Skip to content

OnePlus 11R Hands on Review: Return of Flagship Killer?

The OnePlus 11R 5G is the sibling of the premium flagship the OnePlus 11 5G (Review), which was also launched at the Cloud 11 Launch in Delhi. It comes in two variants, i.e., 8 GB RAM + 128 GB Storage which costs INR 39,999, and 16 GB RAM + 256 GB Storage which costs INR 44,999. This budget flagship phone equipped with Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, will be available for pre-order on 21st February 2023, and on open sale from 28th February 2023. We got our hands on this budget flagship, and here’s a quick hands-on review of the OnePlus 11R 5G.

OnePlus 11R 5G Hands-on Review

I have divided my OnePlus 11R 5G hands-on review into segments, which you can access from the table of contents. Now, without any further adieu, let’s dive into the review.

OnePlus 11R Build Review

In terms of design language, the OnePlus 11R 5G is identical to its elder sibling the OnePlus 11 5G, which was not the case with OnePlus 10R and OnePlus 10 Pro. Where the camera module is housed in a circular ring, blending with the metal frame. It supports the same Gorilla Glass 5 at the back as the OnePlus 11 but weighs slightly less at 204 grams.

OnePlus 11R Hands on Review

OnePlus 11R Display Review

Towards the front is a 6.74″ FHD+ Super Fluid AMOLED display, which is a curved display for the first time on an R series phone from OnePlus. This display supports an Adaptive Dynamic Refresh Rate which can vary from 40-120Hz depending on the content consumed, with a touch response rate of 360Hz. It again borrowed some features from the elder sibling, like support for 10-bit colors, and HDR10+, but lacks support for Dolby Vision. During our short time with the phone, the display appeared sharp and adequately bright indoors, the curved edges also added to a nice in-hand feel.


OnePlus 11R Hardware & Software Review

The most interesting part of the OnePlus 11R is the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 Mobile platform, launched in 2022 by Qualcomm which is based on 4nm architecture. This makes the 11R one of the most affordable phones with this powerful, yet power-efficient processor. Even the OnePlus 10T had the same chip, and during our testing, this chipset performed really well one the 10T, scoring more than 8,35,000 on the AnTuTu benchmark. For thermal management and heat dissipation, there’s OnePlus Cryo-Velocity Cooling System, as well.

OnePlus 11R Hands on Review

You should get even better performance from the OnePlus 11R since it comes with the latest LPDDR 5X ram, which is an upgrade from the 10R and 10T, and is also found in OnePlus 11. The storage is also based on UFS 3.1 standard, which should provide you with fast read and write speeds.

The OnePlus 11R comes with Oxygen OS 13, based on Android 13, we noticed Netflix and Prime video pre-installed on it in the hands-on area. Will it get the same treatment as 4 years of OS upgrades and 5 years of Security updates that need to be seen?

OnePlus 11R Camera Review

There are three rear cameras, where the main camera is 50MP paired with a sony IMX 890 sensor and OIS, the same as on the OnePlus 11, while the secondary camera is an 8MP ultrawide sensor, tagging along is a 2MP macro lens. On the front is a 16MP sensor on the top left, which supports EIS. While it is impossible to test a camera in such a short hands-on time, here are some camera samples for you to get an idea of it.

Connectivity on OnePlus 11R

The OnePlus 11R 5G come with 9 5G bands compared to 13 on OnePlus 11 5G, there’s also supported Bluetooth 5.3, NFC, and WiFi 6, and surprisingly it also comes with an IR blaster. Allowing you to control IR devices like AC, and TV using the IR remote app. We’ll test the connectivity of this in our full review.

OnePlus 11R Battery Review

Another couple of things borrowed by this budget Flagship from the elder sibling is the 2S1P 5,000 mAh battery, split into two cells of 2,500 mAh each. Also, to charge this up there’s a 100W SuperVOOC charger bundled in the box. We’ll test the battery and charging performance in our full review.

Although the charger is a bit of a cut down from that of the OnePlus 10R and OnePlus 10T, which had a 150W power adapter. But do let us know, if would you like to have a 150W charger with it.

Wrapping Up: OnePlus 11R Review

That’s our quick hands-on review of the OnePlus 11R 5G, which retails at INR 39,999 for the base variant. At this pricing, it is a value-for-money flagship phone but is it really a flagship killer, that needs to be seen? For that stay tuned to GadgetsToUse, meanwhile, you can check out our other amazing tech content.

Also, Read:

You can also follow us for instant tech news at Google News or for tips and tricks, smartphones & gadgets reviews, join GadgetsToUse Telegram Group or for the latest review videos subscribe GadgetsToUse YouTube Channel.

nv-author-image

Gaurav Sharma

As an editor, Gaurav ensures the delivery of quality-rich, detailed, and accurate content tailored to the right audience. His three years of experience as a reviewer allow him to provide comprehensive evaluations of various consumer gadgets. On the video front, Gaurav serves as a video production manager for both long and short formats and anchors short videos at GadgetsToUse.