OnePlus 12R Unboxing, First Impressions, Camera Samples - 2024 premium contender?

Will the OnePlus 12R live up to how great the OnePlus 11 from last year was?

OnePlus 12R's beauty

OnePlus 12R brings a Gorilla Glass-protected 120Hz 6.78-inch AMOLED screen, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC, Adreno GPU, LPDDR5X RAM, UFS 3.1 storage, and a 5,500mAh battery with 100W SUPERVOOC fast charging.

At the back are the 50MP main camera, an 8MP 112-degree ultra-wide camera, and a 2MP Macro camera with an LED flash while in front is the 16MP selfie camera.

Other key features include an in-display fingerprint scanner, dual nano-SIM, Stereo speakers, NFC, WiFi 7, Bluetooth 5.3 4G, and 5G.

What differentiates it from the vanilla OnePlus 12 is the lack of the Hasselblad branded cameras and the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset.

As of this article's writing, there has yet to be a local pricing for the OnePlus 12R. 

Ahead of its official local launch, we were able to try it. Let's take a look at it.

Unboxing/Accessories

The iconic red box of the OnePlus 12R

Nothing new here. The phone came in the iconic bright red box of the OnePlus series. Around the box are the OnePlus 12R branding, key features, and regulatory information.

OnePlus 12R's box inclusions

Inside, are the OnePlus 12R, SIM ejector tool, Red USB-C cable, 100W SUPERVOOC charger, documentation, and stickers.

OnePlus 12R comes with RedCableClub card

Inside the red card is the OnePlus RedCableClub membership card.

There is no free silicon case nor are there earphones inside the box.

Build Quality/Design

OnePlus 12R's rear design

The OnePlus 12R is made with a metal frame and curved glass front and rear panels. These materials make the phone feel solid and substantial. The curving glass panels however make the phone feel sharp when held.

Signature OnePlus look, Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protected front

On the Iron Black colorway, the curved rear glass panel has a rough texture when touched. The panel is complex as depending on the angle of the light, you either see a glittery black panel or brushed lines. 

The front glass panel is Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protected and has a glossy surface. On top of it is the pre-installed screen protector. 

Both rear and front panels make the phone slippery. The front panel is prone to fingerprint smudges too. We recommend wearing a case as soon as you get the phone.

The overall design looks like an evolution and refinement of the OnePlus 11 series. The main differences are the colors of the camera module and the pattern on the rear glass panel.

OnePlus 12R's display

In front, the device boasts a 6.78-inch AMOLED ProXDR Display with LTPO 4.0 with a 2,780 x 1,264 resolution, a 1-120Hz refresh rate, a 94.2 percent screen-to-body ratio, 2,160Hz PWM dimming support, HDR10+ support and 1000Hz touch sampling rate.

Because of the curved panel, the side bezels look super slim while the top and chin bezels are noticeably thicker. The punch hole is on the upper middle part of the display.

On the top bezel is the super slim earpiece for calls.

OnePlus 12R's top and bottom side

On top are the antenna lines, top-firing speaker, and microphone port while at the bottom are the bottom-firing speakers, antenna lines, USB-C port, microphone port, and the SIM tray.

OnePlus 12R's dual Nano-SIM tray

The OnePlus 12R's SIM tray can carry two nano-SIM cards. It also has a red rubber gasket that indicates a form of water and dust resistance. In particular, OnePlus said that it is IP64 rated which is lower than expected.

OnePlus 12R's left and right sides

On the left side are more antenna lines and the alert slider. On the right are more antenna lines, a metal volume rocker, and a metal power button.

Overall, the device is sizeable measures 163.3 x 75.3 x 8.8 mm, and weighs 207 grams. It comes in either Cool Blue or Iron Gray.

OnePlus 12R's rear cameras

At the back of the phone are the 50MP f/1.8 main camera with 1/1.56-inch Sony IMX890 sensor, OIS and PDAF. This is the same sensor found on most premium to high-end smartphones.

The slight bummer is it still has an 8MP f/2.2 112-degree ultra-wide angle camera, and a 2MP macro camera with 4cm shooting distance and LED flash. Other phones in its expected price range are already packed with stronger other cameras.

Included camera modes include Photo, Video, Portrait, Night, Hi-Res, Pano, Maro, Movie, Slo-Mo, Time-Lapse, Long Exposure, Dual-View Video, Text Scanner and Tilt-Shift.

The Pro mode is limited to the main camera but allows digital zoom (1x, 2x, 5x) and allows controls for ISO (50-3200), Shutter Speed (1/8000-30 secs), EV (+-3), Focus, and White Balance. It can shoot in either JPEG, RAW, or RAW+.

There are options to display histograms and focus peaking. What surprised us was the inclusion of interval shooting which can be used for manual time-lapses.

First Camera Samples

Rear camera daylight 1x

Rear camera daylight 2x

Rear camera daylight 5x

Rear camera daylight 20x

Rear camera daylight ultra-wide

Close-up indoor

Our first shots with the rear cameras were good. Images are sharp and detailed with a distinctly warmer tone. The colors are vibrant too. The software needs tweaking as we immediately noticed how easy it is to overexpose the shots in daylight.

Selfie camera daylight

Selfie camera portrait mode

The selfie cameras are the same. The images are sharp and detailed with vibrant color that tends to favor warmer tones. The Portrait mode's edge detection has worked well except for individual hair fibers.

Stay tuned for more samples.

OnePlus 12R 5G Specs

Display: 6.78-inch Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protected 10-bit LTPO 4.0 AMOLED screen w/ 120Hz refresh rate, 2160Hz PWM dimming, 4,500 nits, 1.6K 2780 x 1624 resolution at 475 ppi

CPU: 3.18GHz 4nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 octa-core processor

GPU: New Adreno

RAM: 16GB LPDDR5X

ROM: 256GB UFS 3.1

Back Camera: 50MP f/1.8 Sony IMX890 w/ PDAF + LAF + CAF, OIS + 8MP f/2.2 112-degree ultra-wide + 2MP f/2.4 4cm macro + LED flash

Selfie Camera: 16MP f/2.4 

Battery: 5,500mAh w/ 100W SUPERVOOC charging

OS: Android 14 w/ OxygenOS 14

Connectivity: WiFi 7 2x2 MIMO, 5G, 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5.3 (AAC, SBC, aptX HD, LDAC, LHDC), OTG, GPS, NFC, dual SIM (nano)

Sensors: Accelerometer, light, orientation, proximity, gyroscope, sound, magnetic

Others: Gorilla Glass 5 back, In-Display fingerprint sensor, Alert Slider, IP64 water and dust resistance, IR Blaster, stereo speakers, Dolby Atmos, Dual Cryo-velocity VC Cooling System, USB-C, Colors: Iron Gray, Cool Blue

Dimensions: 163.3 x 75.3 x 8.8 mm

Weight: 207 g

Price: TBC

Quick thoughts

OnePlus 12R's OxygenOS home screen

The OnePlus 12R 5G is looking to be a good-performing sub-flagship smartphone with premium build materials, polished design, and capable internals.

It does use previous generation components in some areas but these are just a year old and are more than capable of performing even for the most demanding users.

At first glance, the curved screen is bright and vibrant with crisp text.  The cameras produced good-looking images out of the box as well.

I just noticed that it doesn't have the best IP rating around and it is still equipped with a filler 2MP camera.

Otherwise, we are excited at what else the 12R can do and how much will it officially cost in PH.

Stay tuned for the full review.