Oppo Reno 14 Pro Review feat. OnePlus 13R: The slick shooter vs the performance beast

Oppo just dropped the Reno 14 Pro, aiming straight for the premium mid-range crown — and yeah, it’s a total looker.

But standing in its way is the OnePlus 13R—a slightly trimmed-down flagship that still throws a solid hook.

One’s built to capture the perfect portrait. The other’s bulit for speed. 

And honestly, I couldn’t resist putting them head-to-head. 

Design

So, let's start with the design and build. Both phones  feel almost the same in the hand; flat metallic sides, glass backs and a good grip... but also a bit slippery because of all that glass

The OnePlus 13R I have here is in Nebula Noir. It’s dark, hides fingerprints well, and feels clean. The Reno 14 Pro I tested is Pearl White, with this cool flame-like shimmer on the side. 

It looks flashy, but I get the feeling most people will slap on a case.

Now, the camera bumps. The OnePlus has a big circular bump that got in my way when gaming or watching shows. The Reno’s bump looks flashier but sits flush and didn’t bother me.

Both phones feel light and solid. Gorilla Glass 7i covers the fronts of both. The Reno uses Velvet Glass on the back, which feels smoother and more premium than the Gorilla Glass 7i on the OnePlus. 

Both phones have fast in-display fingerprint sensors and IR blasters but the OnePlus still has its handy alert slider, which in my book is one of its best features. The Reno also gets an IP 66,68 and 69 rating. The 13R though just makes do with IP65

So, for design and durability, I am leaning towards the Reno.

Display

Now, the Reno 14 Pro rocks a 6.83-inch OLED display, while the OnePlus 13R sticks to a slightly smaller 6.78-inch AMOLED panel. 

Both support HDR10+ and 120Hz refresh rates, so content looks crisp and fluid either way — but OnePlus offers an LTPO screen that can smartly dial down refresh rate all the way down to 1Hz to save battery. Both phones also come with stereo speakers, so your Netflix binge is in good hands.

I even ran a few 4K HDR videos on YouTube, and while both of them looked great, the OnePlus stood out. It uses a 10-bit panel, supports Dolby Vision, and handled HDR way better—especially in the shadows. 

It also gets brighter. The 13R peaks at 1600 nits, while the Reno hits 1200 in HBM.  So yeah, display-wise, the OnePlus takes it for me

Cameras

Cameras is where things get really interesting.

The 13R packs a 50MP main camera with OIS, a 50MP 2X telephoto, and an 8MP ultrawide. The Reno has a 50MP main with OIS, a 50MP 3.5X telephoto with OIS, and a 50MP ultrawide.

In daylight, both take sharp photos. However, OnePlus’s photos are more saturated and punchy. Reno’s images are flatter but more natural, especially with skin tones. I preferred Reno’s colours over two.

The ultrawide is where the Reno really shines. Its 50MP ultrawide beats the OnePlus’s 8MP sensor easily, especially in low light.

In zoom and portraits, Reno pulls away again. The 3.5X telephoto delivers sharper, clearer shots. Portraits look more natural with better depth. OnePlus is decent, but its portraits can feel a bit over-processed.

Selfies are again a no contest. Oppo’s 50MP front camera with autofocus is way better than OnePlus’s 16MP fixed-focus shooter. The Reno also handles highlights much better.

Both phones shoot 4K video at 60fps on the rear camera. OnePlus stabilisation is solid but sometimes the footage looks over-sharpened and jittery. The Reno’s video is smoother with better colour accuracy. Plus, Reno can shoot 4K 60 on the front camera, while OnePlus tops out at 1080p 30fps.

Performance

Camera-wise, the Reno takes the crown but OnePlus clawed back some serious points in performance.

The OnePlus 13R comes in swinging with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, up to 16 gigs of RAM, and 512GB of storage — basically flagship specs. The Reno 14 Pro settles for a Dimensity 8450 with up to 12GB RAM and 512GB of storage. Still solid, but definitely not in the same weight class.

In day to day use, both are quick and responsive. But push them hard in benchmarks and games and the 13R clearly pulls ahead. It scored 27% higher on AnTuTu and had a 34% lead in Geekbench’s single-core. Plus, it stayed cooler during benchmarks

Gaming though, sealed it for me. BGMI hit 120fps on the 13R with only minor dips. Reno was capped at 60fps, though it stayed smooth. 

All in all, this was an easy win for OnePlus here.

Both phones run Android 15, OxygenOS on OnePlus, ColorOS on Oppo, and honestly, they feel the exact same.  As in, daily usability is smooth on both, but OnePlus has faster app loading times, thanks to its UFS 4.0 storage versus Oppo's UFS 3.1. 

Both smartphones have bloatware, so neither gets the clean software crown. 

Oppo’s promising 3 years of Android updates and 4 years of security patches — which is… fine. 

But in a world where OnePlus is offering 4 and 6, “fine” doesn’t really cut it.

Battery

Moving to the batteries, the Reno 14 Pro packs a 6200mAh battery, and the OnePlus 13R has a 6000mAh cell. Both lasted me well over a day, but surprisingly, the OnePlus pulled ahead by a bit. That Snapdragon chip is just better optimised.

Both support 80W wired charging, and bypass charging. But the Reno wins again since you also get 50W wireless charging. 

That’s super handy if you hate cables like I do.

Verdict

So, which one should you buy… Well, If performance is your top priority, the OnePlus 13R is a beast. 

It's got a fast chip, great battery life, and a killer display.

But if you want better cameras, sleeker design, and the bonus of wireless charging, the Reno 14 Pro delivers big time.

If it were up to me? I’d pick the Reno — I’m a camera girl, and those quad 50MP sensors are kinda hard to ignore. But if you game a lot or want pure speed, the 13R is what you should go for. It all comes down to what you care about more.