OnePlus 9R Review with Pros and Cons, FAQs, and More

OnePlus 9R is the exclusive launch for the Indian market and you can say, it’s made for Indians. By the way, for those who don’t know, the OnePlus 9R is a re-brand of the OnePlus 8T with a different design. So, it’s so exclusive.

OnePlus 9R comes with 6.55 inches 120Hz AMOLED display, massive 65W fast charging support, powerful Snapdragon 870 Processor, solid build quality, 5G support, clean user experience, good battery life, and it’s priced at Rs 39,999.

Before I start OnePlus 9R review, let me tell you India price of OnePlus 9R.

OnePlus 9R (8GB Ram + 128GB Storage)	Rs 39,999
OnePlus 9R (12GB Ram + 256GB Storage)	Rs 43,999

The OnePlus 9R is available on Amazon & OnePlus India website in Carbon Black, Lake Blue color options.

OnePlus 9R Review

OnePlus 9R does have a premium design, powerful processor, clean UI, massive 65W fast charging support but it doesn’t have the best cameras while it only has one 5G band. In short, at Rs 39,999, the OnePlus 9R is not the best option and this time, you can skip the OnePlus 9R and take look at Vivo X60 which is available at Rs 37,999 in India.

OnePlus 9R Pros and Cons

Pros	Cons
Powerful Processor	Avarage Cameras
Clean User Experience	Only One 5G Band
Massive 65W Fast Charging Support	Lacks 3.5mm headphone jack
Solid Build Quality
Stereo Speakers

That was the quick answer on whether the OnePlus 9R worth buying or not but now, let’s go deep and see what OnePlus is offering at Rs 39,999 with the OnePlus 9R.

Display Quality

The OnePlus 9R comes with 6.55 inches 120Hz AMOLED display with 1080 x 2400 pixels resolution. It also has 1100 nits of display brightness which will help a lot while using the phone outdoors.

Now, the 120Hz refresh rate is the best thing about the OnePlus 9R. Whether you’re playing games or just scrolling through apps, everything will feel buttery smooth.

Also, the phone is running on Oxygen OS 11 that means, no ads in the UI. In short, the phone will give it’s best performance in all the department.

To protect the front side, OnePlus has added Gorilla Glass 5 and the same is used on rear side too.

This is not a full-view display because it’s a punch hole that is placed on the top-left side. Still, the display looks better than ever, it’s good quality AMOLED panel.

Build Quality

OnePlus 9 has a plastic build and it’s priced at Rs 49,999 while the OnePlus 9R has a glass build and this one is priced at Rs 39,999. Now, I don’t know, why OnePlus did this but you’re getting better build quality at a cheap price.

The OnePlus 9R comes with a glass front (Gorilla Glass 5), a glass back (Gorilla Glass 5), aluminum frame.

In short, the phone has good quality and it will feel premium while holding in the hand, it won’t give you a budget smartphone vibe.

Performance

The OnePlus 9R is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 Processor and its 7nm architecture while it’s running on Oxygen OS 11 based on Android 11. The phone has only one 5G which includes N41.

By the way, for those who don’t know, Snapdragon 870 is an overclocked version of Snapdragon 865. So there is no huge difference between 870 or 865 SoC.

I have played COD mobile, asphalt 9 many more and I didn’t notice any issue while playing games. Also, the Snapdragon 870 SoC can handle a 120Hz refresh rate without any problem, so don’t worry about frame drops.

Geekbench Score:

• A single-score score of 1123
• Multi-core score of 3416

AnTuTu benchmark: 648772 points

We all know how smooth Oxygen OS performs and the same can be seen in the OnePlus 9R. In short, there won’t be any kind of problem while playing games or in day-to-day use, everything will be buttery smooth.

Cameras

OnePlus 9R comes with 48MP primary sensor + 16MP ultra-wide lens + 5MP macro lens + 2MP depth sensor while there is 16MP selfie shooter. The rear cameras can shoot videos up to 1080p@60fps & 4k@60fps while front camera can shoot at 1080p@30fps.

The OnePlus has added all the camera features including NightMode, astrophotography mode, macro mode, panorama mode, stabilization mode.

Now, the ultra-wide lens can’t be used while recording video which is a downside. This should have been added for now but OnePlus didn’t do anything about it yet…

Also, OnePlus is using the same 16MP sensor for three years now and yet, the image quality is the same, no improvement here. I feel, 20k smartphone can take better selfie then OnePlus 9R. So don’t expect much more front camera.

By the way, OnePlus has added that extra 5MP macro + 2MP depth sensor which doesn’t make any sense instant of this, they could have added a telephoto lens. In short, these two sensors are just added, don’t expect much.

Coming to the 48MP primary sensor, this is a good sensor but OnePlus didn’t do much with the sensor. So the image quality is just average, it looks like OnePlus 7T cameras.

The phone does have dedicated NightMode but it’s not the best one, it does it’s work but OnePlus needs to optimize it’s camera.

Also, the 16MP ultra-wide lens takes some good quality images at good lighting conditions but at night, the sensor suffers a bit and it loses out on details. The sensor tries to overexpose the subjs and that’s the reason, it loses out on details.

Under good lighting conditions, OnePlus 9R take some good images but when it comes to night, it doesn’t give it’s best performance.

Overall, the OnePlus 9R has an average camera setup. So if you want the best cameras then do take look at Vivo X60 5G.

Battery Life

The OnePlus 9R comes with a 4,500 mAh battery with 65W fast charging support and the 65W charger will take 39 minutes to charge from 0% to 100%. Here OnePlus has used two batteries, so the phone can charge at 65W.

Talking about battery life, the phone will last for a day but if you’re a casual user then it can last for 1.5 days. Still, the phone has good battery life and even if the battery comes down to 10% then don’t worry, the 65W charger will come to the rescue.

All in all, the OnePlus 9R has good battery life but still, it would have been great if the phone had the 5,000 mAh battery because it’s a 40k phone.

Audio Quality

Here I would say, OnePlus has done a good job because the OnePlus 9R has a stereo speaker and it’s the best speaker available in the smartphone under Rs 40,000 in India.

Even the call quality is the best, I have used Jio SIM and Airtel SIM card and I haven’t noticed any problem. So, yes there won’t be any problem while taking calls on OnePlus 9R.

Also, if you’re that person who don’t like to use earphones while watching YouTube Videos then you will love what OnePlus has done with Speakers. In short, the OnePlus 9R has load and clean audio quality.

Conclusion: Buy or not

The OnePlus 9R is worth buying but it misses out on cameras and this is the bigging flow everything else is perfect. So if you want clean UI, stereo speakers, solid build quality, 120Hz refresh rate, powerful performance and you can live with decent cameras then OnePlus 9R is a good option for you but if you can’t live with decent cameras then do take look at Vivo X60 5G.

Do I Recommend OnePlus 9R?

No, I don’t because the phone as decent cameras and at 40k, this is not acceptable.

OnePlus 9R FAQs

Images: OnePlus India.