As a part of their 12th anniversary celebrations, OnePlus launched two new products this week in India – OnePlus 15R smartphone and OnePlus Pad Go 2 tablet. While the former is primarily targeted at mobile gamers, the latter is better suited for students and young professionals. Let’s take a quick look at what these products bring to the table and how they compare to their predecessors.
OnePlus 15R: Specifications and key features
The OnePlus 15R is easily the company’s worst kept secret of the year. And if you have been loosely tracking related news, you probably know a lot about it already. It becomes the first phone in the world to be powered by Qualcomm’s brand new Snapdragon 8 Gen 5 chip, which sits one level below the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5. In addition to the new chipset, the 15R also features 12 GB of LPDDR5X Ultra RAM and fast UFS 4.1 storage with 256 GB and 512 GB options.
It also hosts the largest battery present in a OnePlus phone to date, with a 7400 mAh Silicon Carbon battery striving to provide longer gaming sessions or over two days of moderate use without gaming and supports 80W SuperVOOC charging. It also supports bypass charging, if you do not want to stress your battery during the extra-long gaming sessions. The OnePlus 15R runs the latest OxygenOS 16 based on Android 16 with the company promising four major Android updates and six years of security updates going ahead.
The phone comes in Charcoal Black and Mint Breeze (light green) colourways with Velvet Glass technology to make the back smudge and scratch resistant. It is also available in Electric Violet, built from fiberglass which uses a special coating to imprint the word ACE in the design (or simply, the Ace edition from China repurposed – well played). The design is typically from the OnePlus 2025 playbook with the squarish camera island at the back. The 15R looks like an extra-large version of the 13s with the exact dimensions of the Nord 5.
It is one of the largest phones around with a 10-bit 6.83-inch 1.5K AMOLED display with a resolution of 2800 x 1272 pixels and 1800 nit brightness (HBM). The HDR10+ compliant screen is protected by a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 7i. Just like the company’s flagship OnePlus 15, the 15R too flaunts 165 Hz refresh rate, which is meant to come in handy in certain games. A dedicated Touch Response Chip claims to deliver a superfast touch sampling rate of 3200 Hz, again useful for gamers. A 360-degree Cryo Velocity Cooling System promises good thermal protection and keeps things cool.
The photography department on the 15R is rather scant with a 50MP primary camera with optical image stabilisation (OIS) and a Sony IMX906 sensor doing most of the heavy lifting. It is supported by an 8MP ultra-wide shooter and a 32MP selfie camera, both without auto-focus. Not only is the department lighter than its predecessor (which we will talk about in a minute), but it is inferior to the more affordable Nord 5 as well which had auto-focus on its ultra-wide as well as its 50MP front camera. We understand the focus is on gaming on the 15R but it could have done with better cameras.
OnePlus 15R vs OnePlus 13R: What’s better, what’s worse
Since we are on the topic, let’s get the bad out of the way. In addition to a similar 50MP + 8MP setup, the OnePlus 13R also had a dedicated telephoto camera that has been inexplicably dropped from the 15R. The selfie camera sees an upgrade though with double the megapixels on the new phone. Beyond that, things are largely better on the 15R in terms of processing power, battery backup, storage and display.
As expected, the OnePlus 15R gets a generational jump in processing power from a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 to Gen 5. Storage specs have been upgraded from UFS 4.0 to 4.1 and the display supports higher refresh rate – 165 Hz vs 120 Hz. However, if my memory serves me right, the 13R display was Dolby Vision compliant, which isn’t the case here.
Battery capacity has also gone up from an already impressive 6000 mAh to a whopping 7400 mAh here with a minimal increment in charging times with the same bundled 80W SuperVOOC charger. Ingress protection has been upgraded from IP65 to the top of the line IP69. The OnePlus 15R also becomes the first R series phone to get an ultrasonic fingerprint scanner as opposed to optical earlier. So there are quite a few positives for the 15R to justify the hike in price, which we will talk about shortly.
OnePlus Pad Go 2: Specifications, key features, new additions
The OnePlus Pad Go 2 is a large and affordable tablet for students, young professionals and casual users. Unlike its more expensive siblings, it also offers a cellular/5G variant for those who need it. It feels like a significant upgrade over its predecessor, the Pad Go, on almost every front, be it processing power, display or even the battery capacity. Let’s take a quick look at what you get.
The OnePlus Pad Go 2 has a larger 12.1-inch IPS LCD display with a resolution of 2800 x 1980 pixels and an HBM brightness of 900 nits. The refresh rate has increased from 90 Hz on the Pad Go to 120 Hz here for smoother scrolling. The 7:5 aspect ratio makes it ideal for reading ebooks too. Unlike its predecessor, this tablet also supports a stylus, and the OnePlus Pad Go 2 Stylo (sold separately) claims to deliver low latency, high sensitivity and fast charging with just ten minutes of charging giving the Stylo enough power for half a day.
The OnePlus Pad Go 2 is powered by a far superior Mediatek Dimensity 7300 Ultra SoC as compared to the modest Helio G99 on the Pad Go, lending it enough muscle to go beyond just content consumption. You get 8 GB RAM and a choice between 128 GB and 256 GB UFS 3.1 internal storage with a MicroSD card slot for further expansion. The 5G option is available only on the top variant of this tablet.
The OnePlus Pad Go 2 comes in two colourways – Lavender Drift and Shadow Black. The smooth matte finish makes them largely smudge-free. Despite being just 6.8 mm slim, the new OnePlus tablet hosts a large 10050 mAh battery with support for 33W fast charging as well as reverse charging to juice up other devices. The company claims battery backup figures of 15 hours of video playback, 53 hours of music and 60 days of standby time.
The Pad Go 2 runs the latest OxygenOS 16 based on Android 16 and includes a wide range of AI tools, including AI Writer, AI Recorder and AI Summary, for helping users work smarter. OxygenOS 16 also gives access to Open Canvas that helps one multitask on the tablet and easily switch between up to three windows with two apps open and a third in a floating window. While one can play several games on this tablet, it isn’t meant for serious gaming.
Price and availability
The OnePlus Pad Go 2 comes in three variants: 8 GB + 128 GB WiFi, 8 GB + 256 GB WiFi and 8 GB + 256 GB 5G that are priced at Rs 26,999, Rs 29,999 and Rs 32,999 respectively. There are a bunch of launch offers available with an introductory Rs 1,000 off on each and a further Rs 2,000 instant discount on HDFC and Axis Bank cards. You get a one year warranty on the tablet in India. The open sale for the Pad Go 2 starts from 18th December.
The OnePlus 15R is priced at Rs 47,999 for the 256 GB model and Rs 52,999 for its 512 GB variant. With HDFC and Axis Bank cards, you can score them for Rs 3,000 less at an effective price of a Rupee less than 45K and 50K respectively. The pricing is far more palatable than that of the OnePlus 15 and some other flagship phones released recently. You get a one year warranty on the product, along with a 180 days phone replacement plan and a lifetime warranty on the display, presumably for the green lines issue. One can prebook the 15R for Rs 999 now with the sale starting on 21st December 2025.
