OnePlus 12R Impressions | R for Riveting
The OnePlus 12R has both the swag and the specs to knock your socks off.
OnePlus has been relatively quiet during the start of the year, but little did we know that they had something special cooking–namely, the OnePlus 12R. Coming in alongside its bigger, beefier sibling, the OnePlus 12, this version aims to deliver a similar premium experience, but at a fraction of the price. While it’s not a new concept, it’s great to see it continue on.
Looking back, the OnePlus 11 5G garnered quite a bit of success in 2023 in spite of being the only official Philippine release in its lineup. While there was an 11R in existence, you’d have to go through dubious means to acquire one locally. Now that we’re getting the “R” treatment this year, and have our hands on a working unit, we can give our impressions on how it might measure up to its flagship counterpart–and the competition in its weight class.
It’s a straightforward unboxing experience. Alas, we get no TPU case, but we do have a sweet 100W SuperVOOC charger and trademark red USB-C cable. The phone itself has a nice sheen and feels hefty enough without being too heavy at 207 grams. It’s one heck of a Cool Blue fingerprint magnet, though. So, if you’re a bit iffy about any marks, make sure to wipe it clean each time.
It’s quite handy in spite of its generous sports a 6.78-inch display with a 94% screen-to-body ratio. Bezels look extra slim with barely any chin at all. You love to see it. They’re really making great use of that AMOLED ProXDR Display. Now that it has LTPO 4.0, it’ll be quite interesting to see how snappy and fast it can go with its 120 Hz refresh rate.
Of course, we had to give those cameras a test drive, and maybe play around even more later on. It’s a triple camera setup, with a 50MP Sony IMX890 main shooter, an 8MP ultrawide, and a 2MP macro lens. We took a few quick snaps, and they look pretty good–going from 0.6X to 5X lossless zoom
As for the portrait lens, we’ll have our time to tinker with it even further. It does produce some nice quality right out of the box, though.
It’s worth noting that we’ve barely scratched the surface here. Since the OnePlus 12R packs a Snapdragon Gen 2 processor, an insane amount of RAM at 16 GB by default, and the lates in OxygenOS, we have our work cut out for us. So far, it everything just glides so smoothly while navigating through apps. Firmware updates aside, it definitely doesn’t feel like it’s second banana to the OnePlus 12. It is, most definitely, its own beast.
However, if it does wish to be a compelling choice in a sea of upper midrangers vying for supremacy, it does have a tall task in front of it. It’ll be an uphill battle as that sea gets more and more crowded with each passing month. Still, the OnePlus 12R was pleasantly surprising right off the bat. Sans the Hasselblad partnership, one wouldn’t think twice about it not being a flagship phone. It most definitely feels like one–at least, this early on. We’ll make sure to delve deeper.
The OnePlus 12R is coming to Philippine soil very soon. To stay up to date on anything OnePlus, make sure to check out their official website, and follow their Facebook page.