The OnePlus 12 was launched earlier last month with all the competing specs of upcoming 2024 units. That being said, the upcoming OnePlus 12R isn’t a pushover either. With a very aggressive combination of specs and price points, it may actually just be the better choice of the two, at least for the average user.
A Fair Compromise
As a flagship, the OnePlus 12 boasts a litany of features that justifies its price point. Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, better camera specs, support of more advanced technologies like Bluetooth 5.4. It even uses a USB Type-C 3.2 connection, allowing it to potentially maximize the speeds of its UFS 4.0 storage when transferring files over faster data media (like an external NVMe SSD, for example).
OnePlus 12R dials the specs down considerably. Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is somewhat older for sure, but it is still technically overkill for most standard applications. You have way fewer storage variants, with 128GB “downgraded” to UFS 3.1 and 8GB RAM. Even the USB is back to the plain old Type-C 2.0.
These may seem considerable downgrades. But when price point is considered you still get a very competitive set of specs for the entire package. OnePlus starts at $800, while the OnePlus 12R is at $500, effectively a 37% gap, which coincidentally is the exact same percentage performance difference between the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and Gen 2.
Order both the One Plus 12 and 12R here.
Battery Life
The OnePlus 12R offers the exact same battery specs and charging features as the OnePlus 12. No, actually, the OnePlus 12R has a higher capacity value of 5,500 mAh (compared to 5,400 mAh), though in practice you pretty much won’t be able to tell the difference.
Additionally, the inclusion of 80W wired SUPERVOOC charging ensures the continued implementation of the same quick charging features as its older, more premium variants. Which is already an expected convenience for higher mid-tier offerings.
256GB Variant Has 16GB RAM
Another one of those odd upgrades that in practice, does not make a difference, but is puzzling to be included or implemented nonetheless. That’s right, the 256GB variant of the OnePlus 12R actually has slightly more RAM.
Sure 8GB is still the mobile standard, and 16GB is pretty much super overkill. But it is still an upgrade nonetheless. Besides, that much RAM can help mitigate the stronger tendency of OnePlus phones to kill apps with their strange memory management systems.
Similar Screen
Even with its reduced price, the OnePlus 12R never compromised on its display specifications. Technically, we get a very slight PPI reduction by compensating for the 0.04-inch difference in screen size. But everything else is there. It still has an LTPO4 AMOLED 120Hz display with all the bells and whistles of ProXDR technology, HDR10+, and all the usual perks you would find on higher-tier models.
Similar Design
Order both the One Plus 12 and 12R here.
Nerfed as some of its technology features may be, the OnePlus 12R still shares a lot of its basic configurations with the OnePlus 12. The in-display fingerprint sensor, its famed alert slider, and vapor cooling chambers highlight the attention to detail in both devices. Furthermore, they both run on OxygenOS 14 based on Android 14, ensuring a consistent and familiar software experience across the OnePlus lineup.
