Table of contents
The OnePlus 12R was a standout phone this year
What we know about the OnePlus 13R
Keep an eye out for this one
2025 is fast approaching, and that can only mean one thing for a tech enthusiast like me: it’s time to start looking forward to another year of smartphones. All signs point to an interesting year for Apple with the iPhone 17, and I can’t wait to see what comes of it.
But what about what’s happening in the Android smartphone space? The Samsung Galaxy S25 series is on the horizon, but I haven’t seen anything yet that has made me Really excited about it. The Google Pixel 10 series should be a good series, but we haven’t heard enough about it yet.
As we head into 2025, the Android phone I’m most looking forward to comes from OnePlus – and not the flagship OnePlus 13, but the more affordable OnePlus 13R. Have I lost my mind? No, and I’ll tell you why.
The OnePlus 12R was a standout phone this year
2024 saw the release of a lot excellent smartphones. With the With the OnePlus 12R being one of the first to launch in February and countless other phones having launched since then, it can be easy to forget just how special it is.
The OnePlus 12R was one of the first phones I reviewed this year, and all these months later, it still stands out as one of my favorites. This could very easily have been a GOOD $500 phone, but OnePlus made the 12R the best $500 phone I’ve ever used.
For me, it all starts with design. Even today, the OnePlus 12R doesn’t look like a $500 smartphone. It looks and feels a lot more premium, thanks to the rounded aluminum frame, smooth glass back, and intricate notches around the camera bump. It’s not the most visually striking phone released in 2024, but it’s a damn well built one, and that means a lot.
Other key aspects of a smartphone, such as the display, performance, and battery life, are all exceptional on the OnePlus 12R. The AMOLED panel is sharp and vibrant, the 120Hz refresh rate is smooth, and the peak brightness of 4,500 nits remains a ridiculously over-the-top spec.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip in the OnePlus 12R was already a year old when the phone was released, but that never mattered. Paired with 8GB or 16GB of RAM, the OnePlus 12R proved to be an exceptionally fast smartphone, and even with fairly heavy use, the 5,500mAh battery was enough for two (if not two and a half) days of use with a single charge. The 80W wired charging speeds are also a real treat, allowing the phone to go from almost empty battery to 100% in just 30 minutes.
Is there anything the OnePlus 12R doesn’t do well? Its 8MP ultra-wide and 2MP macro cameras are pretty forgettable, and there’s no wireless charging. But that’s where the complaints begin and end. While using the OnePlus 12R earlier this year, I often thought I was using a flagship and had to remind myself that it only costs $500. It was an incredible value at the start of the year, and almost a year after its release, it remains just as impressive.
What we know about the OnePlus 13R
The OnePlus 13R is also confirmed to have a 6,000 mAh battery – a sizable increase over the OnePlus 12R’s 5,500 mmAh battery. If the 12R is already capable of two days of battery life, this will inevitably continue with the OnePlus 13R, or even improve.
Although OnePlus hasn’t said much else about the OnePlus 13R, leaks and rumors paint a fuller picture of the phone. According to a particularly large leak from earlier this month, the 13R would have all of the following:
- 6.78-inch AMOLED display with 120Hz refresh rate
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip
- 12 GB of RAM
- 256 GB of storage
- 50MP main camera
- 50MP 2x or 3x telephoto camera
- 8MP ultra-wide camera
- 80W wired charging
This is an extremely impressive spec sheet, and assuming OnePlus keeps pricing affordable for another year, this should make the OnePlus 13R another unbeatable value, even if the MSRP jumps to $550 or $600.
Keep an eye out for this one
All signs point to 2025 being another busy year for smartphones. Between Google, Samsung, Apple, Motorola, Xiaomi, Honor, and OnePlus, there’s an incredible amount of new phones to look forward to in the coming year.
Even if some of these other phones are flashier or more technically capable than we’ve come to expect from the OnePlus 13R, don’t let this one slip past your radar. I can’t remember the last time I used an affordable phone as impressive as the OnePlus 12R, and with the OnePlus 13R shaping up to be just as good – and better – you better believe it’s a 2025 phone that I’m keeping a close eye on.
