The OnePlus 13R ($599.99) costs $100 more than its predecessor, but that extra Franklin goes a long way. It packs a powerful new chip, an improved camera system, and a larger battery that lasts longer than most of the competition. We like its flagship-level hardware, sharp screen, and clear speakers, but wish the phone included wireless charging, stronger protection from the elements, and more meaningful AI features. The OnePlus 13R is a strong choice for the battery-conscious, but the Google Pixel 8a ($499) offers better cameras, more robust AI features, a longer support window from Google, and costs $100 less, so it remains our Editors' Choice for midrange Android phones.
Design: Flagship Looks
The OnePlus 13R feels high-end despite its midrange price. Its rounded corners and aluminum frame give it a flagship-like look and feel. It measures 6.37 by 2.98 by 0.32 inches (HWD) and weighs 7.27 ounces, making it smaller and thinner than its predecessor, which measured (6.43 by 2.96 by 0.35 inches, 7.3 ounces). Google’s Pixel 8a is smaller, measuring 5.99 by 2.86 by 0.35 inches and weighing 6.63 ounces, owing to its smaller display. The $649.99 Samsung Galaxy S24 FE measures 6.38 by 3.04 by 0.31 inches and weighs 7.51 ounces. Meanwhile, the $899.99 OnePlus 13 (6.41 by 3.01 by 0.33 inches, 7.51 ounces) is larger and heavier all around.
I found it easy to keep a good grip on the 13R despite my small hands. The frame is solid. OnePlus’ Alert Slider for turning the ringer on and off is placed on the left side, and the volume rocker and power button are located on the right. The slider has three distinct stops, and the phone clicks or vibrates at each level to make it easy for you to tell which mode (Vibrate, Ring, or Silent) is activated. All the buttons are made of metal and offer a satisfying click when pressed. A USB-C 2.0 port sits at the bottom of the phone for charging. There's a SIM tray to the left of it and a speaker grille to its right.
The OnePlus 13R is available in Astral Trail (silver) or Nebula Noir (black). We received Nebula Noir to test, which is pictured in this review.
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While the front panel is covered in Gorilla Glass 7i, OnePlus doesn’t specify the glass used on the back. The rear surface has a matte finish that is incredibly slippery and easily collects fingerprints. You’ll want to grab a case to prevent accidental drops.
The round camera module looks almost identical to the one on the OnePlus 13, though the chrome Hasselblad branding is absent. The module contains three lenses and an LED flash. Its color matches that of the phone, giving it a cohesive appearance from top to bottom.
The phone has an IP65 rating for protection against dust and water. It isn’t fully waterproof, but it can survive getting wet. The Pixel 8a has an IP67 rating, which is better but doesn't match the fully waterproof IP68 rating of the S24 FE and OnePlus 13.
The OnePlus13R comes with a USB-C cable and the company's proprietary 55W SuperVOOC fast charging adapter in the box.
Display: Bright and Sharp
The 13R has a 6.78-inch ProXDR Display with LTPO 4.1 that is similar to the one on the OnePlus 13, albeit with a slightly lower resolution (2,780 by 1,264 pixels compared with 3,168 by 1,440 pixels on the OnePlus 13). The 13R supports Display P3 and 10-bit color depth and has a variable refresh rate between 1Hz and 120Hz. Gamers can set the refresh rate to 120Hz, and an algorithm can boost 60Hz games up to 120Hz. The Google Pixel 8a, by comparison, has a smaller, 6.1-inch screen with a resolution of 2,400 by 1,080 pixels and an adaptive refresh rate that ranges between 60Hz and 120Hz. The S24 FE has a 6.7-inch Super AMOLED panel with 2,340 by 1,080 pixels, a refresh rate of up to 120Hz, and a peak brightness of 1,900 nits.
The phone is incredibly bright. Like the OnePlus 13, the 13R can deliver up to 4,500 nits of peak brightness, though it averages 1,600 nits during regular use. The brightness is particularly noticeable when using the phone on a sunny day. I had no problems seeing everything on the screen, even in direct sunlight. The Pixel 8a's screen isn’t nearly as bright; it maxes out at 2,000 nits.
The phone has a fast and effective under-display fingerprint sensor for unlocking it. You can choose from a selection of animations that play whenever the display senses your finger. If you prefer, you can also unlock your phone using the front-facing camera and facial recognition.
The screen supports wet finger tracking, so you can use it after washing your hands, and a glove mode for use out in the cold. It comes with a preinstalled screen protector, but it’s not very good. It bubbled up after only a couple of days of use, and I had to remove it.
Performance: Plenty of Power
The OnePlus 13R runs on one of last year’s most advanced mobile processors, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. The processor offers clock speeds up to 3.3GHz. There’s 12GB of fast LPDDR5x memory and 256GB of UFS 4.0 storage. The Pixel 8a also tops out at 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. Meanwhile, the pricier OnePlus 13 is available with as much as 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, and the Galaxy S24 FE comes with 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of storage.
The 13R is fast and responsive. Navigating around the phone and switching from app to app is quick and effortless. It does an excellent job of handling multiple open apps and browser tabs.
The phone excelled in benchmark testing. In the Geekbench 6 testing suite, which measures CPU performance, it produced a single-core score of 2,195 and a multi-core score of 6,483. The Pixel 8a, which runs on Google’s Tensor G3 chip, didn’t fare as well, scoring 1,545 and 4,208. Meanwhile, the OnePlus 13, which relies on the high-end Snapdragon 8 Elite, managed 2,955 and 9,143 on the same test, and the S24 FE and its Samsung Exynos 2400e processor nabbed 2,035 and 5,979.
The phone did well on the GFXBench test, which measures GPU performance. It managed 71fps on the 1440p Aztec Ruins Offscreen test, besting the Pixel 8a handily (35fps) but falling below the S24 FE (82fps).
I had no issues when playing Genshin Impact, even during moments of intensive combat. Less demanding games, such as Alto’s Odyssey, performed without a hitch.
Battery: All Day and Then Some
Like the OnePlus 13, the 13R is powered by a 6,000mAh battery. It produces impressive results. We test battery life by playing an HD YouTube video over Wi-Fi with the display at maximum brightness. The 13R lasted 25 hours and 18 minutes on a single charge, which is better than the OnePlus 13 (24 hours, 28 minutes) and the S24 FE (15 hours, 50 minutes). The iPhone 16 Pro Max ($1,199) remains our overall battery winner at 29 hours. Meanwhile, the Pixel 8a (4,492mAh) lasted only 12 hours and 15 minutes.
The 13R comes with OnePlus’s SuperVOOC fast charging adapter. It tops out at 55W, which is lower than the 80W version that ships with the OnePlus 13. Still, it was able to charge the phone from 0% to 100% in 57 minutes. The 13R doesn't support wireless charging, which is disappointing. Most phones in this price range include some kind of wireless charging, even if it’s not particularly fast. The Pixel 8a supports wired charging at up to 18W and wireless charging at 7.5W, and the S24 FE supports wired charging at 25W and wireless charging at 15W.
Connectivity: A Typical Radio Mix
The OnePlus 13R will connect to 5G on most US carriers. It is compatible with C-band frequencies but lacks the ultra-fast mmWave technology deployed in some urban areas. The Pixel 8a and S24 FE offer mmWave connectivity.
Cell coverage is weak in my area and can be particularly bad indoors. The 13R managed 218Mbps download speeds and 19.7Mbps upload speeds from my location on Google Fi, which uses T-Mobile's network. My iPhone 14 Pro was a bit slower, managing 189Mbps download speeds and 7.50Mbps upload speeds from the same spot on T-Mobile.
The 13R comes with a Wi-Fi 7 radio, which is surprising for a phone at this price. On our Wi-Fi 6 test router, the phone managed download speeds of 108Mbps and upload speeds of 118Mbps. This was better than the iPhone 14 Pro, which got download speeds of 66.6Mbps and upload speeds of 68Mbps from the same location. The 13R also performed admirably near the edge of the Wi-Fi network, with download speeds of 74.4Mbps and upload speeds of 79Mbps. The iPhone 14 Pro (39.9 down, 66.2 up) didn’t do nearly as well.
The phone has dual-band GPS for accurate navigation and NFC for mobile payments. Bluetooth 5.4 is on board with support for advanced codecs, including AAC, aptx, aptx HD, LDAC, and LHDC 5.0. Since there's no 3.5mm headphone jack, you’ll need to use Bluetooth to connect the phone to wireless headphones or speakers.
Speakers: Loud and Clear
Calls on the 13R are crisp and clear. I could hear everyone I spoke with clearly and without interference, and no one had a problem hearing me from their end, either. The earpiece produces good volume at 75.7dB. The speakerphone reaches an impressive 94.3dB, which is loud enough for me to hear every word, even in crowded spaces.
Like the OnePlus 13, the 13R uses OReality Audio for sound processing. The results are good. I could make out all of the bass parts at the beginning of our test track, “Silent Shout,” by The Knife. The sound is strong enough to fill a small room, though the phone has a single speaker rather than the stereo speakers of the 13.
Cameras: Excellent Image Quality
The OnePlus 13R's cameras drop the Hasselblad moniker (and specialized software) found on the higher-end 13 but still offer similar quality results. The main camera is a 50MP shooter with a Sony LYT-700 sensor with optical image stabilization (OIS), an aperture of f/1.8, and a focal length of 24mm. The telephoto camera also has a 50MP sensor with an aperture of f/2.0 and 2x optical zoom. An 8MP ultra-wide lens rounds out the cameras with an aperture of f/2.2 and a 112-degree field of view. The 16MP front-facing camera has an f/2.4 aperture and an 82-degree field of view.
The 13R's cameras capture light and color well—in fact, just as well as the OnePlus 13's cameras do. I had a hard time telling the difference between photos taken on the two devices.
I see the same level of detail in this photo of the tree as in the same photo taken with the 13. When zoomed in, you can make out some individual clumps of pine needles, though some parts of the picture are more pixelated than others.
The OnePlus 13R doesn’t have a dedicated macro mode, but it did a good job of taking a close-up of this flower. Some of the detail is even better than a similar shot taken on the 13.
The 13R's camera system only offers three optical distance choices: 0.6x, 1x, and 2x. Here is a progression at each level of zoom.
The selfie camera is passable but not spectacular. It did a decent job of capturing the picture below in low light, though it's oversharpened to a degree.
The camera app's Pro mode lets you experiment with ISO, shutter speed, focus, white balance, and exposure. You can also shoot 4K video at either 60fps or 30fps and slow-motion video in 1080p resolution at up to 240fps. The video looks just as good as the photos.
The OnePlus 13R has the same AI photo editing capabilities as the OnePlus 13. AI Detail Boost upscales your photos to 4K, while AI Unblur sharpens blurry shots. AI Reflection Eraser removes reflections from windows, while AI Eraser allows you to get rid of unwanted people or background elements. The AI options work most of the time but sometimes leave stray elements behind. If AI editing features are important to you, you’re better off with Pixel 8a, which has more refined options.
Software: OxygenOS Without Any Fluff
The 13R runs OnePlus’ Oxygen user interface, which is based on Android 15. The interface is clean and straightforward, without many superfluous apps or features. The home page has a folder dedicated to Google apps, as well as a game center for managing game captures and settings. There’s a widget filled with OnePlus apps that are mostly useful, including settings, weather, a calculator, and an audio recorder. There’s also a OnePlus community app and the OnePlus store. Netflix and Zen Space, a meditation app, come preinstalled, but you can delete any of the preinstalled apps to free up space for your own.
Navigating around the phone feels smooth and intuitive. Google’s AI assistant, Gemini, is on board, but otherwise, there are no other AI extras on the 13R. Anyone looking for more integrated AI features should stick to the Pixel 8a.
OnePlus offers four years of OS updates for the 13R and six years of security updates. OnePlus lags behind its competitors in this area, as both Google and Samsung offer seven years of software support for their phones, including the Pixel 8a and S24 FE.
Verdict: A Midrange Phone That Packs a Punch
The OnePlus 13R has just about everything you could want in a midrange phone, with only a few small sacrifices. Its year-old processor is still powerful enough to run even the most intensive games, and it has a bright and responsive display for your content. We also appreciate its epic battery life, premium build, and capable cameras. We wish the phone was a little more durable, had a longer software support window, and more effective AI image editing, but these aren't deal breakers. Those who want the best battery life for the price will find plenty to like about the OnePlus 13R. While it doesn't last as long and isn't as powerful, the Google Pixel 8a remains our Editors' Choice in this price range, offering better cameras, a longer support window, and smarter AI for $100 less.
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