OnePlus 15R Review: A Performance-First Experience

This is what OnePlus did to enter the Indian smartphone market more than a decade ago with the upcoming ‘Flagship Killer’ that’s how it got into the mix, as well as an over-tenth of its time in India. Despite the recent years, the brand has focused on providing an improved flagship experience at a flagship-level price. It has launched its ‘R’ line to serve as the middle-end gap between the flagship and the mid-range offerings, the latest of which is the new OnePlus 15R), in order to cater for non-premium buyers.

Price of OnePlus 15R in India is Rs. Base variant 12GB RAM and 256gb of onboard storage 47,999 for base variant with an average of 47.999? But like its flagship sibling, the ‘R’ model has also seen an extreme rise in prices as a result of global RAM shortages that is having effect on tech market. Is it still a good idea to buy the handset at this price point? I’ll write in my review.

OnePlus 15R Design: A Big Shift

• Dimensions – 163.40 x 77 x 8.3mm
• Weight – 219 grams (Mint Green)
• Durability – IP66+IP68+IP69+IP69K

The OnePlus 15R’s design is in line with its flagship sibling and marks a significant change from the predecessor of this model. Most notable is the new squared-off rear camera deco, which houses the dual vertically stacked lenses and replaces the circular unit on the 13R. The change brings OnePlus and Oppo’s new smartphones, including their flagships, to line up with a more uniform rear camera design language.

The OnePlus 15R comes with a new squared-off camera deco

The handset has a flat edge and aluminium mid-frame, which does not dig into your palms because of the rounded corners in the handset. The OnePlus 15R, which is not an uncomplicated smartphone by any means, has a good weight distribution and does give confidence when held without feeling unwieldy. In fact, it is a little slim too, coming in at 8 as . 3mm.

The OnePlus 15R’s rear panel has a matte, smooth finish that does not register fingerprints and easily fades. This soft texture is a premium-looking and makes it very tactile. It comes in three colourways – Charcoal Black, Mint Green and Electric Violet.

The signature Alert slider has made way for the Plus key on the OnePlus 15R

A fibreglass back panel is claimed to be a part of the Electric Violet shade, while the other two colourways have ‘a glass panel’. We have the Mint Green colour option, which is a very subtle but nice shade of green that does not sound loud. Almost two shades lighter than the Sage colour of the iPhone 17 seems to be, according to .

The OnePlus 15R has IP66+IP68+I69+P69K ratings as its sibling on the durability front. It’s the highest level of dust and water resistance yet on an R-series smartphone, which gives more peace of mind when using the phone outside or near water.

OnePlus 15 review November 2015 I was disappointed that the replacement of the alert slider with a new Plus key (although customisable) did not lead to the same experience. OnePlus 15R also has its gripe, marking a turning point from physical switches to customisable keys for the brand across its entire range.

OnePlus 15R Display: Great for Binge-Watching

• Size and resolution – 6.83-inch 1.5K LTPS AMOLED, 1,272 x 2,800 pixels
• Refresh rate – 165Hz
• Protection – Gorilla Glass 7i

A further section of the display is where several flagship features have slipped down to the R-series model, although some caveats are still present. The OnePlus 15R is an 8-inch with a 6. 83-inch 1 . The screen of LTPS AMOLED (5K (1,272 x 2,800 pixels) is 165Hz refresh rate, 450PPI pixel density and 100 percent DCI-P3 colour gamut coverage with a resolution of 14.Hz).

The OnePlus 15R’s display comes with Widevine L1 certification

It is a good example of streaming high-resolution video on OTT apps like Netflix, JioHotstar and Prime Video (with narrow bezels and Widevine L1 support)). The 15R’s panel, like a standard-day OnePlus display, produces punchy colours, sharp visuals and deep blacks as well as the colour of its panels. Although the OnePlus 15R’s screen is bright enough for outdoor use and can be legible even under direct sunlight, I was not as bright as its flagship counterpart. It also dims so it can avoid strain on the eyes at night. A number of eye-protection features, as well as several other features are also available to help reduce strain further.

Despite the refresh rate, it is the most notable change on the display front of s. In the same way as its flagship counterpart, the OnePlus 15R has a 165Hz display with an impressive 155Hz performance. When scrolling through social media, browsing the web andnavigating the user interface, it creates very smooth animations.

Bezels are fairly slim and uniform on the OnePlus 15R

Despite the fact that it is currently limited to some games (including Battlegrounds Mobile India, Call of DutyMobile and Real Racing 3), high refresh rate also offers additional advantages when gaming. For example, it also reduces motion blur; so aiming and movement are more correct.

It is a panel of the LTPPS, which means there are no dynamic refresh rate adjustments depending on usage. Rather, the phone switches between preset refresh rate modes (60Hz, 120Hz and 165Hz) mode of refresh rates. A better panel for a LTPO would have been, but that would probably have cost more than an omission.

OnePlus 15R Performance: A New Generation

• Processor – Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5
• Memory – 12GB LPDDR5X Ultra (RAM), Up to 512GB UFS 4.1 (storage)
• OS – Android 16-based OxygenOS 16
• Updates Promised – 4 Years OS + 6 Years Security Patches

This is a new chipset, among other firsts on the OnePlus 15R. But this is, in particular the first for industry too, a phrase that’s also an important step forward. The OnePlus 15R is powered by the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset, which has been claimed to have been co-designed with Qualcomm. It also includes other high-end components, including 12GB of LPDDR5X Ultra RAM up to 512GB (UFS 4)). OnePlus CPU Scheduler 1 onboard storage, and a new optu-one processor scheduler.

OnePlus 15R is the first phone to be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 SoC

The OnePlus 15R is perfect in daily use, with its performance as well as the rest of the world. A rapid transition of 12 apps, streaming high-resolution media and intensive multitasking (and intense multi tasking) is not a bad thing for you when you switch between two dozen apps quickly without any delay. RAM is enough to store multiple apps in memory, with 12GB of RAM for UFS 4 and a total of over 128MB. 1 storage allows quick app installs. But for a near-flagship-level chipset, that is par for the course and anything less than that would have been ‘disappointing’. thankfully that isn’t the case of paraphrasingr, but it does not mean that.

The real test is when playing graphics-intensive games, and its true test lies with it. Several of the games I played were popular like Battlegrounds Mobile India and Call of Duty Mobile, and the newer OnePlus 15R was still good enough to sustain itself at relatively high graphics settings. With 165fps support, the handset delivered frame rates in the 145–155fpms range for about 30 minutes before thermal throttling was initiated due to heat buildup. However, it does not only give a high fps count in select games such as BGMI through frame interpolation.

The handset delivers excellent gaming performance and stays fairly cool

The CPU load did rise in demanding titles such as Genshin Impact and Wuthering Waves, but the frame rate was constant without any dip or frame skipping.

OnePlus 15R has 5,704 square mm Cryo Velocity 3D VC cooling system, which keeps cool even when it is forced to its limits. I noticed heat at the top half of the rear panel just after about 35 minutes of Call of Duty Mobile gameplay. But it did get hot after a long gaming session, and still managed to cool down fairly quickly.

The OnePlus 15R has an impressive 3200Hz instantaneous touch sampling rate, thanks to the new Touch Response Chip which provides a more responsive and accurate touch experience. This can be useful, especially when it comes to fast-paced gaming. Also, you get an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner at a comfortable height. It is nearly as fast as the ultrasonic sensor on the flagship model, and marks a significant step up from the optical unit of 13R. In everyday use, the sensor is accurate and fairly fast.

OnePlus 15R runs on OxygenOS 16 and delivers the same software experience as OnePlus 15

I was not thrilled about the haptics, although performance is certainly impressive. OnePlus 15R’shaptics, like its flagship sibling, feel downgraded as opposed to the model that preceded it. Despite the reduction in vibration intensity even after maxing out, feedback during gaming sessions does not deliver the punch seen on earlier models.

This smartphone 15, based on OxygenOS 16-based Android, is expected to receive four major Android OS updates and six years of security patches for the OnePlus 15R which will be released in September. In this case, OnePlus still provides excellent software support for s here. OnePlus 15R overall software experience is the same as you get on the XP 15, and I can read more about it in my review of the flagship handset here.

OnePlus 15R Cameras: A Mixed Bag

• Rear – 50-megapixel primary (f/1.8) + 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle (f/2.2)
• Front – 32-megapixel (f/2.0)

A dual rear camera system is used in the OnePlus 15; it borrowed its flagship counterpart, 50-megapixel Sony IMX906 primary sensor from its predecessor. Nevertheless, the 15R has been replaced by an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle lens that replaces its excellent 50-MP telephoto sensor of the OnePlus 13R. Also on the phone is the new proprietary DetailMax imaging technology that has been developed for the device.

OnePlus 15R primary camera samples at 1x and 2x magnification (tap to expand)

This primary sensor, which is 50-megapixels, has a consistently high performance in both daylight and low-light conditions. It can capture fine details in good light, and also handle tricky exposures, contrast and highlights and shadows. That’s also the case for low-light situations where images retain great detail with minimal noise.

While I thought the new DetailMax Engine was a little better than it used to be when compared to OnePlus’ excellent Hasselblad tuning on the upcoming XP 15, it is in favour of the brand new 15R model, which did not have any specialist tuning to start with. Colours are a little cooler side, but although the handset always makes snaps on Instagram, it is still an efficient device that produces shots for every single shot.

OnePlus 15R portrait camera samples (tap to expand)

Since there is no dedicated telephoto sensor, the OnePlus 15R uses software for portrait and zoomed-in shots as well as working fairly well, to an extent. Good daylight portraits are good for edge detection and separation between the subject & the background. Yet, it is not as good as its predecessor model’s capabilities and subsequently produced better results than the .

A higher magnification, the OnePlus 15R also becomes slightly over-processed at processing, smoothing textures and decreasing detail.

OnePlus 15R ultra-wide-angle camera samples (tap to expand)

With the ultra-wide–angle camera, which is a wide field of view and produces shots with ‘the range of views that are produced by this lens moving on. When properly viewed, it captures finer details and reproduces colour accurately. Nevertheless, as the sky gets dark, shots tend to lose detail; and noise begins to creep in (perhaps because of the smaller sensor) when it is shot.

In addition, the OnePlus 15R will launch a new 32-megapixel selfie camera – similar to flagship 15. The selfie shooter captures details well under both outdoor conditions and artificial lighting. Faces are clearly visible, while selfies lean towards a cooler tone.

OnePlus 15R selfie camera samples (tap to expand)

The OnePlus 15R is the brand’s first R-series smartphone to support 4K 120fps, as it prepares video recording. The phone is a good choice for content creators to consider videos, which have high colour balance, exposure control and stabilisation. especially Slo-motion 120fps videos, which look great – particularly.

OnePlus 15R Battery Life: More Than You’ll Need

• Battery Capacity – 7,400mAh
• Wired Charging – 80W
• Wireless Charging – No
• Included in the Box – Yes (80W)

OnePlus has significantly upgraded the battery on the new 15R while its camera system has been downgraded to some extent. Moreover, the handset has 7,400mAh of battery-testing highest battery of any OnePlus smartphone to date.

OnePlus 15R is claimed to have the biggest battery of any OnePlus phone to date

The OnePlus 15R is more than two days at the same charge for casual and light users, including calls, messages, browsing some social media (and even taking a few photos) on one charge. The phone can still power through almost a day and if you’re doing about an hour of gaming, so it won’t have to worry about running out of charge.

It is also a fairly fast charging speed, although not as fast as the OnePlus 15 and its chargers. A OnePlus 15R has 80W SuperVOOC wired fast charging, and it takes about 58 minutes for the phone to reach “fully charged” status. It costs it around 60 percent for an instant 30 minute top-up to .

The other good thing here is bypass charging, which allows users to use their phone directly connected to the socket without affecting battery health. It’s a great addition, especially considering the handset’S gaming capabilities. However, the OnePlus 15R does not have wireless charging and therefore has no reverse wireless charge (e.g.

OnePlus 15R Verdict

The OnePlus 15R, for instance, attempts to strike a balance between near-flagship-quality performance and not going into the territory of price pricing, but it does so in some ways. It doesn’t have all of the bells and whistles of its premium sibling, but in terms of performance, good battery life and reliable software support, it is a daily driver for power users.

On the other hand, camera compromises are clearly visible (especially with the absence of a telephoto sensor), and the haptics feel like’stepping back’ as opposed to previous OnePlus models.

This makes sense for users who value performance, battery endurance and software longevity over camera versatility.’ The OnePlus 15R is an example of the most popular smartphone in its market. Alternatively, you should consider the Realme GT 7 Pro (review) or the OnePlus 13s (Review), as alternatives.

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