OnePlus 13R Review: Value Priced, Flagship Performance And Specs

It can be easy to forget with all of the built in functionality that smartphones are still phones, but OnePlus didn't forget. While the OP13R may not have a raft of AI calling features like the Pixels, it still offers excellent call reception. We were able to make out callers even in noisy environments, and no one reported any difficulty hearing us. 

OnePlus 13R Voice And Data

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The OnePlus 13R is unlocked, with support for sub-6GHz 5G data. Some phones that cost a bit more add millimeter wave 5G, which can reach multigigabit speeds on compatible networks. However, mmWave has poor range compared to the mid-band signals of T-Mobile's network. Testing the phone on magenta, we had no complaints. There are a handful of possible uses for a gigabit on your phone, but a few hundred megabits, which is what you'll see on the 13R, is usually more than enough. 

OnePlus 13R Performance

Continuing its R-series tradition, OnePlus equipped the 13R with last year's flagship Snapdragon chip. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 is slower than the 8 Elite in benchmarks, but that's not as important as how well it performs day-to-day. Having used both the OnePlus 13 and 13R, we can say there's little perceptible difference with most applications and in general use.

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The SD8 Gen 3 is still a fast mobile processor, and OnePlus' thermal systems keep the internals cooler than most phones. That means less performance throttling, although the body of the phone does get quite toasty. And if benchmark numbers matter to you, the OnePlus 13R doesn't disappoint—it's still one of the fastest phones we've tested in most benchmarks. 

OnePlus 13R Geekbench Results

Geekbench is a cross-platform benchmark that simulates real-world workloads in image processing and particle physics calculation scenarios. We tested all of the smartphones featured here with Geekbench's single and multi-core workloads.

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In this test, the OnePlus 13R falls in line with other devices with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, including last year's OnePlus 12 flagship. The only devices with a significant lead are the new iPhone and Android devices with the Snapdragon 8 Elite. 

Geekbench also offers an AI workload benchmark, which is important in this age when every new mobile chip makes grander promises of AI power.

GBAI

The OnePlus 13R only trails the OP 13 in this test, which used Qualcomm's API for accessing the on-device AI features. Geekbench AI has wide support for accessing the onboard NPU of chips like the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (QNN). However, some devices like the Pixels do not have public APIs for apps, which is why that phone trails everything else by a mile in a test like this. 

OnePlus 13R PCMark For Android Benchmarks

Futuremark's PCMark for Android is an excellent suite of tests if you want to benchmark a wide range of tasks on any handset -- things like image and video editing, as well as lighter-duty, everyday workloads such as email and web browsing. When you see the test running live, it's clear the scripted application tests are carefully selected and tuned to make use of the each mobile platform in a very controlled way.

PCMark

This is the only benchmark in which the OnePlus 13R didn't do well. This is actually common for OnePlus phones, which usually fall back to the middle of the pack in PCMark. The exception is the new OnePlus 13, which tops the charts with its new Snapdragon chip. Despite this middling result, the OnePlus 13R feels perfectly competent for productivity work.

OnePlus 13R AnTuTu 8 Benchmark Results

AnTuTu’s benchmark returns a number of metrics ranked with somewhat nebulous scores, rather than frame rates or time to complete. Here we're running AnTuTu 8 across multiple Android devices. AnTuTu returns four top level performance results which are all included here: CPU, RAM, 3D, UX (or User Experience), along with a total score.

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Again, the OnePlus 13R scores right where we'd expect for a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. It just slides past the OnePlus 12, which was $200 more expensive when it launched last year. 

OnePlus 13R Graphics And Gaming Benchmarks Results

Next, let's take a look at the 13R in GFXBench, which has been one of the standard mobile graphics/gaming performance benchmarks for years. To ensure that display refresh (v-sync) and resolution aren't limiting factors, we're comparing off-screen test results here. GFXBench tests OpenGL ES graphics workloads and we're specifically testing OpenGL ES 2.0 and 3.0, as well as Vulkan in the latest iterations.

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Unsurprisingly, the OnePlus 13R is one of the fastest phones we've tested. It's as fast as phones like the Galaxy S24 Ultra, which costs twice as much as the 13R. That leaves just Snapdragon 8 Elite devices out in front. 

OnePlus 13R 3DMark Sling Shot Benchmark

UL's 3DMark Sling Shot is one of several current tests in the 3DMark mobile suite. Unlike previous-gen 3DMark mobile tests, Sling Shot is a much more advanced OpenGL ES 3.1 and Metal API-based benchmark that employs more advanced rendering techniques, like volumetric lighting, particle illumination, multiple render targets, instanced rendering, uniform buffers and transform feedback.

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The 13R moves even closer to the head of the pack in Slingshot. The graphics score falters slightly compared to some other devices, but the strong CPU-based physics number brings the 13R's overall score up a bit. 

OnePlus 13R 3DMark Wild Life Benchmark Tests

3DMark Wild Life is the latest cross-platform test from UL. Its primary purpose is to measure GPU performance across platforms, and two distinct tests are available. The standard Wild Life test is designed to give feedback on how a game performs over a short period of time. With mobile games, people typically play in brief spurts when they find some free time; be it on the bus, on the subway, or a quick battle royale session over lunch break.

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The GPU-centric Wild Life test has the OnePlus 13R in its customary performance corridor along with last year's most expensive phones. The 3DMark Wild Life Stress Test runs this same benchmark 20 times, which shows how a device performs over a longer stretch of time, with degradation that might crop up due to increased heat levels and thermal throttling.

Stress

Some phones that benchmark well in the first couple of runs in the above tests struggle over the long haul. The company says the OnePlus 13R has an aluminum midframe to help dissipate heat, as well as an even larger vapor chamber than its predecessor. Every SoC has to slow down somehwat as heat increases, and some devices, like the Galaxy Z Fold 6, can lose almost half of their initial speed. The 13R, however, is almost 90% stable in the Wild Life stress test. OnePlus devices continue to have some of the best thermal designs outside of dedicated gaming phones. 

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