OnePlus 13 and OnePlus 13R Evaluation: Quick and Clean

I have been utilizing the OnePlus 13 and OnePlus 13R for the previous month—via the 2024 vacation season and CES 2025—which suggests I’ve put them via a few of the lightest and busiest workloads. There’s not a lot to complain about on these new Android telephones, that are adept at slightly little bit of all the pieces. The premium OnePlus 13 has nearly all of the options you’d anticipate in a modern-day flagship smartphone.

The OnePlus 13 begins at $900 for the bottom 12 GB RAM and 256 GB storage model, undercutting rivals barely, whereas the OnePlus 13R prices $600—it has lesser specs than its sibling and misses out on a couple of options. The updates to this technology are all about finesse. The software program is smoother, the batteries last more, the screens are brighter, and the telephones are extra water resistant. In case you’re trying to change cellphone manufacturers, and battery life is the primary precedence in your record, these OnePlus telephones are value contemplating.

Seeing Double

OnePlus 13 (left) and OnePlus 13R (proper)

{Photograph}: Julian Chokkattu

The OnePlus 13 and 13R look equivalent however have some slight discrepancies of their dimensions—the flagship has a 6.82-inch display screen, whereas the cheaper cellphone has a 6.78-inch show. The obvious distinction between the pair is the Hasselblad branding on the OnePlus 13, plus the curvier edges across the show. The OnePlus 13R has flat edges, which I want as they’re simpler to seize.

There is a enjoyable marble-like sample on the OnePlus 13 and a brushed look on the 13R, however neither is as good-looking as final 12 months’s OnePlus 12 and 12R—the emerald and ice blue had been chef’s kiss. There is a pleasant Midnight Ocean coloration this 12 months for the OnePlus 13, which has a luxe-looking microfiber vegan leather-based materials, however I did not get an opportunity to strive it.

OnePlus has lastly upgraded the water resistance on its top-end machine. Now you get a mixed IP68 and IP69 score, that means the OnePlus 13 may be submerged underwater for half-hour as much as 1.5 meters and might deal with heavy rain. That lastly places it on par with its friends. The show employs Ceramic Guard, which is OnePlus’ tackle Apple’s Ceramic Glass, and it is purportedly stronger than Gorilla Glass Victus discovered on different telephones. Glass remains to be glass, and you must use a display screen protector—my iPhone 16 Plus display screen cracked throughout testing.

Talking of screens, the 120-Hz OLED shows are sharp, colourful, and easy. The one distinction aside from measurement is sharpness, although by default the OnePlus 13 is about to a decrease decision to save lots of battery life. Each look gorgeous. My solely gripe is that I needed to manually modify the brightness slider extra usually than on most different Android telephones—these units simply saved decreasing the brightness slightly an excessive amount of for me.

The OnePlus 13R settles for an IP65 score, which is OK with rain however might not survive a dip within the pool. It is also among the many first to make use of Corning’s Gorilla Glass 7i, which is a budget-to-midrange providing from the glass maker, so do not anticipate the identical stage of sturdiness, although it needs to be comparable if not barely higher than different telephones round this value. The remainder of the {hardware} is all spot on, and the OnePlus Alert Slider makes me want each cellphone had a sliding change to transition from Mute, Vibrate, and Sound (ahem, Apple). I do not thoughts the egregiously massive digital camera bump.