OnePlus 9RT Review: The flagship killer OnePlus device we deserved

OnePlus recently dropped a new budget flagship smartphone in India, in the form of the OnePlus 9RT. The OnePlus 9RT’s price in India is set at Rs 42,999 for the base model and Rs 46,999 for the top-end model.

The handset brings a ton of improvements over last year’s OnePlus 9R, while not going overboard on the price. In our initial review of the OnePlus 9RT, we were pleased with the overall experience, although several questions about the phone’s camera, performance, and battery life remained unanswered. So, here’s an in-depth look at the OnePlus 9RT.

Design

The OnePlus 9RT follows the design language of its predecessor with a flat-screen and a rectangular camera layout on the back. OnePlus has also added a glass back and an aluminium frame to give the 9RT a more premium look and feel. Additionally, the rounded edges make it rather easy to grip the phone. On the sides, you get the traditional OnePlus slider as well as the power and volume buttons. The OnePlus 9RT also packs a dual-speaker system.

In terms of the finish, the OnePlus 9RT is offered in Nano Silver and Hacker Black colours. Our black model had a matte finish with ceramic glazed texture on the back that look really neat. It also resulted in a back panel that was smooth to the touch, almost too smooth. The glazed textured finish also leaks into the camera island, while the frame has a standard black colour. I also found that the rear panel was resistant to fingerprint smudges.

The OnePlus 9RT is a little over 8 mm thick and weighs nearly 200 grams, which did put it on the heavy side. OnePlus has included a case in the box in case that back panel for an added layer of protection, but it does take away from the aesthetics. The build quality of the OnePlus 9RT certainly felt premium, while the unique finish added a touch of style to a phone that felt very comfortable to use.

Display

OnePlus hasn’t skimped out on the display here. The phone opts for a 6.62-inch E4 OLED panel from Samsung with an FHD+ (2400 × 1080 pixels) resolution. The screen features a 120Hz refresh rate and a touch sampling rate of 300Hz (or up to 600Hz when gaming), which makes for a rather smooth gaming and navigation experience. The screen’s 20:9 aspect ratio also makes consuming entertainment on it rather comfortable.

The display gets quite bright, offering up to 1,300 nits of brightness, so starring at the screen under direct sunlight won’t be an issue. The panel also offers a 100 percent DCI-P3 wide colour gamut coverage and HDR10+ support. Additionally, the display emits 15 percent less blue light, consumes 15 percent less power, and upscales picture quality for content in lower resolution. Overall, the display here is top-notch, it may not be as good as a premium smartphone, but it is certainly one of the best in the segment.

Performance

Our impressions of the OnePlus 9RT’s performance hasn’t changed one bit in the last 10 days. The handset is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset, which is the same chip used on the OnePlus 9 (Review) and OnePlus 9 Pro. The chip is further paired with up to 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM and up to 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. Additionally, the OnePlus 9RT also comes with improved cooling, delivering a vapour chamber that is 59 percent larger than that of the OnePlus 9 Pro.

In Geekbench 5, the OnePlus 9RT managed a single-core score of 912 points and a multi-core score of 3337 points. The games we tested on the OnePlus 9RT included RAID: Shadow Legends, Call of Duty: Mobile, BGMI, and Asphalt 9: Legends. The games ran quite smooth without any hiccups in performance even after 30 hours of gameplay. I will say this though, the Geekbench scores posted by the OnePlus 9 Pro were slightly higher than that of the OnePlus 9RT. However, there’s no doubt that the performance here is top-notch with little to no lag.

Cameras

When it comes to optics, the OnePlus 9RT gets a triple-camera setup on the back. The setup features a 50 MP Sony IMX766 primary sensor with OIS, a 16 MP ultrawide lens, and a 2 MP macro lens. On the front, the OnePlus 9RT opts for a 16 MP Sony IMX471 sensor for selfies. In terms of video, the OnePlus 9RT can capture 4K and 1080p video at up to 60 frames per second, although it is limited to 1080p at 30fps on the front camera.

The main camera on the OnePlus 9RT is a much-needed upgrade over its predecessor. The Sony IMX766 sensor captures photos with a good dynamic range and accurate colours during the day. Images taken on the primary camera were sharp and didn’t appear to be oversaturated. The primary camera also churns out images with excellent detail, but I’d say it doesn’t quite live up to the expectations of the OnePlus 9 Pro. The phone also has a Hi-res mode that works well for landscape photos.

Additionally, the ultrawide camera on the OnePlus 9RT was surprisingly good, delivering good dynamic range and still maintaining nice detail in shots. It isn’t the best ultrawide sensor you’ll find, but OnePlus’ algorithms do a pretty good job here. At night, the main camera on the OnePlus 9RT was quite impressive when stills in the dark. The images don’t seem overexposed and the noise almost seems non-existent. Moreover, sharpness and detail were also serviceable, while moving objects appear quite blurry.

Night mode on the ultrawide camera gets you decent results provided you have enough ambient light. However, results vary rarely come out good and will unlikely be usable. You also get an additional macro lens with the OnePlus 9RT for taking close up stills, although I didn’t feel the need to use it. The 16 MP selfie camera on the front also didn’t live up to the mark with noticeably soft skin tones and inaccurate skin colours.

The OnePlus 9RT does a pretty solid job when it comes to recording videos. Both the primary and ultrawide cameras can capture video in 4K at 60fps. The main camera can capture colour accurate videos with good stabilisation thanks to the OIS. Dynamic range and detail in videos are also pretty good. I’d rate the overall camera performance of the OnePlus 9RT’s as somewhere between mid-range and flagship-grade. The 9RT offers a solid upgrade in camera performance over last year’s OnePlus 9R.

Battery

The OnePlus 9RT has a pretty sizeable 4,500 mAh battery that can easily get you through a full day of usage and some to take into the next one. The OnePlus 9RT offers around five to six hours of screen-on-time depending on what you’re doing on the phone. And even if you do run out of juice, OnePlus has bundled a 65W charging brick with the phone to fully power your device in around 40 minutes.

Software

Thankfully, the OnePlus 9RT in India continues to use OxygenOS as opposed to ColorOS. Disappointingly, the OnePlus 9RT is running OxygenOS based on Android 11, rather than on Android 12 out-of-the-box. OxgenOS comes with a bunch of pre-loaded OnePlus apps as well as some favourites like the always-on display, Zen Mode, and more importantly, the interface is still relatively bloatware-free. However, the ColorOS additions to the software are quite apparent but don’t have any major drawbacks.

Verdict

At a starting price of Rs 42,999, the OnePlus 9RT doesn’t come cheap. However, in return, you get a smartphone that looks and feels very much like a flagship offering excellent performance, consistent cameras, a vibrant display, good software, and reliable battery life. Although there are still a few trade-offs here that hold the 9RT back. For one, the cameras aren’t quite as good as what we’ve come to expect from the flagship OnePlus 9 Pro (Review)  and OnePlus 8 Pro (Review).

However, the OnePlus 9RT is a far cry from a premium smartphone and it isn’t trying to be one as well. There’s no doubt that the OnePlus 9RT takes its cues from the company’s long-standing flagship killer DNA. But it might just be a little too late, given the recent arrival of the OnePlus 10 Pro and the plethora of flagship killers that were released in 2021 like the iQOO 7 Legend (Review), Xiaomi 11T Pro (Review), Realme GT 5G (Review), and Xiaomi Mi 11X Pro (Review).