Google Pixel 7a vs OnePlus 13R

Google Pixel 7a

Google

8.4

Best mid-range phone of 2023 — flagship cameras at $499

OnePlus 13R

OnePlus

8.4

The real $599 flagship killer

Google Pixel 7a

What Reviewers Agree On

Same Tensor G2 chip as the Pixel 7 + 8GB RAM — no performance compromise vs the flagship
First A-series Pixel with wireless charging (7.5W Qi) and a 90Hz display
64MP main + 13MP ultrawide cameras — meaningful upgrade over the 7a's 12MP predecessor, near-flagship quality
Pixel AI features (Magic Eraser, Photo Unblur, Real Tone, Live Translate) trickle down at $499
6.1" compact OLED in aluminum frame at 193g — pocketable and well-built
$499 starting was a $50 increase over Pixel 6a — strong value vs $599 Pixel 7

Pros & Cons

Google Pixel 7a

Pros

Same Tensor G2 chip as the Pixel 7 + 8GB RAM — no performance compromise vs the flagship
First A-series Pixel with wireless charging (7.5W Qi) and a 90Hz display
64MP main + 13MP ultrawide cameras — meaningful upgrade over the 7a's 12MP predecessor, near-flagship quality
Pixel AI features (Magic Eraser, Photo Unblur, Real Tone, Live Translate) trickle down at $499
6.1" compact OLED in aluminum frame at 193g — pocketable and well-built

Detailed Comparison

Cameras

Google Pixel 7a

64MP main (new) + 13MP ultrawide camera duo with Tensor G2 processing — best cameras at this price point in 2023. Pixel AI features (Magic Eraser, Photo Unblur, Real Tone) trickle down at $499.

Cameras: 64MP main (f/1.89, OIS), 13MP ultrawide (f/2.2), 13MP selfie — meaningful upgrade over Pixel 6a's 12MP main.
Pixel AI features (Magic Eraser, Photo Unblur, Real Tone, Night Sight, Live Translate) all included — flagship Pixel software at $499.
Camera quality near-identical to Pixel 7 in daylight; Pixel 7's larger sensor wins slightly in low light.
No telephoto — Super Res Zoom (digital upscaling on 64MP sensor) substitutes; works up to 8x but quality drops past 2-3x.

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OnePlus 13R

What Reviewers Agree On

At $599 it's the genuine 'flagship killer' — most reviewers agree it delivers the bulk of the OnePlus 13 for $300 less and undercuts the Pixel 9.
The 6,000mAh silicon-carbon battery is the standout: 8–10 hours of screen-on time and 1.5–2 day endurance, among the best in any phone.
Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 with 12GB LPDDR5X and UFS 4.0 makes it the most powerful phone in its price segment, still fast a year later.
The 6.78-inch 1.5K 120Hz LTPO AMOLED (1,600 nits HBM / 4,500 nits peak) is excellent and bright enough in harsh sunlight.
The speakers are exceptionally loud, and build quality holds up well over a year of daily use.
OxygenOS is clean and fast with a 4-year OS / 6-year security update commitment.

Deal Breakers

The ultrawide and selfie cameras are underwhelming and keep it from an excellent camera score.
Only IP65 water resistance — a clear downgrade from the OnePlus 13's IP68/IP69; never submerge it.
No wireless charging at all (the in-box charger is wired 80W only).
Notebookcheck measured high waste heat causing the processor to throttle drastically under sustained load.
It uses last year's Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, not the 8 Elite, and a 1.5K (≈1264p) panel rather than QHD.

OnePlus 13R

Pros

At $599 it's the genuine 'flagship killer' — most reviewers agree it delivers the bulk of the OnePlus 13 for $300 less and undercuts the Pixel 9.
The 6,000mAh silicon-carbon battery is the standout: 8–10 hours of screen-on time and 1.5–2 day endurance, among the best in any phone.
Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 with 12GB LPDDR5X and UFS 4.0 makes it the most powerful phone in its price segment, still fast a year later.
The 6.78-inch 1.5K 120Hz LTPO AMOLED (1,600 nits HBM / 4,500 nits peak) is excellent and bright enough in harsh sunlight.
The speakers are exceptionally loud, and build quality holds up well over a year of daily use.
OxygenOS is clean and fast with a 4-year OS / 6-year security update commitment.

Cons

The ultrawide and selfie cameras are underwhelming and keep it from an excellent camera score.
Only IP65 water resistance — a clear downgrade from the OnePlus 13's IP68/IP69; never submerge it.
No wireless charging at all (the in-box charger is wired 80W only).
Notebookcheck measured high waste heat causing the processor to throttle drastically under sustained load.
It uses last year's Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, not the 8 Elite, and a 1.5K (≈1264p) panel rather than QHD.

OnePlus 13R

A triple 50MP main + 50MP 2x telephoto + 8MP ultrawide system with a 16MP selfie. The main and telephoto are dependable and good in daylight, and portraits at 2x are a highlight — but the ultrawide and selfie are the consensus weak points that stop it scoring with true flagships.

Triple camera: a 50MP main, a 50MP telephoto with 2x optical zoom and an 8MP ultrawide, plus a 16MP selfie; the main records up to 4K 60fps with EIS and OIS.
The camera doesn't disappoint on quality but fails to stand out — the ultrawide and selfie keep it from an excellent score, and alternatives are better at stills and video.
The camera is very respectable for a modern Android phone and beats expectations for the price.
Five months in, the 50MP main still holds up well and portrait mode is very good (excellent 2x portraits); low-light 2x is okay but not flagship level — overall average quality, good for the price.
The camera system is a mixed bag falling short of expectations for its price segment, and ultrawide video drops to 1080p.
The 13MP ultrawide has a 120° field of view and autofocus, while the 16MP selfie can only record up to 1080p 30fps.

Battery & Charging

Google Pixel 7a

4,385mAh battery + Tensor G2 inefficiency = mediocre all-day life. 18W wired charging is slow. FIRST A-series Pixel to support wireless charging (7.5W Qi).

4,385mAh battery — small for a 2023 phone with a power-hungry Tensor G2 chip.
Real-world: ~5 hours of SOT typical, all-day for moderate use but often needing a top-up by evening — most-flagged Pixel 7a complaint.
18W wired charging — slow by 2023 standards. 0-50% in ~30 min, full in ~1h30m.
FIRST A-series Pixel with wireless charging — 7.5W Qi. Not flagship-fast but a meaningful feature add at $499.

OnePlus 13R

The headline strength: a 6,000mAh silicon-carbon cell that reviewers and labs single out as one of the best in any phone — 8–10 hours of screen-on time, 1.5–2 day endurance, 25h+ Wi-Fi / 40h+ video in lab tests. 80W SuperVOOC wired charging is fast, but there is no wireless charging.

The silicon-carbon 6,000mAh battery delivered an extremely strong runtime of over 25 hours in the Wi-Fi test and over 40 hours in continuous video playback.
It packs a bigger 6,000mAh battery and supports 80W wired charging, taking it from 20% to 100% in just 50 minutes.
Reviewers regularly report 8, 9, even 10 hours of screen-on time — very impressive for a mid-tier device — with a ~0–60% recharge in about 30 minutes.
One owner hit 10 hours 22 minutes of screen-on time, with battery still strong even using a 20–80% charging pattern.
The trade-off versus the OnePlus 13: a single-cell rather than dual-cell battery, weaker front/back glass, a slower out-of-box recharge and no wireless charging.
Heavy GPS navigation is the one drain culprit — an hour and 50 minutes of continuous Google Maps cut a typical 8-hour result down to about 5.5 hours.