android 15. This is the usual shift from OnePlus China’s ColorOS. OnePlus has also improved its software support policy, promising four years of OS updates and six years of security patches.

Camera

The OnePlus 13R brings a welcome upgrade to its camera system, which now includes a telephoto lens. The new 50MP telephoto camera features a 1/2.75” Samsung JN5 sensor and an f/2.0 lens, providing 2x optical zoom and up to 4x lossless zoom. This addition makes the phone better suited for portrait photography and zoomed-in shots. However, the telephoto lens lacks optical image stabilization (OIS), which may affect performance in low light.

The primary camera uses a 50MP Sony LYT-700 sensor, an upgrade over the IMX890 used in the 12R. With OIS and a wide f/1.6 aperture, the main camera captures sharp, detailed photos and can record 4K videos at 60fps. Additionally, the phone includes an 8MP ultra-wide lens with a 112° field of view for capturing landscapes and group photos. The 16MP front-facing camera handles selfies and video calls and supports detailed image capture thanks to its 1/3.09” sensor.

Battery and Pricing

OnePlus has increased the battery capacity in the 13R to 6,000 mAh, compared to the 5,500 mAh battery in the 12R. Despite this larger battery, the phone maintains a slim and lightweight profile. The 13R supports 80W SuperVOOC charging, which fully charges the phone in just 52 minutes (54 minutes in North America). Although this is slightly slower than the 100W charging on the 12R, the added battery capacity ensures longer usage between charges.

In terms of pricing, the OnePlus 13R starts at $600 for the 12 GB RAM and 256 GB storage variant.

Oneplus 13R Specifications