It was in rumours so far and now, it is true. The OnePlus 9R is launching in China, thereby breaking the India-exclusive tag. OnePlus will announce the prices on April 15 and has already confirmed the two colour variants; they are the same blue and black variants we saw on the Indian variant. While OnePlus reveals nothing else, it is likely to introduce it in China at a lower-than-India price tag.
The OnePlus 9R is the most affordable model in the OnePlus 9 series of smartphones at the moment, starting at a price of Rs 39,999 in India. Previous reports suggest that OnePlus could launch the OnePlus 9R at a much lower price in China, at approximately Rs 34,000. This brings it closer to the OnePlus Nord territory, a phone which still sells at Rs 30,000 in India.
OnePlus 9R launching in China
The lower launch price in China could amount to cheaper manufacturing costs as well as lesser taxes. Moreover, Chinese variants of OnePlus devices no more rely on the HydrogenOS experience. In an official announcement last month, all new OnePlus phones in China will now be running in Oppo’s ColorOS.
The OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9 Pro were the first OnePlus devices to launch with ColorOS onboard. Additionally, the company also released a ColorOS 11 build for last year’s OnePlus 8 Pro. The global variant, however, will continue to come with the renowned OxygenOS experience.
While the OnePlus 9R keeps its foot in the familiar Rs 40,000 price category in India, it does so with a couple of compromises. Unlike the OnePlus 9, the OnePlus 9R doesn’t rely on the Snapdragon 888 chip. Instead, it uses the slightly less capable (on paper) Snapdragon 870 chip. The rest of the package is similar to the 2020 OnePlus 8T.
Hence, you get the same 6.5-inch 1080p AMOLED display with a refresh rate of 120Hz. The battery capacity stay the same at 4500mAh and brings along the 65W Warp Charge solution as well. The rear camera setup remains unchanged, with the main camera using a 48-megapixel Sony IMX586 sensor. It also gets a 16-megapixel ultra-wide camera, a 2-megapixel macro camera and a 2-megapixel depth camera.
The OnePlus 9R will go on sale in India on April 14 along with the OnePlus Watch; the latter costing Rs 14,999 for the first few sales.
