OnePlus 15R vs 15 - The 20 Differences You Need To Know!

If you're thinking about getting a OnePlus 15 or considering splashing the cash on the OnePlus 15 flagship, here are 20 things that you need to consider before making a decision. Both displays are Full HD+ 165Hz 10-bit AMOLED with the same pixels per inch and the same peak brightness at 1800 nits. But the difference here is that the 15R’s display can jump between 60, 90, 120, and 165Hz.

The 15, however, goes one up in this area because it uses an LTPO display that can gradually scale from 1Hz all the way up to its peak 165Hz. And the superior display allows for better brightness control too, and it can even scale all the way down to just 1 nit, making this display far more power efficient. The glass used up front on the 15R is a respectable but mid-range Corning Gorilla Glass 7i.

The flagship 15 uses Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2, which has better drop resistance against concrete and is said to be twice as scratch resistant — one up for the OnePlus 15. Another difference is the larger 7400 mAh silicon-carbon battery in the 15R. The 15 has a similar but slightly smaller 7300 mAh battery, but the 15 does charge faster, supporting speeds up to 120W versus 80W on the 15R.

Now, this speed difference might be due to the difference in USB-C ports used. The 15R uses a USB-C 2.0, whereas the more expensive 15 flagship uses a USB-C 3.2 Gen 1. With that said, though, both are faster than the current flagship iPhone. Another difference is that the 15R lacks wireless charging, whereas the 15 flagship supports up to 50W wireless charging, if you can manage to get one of those chargers.

Both phones use premium materials, with the more expensive 15 having some interesting differences between the color variants. For example, the sandstone model uses a fiberglass composite back with micro-arc oxidation-coated metal for enhanced durability. The 15R just uses the classic glass back approach. Despite this, both phones do have official IP69K dust and water resistance ratings, and that's a higher rating than the best-selling phones out there today.

But here is one of the biggest differences of all: the chipsets. The 15R is one of the first phones to have the Snapdragon 8 Gen 5, which is very impressive and actually beats the OnePlus 15’s Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 off the mark in the ray tracing extreme benchmark tests that I put these through. However, that elite chip in the more expensive 15 does deliver a much more consistent performance over time, and the device runs cooler over the course of the 20-minute benchmark stress test.

And here are a few more subtle differences that most people will miss. While both phones have 256GB options with 12GB of RAM, the more expensive 15 goes one step further here with LPDDR5X Ultra and Ultra Plus RAM, if you go for the 16GB RAM version of the phone. The 15R uses a standard version of LPDDR5X, which is still flagship-level, but it's not quite as fast.

The camera hardware is identical regarding the primary camera on the back. They both use the same 50MP sensor and lens setup with OIS. However, due to the difference in chipset, the 15 has a slight edge when it comes to image signal processing, which comes into play in low-light settings and also HDR scenes. A big difference between the two is the number of cameras. The 15 has three cameras on the back, all of which use 50MP sensors, whereas the 15R has two. The second of which is an 8MP ultrawide, which is pretty decent — it gets the job done — but it doesn't compare to the quality you get from the flagship 15 ultrawide 50MP camera.

The additional telephoto on the 15 allows for 3x lossless zoom, whereas the 15R uses a primary sensor crop for its zoom functionality. The selfie cameras are both 32MP. However, the flagship model does use a more premium Sony IMX706 sensor behind these lenses, and once again, this does give it an advantage in lower-light scenarios. Video capabilities are also different, with the 15 being able to shoot up to 8K 30fps, and the 15R maxing out at 4K 120fps. And to be honest, both of these formats are kind of overkill for most people.

A couple more differences worth noting: if you look closely, the bezels are ever so slightly thinner on the 15 flagship, but that's not going to be a deal breaker. But the 15 does support Wi-Fi 6 and Qualcomm's aptX Adaptive Bluetooth codec, which the 15R does not. The more expensive 15 also has some additional sensors, including a hall sensor, laser focusing, and spectral sensors for its rear cameras, as well as a barometer and three active noise-canceling mics.

And then there’s the most important difference between the two devices: the price gap. If you do want to spend more on the 15 instead of getting the 15R, then you're going to need an extra £350. So let me know in the comments which one of these phones is better suited to you.