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The flagship killer
OnePlus 13R
The OnePlus 13R expands on what its predecessor excelled at, which is premium performance and high-end components at a reasonable price. It’s awfully similar to 2024’s top-shelf OnePlus 12, but with fresher software. It’s significantly larger than the S25, and beats it in important areas despite costing $200 less.
Pros & Cons- Big, bright, beautiful display
- Great performance for the price
- Includes a 55W charger
- Cameras still need work
- Yet another super-big phone
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Compact and refined
Samsung Galaxy S25
A year-long flow of leaks didn’t quite prepare us for how similar the S25 would be to previous Galaxy S series models. But Samsung took a working formula, added the groundbreaking Snapdragon 8 Elite SoC plus a few other tweaks, and delivered the best small flagship phone left.
Pros & Cons- Unbeatable performance
- Easy one-handed use
- Runs the vaunted One UI software
- Uninteresting physical design
- AI features aren’t super impactful
The OnePlus 12R won hearts with its great performance at a reasonable price, and OnePlus aimed to do it again with the 13R. It’s practically the opposite of the Galaxy S25, Samsung’s most refined phone yet and the last great, relatively small device.
Other than the difference in screen sizes, these two devices differ significantly in many ways. Hardware, software, and build materials all diverge, and the $200 base price difference makes it a tough choice. So, which one is worth your money?
Price, availability, and specs
These two devices couldn’t be more different. The S25’s $800 base price sits below most other flagships and nets 128GB of storage. The cheapest OnePlus 13R sets you back $600, with at least a $100 trade-in discount for any device in any condition, and it starts at 256GB.
Both are available from the manufacturer. You can find the OnePlus at select third-party retailers, but not all of them, and a lack of carrier deals still inhibits the brand’s US adoption. The Galaxy S25 is in cahoots with every carrier and seller nationwide.
Digging into the hardware specifications further illustrates where the handsets diverge.
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OnePlus 13R Samsung Galaxy S25 SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy Display type OLED, 120Hz LTPO AMOLED, 120Hz Display dimensions 6.78″, 19.8:9 6.2″ Display resolution 2780 × 1264 2340 x 1080 RAM 12 or 16GB LPDDR5X 12GB Storage 256GB or 512GB 128GB, 256GB, 512GB Battery 6000mAh 4,000mAh Charge speed 55W 25W Charge options USB-C wired USB-C Wired, Qi wireless Ports USB-C USB-C Operating System Android 15 and OxygenOS 15.0 Android 15 and One UI 7 Front camera 16MP f/2.4 12MP f/2.2 Rear camera 50MP f/1.8 main, 8MP f/2.2 ultrawide, 50MP f/2.0 2x telephoto 50MP f/1.8 main, 12MP f/2.2 ultrawide, 10MP f/2.4 3x telephoto Cellular connectivity Sub-6 5G Sub-6 & mmWave 5G Wi-Fi connectivity Wi-Fi 7 Wi-Fi 7 Connectivity NFC NFC Bluetooth Bluetooth 5.4 Bluetooth 5.4 Dimensions 161.72 × 75.77 × 8.02mm 146.9 x 70.5 x 7.2 mm Weight 206g 162g IP Rating IP65 IP68 Colors Nebula Noir and Astral Trail Silver Shadow, Navy, Icy Blue, Mint Stylus No No
Read our review
The OnePlus 13R will make you forget you’re using a sub-$600 phone
Impressive performance at great value
Design: In line with their expensive relatives
Therefore, almost diametrically opposed
Samsung hasn’t significantly updated designs in three generations. The S25 isn’t exactly like the last two years’ models. Somehow, it’s even more stark. Its plain yet professional appearance appeals to many, and if you use a case, its general lack of style doesn’t matter.
OnePlus borrowed the flagship OP13’s design for the 13R (as with the 12 and 12R), although with slightly less character. It lacks the leather-like back offering and completely abandons curved screens and “2.5D” glass edges but remains comfortable to hold despite squared-off edges. That’s one way the two phones resemble each other.
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Samsung went (almost) all out on materials and construction for its baby flagship, including front-and-back Gorilla Glass Victus 2 and an IP68 rating. It’s the smallest and lightest flagship outfitted with the latest hardware, and that probably won’t change. At least it’s as durable as a flagship gets.
The OnePlus, by contrast, makes sacrifices for its impressive price point. Most users may not notice the difference between the Gorilla Glass 7i on the front and the S25’s Victus. The back uses a more typical formulation, and the 13R gets an IP65 rating. Those aren’t dealbreakers for most people, but they illustrate different focuses.
Display: Two of the best around
Big or small, take your pick
Both display panels get incredibly bright, although the meaningless nature of manufacturer brightness ratings means we won’t know which gets brighter until after more in-depth testing. Regardless, both work great in sunlight.
Both support 1 to 120Hz variable refresh rates, HDR10+, and always-on display. The resolutions differ due to screen sizes, but both pixel densities exceed 400ppi. You can’t tell with the naked eye that the OnePlus’ is slightly higher. The 13R also supports Dolby Vision whereas the Galaxy does not, which makes sense for the larger phone.
Both displays are nearly as good as they get. But one’s large, and the other fits easily in a pocket.
Software: A pair of polarizing projects
Imagine an iPhone 16 Pro and Pro Max
The Fluid Cloud, OnePlus’ answer to Apple’s Dynamic Island.
In years past, we might have dressed OnePlus down for an underbaked Android implementation, but not now. It resembles iOS aesthetically and redesigns Apple’s Dynamic Island to great success. It offers conveniently stacked alerts and enough access customization to ensure intuitive use. It still has some ground to cover, like third-party app integration.
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OxygenOS 15’s under-the-hood upgrades promise a snappy experience, smooth animations, and zero lag. As AP expert Stephen Radochia explained, the platform enables multitasking between different apps and OS functions better than any other. Overall, it’s a big improvement from OxygenOS 14 and worlds away from previous versions. OnePlus provides four years of Android upgrades and six years of security patches.
Then there’s One UI. Critics argue it’s exceedingly similar to iOS. Many One UI fans agree. Samsung implements its own Dynamic Island reimagining, the Now Bar, and the more in-depth Now Brief updates that combine everything the phone knows about you. Now Brief doesn’t appear to do many special tricks, and the Now Bar needs better software interoperability. Presumably, it’ll come to life as Samsung advances Galaxy AI. The Galaxy also bests the OnePlus’ longevity, with seven years of updates.
One UI’s user-friendly interface, high degree of allowed customization, and generally intuitive operation garner wide praise. Beloved Samsung-specific features like Good Lock have the power to draw consumers to the Galaxy line and never leave. It can be a polarizing experience, and it turns some users off. It’s a far cry from stock Android. Still, it gets high marks for a reason, and calling it the “iOS of Android” isn’t an insult.
To AI or not to AI
A OnePlus 13R selfie, ready for AI editing.
The 13R’s AI tools feel like a bit of an afterthought. The most popular Gemini features are there, like Circle to Search, and the company’s image editing tools work fine. But AI isn’t a reason to buy this phone. OnePlus did a good job with it but doesn’t put the latest hype front and center.
Samsung offers more extensive tools, and people who use them tend to like them. A decent number run on the device, further integrating them into the new normal of smartphone experiences. But AI might not be your biggest reason to buy this one. Samsung plans to charge an AI subscription fee after 2025, and the tools aren’t yet magical enough to blow away mainstream users, although Samsung promises progress.
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Performance: Separating flagship and midrange
A big S25 win that you might not care about
Pokémon TCG Pocket isn’t the kind of game that needs a bleeding-edge CPU.
The performance difference stems from the Galaxy’s Snapdragon 8 Elite system-on-a-chip. With eight performance cores custom-built by Qualcomm, it’s taken the world by storm with mind-boggling power and AI processing ability. Top SoCs from MediaTek, Google, Samsung, and Apple fail to best it in real-world processing power. If resource-intensive gaming and multitasking factor heavily into your decision, the 8 Elite deserves your attention.
However, here’s the thing. The blazing-fast Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 in the OnePlus 13R will satisfy most people. Not everybody needs cutting-edge hardware. If you don’t care about AI or 3D gaming, you’ll hardly get the most from the industry-leading chipset. You’d be hard-pressed to notice a difference in everyday use, except SD8 Elite phones can get remarkably hot, according to early reports.
Battery life: Leaving small phones behind
One area where big phones excel
Wait, what’s that boxy thing on the left?
Samsung’s smallest flagship offers great battery life. In early testing, it compared favorably to the 8 to 10 hours of screen-on time we found with the S24. It’s enough for most users. But OnePlus apparently takes pride in its power sources, packing a previously unheard-of 6,000mAh cell into its unicorn, utilizing high-density silicon-carbide chemistry. It offers most people a true two-day battery life.
OnePlus charging speeds vastly outstrip Samsung’s, reaching 55W without throttling or confusion. It includes a full-spec charger in the box, something even a free charger skeptic like me can get behind when pushing such a high current to a midrange device. If you use your phone a ton and enjoy gaming, on-device AI processing, and other demanding activities, the OnePlus 13R is an easy winner.
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Cameras: Wait, Hasselblad, come back
And when will Samsung hit the sweet spot?
The 13R didn’t get the same treatment from camera giant Hasselblad as the OnePlus 13. To be fair, it’s head and shoulders above 2024’s OnePlus 12R, with a new 50MP 2× telephoto replacing a useless 2MP macro lens and the ultrawide getting a bump from 8 to 50MP. It takes good pictures and videos, with a few caveats.
Much imaging quality rests on computational photography (the imaging software), and OnePlus’ is getting better. It handles most light conditions well, including nighttime shots, although it tends to wash out in bright light. The telephoto lens extends to 2× zoom and suffers from middling clarity, and the ultrawide isn’t premium enough to see frequent use. Nonetheless, it’s at least as good as other phones in its price range.
Samsung reuses last year’s camera hardware in the S25, putting the onus for camera improvement on the developers. Aspects like motion handling are improving, and subtle changes like reduced artificial sharpening can lead to more realistic contrast and colors.
However, early photo feedback isn’t great. Multiple users report dissatisfaction with the lack of detail in images, seemingly due partly to the reduced sharpening. The shutter lag and low-light issues of previous generations haven’t been addressed. Samsung has its work cut out for it: bring the Galaxy S series in line with other top flagships.
Which is right for you?
Apart from the obvious judgment call on size needs, neither phone should disappoint anybody. They’re both great. The OnePlus 13R makes understandable compromises, resulting in a $500 to $600 sticker price that won’t get you the same performance or design anywhere else. If you want a flagship but don’t want to spend as much, you can’t beat OnePlus’ new midrange slab. Its cameras even work better than Samsung’s in some conditions.
Top pick
OnePlus 13R
It’s big, fast, beautiful, and doesn’t cost much. You can’t get better bang for your buck than with the OnePlus 13R, and it even beats the S25 in some ways.
Don’t count the S25 out, though. Samsung didn’t need to change much to release a great phone, even if it released an unambitious one. The SoC driving it can’t be beat. One UI 7 has countless fans for a reason, and $800 isn’t that much higher than $600. If you’re in the market for a high-performance, small-ish phone that you can use for years, or you’re patiently awaiting Galaxy AI’s moment in the sun, get the Galaxy S25.
The last compact
Samsung Galaxy S25
If you demand peak performance, the Galaxy S25 has it. It also has the beloved One UI interface and an increasing host of AI features, although individual preference for both of those varies greatly.
