OnePlus 15R arrives with biggest battery yet – but what else comes with the $100 price hike?

The most important thing: the battery. It's the biggest ever!

While some phone makers are trying to impress us with software gimmicks, OnePlus plays hard and the battery grows to 7,400 mAh. OnePlus says this is their biggest battery ever, but I'm sure this record will be broken in 2026. Meanwhile, the Galaxy S26 Ultra is expected to arrive with 5,000 mAh on board for the seventh year in a row.

7,400 mAh is more than the flagship OnePlus 15's 7,300 mAh cell! And way much more than that of the OnePlus 13R and its 6,000 mAh capacity cell.

We're in the two-day phone era now, and, depending on your doomscrolling and gaming session habits, I could imagine how this phone enters its third day without a charger. Amazing.

OnePlus says this new battery should retain at least 80% capacity after four years of use.

In terms of charging, the OnePlus 15R supports up to 80W speeds, but you'll have to get another SUPERVOOC 100W power adapter. The brick that the OnePlus 15R ships with offers "just" 55W, which is not bad at all.

I'd personally recommend getting the separate 100W adapter and enjoy 80W speeds: fast-charging is such a relief.

Shakeup on the camera front

The OnePlus 15R comes with the following camera setup:

• 50 MP main camera: Sony IMX906 sensor, OIS, f/1.8 aperture, 24mm equivalent focal length
• 8MP ultra-wide camera: f/2.2 aperture, 16mm equivalent focal length
• 32 MP selfie camera: f/2.0 aperture, 25mm equivalent focal length

Both of the rear cameras utilize the new OnePlus DetailMax Engine, which is also the imaging solution on the OnePlus 15's camera setup after the end of the company's partnership with Hasselblad.

OnePlus highlights three new technologies:

• Ultra Clear Mode
• Clear Burst
• Clear Night Engine

Ultra Clear Mode is designed to make daytime photos sharper with minimal effort by boosting resolution, so detailed scenes like pets or plants look closer to what the eye sees, without creating large files that are hard to share. The OnePlus 15R also upgrades burst photography with Clear Burst mode, using dual exposure to cut motion blur and deliver brighter, cleaner shots at up to ten photos per second. For night photography, the phone captures short and long exposures at the same time, avoiding the muddy details and blur that can appear when exposures are combined after the fact.

The 16 MP selfie snapper of the OnePlus 13R is now gone: instead, the OnePlus 15R packs a 32 MP sensor on the front camera, which is a welcomed upgrade.

For video, the phone is able to capture 4K up to 120fps.

Sadly, there isn't a dedicated telephoto camera on the OnePlus 15R. Its predecessor packed a 50 MP zoom snapper. I'm personally hooked on mobile photography and it's sad to see the OnePlus 15R lose this camera. I'd much rather accept if the 8 MP ultra-wide was gone, since the main camera is already wide.

A display for the gamers

The massive 6.83-inch display of the OnePlus 15R is a 1.5K AMOLED one, and does the same trick as the panel on the OnePlus 15: it goes up to 165Hz of refresh rate. Gamers would surely appreciate this, but I personally think the 120Hz industry standard is perfect for day-to-day tasks.

Under the display (1,800 nits of brightness) an ultrasonic fingerprint sensor is to be found, which promises faster unlocks compared to its predecessor's optical fingerprint scanner. OnePlus says the fingerprint sensor is thinner (in hardware terms) and this allows it to be positioned precisely where your thumb should be.

The phone includes tools aimed at reducing eye strain during long gaming sessions. An Eye Comfort Mode can be enabled through the gaming software to lower visual fatigue, and optional reminders encourage regular blinking during extended play.

You might think you don't need such a feature, but just give it a try and thank me later.

What else is there?

"The first ever Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chip" – that's how OnePlus presents the chipset on the OnePlus 15R. That's not the high-end Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chip that's found on the OnePlus 15, but it's a powerful piece of technology nevertheless.

Compared to the previous generation, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 in the OnePlus 15 promises a 36% increase in CPU performance, an 11% increase in GPU performance and up to 46% boost in terms of AI performance.



To further boost performance, the company pairs the chip with the OnePlus CPU Scheduler technology, which should provide further optimizations for gamers.

The OnePlus 15R uses a full-device cooling system designed to manage heat across the entire phone. Beneath the display, a screen cooling layer made with aerogel helps shield the panel from internal heat. At the core, a large vapor chamber built for high-performance processors spreads and reduces heat during heavy use. Additional graphite in the lower half of the back cover helps move heat away from the chassis, improving overall thermal stability.

I love that: heat is your phone's enemy, so companies should double down on cooling systems. When your phone gets hot, performance drops sharply, as I'm sure you've noticed already.

Speaking of performance, the OnePlus 15R packs LPDDR5X Ultra RAM and UFS 4.1 ROM (which, the company brags, is the fastest ROM available).

It's notable that this time around, the OnePlus 15R offers a 512 GB variant besides the baseline 256 GB option. There isn't a 1 TB option available, but 12 GB of RAM is what all users are getting. That's more than enough for almost anything you'd throw at the OnePlus 15R.

Color options

The OnePlus 15R comes in two new color options: Charcoal Black, which offers a classic look, and Mint Breeze, a lighter, refreshing shade that brings a modern touch. Both finishes feature rear glass.

The new handset is looking fine to me – but design is subjective, so you'll have to decide for yourself.

In terms of durability, the OnePlus 15R is built to withstand a variety of challenging conditions. It carries four IP ratings – IP66, IP68, IP69, and IP69K – providing protection against strong water jets, hot water up to 80°C, full submersion in up to 1.5 meters of water for 30 minutes, and dust.

Software and features

The OnePlus 15R comes with four years of software updates, starting with OxygenOS 16 (based on Android 16), plus, the company promises six years of security updates. Not bad, although way behind what Samsung and Google currently offer (seven years of support).

It's 2025, so there's a plethora of AI stuff on the OnePlus 15. For example, Plus Mind is a personal AI tool that helps store and organize content from your phone. With a tap of the Plus Key or a three-finger swipe, anything on your screen can be saved, and Plus Mind can even interpret the context to help create calendar events or reminders.

Plus Mind is integrated with Google Gemini. This allows you to retrieve personalized suggestions and plans. For example, Gemini can cross-reference your saved locations with current weather or other online information to generate a tailored itinerary.

Price and availability

Ah, money. The OnePlus 15R is available in two storage variants

• $699: 12 GB + 256 GB (available in both color options)
• $799: 12 GB + 512 GB (available only in Charcoal Black)

Here's the $100 price: the OnePlus 13R started at $599. For the extra $100, users get plenty of cool tech on board, but that missing telephoto could be seen as a major drawback by some.

Pre-orders for all variants open on OnePlus.com on December 17, 2025, at 10:00 AM ET, with Amazon starting January 8, 2026, for the 12+256 GB variants. The official sale begins on January 8, 2026, on OnePlus.com, with BestBuy offering the 12+256 GB variant on the same date.

For the 512 GB model, pre-order offers include two gifts (OnePlus Buds 4 worth $129 and a OnePlus phone case, limited stock), a trade-in deal with $50 instant credit and a $50 cashback bonus, a 5% student discount, and up to 30% off on accessories. The 256 GB model includes similar offers, with the gift limited to one item from the two options, plus the trade-in, student, and accessory discounts.

Who is the OnePlus 15R for?

I'd say the OnePlus 15R is for gamers who happen to frown at dedicated gaming phones: yes, these look like something out of space, but some people are not comfortable with such designs.

The OnePlus 15R is tuned for gaming with a focus on performance, responsiveness, and stability rather than just raw specs. It pairs a fast processor with software that prioritizes gaming tasks, along with expanded memory, storage, battery capacity, and improved cooling.

For in-game control, the phone uses a high-precision gyroscope capable of tracking very fast movements, supporting more accurate motion-based input. It also includes a dedicated touch response chip that increases touch sampling to 3200Hz, reducing input lag. On the connectivity side, a separate Wi-Fi chip helps maintain faster and more stable wireless connections, even in less ideal conditions.

The OnePlus 15R is not for dedicated mobile photographers, though.

Even if you don't game at all, the OnePlus 15R sounds fascinating with that jumbo-jet battery!