The affordable OnePlus 15R might outperform last year’s OnePlus flagship

During the OnePlus 15 launch event earlier this month, the company also teased its more affordable alternative, the OnePlus 15R. Since then, we've seen occasional leaks about the device appearing online — for instance, those mentioning its rumored December release date. Now, new information has surfaced about the chipset that could be powering the device.

Reputable tipster Debayan Roy, who has a history of accurately predicting smartphone prices such as the Oppo Find X9 series' Indian pricing, claims that the OnePlus 15R will feature the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chipset, which is scheduled to launch on November 26. Note that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 is going to be a mid-flagship chipset and will be completely different from the flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 used in the OnePlus 15. Earlier, it was believed that the smartphone would feature the same Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC found in the OnePlus 13.

If the claim turns out to be true, the OnePlus 15R would likely be a rebrand of the yet-to-be-released OnePlus Ace 6T, instead of the OnePlus Ace 6, which was launched in China last month. For reference, the OnePlus Ace 6 uses the Snapdragon 8 Elite 3 processor.

Performance could be better than the OnePlus 13

Last year's premium phone from OnePlus, the OnePlus 13, runs on the Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, which has an AnTuTu score of around 2.8 million. That's an impressive number for a processor in a $700 smartphone.

In fact, the results place the OnePlus 13 slightly above the Galaxy S25 Ultra, which has an AnTuTu score of 2.7 million, and the Xiaomi 15, which scores around 2.6 million. Although it's not ideal to compare AnTuTu scores between Android and iOS smartphones, I'm certain that the OnePlus 13's results would be impressive even to someone accustomed to Apple's lineup, such as the iPhone 17 Pro Max.

However, AnTuTu recently shared an image showing the benchmark score of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 SoC. The chipset was tested inside the OnePlus Ace 6T and managed to achieve a score of 3.5 million points.

The Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 easily outperforms the Snapdragon 8 Elite in all areas of AnTuTu testing, including CPU, GPU, memory, and UX. However, as expected, it falls behind the flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, which regularly scores over 4 million points in AnTuTu tests.

The AnTuTu scores definitely suggest that the sub-flagship SoC powering the Ace 6T, and reportedly the 15R, performs better than the Snapdragon 8 Elite used in the OnePlus 13. However, how both compare in real-world usage will become clear once we test the devices featuring them.

OnePlus 15R specifications are no longer a secret

Every new leak suggests that the OnePlus 15R will indeed be a rebrand of the Ace 16T. And since we already have plenty of information about what the OnePlus Ace 6T will offer, we can also predict the OnePlus 15R's specifications. The affordable OnePlus 15 variant could feature an 8,000 mAh battery with 100W fast charging support.

The smartphone could also come with a 165 Hz refresh rate display and a dual 50 MP rear camera setup. If OnePlus delivered all these features in the OnePlus 15R, I would highly recommend it to anyone whose priorities are long battery life and casual gaming.