OnePlus 13s vs OnePlus 13R: Comparing the mid-rangers

Pricing and Availability

The newly launched OnePlus 13s is currently only available to buy in India and, at the time of writing, we don’t know whether it’ll launch elsewhere. While its price of 57,999 rupees roughly equates to around £497, this figure should always be taken lightly. We’ll be sure to update this once we learn more. 

On the other hand, the OnePlus 13R launched back in January 2025 and has an RRP of £529.

SQUIRREL_PLAYLIST_10207572

OnePlus 13s runs on the Snapdragon 8 Elite

Like some of the best Android phones of the year, the OnePlus 13s runs on Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite processor. Much like the OnePlus 13, the OnePlus 13s is promised to not only run brilliantly fast during general use, but also ensures the smooth running of the handset’s AI tools.

Also found in the OnePlus 13R, the OnePlus 13s is equipped with an AI toolkit including AI Search, VoiceScribe, Translation and Google Gemini built-in. 

Instead, the OnePlus 13R runs on Qualcomm’s 2024 flagship, Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. Although it may be over a year old, and can no longer sit with more premium releases, we still found the handset performed brilliantly across both everyday use and for gaming too. 

Plus, in our benchmark tests, we found it outperformed the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra too, which runs on a custom version of Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. 

OnePlus 13R has a larger battery

With a whopping 6000mAh battery capacity, which is the largest ever found on a OnePlus phone, we hailed the OnePlus 13R as being simply “superb” for its longevity, as it can easily offer up to two days with just one charge.

The OnePlus 13s isn’t too far behind, as it sports a 5850mAh capacity and benefits from 80W SuperVOOC charging speeds. OnePlus promises the 13s can get a “day’s power in half an hour” when plugged into a compatible adapter, although we haven’t verified this claim ourselves.

Also benefiting from 80W SuperVOOC charging, the OnePlus 13R also requires you to invest in a compatible OnePlus or Oppo adapter as this isn’t included in the box. As we didn’t have a compatible charger with our review and had to use a different adapter, we found the phone took 90 minutes to charge from 1-100%, which isn’t as fast as we’d expect.

OnePlus 13R has an 8MP ultrawide camera

The OnePlus 13R is fitted with a total of four cameras, a 16MP selfie lens and a trio of rear snappers at the back. Although this may sound similar to last year’s OnePlus 12R’s setup, fortunately there have been some useful updates, including swapping out the pointless macro sensor with a 50MP telephoto lens instead.

Alongside the new telephoto, which does a “decent job at capturing photos” further away, there’s the 50MP main and an 8MP ultrawide, with the latter missing from the OnePlus 13s. Although it’s always nice to have an ultrawide, we did highlight it as being the “weakest link in the OnePlus 13R’s camera setup”. Having said that, the overall offering still does an excellent job.

The OnePlus 13s has a total of three lenses instead, including a 32MP front camera. Much like the OnePlus 13R, the 13s also sports a 50MP main and 50MP telephoto lens, which we can assume offers the same decent performance as its counterpart. 

OnePlus 13R has a larger display

The OnePlus 13R is slightly larger than the OnePlus 13s, with a 6.78-inch display compared to 6.32-inches. This isn’t necessarily a positive or negative, as whether you’d prefer the larger OnePlus 13R or the more compact 13s is completely down to your personal preference.

Otherwise, the OnePlus 13R sports Aqua Touch technology, which allows you to use the screen even when it’s wet, and Intelligent Eye Care which aims to reduce eye strain. We also compared the handset side-by-side with the iPhone 16 Pro Max, which is double the price, and couldn’t tell a difference between the resolution, which is seriously high praise. 

Although smaller, the OnePlus 13s also boasts some impressive display features including a 1-120Hz refresh rate and an FHD+ resolution too.

OnePlus 13s has the Plus key

The OnePlus 13s is the first OnePlus handset to sport the brand new Plus Key. Found on its side, the Plus Key is similar to iPhone’s Action Button and can be customised and turned into a shortcut based on your preference. 

OnePlus also promises the Plus key will “evolve” as it gets to know how you use the handset. It explains “as AI becomes more integrated into OxygenOS, the Plus Key will grow alongside it” and start making suggestions that feel “intuitive and useful”.

Early Verdict

With the latest Qualcomm chipset, a plethora of AI tools and the all-new Plus key, the OnePlus 13s looks set to be a promising alternative to the OnePlus 13R and the more expensive OnePlus 13. However, considering the OnePlus 13R is one of our best mid-range phones, if you’re looking for a decent all-rounder that doesn’t cost a fortune, then you’d be hard pressed to find a better choice than the OnePlus 13R.

We’ll update this versus once we’ve reviewed the OnePlus 13s.