OnePlus is closing out the year in smartphones with the OnePlus 15R, a more affordable companion to the flagship OnePlus 15. That phone set a high bar for flagship phones that will be hitting the market in 2026, and the OnePlus 15R does the same for mid-range phones. As we’ll detail in our OnePlus 15R review, OnePlus is billing this phone as a high-end performer focused on gaming, making cuts in other areas to bring the price down a little. However, that premium performance means this mid-range phone is still on the pricier end compared to those of other brands — gamers might be in, but bargain hunters will need a little more convincing.
Design and build
The OnePlus 15R looks virtually indistinguishable from the OnePlus 15. The main difference is the smaller camera array, as the OnePlus 15R only has two rear cameras (the periscope zoom camera on the OnePlus 15 has been cut). Both are 6.83-inch devices with aluminum frames, glass backs, and Corning Gorilla Glass protecting the display. However, the OnePlus 15R has Gorilla Glass 7i, which in our experience is more prone to getting scratched than the Gorilla Glass Victus on the One Plus 15.
Speaking of durability, the OnePlus 15R also has an IP69K rating, meaning the phone is fully protected from dust, water, water pressure, and heated water. Basically, the phone should survive drops at the beach, in the pool, in the hot tub, and anywhere else where there’s a lot of water.
Longtime OnePlus users will also notice that, like the OnePlus 15, the physical alert slider on the side has been removed in favor of the Plus Key, a programmable button that can launch OnePlus’s AI utility, Plus Mind. To their credit, OnePlus hasn’t made Plus Mind the default setting — the first time you press the button, you’ll be prompted to choose what you want the button to do, with options including a Do Not Disturb toggle.
Besides the camera bump, the only thing that differentiates the OnePlus 15R from the OnePlus 15 in terms of looks is the cool mint colorway — it’s a nice look, but the green is so light that it almost looks white at a quick glance.
Performance
On paper, the OnePlus 15R takes a step back in power by using the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset, rather than the Elite variant found in the OnePlus 15. It’s also worth mentioning that the 15R only has 12GB of RAM — some configurations of the flagship phone have 16GB. But, they’ve still committed to speed, using LPDDR5X Ultra RAM. Fortunately, in use, there’s not much of a difference between the two phones, even for more intensive games.
While playing an hour of Genshin Impact at 60fps, on the highest settings, and at max brightness, I got steady 60fps gameplay. I didn’t notice any difference in the experience of playing games on the OnePlus 15 and the 15R, which is great news for gamers who want to save a little money without sacrificing performance. And, like the OnePlus 15, the 15R has a display that supports a 165Hz refresh rate, enabling 120fps gameplay in games like PUBG.
OnePlus evidently did a great job with cooling, because I didn’t notice the phone even warming up while gaming. Another nice little extra is a layer of aerogel under the display, preventing the display from being damaged by internal temperatures.
Display and audio
The display on the OnePlus 15R is almost the same as what’s on the OnePlus 15. Both have 6.83-inch 2800×1272 AMOLED displays that support 165Hz refresh rates. The big difference is that the OnePlus 15R doesn’t have an LTPO display — it can’t dynamically change refresh rate, which can help phones use battery more efficiently. Fortunately, as we’ll cover later, the lack of LTPO doesn’t detract from a phone that has maybe the best battery life of any device I’ve reviewed yet.
In terms of picture quality, you’re making virtually no sacrifices in getting the OnePlus 15R — not too surprising, since OnePlus seems to be marketing the phone specifically to gamers. The on-board stereo speakers are decent, but like with the OnePlus 15, audio can be a little flat at times. You’ll still probably want a good pair of headphones or earbuds with you at all times.
Battery
As good as the performance and display are, the battery life might be the single best feature of the OnePlus 15R. At 7,400mAh, the battery is a little bigger than the 7,300mAh battery on the OnePlus 15, but the gains to battery life in practical use are greater than that small difference would suggest.
An hour of video at max brightness and higher resolution only used 4% of capacity, which is the same as what we saw on the OnePlus 15. However, an hour of playing Genshin Impact at 60fps, max settings, max brightness, and with performance mode turned on only used 11% of capacity, compared to 14% on the OnePlus 15 under the same conditions. That means you could spend three or four hours out of the day either watching videos or gaming and likely still have enough juice to get you well into a second day of use.
The OnePlus 15R works with up to 80W chargers, but a 55W charging adapter is included in the box. Charging speeds aren’t quite as fast as they are with the OnePlus 15, but they’re close — from dead, the phone charged to 22% in 10 minutes, 54% in 30 minutes, and 96% in an hour using the including 55W charging adapter, so with 80W charging, the OnePlus 15R should get to full in an under an hour.
One nice battery saving measure is that the phone by default switches between lower and higher resolution and lower and higher refresh rates depending on what’s on screen, giving things a bump if you’re watching videos or gaming. Because the display isn’t LTPO, the refresh rate is likely app-dependent and locked to 60Hz, 120Hz, or 165Hz depending on the demands of what’s on screen, rather than being truly dynamic.
Camera
Here’s where OnePlus made most of their cuts to get the OnePlus 15R price down. You’ll find a 50MP main camera and an 8MP ultrawide camera on the rear of the 15R, but not the periscope zoom camera found on the OnePlus 15. No change for the selfie camera, which features a 32MP sensor.
While photography isn’t a focus with this phone, the results still aren’t bad. Shots taken with the 50MP main camera come out clear and detailed. When used for quick point-and-shoot pictures some areas are a little underexposed or overexposed, but pictures generally look good at a quick glance.
The main camera is capable of 2x optical zoom. 2x zoom pictures make the exposure problems a little more noticeable. While the results aren’t the sharpest around, there are no immediately noticeable flaws. If you’re just using the phone to take quick pictures for social media, it’s more than enough.
With many phones we notice a big dropoff in the quality of the ultrawide camera, and while OnePlus did use a cheaper sensor here than on the more expensive OnePlus 15, the processing is good enough to paper over the difference. I didn’t notice the lack of clarity that usually plagues pictures taken with ultrawide smartphone cameras, and colors are still vibrant.
The main camera handles night shots well. Again, it’s not top of the class — you can find more vibrant and detailed results on more expensive (or more camera-focused) smartphones, but I still came away impressed with the clarity I got. The street lights ended up a little overexposed, but not by as much as I was expecting.
Portrait mode was hit or miss. In the case of the photo above, the foreground ended up a little underexposed. But, I didn’t notice too much muddiness around the edges of the subjects. You can still get good results using portrait mode, but you’ll probably want to do a little more work to find good lighting.
Software
The OnePlus 15R runs OxygenOS 16 over Android 16, which, while not as spartan as the old days of OnePlus, is still not a huge departure from stock Android. OnePlus has retained their tendency to eschew bloatware, which is always appreciated (especially on phones north of $500 or so).
The new Plus Mind AI utility we saw in the OnePlus 15 is also present here — you can use it to save screenshots to remind yourself of what you were doing or browsing later, or save voice or written notes. The appeal is that those notes and screenshots are searchable, with Plus Mind using AI to scan images and notes to answer queries. It works, for what it is — as always with AI utilities, you’ve either found a use for them or you haven’t. I wouldn’t say there’s anything remarkable or groundbreaking about this particular implementation.
Other than Plus Mind, you’ve also got a now familiar suite of AI features — live translation and interpretation, photo editing (including object removal and subsequent background fill), and a writing utility that can turn notes into something a little more organized.
Sustainability
OnePlus did a good job making a phone that you should be able to use for at least five years or so. The massive battery gives the phone a lot of headroom when it comes to inevitable battery degradation, and the phone is built to withstand physical damage thanks to the IP69K rating, Gorilla Glass 7i, and a sturdy aluminum frame.
OnePlus is also one of the better options when it comes to OS and security patch guarantees. For the OnePlus 15R, they’ve committed to four years of Android upgrades and six years of security patches.
Pricing and availability
The OnePlus 15R is available now globally, including in the United States, where it works with all three major carriers (AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile). There will be only two variants available — 256GB storage/12 GB RAM and 512GB storage/12GB RAM, priced at $700 and $800, respectively. The phone comes in black and mint, but the mint colorway is only available on the 256GB model, which is a bit of a bummer.
Buying the phone from OnePlus directly gets you $50 instant credit for any trade-in in any condition, plus $50 cash back after the trade-in. There’s also a 5% student discount, and they’re offering up to 30% off accessories on their site with purchase of the phone.
Bottom line
The OnePlus 15R has been billed as a gamer phone, and there’s no doubt that they’ve delivered. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset has proven to be up to the task of handling more demanding games at their best, and the cooling system in the phone does an impressive job of keeping operating temperatures down. A gorgeous display that is almost the equal of the one on the more expensive OnePlus 15 completes the package, and you get even better battery life to boot.
The only real compromise in getting the 15R is that the periscope zoom camera has been cut, so you’ll have to ask yourself how much that’s worth — if you just want a phone that runs the best games and nothing else, it’s worth saving the extra couple hundred bucks.
But, we’ll stop short of calling the OnePlus 15R cheap. $700-$800 is still a big ask, even acknowledging that just about everything is significantly more expensive than it was a few years ago. That price might be worth it to some — there’s no mid-range phone from the past year that runs high-end games this smoothly.
But, the OnePlus 15R is also coming in early, as it’s the first phone on the global market with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset. There will surely be many more in 2026, and some of them will probably be a bit cheaper than the OnePlus 15R. But, that’s a question mark, and for folks in the United States, it’s likely that many of those phones will not come stateside. The short version: it’s early days for the 2026 Android landscape, but for U.S. folks who want the best gaming experience at the lowest price, the OnePlus 15R might be it.