The surprise hit!

With noble intentions, the OnePlus 9R aims to tackle the gamers without the frills of the upper-end 9/9 Pro models.

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• It may look like a long-lost twin of the 8T that was launched just a few months ago, both in terms of design and specs, but OnePlus is trying hard to tout it as the more affordable sibling of the 9 series phones with a penchant for gaming. It does get most of the good stuff like the 120Hz display with a 240Hz sampling rate, minus the Hasselblad camera branding.

• What makes it a gaming-specific phone? The processor gets a minor bump from the Snapdragon 865 on the 8T to the Snapdragon 870 in the 9R and that’s about it. The camera module is a direct lift from the 8T too but it does get a couple of CyberPunk inspired filters in the camera app. They are well-judged, especially for nightscape shots.

• The hardware even feels the same as the 8T or even the 9, but with a metal frame and the typical OnePlus attention to build quality, it feels quite premium in the hand. The rather plain-jane design doesn’t push any boundaries not does it get any triggers specific to gaming controls either.

• It’s the proven 48MP primary camera that takes good daylight shots but as with all OnePlus cameras, white balance is wildly off in the medium to low-light shots. Telephoto and macro aren’t the best in the segment and are slow to focus. But by all means, the results are on par with other Rs. 40,000 phones, and since the focus here is on optimizing the battery, display, and processor sync.