OnePlus has always positioned its “R” series as a performance-centric alternative to its flagship lineup, and with the OnePlus 15R, the brand has taken this philosophy a step further. After using the OnePlus 15R as my primary device for two days, including gaming, media consumption, 5G usage, and heavy multitasking, I’ve concluded that this phone is designed for users who want flagship-grade performance and battery life without paying ultra-premium flagship prices.
While the OnePlus 15R gets many things right, some decisions, particularly in the camera and connectivity departments, might disappoint some power users.
Let’s delve into the phone’s features in detail, based on our experience after two days of use. We also considered other user reviews before writing this review.
Design & Build Quality: Flagship Looks, Excellent Durability
The OnePlus 15R feels premium the moment you hold it. The device features a metal frame with a matte ceramic-type back finish, giving it a solid and refined feel. Interestingly, its back design is identical to the OnePlus 15, making it indistinguishable from the flagship model at first glance. Therefore, users won’t notice much difference between the OnePlus 15 and OnePlus 15R when comparing their back designs.
Despite weighing 218 grams, the OnePlus 15R doesn’t feel excessively heavy during everyday use. Thanks to good weight distribution, it feels more like a 200-gram device even after prolonged use. Furthermore, the matte back resists fingerprints and dust, and minor scratches from coins or fingernails are easily wiped away. This makes the phone quite durable for long-term use.
With a thickness of 8.3mm, the phone strikes a good balance between sturdiness and comfort. The rectangular rear camera module looks clean and modern, maintaining OnePlus’s minimalist design language.
In terms of durability, OnePlus has left no stone unturned with the OnePlus 15R. The OnePlus 15R boasts IP68, IP69, and IP69K ratings, providing industry-leading protection against dust, water immersion, and high-pressure water jets – a feature rarely seen even in flagship smartphones. Overall, the phone is exceptional in terms of design and build quality.
Display Experience: Bright, Smooth, and Media-Focused
The OnePlus 15R boasts a 6.83-inch 1.5K OLED LTPS flat display, one of the device’s key highlights. Its outdoor visibility is excellent, and you can easily read the text on the screen even in direct sunlight.
The Display Supports:
- 165Hz refresh rate (in supported apps)
- HDR10+ and Dolby Vision
- Widevine L1 certification
- 4K HDR video playback on YouTube
- 1800 nits HBM brightness
- 3840Hz PWM dimming for reduced eye strain
- Gorilla Glass 7i protection
The LTPS panel dynamically switches between 120Hz, 90Hz, and 60Hz, although due to the limitations of LTPS technology, it doesn’t go below 60Hz. While LTPO would be more efficient, the large battery minimizes the impact on battery life in real-world usage.
Furthermore, the 3D ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanner is fast, accurate, and works reliably even with wet fingers. Media consumption on the OnePlus 15R is excellent, whether streaming HDR content or watching long videos.
One-handed use is possible, but reaching the top corners might be difficult due to the large display size. After using the OnePlus 15R for two days, I can say that the phone’s display is good.
Performance & Thermal Management: Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 Shows Its Power
The OnePlus 15R features the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 (3nm) chipset, paired with LPDDR5X ultra RAM and UFS 4.1 storage. It’s essential to note that all benchmark tests were conducted at room temperature, without the use of air conditioning or external cooling, and in normal performance mode. You can see the results below:
Synthetic Benchmark Results:
- AnTuTu Score: ~2.9 million
- Peak temperature: ~41.5°C
- Battery drain: ~7%
- Geekbench CPU:
- Single-core: 2806
- Multi-core: 9338
- Geekbench GPU: 17,261
3DMark Stress Test Results (20 minutes each):
- Wild Life Extreme: 68.2% stability
- Wild Life: 67.4% stability
- Solar Bay: 63.7% stability
- Steel Nomad Light: 69.6% stability
Even after extensive stress testing, the maximum temperature only reached 45°C, which is quite good considering the workload. Furthermore, throttling was well controlled; during a 30-minute throttling test, performance dropped to approximately 76%, and the temperature stabilized at around 35°C.
In terms of RAM management, the OnePlus 15R performs exceptionally well, with apps remaining active in the background without significant reloading.
Overall, the phone performs admirably, handling everything from gaming to demanding tasks like 3D rendering with ease. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 processor certainly doesn’t disappoint in terms of performance.
Gaming Performance: Smooth FPS and Excellent Optimisation
It’s worth noting that gaming is one of the OnePlus 15R’s strongest areas. Thanks to its 360° Cryo-Velocity Cooling System, performance remains stable even during extended gaming sessions.
In Wuthering Waves, a 30-minute gaming test was delivered:
- Average FPS: 59.09
- Temperature: 38°C
- Battery drain: 7%
I personally observed during gaming that frame rate drops were minimal and mostly occurred during initial loading, which is normal. During gameplay, the FPS rarely dropped below 55.
In COD Mobile, the multiplayer mode runs smoothly at 163 FPS, while BGMI natively supports 120 FPS and up to 165 FPS with frame interpolation. However, the COD Battle Royale mode is currently capped at 90 FPS, likely due to game-side optimization rather than hardware limitations, as I’ve seen similar findings in other gaming reviews.
Furthermore, touch response is enhanced by a dedicated touch response chip, making gameplay more responsive and precise. Overall, the phone offers a great gaming experience.
Battery Life: Massive Capacity, Reliable Two-Day Usage
The OnePlus 15R features a 7400mAh battery, one of the largest in its segment. With efficient optimization, this phone can easily last up to two days on a single charge under normal usage conditions, even on 5G.
From a full charge (1% to 100% in 59 minutes), the phone delivered:
- 12 hours 25 minutes of screen-on time
- Only 1% idle drain overnight (mobile data off)
During my battery testing, I included heavy gaming, video streaming, social media use, and camera usage, and the phone consistently delivered excellent performance.
Charging Performance: Fast and Thermally Controlled
It’s worth noting that the OnePlus 15R supports 80W wired fast charging and bypass charging, although it lacks wireless charging. However, the fast charging capabilities are impressive, and the results are as follows:
Charging results:
- 1% to 50% – 22 minutes
- 1% to 80% – 40 minutes
- 1% to 100% – 59 minutes
The temperature remained under control during charging, starting at 25°C and reaching 28°C in an ambient temperature of approximately 19°C. However, this phone uses a USB 2.0 Type-C port, which I personally didn’t expect from OnePlus at this price point, as it makes the phone feel outdated.
Audio, Haptics & Connectivity: Reliable and Feature-Rich
The dual stereo speakers deliver loud and clear audio with good bass. Sound quality via TWS earbuds is equally impressive.
Haptics are driven by an X-axis linear motor, slightly weaker than the OnePlus 15 but still well-tuned and integrated across the UI. The IR blaster, placed within the camera module, works reliably.
Connectivity features include:
- Wi-Fi 7 with dedicated G2 chip
- Bluetooth 6.0 with LHDC 5.0
- NFC
- 13 supported 5G bands
- Dual nano-SIM support
- Vo5G (VoNR)
Software Experience: OxygenOS 16 Remains a Key Strength
The OnePlus 15R runs on OxygenOS 16, based on Android 16, right out of the box. The UI is smooth, fast, and polished, with no noticeable stutters or lag.
It comes with only four pre-installed apps—Instagram, Netflix, LinkedIn, and Facebook. OnePlus promises four Android OS updates and six years of security updates, which is quite impressive for this segment.
The new Plus adds meaningful customizations, including features like Mind Space, Camera, Flashlight, Translation, Recorder, and more. AI features such as AI VoiceScribe, AI Translation, AI Reframe, and Circle to Search enhance productivity and usability.
Additionally, OnePlus’s Private Computing Cloud ensures that your data is not stored externally or accessed by third parties, further enhancing your data security.
Camera Performance: Strong Main Camera, But a Notable Omission
The OnePlus 15R features a dual rear camera setup:
- 50MP Sony IMX906 main sensor
- 8MP Sony IMX355 ultrawide sensor (112° FOV)
The OnePlus 15R’s main camera captures sharp images with natural colors and good dynamic range. The ultrawide camera performs well in daylight, and low-light photography is also decent.
However, the lack of a telephoto lens is disappointing. I personally observed that the image quality deteriorates significantly when zooming beyond 5x, resulting in a loss of detail and increased noise.
The video capabilities include 4K at 120fps and 4K at 60fps with OIS, providing stable and detailed footage.
The 32MP front camera with autofocus takes detailed selfies with natural skin tones and supports 4K video recording. Overall, the camera is good, but if you need a phone for extensive zooming, you’ll only get good detail up to 5x. If you require a phone for photography with zoom beyond 5x, the OnePlus 15R is not the best option for you.
Final Verdict
The OnePlus 15R delivers excellent performance, a stunning display, massive battery life, and one of the best software experiences on Android. It feels like a true flagship in daily usage and easily handles demanding tasks and gaming.
However, the missing telephoto camera and the outdated USB 2.0 Type-C port are compromises that are hard to ignore at this price point.
That said, if your priorities are performance, battery life, display quality, and smooth software, the OnePlus 15R stands out as one of the most balanced premium smartphones currently available in India.
OnePlus 15R: FAQs
Is the OnePlus 15R good for gaming?
Yes, the OnePlus 15R is excellent for gaming. With the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset, 165Hz display, and advanced cooling system, it delivers stable FPS, low heating, and smooth long gaming sessions.
How is the battery life of the OnePlus 15R?
The OnePlus 15R offers outstanding battery life thanks to its 7400mAh battery. It can easily last up to two days with mixed usage, including gaming, streaming, and 5G connectivity.
Does the OnePlus 15R support fast charging?
Yes, the phone supports 80W wired fast charging and can charge from 1% to 100% in under 60 minutes. It also supports bypass charging, though wireless charging is missing.
Is the camera performance of the OnePlus 15R good?
The 50MP main camera delivers sharp photos and stable 4K video. However, the absence of a telephoto lens limits zoom performance beyond 5x, which may disappoint camera-focused users.
Is the OnePlus 15R worth buying in 2025?
If you prioritize performance, battery life, display quality, and clean software, the OnePlus 15R is one of the most balanced premium smartphones in 2025. The camera and USB 2.0 are the main compromises.
SEE ALSO: OnePlus 15R vs OnePlus 13R: How big is the Difference in Specs, Features, and Price?
