OnePlus 12R Review: Call It A Global Flagship Killer

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OnePlus got its start in this industry as the plucky little startup that was taking on the big fish. The OnePlus One was dubbed the "flagship killer" because it brought high-end specifications to a midrange price point, and to put it mildly, it was well-received by reviewers and fans alike. That fanbase grew — not to a point where Samsung or Apple would notice — but it was a mighty fanbase, convinced that OnePlus had found the formula for cheap phones that didn't suck.

Skip ahead, and somewhere around the OnePlus 7 or 8, the company shifted its focus away from building "flagship killers" to just plain old building flagships. This was an important step in the company's history because it signaled the end of catering to the vocal, rabid fans of cheap phones, and more toward catering to people who just wanted a good phone experience, regardless of cost. OnePlus then introduced the Nord series to get back to the midrange space that has served it so well, but the "flagship killer" DNA just wasn't there. Sure, the Nord series has produced a good phone here or there, but nary a "flagship killer" in sight.

Enter the "R" series of phones which until now catered largely to an eastern audience (read: India) looking for great specs and a good price. Sound familiar? Finally, the United States and the global audience at large get to experience what those nations had been treated to. As it turns out, it's very not bad. So is the "flagship killer" back? OnePlus sent over a OnePlus 12R review sample to find out. Here's our full review.

Going along with OnePlus's "Fast and Smooth" motto is the LTPO 129Hz Pro XDR Display which is striking. You really notice the 120Hz scrolling smoothness in OnePlus phones and the OnePlus 12R is certainly no exception. Further, the OnePlus utilizes LTPO 4.0 which not only adjusts the refresh rate based on what you're doing but also how you interact with the phone. Slow scrolling might only trigger a 60Hz refresh rate, while a fast flick might push it up to 90Hz or 120Hz. You may or may not be able to tell the difference between the refresh rates — not everyone can, but it's just another way that OnePlus can try to help conserve some battery life.

As for the display itself, it's a 6.78-inch 1.5K display with a 2,780x1264 resolution. Like the OnePlus 12, the screen gets up to a ridiculous 4,500 nits of peak brightness. The screen itself is gorgeous with beautiful deep blacks and a high contrast ratio. The screen wraps around the front of the device and can be prone to the occasional accidental touch if you have particularly unweildy fingers. Most of the time this manifests itself with the phone not registering a touch during a game because your sausage finger has touched the screen near the bottom and is occupying the phone's attention.

One of the fun surprises on the phone comes in the form of its camera system. There are two notable cameras on the back of the phone — a 50-megapixel main sensor with f/1.8 aperture, and an 8-megapixel ultrawide camera with a mostly-unimpressive 112-degree field of view. There's also a 2-megapixel macro sensor which is not terribly useful. On the front is a 16-megapixel shooter for your selfies.

Overall, this is a very decent camera set for still, but video is an entirely different matter. During the day all cameras perform well, though there is one rough spot. The camera gives you a 5x zoom option that you really should not use under any circumstances. Pictures get blocky and fuzzy and mostly unusable. OnePlus should have saved us all some time and themselves some lines of code and just removed the 5x option. It's not good.

Adam Doud/SlashGear

At night the camera sensors perform pretty well all things considered. There is a slight green tint over photos taken with the ultrawide lens which naturally throws off the color science between the two lenses. But the main sensor captures unmoving subjects quite well. Once they start to move, things fall apart and fall apart quickly, but for still subjects, nighttime shots are surprisingly good.

The OnePlus 12R ships with the largest battery the company has ever put into a phone. It's a 5,500 mAh monster of a battery that easily powers through two days of medium to heavy usage. When you do have to charge, you'll get superfast 100W (80W in the U.S.) wired charging with the included cable and wall charger in the box. That can power your phone to full in under 30 minutes, which changes your relationship with your phone's battery. If you don't have to charge your phone overnight, you can let your phone live its best life by charging it only when it needs it. That's a powerful feeling, no pun intended. But there is no wireless charging here, which is not surprising, but still a bummer.

On the performance side, the phone clocks in with 1,554/4,467 single/multi-core scores on Geekbench which is very consistent with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor. Gaming is great on the phone with titles like "Genshin Impact" and "Call of Duty: Mobile" performing beautifully at default graphic settings. Even after 30 minutes of gaming, the phone only gets warm to the touch.