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Digimagaz.com – OnePlus is not wasting time expanding its latest phone lineup. Just over a month after introducing the OnePlus 15, the company has followed up with the OnePlus 15R, a lower-priced alternative designed for users who value speed, battery life, and display quality over mobile photography. Starting at $700, the 15R undercuts the standard model by $200, and that savings comes with one clear trade-off.
Rather than reinventing the formula, OnePlus has refined it. The 15R borrows heavily from the flagship while selectively trimming features to hit a more accessible price point. The result is a phone that feels premium in daily use, even if it falls short in areas where competitors are pulling ahead.
Familiar Design with a Few Subtle Tweaks
At first glance, the OnePlus 15R looks nearly identical to its more expensive sibling. The design language follows recent OnePlus releases closely, with flat edges, a large rear camera module, and a clean, minimalist aesthetic. While the look does little to distinguish the device in a crowded market, build quality remains solid and refined.
OnePlus offers the 15R in a standout Mint Breeze finish alongside a more understated Charcoal Black. The mint option gives the phone some much-needed personality, especially compared to the muted tones seen on many recent flagships.
The phone is now rated IP69K for water and dust resistance, matching the durability of the OnePlus 15. That certification means it can withstand high-pressure, heated water exposure, a level of protection still uncommon outside rugged devices.
Replacing the brand’s long-running Alert Slider is the new Plus Key, a customizable button similar in concept to Apple’s Action button. Users can assign shortcuts for functions like launching the camera or enabling Do Not Disturb, adding a layer of convenience without cluttering the interface.
Large, Fast, and Exceptionally Bright Display
The OnePlus 15R features a 6.83-inch OLED display, slightly larger than the OnePlus 15. In everyday use, the size difference is minimal, but both phones clearly cater to users who prefer big screens.
The panel supports a 165Hz refresh rate in supported games, making it one of the fastest displays available at this price. Brightness peaks at up to 1,800 nits, ensuring strong visibility outdoors, while colors appear vibrant and sharp. One noticeable difference compared to the OnePlus 15 is a cooler color temperature, which may come down to calibration rather than hardware limitations.
One welcome upgrade is the addition of an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor beneath the display. It is fast, reliable, and positioned naturally, making unlocking the phone feel effortless.
Strong Performance Backed by a Massive Battery
The OnePlus 15R is the first phone in North America powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset. While it sits just below the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 Elite used in the OnePlus 15, real-world performance remains excellent. Day-to-day tasks, multitasking, and most games run smoothly, even if benchmark scores trail behind the flagship.
The phone ships with 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 256GB of UFS 4.1 storage, matching the base configuration of the OnePlus 15. App switching is instant, file transfers are quick, and the system rarely shows signs of strain.
Battery life is another standout. A 7,400mAh battery delivers endurance that easily stretches beyond a full day, even with heavy use. Fast charging is equally impressive. The included 55W SUPERVOOC charger can take the phone from empty to full in under an hour, making long charging sessions a non-issue.
Cameras: The Cost of Cutting $200
The most significant compromise on the OnePlus 15R is its camera system. To reduce costs, OnePlus removed the telephoto lens found on earlier R-series models. What remains is a dual-camera setup with a 50-megapixel main sensor and an 8-megapixel ultra-wide camera, both largely unchanged from last year.
In good lighting, photos are serviceable, but the system struggles in more challenging conditions. Shadow detail is often lost, and images can appear soft or muddy indoors or at night. The upgraded 32-megapixel front camera with autofocus is a bright spot, delivering sharper selfies and better framing for video calls.
Overall, photography is clearly not the 15R’s strength. Competing phones at this price, particularly from Google and Samsung, deliver more consistent and versatile camera performance.
Clean Software, Shorter Update Promise
The OnePlus 15R runs OxygenOS 16 out of the box, offering a fast, fluid Android experience with polished animations that take advantage of the high refresh rate display. The software also includes OnePlus’ latest AI tools, such as Mind Space, which helps organize screenshots and notes with on-device processing.
OnePlus promises four years of Android updates and six years of security patches. While respectable, this falls behind rivals like Google and Samsung, both of which now offer seven years of full software support on their latest devices.
Final Verdict: A Phone Built for Speed Lovers
The OnePlus 15R is not trying to be the most balanced phone in its class. Instead, it targets users who prioritize performance, battery life, and display quality above all else. In those areas, it delivers confidently.
For buyers who rarely rely on their phone cameras, the 15R arguably makes more sense than the standard OnePlus 15. The $200 price difference is substantial, and most of the core experience remains intact. However, those who care deeply about photography will find better-rounded options in rivals like the Pixel 10 or Galaxy S25 FE.
Ultimately, the OnePlus 15R feels like a focused device with clear priorities. It does fewer things than its competitors, but the things it does well are hard to ignore.
