At a look
Skilled’s Ranking
Professionals
- Glorious efficiency
- Nice person expertise with good AI additions
- Monster battery life
- Tremendous-fast charging
Cons
- Rigid digital camera expertise
- Nonetheless USB 2.0
- Software program help may very well be longer
- No wi-fi charging
Our Verdict
You may choose at misgivings – just like the lack of a telephoto sensor, its LTPS show and USB 2.0 port – however these are minor points in opposition to what stays. In traditional OnePlus model, the OnePlus 15R is a high-performance telephone tailor-made to gaming, backed by glorious longevity and a clear person expertise with genuinely helpful AI additions.
Worth When Reviewed
This worth will present the geolocated pricing textual content for product undefined
Greatest Pricing At the moment
Greatest Costs At the moment: OnePlus 15R
Whereas the OnePlus 13 and 13R arrived in the beginning of the 12 months, OnePlus has made us wait longer for its next-gen R-branded almost-flagship.
A month on from the chart-topping OnePlus 15, the highlight now turns to the OnePlus 15R, and its job is to distil the corporate’s newest top-tier expertise right into a extra inexpensive package deal, with as little compromise as potential.
Having reviewed the OnePlus 12R and 13R earlier than it, I had excessive hopes going into this assessment. The 15R deviates from its predecessors by repackaging much less current {hardware} and debuting some really new tech, particularly its new Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chip co-developed with Qualcomm. It’s the primary telephone on the worldwide stage with this explicit silicon.
Past that, this nonetheless appears like a performance-first providing from OnePlus, with a faster-than-average show, quicker RAM, quick charging and one of many greatest smartphone batteries round. This factor must be quick, in the event you couldn’t inform.
The query is, has OnePlus made the precise weight-saving cuts to render this ‘R’ entry worthy of your hard-earned money?
Design & Construct
- New design language
- IP66, IP68, IP69 and IP69K rated
- Helps magnetic accent ecosystem with appropriate case
As per my OnePlus 15 assessment, I actually like the brand new design route OnePlus has taken for its newest high-end telephones. The OnePlus 13s debuted this minimalist new aesthetic earlier in 2025, and pairing that with the clear matt finishes out there to the 15 made for a stellar combo.
The OnePlus 15R isn’t a bad-looking telephone however the assured, clear strains and proportions of its predecessor have been worn away
I didn’t love the look (or really feel) of the OnePlus 13, so the visible adjustments made between generations felt like a severe improve. In distinction, with the transfer from the 13R to the 15R, the other feels true.
The OnePlus 15R isn’t a bad-looking telephone however the assured, clear strains and proportions of its predecessor have been worn away, leaving a a lot softer and fewer impactful-looking machine. The impact wouldn’t be so pronounced if the 15R didn’t additionally include a considerably shrunken rear digital camera bump, which this 12 months hosts solely two sensors, as a substitute of the three earlier than.
Whereas its Chinese language counterpart – the OnePlus Ace 6T – is available in 4 finishes (together with a particular version mild blue), nearly in all places else the 15R is available in simply two: Charcoal Black and the pastel inexperienced Mint Breeze.
The black mannequin goes some technique to clawing again a few of its launch sibling’s ‘cool’ issue, whereas the Mint Breeze end solely highlights the weaker parts of the telephone’s kind. There’s additionally the fibreglass-backed Electrical Violet (purple) end, completely out there in India.
The 15R’s arrival additionally marks the top for the model’s once-iconic three-stage alert slider, because the Nord 5 and OnePlus 15 already nixed this characteristic.
As a replacement – pushed by the model’s growing concentrate on AI performance – is the Plus Key: a programmable motion button of kinds that, by default, helps you to seize screenshots and voice notes to be saved on to Thoughts Area (extra on that later).
Regardless of my resistance to the look of the 15R, you may’t fault its sturdiness credentials. Competent Gorilla Glass 7i on the entrance and a pleasingly fingerprint-repellant glass again sandwich a (not-so-fingerprint-repellant) aluminium body, with complementary steel {hardware} controls down both aspect.
Its edges and people extra rounded corners imply it’s completely snug within the hand too, albeit somewhat slippy and heavy (round 215g).
A complete of 4 totally different IP-certifications imply that it’s higher protected than most telephones in opposition to mud and water ingress (ironic for a corporation that when shied away from IP certification completely), with OnePlus testing the 15R in as much as two metres of water, which is deeper than required for certification.
As with the OnePlus 15, there’s a choice of magnetic instances out there individually for the 15R, which is able to allow you to snap the telephone onto desk mounts or MagSafe-style equipment. Not like the 15, you may’t energy the 15R again up by means of such equipment, because it lacks wi-fi charging altogether.
Display & Audio system
- 6.83-inch 1.5K LTPS AMOLED show
- 165Hz peak refresh price & devoted contact response chip
- New, extra balanced stereo speaker format
In the event you have been postpone by the drop in show measurement from the OnePlus 13 to the 15, you’ll respect the generational improve in display screen measurement the 15R enjoys, with OnePlus’ newest premium entry sporting an expansive 6.83-inch 1.5K AMOLED show.
Whereas it lacks the vanilla 15’s really dynamic 1 to 120Hz LTPO tech (which means it’s much less energy environment friendly), it does boast the identical social gathering piece, with help for boosted refresh charges of 144Hz and 165Hz in supported video games.
The 15R fortunately enjoys an improve to a extra premium, quick and dependable ultrasonic fingerprint sensor
As to which video games use the panel’s peak refresh price to its fullest, past the same old suspects like Name of Responsibility: Cell and Conflict of Clans, different appropriate titles embody Delta Power, League of Legends: Wild Rift, KartRider Rush+, Actual Racing 3, Standoff 2, Blood Strike, and – through body interpolation – PUBG Cell.
OnePlus additionally says extra titles are anticipated to capitalise on the 15 and 15R’s peak refresh price skills sooner or later, however these are unconfirmed in the intervening time.
That additionally comes paired to a devoted contact response chip, which permits for an exceptional 3200Hz contact response price. By comparability, the Galaxy S25 Extremely‘s TRR clocks in at simply 240Hz.
Foundry | Alex Walker-Todd
Having trialled the 15R’s use of the corporate’s Aqua Contact tech, it handles typing with moist fingers or droplets on the display screen effectively, however struggles to register faucets if water persistently runs down the display screen. OnePlus’ strategy isn’t alone on this, and I’d fairly have it than not, nevertheless it’s clear what the following improve for this characteristic must be.
One of many extra sensible points with the 13R was its fingerprint sensor placement. It was too low down in the direction of the telephone’s backside bezel to essentially be snug. The 15R fortunately enjoys an improve to a extra premium, quick and dependable ultrasonic sensor (similar to the OnePlus 13 and 15) which, by being thinner, could be positioned increased on the show for higher ease of use.
As for the audio expertise, you get an analogous stereo speaker setup to the 15, delivering good readability in any respect however the prime of its vary. There’s a slight bass bias to the down-firing speaker, nevertheless it’s not so pronounced that when watching content material in panorama, one aspect of the telephone sounds unbalanced. Bass remains to be missing, notably at increased volumes the place the combination will get muddy.
The 15R nearly approaches the 15’s degree of haptic suggestions, however every thing feels softer. Talking of which, diving into each telephones’ haptics menus, the 15R additionally loses out on the flexibility to sculpt the texture of its haptic output, with the OnePlus 15 boasting further ‘Crisp’ and ‘Light’ profiles, absent on the 15R.
Specs & Efficiency
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset
- 12GB RAM Extremely & as much as 512GB storage
- Devoted G2 WiFi chip
One of many greatest unknown portions with the OnePlus 15R is its chipset. Having labored immediately with Qualcomm to develop it, OnePlus is the primary to launch a telephone internationally that runs on the brand new Snapdragon 8 Gen 5.
In the event you’re questioning in regards to the technical variations, whereas it’s constructed on the identical 3nm structure because the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 powering the OnePlus 15, the 15R’s SoC runs at lower clock speeds across its eight cores (two at 3.8GHz and six at 3.32GHz, compared to 4.61GHz and 3.63GHz on the Elite).
Foundry | Alex Walker-Todd
Its Adreno 840 GPU also misses out on the Elite version’s ability to boost from 384MHz to 768MHz, as well as 18MB of dedicated high-performance memory for greater bandwidth with lower latency. In the real world, however, that doesn’t make for a tangible gap in performance, at least not at launch.
From my experience, the 15R seems more than equipped to deliver on the promise of sustained 165fps gameplay. I enjoyed over an hour of Call of Duty: Mobile – at an impressively stable 165fps – before the frame counter started to fall. Even then, it was only by an average of about 10fps.
Notice I said “frame counter”, with any difference being hard to discern during gameplay. Not to mention that a frame rate of 155fps is still ludicrously fluid, more so than almost any other phone.
Along with the 8 Gen 5, optimised games and that 165Hz refresh rate boost, the 15R’s enduring performance is thanks to a few other key additions. Namely, OnePlus’ HyperRendering engine – which promises an 80% improvement in frame generation efficiency, alongside optimisations as part of the company’s OP Gaming Core, helping to sustain consistent performance.
OnePlus 15R benchmarks
For a little more context, artificial CPU benchmarking places the 8 Gen 5’s performance in line with previous Snapdragon 8 Elite phones, but by using Qualcomm’s latest chip architecture, the 15R supports more advanced components (such as new 20-bit triple ISPs) and faster memory.
Across the 15 and 15R, OnePlus has also replaced Android’s native CFS (Completely Fair Scheduler) with its own alternative, which prioritises processes based on the task at hand. OnePlus says this reordered approach leads to almost 23% fewer instructions needing to be sent to the CPU when performing a task, resulting in faster and more efficient processing.
Foundry | Alex Walker-Todd
Although the Chinese Ace 6T can be had in two RAM and three storage configurations, internationally OnePlus is serving the 15R up with 12GB of RAM and either 256GB or 512GB of storage.
Like the base OnePlus 15, the 15R does benefit from the new ‘RAM Ultra’ standard, which means faster data transfer speeds of around 9600Mbps, almost double what’s supported by previous Snapdragon chips, even the OnePlus 13’s 8 Elite.
This comes paired with top-tier UFS 4.1 storage, but as with the last few ‘R’ entries in the series, one of the only areas in which speed hasn’t been prioritised is the USB port. The 15R’s still only supports USB 2.0 speeds, whereas the company’s flagships have sported USB 3.2 Gen 1 for several generations at this point, offering around ten times the data throughput – key for when you want to transfer large (or a lot of) files over USB.
Cameras
- 50Mp main + 8Mp ultra-wide + 32Mp selfie camera
- Up to 4K at 120fps video capture
- Uses same new DetailMax Engine as OnePlus 15
Part of my resistance to the 15R’s new look is that it highlights one of the most obvious generational losses: the absence of a telephoto camera. Yes, the 13R’s tele only offered 2x magnification, but it delivered well-rendered 4x shots and provided competent portrait photography skills for its price.
Foundry | Alex Walker-Todd
I’d never want OnePlus to slap an additional sensor in there just for the sake of it (there have been so many phones with a pointless third rear camera over the years), but I feel like they were onto a good thing with the 13R’s rear camera trio, and I was curious to see where they’d take the feature with the 15R. ‘Off’, is the answer; they took it completely off.
While this change stifles the 15R’s photographic versatility somewhat (especially compared to similarly-priced alternatives, such as the Galaxy S25 FE), the phone still brings a strong main camera. It’s the same main 50Mp IMX906/LYT-700 sensor as both its predecessor and the OnePlus 15.
In fact, it’s not only the main sensor that the 15R shares with its more premium counterpart, but their chipsets’ triple ISPs (the first of their kind to support a 20-bit colour depth), and the same image processing by way of OnePlus’ own new DetailMax Engine.
As such, shots from the main sensor between the 15 and the 15R look near-enough identical. They have the same processed-but-pleasing finish in most conditions, also suffering from soft detail capture in low light.
The 8Mp ultra-wide, meanwhile, looks like the same secondary sensor as on the 13R (the ageing Sony IMX355) and, while useful, does introduce colour, contrast and dynamic range inconsistency with the phone’s main snapper. Its low light performance is significantly weaker too, and it tends to underexpose in comparison to the main lens. It holds value for more creative shooting in well-lit environments, however.
One silver lining is that the 15R gains a much larger 32Mp (up from 12Mp) front camera this time around, and it looks to serve up better detail and low light performance than previous R-series’ selfie offerings. The results look more processed than those you’ll get from the main camera, and its natural bokeh (without portrait mode), isn’t the prettiest, but otherwise it’s a welcome photographic upgrade.
Video quality – including stabilisation – is also comparable with the OnePlus 15. The 15R even gets its sibling’s 4K 120fps video capture ability, a rarity in the smartphone space right now that claws back some creative control and versatility.
Battery Life & Charging
- 7400mAh ‘Silicon NanoStack’ battery
- 80W wired charging
- No power adapter in the box
On the international stage, the OnePlus 15 boasted the biggest smartphone battery we’d ever seen from the brand, at a whopping 7300mAh. As you might have guessed by the past tense there, the OnePlus 15R’s larger body has allowed for an ever more sizeable 7400mAh power pack.
Once, 6000mAh+ batteries were exclusive to gaming phones but we’ve seen a number of larger-celled smartphones cropping up throughout 2025.
Foundry | Alex Walker-Todd
Even though the recent Oppo Find X9 Pro pips the 15R to the post – with its 7500mAh silicon carbon (Si-C) battery – OnePlus fans will likely take greater offence to the fact that the 15R again falls short of its China-exclusive doppelgänger (the Ace 6T), which touts a frankly ludicrous 8300mAh battery (more than double the battery capacity of a Samsung Galaxy S25), paired to even faster charging.
Even so, 7400mAh is unquestionably capacious, and it translates to impressive real-world performance.
In testing, the 15R scored close to the vanilla 15, with an exceptional PCMark Battery 3.0 score of 26 hours, 17 minutes (just behind the 15’s).
Using screen-on time to measure real-world use, I was able to clock an outstanding 14 hours per charge, which equates to just shy of three full days of modest use. Hammering 165fps gaming for 90 minutes took a full charge down to around 12 hours 45 minutes of screen-on time, but either way the 15R is equipped to deliver heavy daily use, without battery anxiety.
It hit 50% charge in under 25 minutes and reached a full charge within an hour (59 minutes in my tests)
While the phone lacks an in-box charger in most markets, if you do decide to grab a compatible SuperVOOC adapter, you’ll be able to capitalise on the phone’s support for 80W fast wired charging. The phone also supports bypass charging.
Using such an adapter I found that OnePlus’s promised recharge times were right on the money. It hit 50% charge in under 25 minutes and reached a full charge within an hour (59 minutes in my tests), with Smart Rapid Charging enabled within the phone’s settings.
As with the OnePlus 15, the company promises no more than a 20% degradation of the battery’s maximum charge capacity after four years of use too.
Check out our rundown of the best battery life phones for alternatives.
Software & AI
- OxygenOS 16 atop Android 16 at launch
- Google Gemini integration with Mind Space
- 4 years OS + 6 years security update support
The OnePlus 15R enjoys an almost identical user experience to the company’s flagship, meaning all the functionality, performance improvements and update commitment enjoyed by the OnePlus 15 are available on this more affordable alternative.
The latest OxygenOS 16 user experience (atop Android 16) includes some notable visual tweaks, such as fancier ‘Illuminance’ animations, some Liquid Glass-inspired aesthetics and even a Predictive Back Gesture, which better visualises exactly where you’ll end up when swiping to go back on Android, something that isn’t always clear natively.
Foundry | Alex Walker-Todd
That new Plus Key lets you save screenshots or voice notes to Mind Space: OnePlus’ AI-backed, on-device memory palace. OnePlus’ Plus Mind AI can then extract key information from anything you save (including text from images, such as event posters) and suggest relevant actions, such as summarising key details or offering up calendar entries.
New Google Gemini integration means you can ask the search giant’s voice assistant about content saved to your Mind Space, which is a nice upgrade that shows OnePlus’ close collaboration with key partners.
I can see the utility of the feature and it’s a good differentiator to most other brand’s AI offers (Nothing’s Essential Space notwithstanding), but I’m waiting for OnePlus to include cloud synchronisation across my OnePlus devices before committing. Things currently stored in Mind Space are local to your device (which does, I’ll concede, make them more secure).
OxygenOS is generally one of the better takes on Android, thanks to its blend of utility and ease of use, even if some more recent additions – such as Flux Themes and Live Alerts – feel cribbed straight from iOS.
The 15R comes backed by a respectable four generations of OS updates and six years of security updates which, despite lagging behind market leaders Google and Samsung (both of which offer seven years of both OS and security updates), should prove ample for most users.
Price & Availability
After a long period of teasing, the OnePlus 15R hit pre-order internationally on December 17. The phone is set to go on sale from January 15, 2026.
At the time of writing, you can pre-order the OnePlus 15R direct from OnePlus in the UK or the OnePlus US site, where the company is throwing in some free bonuses, including its fastest 120W SuperVOOC charger and the option of a compatible magnetic case or a pair of OnePlus Buds 4 (going by OnePlus’ UK site). It’s also available to pre-order from Amazon within the UK, amongst different retailers.
Foundry | Alex Walker-Todd
No matter colourway, the bottom 12GB RAM + 256GB storage OnePlus 15R prices £649 / €699 / $699.99, whereas the 512GB mannequin jumps to £729 / €799 /$799.99. That mentioned, those who buy earlier than January 21 have the prospect to snap up the 512GB mannequin with £100 / €100 off, making it cheaper than the decrease storage variant. Different presents embody scholar reductions, trade-in reductions and money-off vouchers, when shopping for direct from OnePlus.
In the event you’re trying to completely change your telephone setup, you might additionally pair it with a brand new SIM-only deal.
Do you have to purchase the OnePlus 15R?
Whereas there are clear chinks within the OnePlus 15R’s armour, collectively they’re small. As long as its lack of a telephoto digital camera, LTPS show tech, USB 2.0 speeds and middling haptics aren’t dealbreakers, the OnePlus 15R is in any other case a whole high-end package deal that will get you many of the technique to the full-fat OnePlus 15 expertise.
Even when I don’t agree with all of them, I feel OnePlus made the precise compromises, as what’s left nonetheless wholly impresses, notably the mixture of sustained efficiency and the 165Hz show social gathering trick for players. The telephone’s excellent battery longevity and clear person expertise are to be counseled too.
To your cash, you might go for the Galaxy S25 FE (which I’ve already in comparison with the 15R), or the Google Pixel 10 (which is beginning to see value reductions), each of which pack superior pictures expertise however in any other case weaker {hardware}. There’s additionally the extra inexpensive (however marginally extra compromised) Poco F8 Professional, which I additionally lately reviewed.
Specs
- OxygenOS 16 atop Android 16
- 6.83-inch, 19.8:9, 1272 x 2800, LTPS AMOLED, 60-120Hz w/ 165Hz enhance
- Ultrasonic in-display fingerprint sensor
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset
- 12GB RAM Extremely (LPDDR5X w/ switch speeds as much as 9600Mbps)
- 256GB or 512GB storage (UFS 4.1)
- Cameras:
- 50Mp 1/1.56-inch ƒ/1.8 Sony IMX906(aka the LYT-700) important sensor w/ OIS
- 8Mp ƒ/2.2 Sony IMX355 112º ultra-wide
- 32Mp ƒ/2.0 GC32E2 25mm selfie digital camera
- As much as 4K @ 120fps video recording + Dolby Imaginative and prescient
- Stereo audio system
- Twin-SIM
- Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6/7
- Bluetooth 6.0
- 7400mAh battery
- 80W SuperVOOC wired charging
- Magnetic accent ecosystem
- 163.41 x 77.04 x 8.3mm
- IP66 / IP68 / IP69 / IP69K licensed
- 213g (Electrical Violet), 214g (Charcoal Black), 215g (Mint Breeze)
- Colors: Charcoal Black, Mint Breeze, Electrical Violet