OnePlus 12R Review
A big return to The “Flagship Killer” roots
You can never escape your past. That much is true for the Chinese brand OnePlus as with every new release, consumers compare their new phones with the ones of yesteryear. Blasting onto the scene as the “flagship killers,” OnePlus has since evolved to the point where they’re more likely a part of the flagship smartphone establishment rather than a grassroots movement like they were in 2014. The OnePlus 12R is a clear attempt to bring back the affordability factor that the company seems to have left behind in recent years in their pursuit to move up the premium ladder. For the most part, the 12R keeps the core identity the brand has formed without foregoing much compromise.
Purchase Price: $499.99
The Lowdown
The OnePlus 12R fills every box strongly, making it an exceedingly consistent smartphone across the board.
-
6.78 inch 1264x 2780 AMOLED display
120 Hz Refresh Rate
Android 14 skinned with OxygenOS 14
Snapdragon 8 gen 2
8GB ram
128 GB of storage
5,500 mAh battery
Under display fingerprint scanner
Last Year’s Might
While the OnePlus 12R does not have the current generation flagship SOC on Android phones, it is still no slouch as it sports a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 that occupied the highest-end phones just 6 months ago. Our base model has 8 GB of ram and 128 GB of storage. These aren't bleeding edge numbers on the spec sheet, but they’re plenty enough to qualify for what I would determine as flagship level performance. I’m currently on Android 14 skinned with OxygenOS 14 and it's exactly as we’d come to expect from OnePlus in recent years. The bones of the experience are quite similar to that of a Pixel phone, but without the Pixel amenities. My 12R’s last security update available was a couple months ago.
However, for the $500 entry point, you’re getting a lot of power to play with. Even though the processor is older, you’re still getting a brand new phone without any battery wear on it like you would from purchasing a used Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 phone with a year of usage. All of my apps in my workflow operated like they should on a flagship level device in 2024. The games I played were snappy and ran without a hitch.
The OnePlus 12R runs OxygenOS
My major issue with the user experience is with how aggressive OnePlus is with killing background apps. They’ve done this for years now to enhance their battery life numbers, but this time around I’ve found it to be incredibly intrusive. I’m not exaggerating that the default out of the box configuration of OxygenOS will kill any mobile game you put in the backburner within literally 5 seconds. This makes multi-tasking basically impossible. I can’t tell you how many times I swiped up to answer a text message or to google a game guide for a quick tip, only to sit through the entire boot up of the game once again.
Impressive Battery
So the 12R can handle everything I can possibly throw at it, but can it stay powered on long enough to do those things? There’s a large 5,500 mAh battery inside of the phone that impressively charges at 100W speeds. It’s all through wired charging as the 12R does not have wireless charging capability. I’ve been able to get amazing battery life out of the 12R. At the absolute most dire of nights, I end up plugging it into my outlet at no less than 15% remaining. An average day would consist of about 5-6 hours of screen on time and 30% when I clock out for bed at midnight after a 15 hour day off the plug. Those are strong numbers coming from a power user who doesn’t hold back when reviewing these phones. It definitely can hang with me.
Look And Feel
I was also quite pleased with the build and feel that comes from this OnePlus phone. The company used glass for both the front and back that is held together by an aluminum frame. OnePlus says my black color is some type of frosted glass, but I honestly can’t tell that it’s glass at all. The texture resembles what I’d describe as a mixture of plastic or a thin sheet of aluminum. Whatever the case is with the material, it’s not difficult to hold naked thanks to the texture of the body. That’s one huge benefit when compared to smooth traditional glass-backed devices that slip from your grip easily. To seal it off, the phone is IP64 certified for waterproofing and dustproofing.
The 12R is also rather average sized by current smartphone standards. With a 6.78 inch screen size that covers just about the entirety of the real estate, the 1264 x 2780p AMOLED display isn’t too shabby to look at. Viewing angles are crisp all around, and the 450 ppi density is in the range of what I’ve come to expect from most of my phones nowadays. The screen does teardrop off on both sides which may or may not be a negative for certain folks. I’ve actually seen a downturn of this trend as many other OEMs have migrated away from displays that curve off the edges in recent iterations of their flagships. I personally don’t mind it, but it does kind of distort a little bit of the frame you’re viewing. I don’t see much benefit from having it as I have a case on my 12R so my thumb doesn’t roll off the display as is.
Surprisingly Decent Camera
So up to this point, everything about the OnePlus 12R is about above average. It doesn’t really blow me away in any single category, but it’s an all-around solid performer with minimal compromises from this MSRP. The big challenge is to see if the phone’s camera system can maintain that same level of consistency. Like most phone makers, OnePlus has a camera layout that they’ve tried to make distinct in order to form a recognizable brand image. A large circle houses three sensors to make up for the rear camera experience. It’s a pretty standard affair with a 50 MP, f/1.8 wide sensor, an 8 MP, f/2.2 ultrawide, and a 2 MP, f/2.4 macro lens. The front houses a single 16 MP, f/2.4 wide camera for selfies.
Let me preface this by saying outright that the camera quality on the OnePlus 12R isn’t bad at all. You can do a lot worse than what comes out of this phone. Let’s start with clarity. The primary cameras do a good job of maintaining exposure and focus in well-lit environments. It occasionally gets tripped out by bright spots that throws OnePlus off its game with over exposure. The camera isn’t as foolproof here as some of its pricier competitors, but overall I found the phone to do a decent job at determining what to focus on and expose. I don’t love the color reproduction that comes with OnePlus’ processing of images as I found certain shades to be more muted than what they appeared to my eye.
The lowlight performance is surprisingly capable too. Certain pictures out in the dark require a few snaps to hit focus and exposure right, but it wasn’t too difficult to frame a solid usable photo. When you get a picture just right, I think the OnePlus 12R compares well with many competitors priced higher than that of this phone’s MSRP. Of course this is all commentary about the Automatic photo mode that a majority of people use. The Portrait mode is quite terrible. The algorithm has no consistency about where to focus around in order to apply their artificial bokeh. I stopped trying to use Portrait mode after a while and found Automatic mode to give a better, more natural looking bokeh simulation. The front camera is also a bit of a letdown as the results are much more washed out than that from the rear cameras when it comes to skin tone and color reproduction. Still, I would say the 12R’s full camera experience is slightly above average and that’s terrific value when looking at the full picture of what the phone offers.
final thoughts
The OnePlus 12R is one of the best options for the mid-tier market of smartphones right now. It’s not the newest and fastest, but there’s nothing wrong with the recently dethroned newest and fastest in a new body set. I don’t find the phone exciting or interesting, but that isn’t the point of this phone in the lineup anyway. You can look at the OnePlus Open if you want to explore something unique from the brand. What I surmise most consumers in this price range want is consistency across the board that will get you value beyond your expectations. This was what the originators of the Flagship Killer did so well. I think the 12R is a welcome return to their philosophical roots and much prefer that OnePlus invest more effort into streamlining their lineup with this phone as their lowest tier instead of the Nords. If they can even drop the MSRP by another $50 by stripping anything but the processing power, there really isn’t a reason why anyone shouldn’t at least look into this phone as a budget champion.
We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees and support our channel by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.