OnePlus 13 vs OnePlus 13R preliminary comparison: R stands for R U ready

Smartphone nomenclature is very confusing these days. For the past couple of years we had it all: Pro models, FE models, SE, Ultra, Max, and whatnot. After dropping the Pro moniker from its flagship lineup, OnePlus decided to do something new and fresh, introducing the R series.

What's that, you may ask? Simply put, the OnePlus R is a trimmed down flagship, offering an amazing bang for your buck without sacrificing too much in terms of real-life experience. OnePlus started this trend with the OnePlus 11R, and it was so successful that the company is brewing up another R flagship, the OnePlus 13R.

Now, the regular OnePlus 13 hasn't been officially unveiled yet, and the R series often appears months after the main flagship, so this comparison is a bit of a shot in the dark at this point.

Nevertheless, today we're pitting the upcoming OnePlus 13 versus the dark horse, the OnePlus 13R. These two are still under wraps, so our information is currently based on leaks and rumors.

The latest rumors say that the regular OnePlus 13 will be slightly bigger than its predecessors, mainly because of the larger screen and the more modest curvature of the said screen. We don't know much about the OnePlus 13R, but judging from the way 12 and 12R were differentiated last year, we expect the OnePlus 13R to be a bit lighter (maybe lacking periscope zoom, which is a heavy system) and also rocking a completely flat screen.

Before we move to the screen, there's one leak that allegedly depicts the way the camera bumps on both of these phones. According to this rumor, the OnePlus 13 will come with a centrally positioned, circular camera system, while the OnePlus 13R will feature a square-ish camera bump, slightly offset to the left.

Materials-wise, we expect both phones to use similar building blocks, namely aluminum and glass, and there's a slight chance for the OnePlus 13R to go for a cheaper material, such as hard plastic, but we won't bet our dinner on it.

When it comes to the displays of both phones, the OnePlus 13R could feature a slightly smaller 6.78-inch screen, as opposed to the 6.82-inch panel expected on the regular OnePlus 13.

The resolution and the tech behind these panels will probably stay the same, except for maybe the brightness. We expect the regular and more expensive OnePlus 13 to feature a brighter fisplay that will most likely also be more color accurate. Our display tests will solve this puzzle, but we'll have to wait a little longer for those.

There's another potential difference, and it's the fingerprint sensor. According to the latest rumors, the OnePlus 13 will come equipped with an ultrasonic in-display fingerprint scanner, while the OnePlus 13R could keep the optical one to keep the price down.

As for the hardware, there probably won’t be any big surprises. The OnePlus 13 is likely to come with Qualcomm’s newest Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 chip. We don’t know exactly how it’ll perform in the phone just yet, but early tests hint that it’s going to be a beast.

The OnePlus 13R, on the other hand, will most likely feature the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, which is plenty fast. There are some rumors that the R model could come with a Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 onboard, but there are no indications that this would be the case.

The S-series Snapdragon silicon is often much more efficient and less powerful even than the previous generation of the flagship chip. For example, the Snapdragon 8s Gen 3 is slightly less powerful than the regular Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. So, in any case, we will probably get a slower chip inside the OnePlis 13R, but that's okay. Even a two-year old flagship chipset is powerful enough for almost everything you can throw at it.

There might be some AI differences, as OnePlus is yet to hop on the AI train to the fullest, and we'll have to wait and see how this one plays out. If we have to bet our beans, we would say that both phones will come with some AI magic onboard, and given the time difference between the two releases, the features might be very similar.

We expect both phones to launch with Android 15 out of the box, or if we want to be very specific, it will be Oxygen OS 15 based on Android 15.

Regarding the RAM situation, there's a rumored 24GB RAM version of the OnePlus 13, while the OnePlus 13R will most likely stop this madness at 16GB. Of course, we will update this article with some benchmark numbers once both phones end up on our test bench.

Here's a quick specs comparison between the two phones. If you want to delve deeper, check out our full OnePlus 13 vs OnePlus 13R specs comparison on PhoneArena.

*rumored specs

When it comes to the OnePlus R devices, the main reason to consider one is bang for the buck. We're still some time away from the official unveiling of the OnePlus 13, and potentially months away from the OnePlus 13R, so we can't say much.

What we can say, though, is that if you want a good deal, the OnePlus 13R will most likely offer one, while the regular OnePlus 13 flagship will pump up the specs, but the price will be up accordingly. We will update this comparison and give you a final recommendation once these phones are official and we complete our tests.