OnePlus 15R Real User Verdict: Beast Battery, Bruised Value

The year of downgrade

Its becoming evidently clear that from 2025 on OnePlus is a performance oriented device in competition with Iqoo. For an all rounder you gotta go Oppo competing with Vivo.

Pros: Durable design, smudge resistant. Bright OLED, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision support. Class-leading battery life, fast charging. Great speakers. Adequate performance. Very good photos and videos from the main. Superb video stabilization. Solid selfies, autofocus. Smooth OxygenOS. Cons: No telephoto camera. Limited 165Hz refresh rate support. Pricey at launch.

You would expect losing the LTPO screen, telephoto cam, 8Gen5 instead of 8Elite to swing $100 from the 13R launch price of $600 to $500 and not the other way to $700

Needed to be at least $100 cheaper IMO for what you're losing. Not a bad option compared to any of the midrange stuff from Samsung though.

The direction OnePlus is going is gaming focus. Honestly that makes me not want to choose OnePlus, for me it was always about providing value for money, being a flagship killer. I'm ok with slightly lower specs than your Samsungs and iPhones but much more better value. Sadly this year their phones in international markets (outside of China and India) they simply don't have the same value for money they used to have… increased prices and lowered specs.

OnePlus got me off Samsung and Pixel.

OnePlus is shifting to mobile gaming just like many stated. If you really look at it this way, it's a great product; it might be even better than 15. If you really like taking photos, the 13 might interest you more.

15R is going back to good ol' OnePlus days where it's all about performance and good battery life which is what us nerds need (we don't take a lot of pictures anyway).

Why do these OEMs think moves like this are acceptable? No telephoto?! Just remove the UW if you need to cut corners. But don't remove the most important lens.

Either get 15, or 13 if you can get it for cheaper. I wouldn't buy 15R. As for reasons, LTPO screen, telephoto camera, better SoC, USB 3. Valid for both 15 and 13, when compared to 15R.

You can choose either one. They're both fantastic in their own right. Battery life is excellent on the OnePlus 13 and phenomenal on the 15R. As for software, screen, performance, reliability, battery life and charging, OnePlus is 2 decades ahead of Google. I personally would choose 13 cos it's a proper flagship but the 15R is excellent (bar the lack of a telephoto).

Im using a oneplus 15r. And to be honest im happy with it. It really comes down to your preferences. If you want a crazy smooth os with a 2 day battery and insane performance go for 15r. Even for the camera (Though not my priority) the photos from the main camera looks really good, ultra wide is mehh and no telephoto. If you want the best camera and you don't really mind about battery you can with samsung.

OnePlus 12/13/15 user here: OxygenOS isnt what it used to be, custom ROM community ethics not there anymore. BUT relatively speaking, nowadays I'd say oxygen/colorOS is top 3 OS. I've tested many and it still feels top 3 as in smoothness, stability and performance.

Too bad it jumped up to flagship pricing, think my 13R is my last one plus

It's a great phone but no wireless charging is a deal breaker for me

Where did you get a 15R for 650? In the US it's close to 15's price that it makes it worthless to buy since it's almost the same exact price as the 15.

Yes Battery is Great, easy 4-5 hrs gaming at Ultra/High settings if you have a habit of playing games while charging, they have a feature which directs the current to motherboard for good gaming performance so that doesn't harm the battery or charge cycles. I barely noticed any difference while watching movies/doomscrolling. If you are a movie guy then Battery is amazing for you.

I think people were disappointed with the higher price of the 15R compared to when the 13R launched. The 13R has a superior set of camera hardware over the 15R. The idea that OnePlus raised their prices on the newest phones while cutting corners in some places doesn't sit well with some.

Gaming is better on OP because the tensor chips are rather bad at it in comparison to other high end chips. The pixels will have better AI stuff if that matters though.

People have slept on the 15r. I love it. Absolute beast of a phone

Bought the 512gb on new year as a present to self. Honestly, I have been loving the phone so far, everything is great. I have downloaded Genshin Impact - a 45gb+ game and it is working so smooth as butter on high graphics even. Camera is also decent and have not faced a hanging issue till now.

The comments are probably because of excessively close pricing between the 15 and 15R in some regions. The 15 is clearly superior if you can get it for a similar price to the 15R. Where I live (the UK) the 15 would have cost me ~£250 more than the 15R. As someone who's not a massive photographer, gamer or someone who needs wireless charging, that's a lot — the 15 may be better overall, but not £250 better for the way I'll be using it.

It's just not as well rounded as it used to be. If you don't use the camera much it'll be fine. If you love photography then I'd look elsewhere.

i would've totally gone for it instead of my s25 but the cameras are kinda a dealbreaker for me. it makes no sense why they're still behind, their sister company oppo has excellent cameras so the fact that everything about oneplus phones is excellent but they skimp on their cameras just kinda makes me sad.

On day 2 I was playing with the phone pretty much all day, got a 10 hour screen on time with 34% battery left. My S23 Ultra was giving me around 5 hours and would be down to 15%.

The biggest problem with this phone is it's price, it's way overpriced for what it is.

I am switching to the 15R, from a S24U which has poor battery, overheating a lot and a lot of crashes and damaged screen. I don't really care for the camera as i make most photos at work anyways. Battery life, solid specs, solid build is most important for me.

Accepting the fact that there are many software issues compared to OneUI, This is a far better phone specs they have provided for a bit overpricing. Yes I may not be a gamer like yourself but yes codm works just fine for me.

If the camera is secondary, 15R is the choice! Grab it and sleep tight without worries.

It's a great phone. I bought it on day one, and I'm loving it so far. Though I miss my Pixel 7's UI, everything else about the 15R is a big step up from the Pixel. The screen is silky smooth and vivid, performance is incredible with apps opening extremely fast, and the camera is great too. I've never been someone who uses the telephoto lens and the ultrawide much, so I don't miss them here either. The main camera is the same as the 15 and in my experience, clicks great photos.

Good upgrade overall minus the camera, they should have kept the telephoto; 8mp UW + No Telephoto is disappointing at that price point.

They both are great phones! The 15R has the better battery, but not by much. UI is equally fast on both and the 13 is a tads bit larger. I'm perfectly happy with my 13, haven't had any problems at all.

Had mine for a few days now and absolutely no complaints. Only negative at all is a nit pick that the screen protector that comes installed is a super dust magnet.

I love it too. Had the 13r prior, and the camera is a downgrade, but the battery more than makes up for it to me.

Every R series is a steal, these phones are on method compared to their Samsung garbage counterparts. I have an S23 plus and a 12R, samsungs camera is better, that's it.

Been using the OnePlus 15r the past few days. My first non Samsung device. I am super in love. Yeah the display, power, and build quality for a phone in this price range feels crazy.

It's good but unless you're bothered by PWM, better to get the 13 on sale instead

Thanks for this review, I thought only camera and display was bad. Having 12gb and not able to handle apps in background is a bummer.

Im leaning towards 15r but here to make sure its the correct choice. I dont care about a better camera. Performance, battery and screen matters and in my opinion 15r delivers on all of them.

It's a great phone overall for most users. The screen is brilliant, the main camera is good (don't ask about ultrawide), the UI is smooth af and the phone can handle most games easily. I only play relatively lighter games like efootball and I haven't faced any issues so far. And best of all, the battery and charging are insane. Lasts me over a day.

With the 15r, when I'm gaming a lot, the battery drains fast and it gets really hot. Plus, if I get a call while I'm playing Call of Duty, the game totally lags. But, I'm actually pretty happy with the camera. I initially thought the camera was really bad, but it's surprisingly good when I use it.

It's an amazing deal specially that they didn't downgrade the chip