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.
Pros & Cons
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.
Detailed Comparison
Display
OnePlus 13R
A 6.78-inch 1.5K 120Hz LTPO AMOLED with 1,600 nits in High Brightness Mode and a 4,500-nit peak, Dolby Vision and HDR10+, plus Aqua Touch 2.0. Reviewers consistently rate it a strong suit that punches above the phone's price — the only nitpick is the 1.5K (≈1264p) resolution rather than QHD.
A 6.78-inch AMOLED with 120Hz refresh, Dolby Vision and HDR10+, and a peak brightness of 1,600 nits in HBM, carrying the OnePlus 13's Aqua Touch 2.0 tech.
The 6.78-inch OLED brings everything to life with vibrant colors and a very bright 4,500-nit peak — a strong suit that belies the mid-range positioning.
The display shines with 1,600 nits HBM, enabling easy use under direct sunlight, with vivid, accurate color covering 100% of the Display P3 gamut.
On paper it peaks at 4,500 nits, and in real life that means you can reply to messages in direct sunlight without squinting.
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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.
Vivo X300 Ultra
What Reviewers Agree On
The camera system — twin ~1-inch 200MP main and 200MP 85mm periscope plus a large ultrawide — is the best-equipped on any 2026 phone and the entire reason the device exists.
Video is class-leading: 4K 120fps 10-bit Log with Dolby Vision recorded on-device (no SSD), 8K30 across the rear cameras, and 4K 60fps on every lens including the selfie.
Battery life is genuinely strong — roughly 16 hours active-use score, ~7h heavy screen-on time, and 13–14 hour days with charge to spare, on the 6,600mAh cell.
The Zeiss 200mm/400mm telephoto extenders deliver real, usable optical reach (8.7x and 17.4x) with surprisingly good handheld stabilisation.
100W wired charging refills the big battery in roughly 46–50 minutes, with 40W wireless on top.
The 6.82-inch 144Hz LTPO AMOLED is among the best displays available, hitting ~1,900 nits in auto and ~3,300 nits peak.
Deal Breakers
The 35mm (~1.5x) default main focal length is polarising — many reviewers find it too tight/zoomed versus the usual 24mm.
It heats up quickly under sustained camera or gaming load and throttles to roughly 60–65% stability in prolonged stress tests.
The full experience needs the expensive Photography Kit — the global bundle approaches €2,600 and the 200mm lens isn't in every box.
Notebookcheck found it 'hardly better than the X300 Pro in camera performance despite top-notch hardware', and Linus preferred Oppo's less over-sharpened processing.
It launched in China first with a rocky early software state (fixed via updates), and global availability/pricing is limited and steep.
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.
Vivo X300 Ultra
Pros
The camera system — twin ~1-inch 200MP main and 200MP 85mm periscope plus a large ultrawide — is the best-equipped on any 2026 phone and the entire reason the device exists.
Video is class-leading: 4K 120fps 10-bit Log with Dolby Vision recorded on-device (no SSD), 8K30 across the rear cameras, and 4K 60fps on every lens including the selfie.
Battery life is genuinely strong — roughly 16 hours active-use score, ~7h heavy screen-on time, and 13–14 hour days with charge to spare, on the 6,600mAh cell.
The Zeiss 200mm/400mm telephoto extenders deliver real, usable optical reach (8.7x and 17.4x) with surprisingly good handheld stabilisation.
100W wired charging refills the big battery in roughly 46–50 minutes, with 40W wireless on top.
The 6.82-inch 144Hz LTPO AMOLED is among the best displays available, hitting ~1,900 nits in auto and ~3,300 nits peak.
Cons
The 35mm (~1.5x) default main focal length is polarising — many reviewers find it too tight/zoomed versus the usual 24mm.
It heats up quickly under sustained camera or gaming load and throttles to roughly 60–65% stability in prolonged stress tests.
The full experience needs the expensive Photography Kit — the global bundle approaches €2,600 and the 200mm lens isn't in every box.
Notebookcheck found it 'hardly better than the X300 Pro in camera performance despite top-notch hardware', and Linus preferred Oppo's less over-sharpened processing.
It launched in China first with a rocky early software state (fixed via updates), and global availability/pricing is limited and steep.
Six months to a year in, the screen still feels like one of the best in its class and 'flagship level'.
The one display nitpick from owners is that it's a 1.5K (≈1220p) panel rather than a 1440p QHD screen.
Vivo X300 Ultra
A 6.82-inch 144Hz LTPO AMOLED, now flat rather than quad-curved. Lab measurements put real brightness near 1,900 nits in auto and ~3,300 nits on a small window — among the best panels on any phone — and reviewers single out content consumption and clarity as standouts.
We measured a maximum of over 1,900 nits in auto-brightness mode and over 3,300 nits when lighting up a smaller portion of the screen.
Consuming content, scrolling the web, pixel-peeping and zooming in on text — it doesn't get any clearer, or with the 144Hz any smoother, than the display on the X300 Ultra.
It delivers an excellent max brightness of around 1,935 nits with a 75% white pattern and a peak of 3,328 nits with a 10% pattern.
Vivo has gone with a flat display this time, a clear shift from the quad-curved style of the X200 Ultra.
It's a 6.82-inch AMOLED with a claimed 4,500-nit HDR peak that can reach that figure in a one-person window watching HDR content; PWM sits around 3.5% at max brightness, better for flicker-sensitive users.
An absolutely stunning display with terrific, bass-heavy stereo speakers to match.
Performance
OnePlus 13R
Last year's flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 with 12GB LPDDR5X and UFS 4.0 — reviewers agree it's the most powerful phone in its price bracket and still fast a year on. The caveat is thermals: Notebookcheck found drastic throttling under sustained load, and stress-test stability sits in the 58–74% range.
It packs the full Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 with up to 12GB LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.0 storage — last year's flagship chip rather than a mid-range part, which reviewers were glad to see.
Among the value flagships it's the top performer with its Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, and a capable all-rounder with excellent performance.
In testing the OnePlus 13R revealed a high level of waste heat which led to the processor being throttled drastically.
It scores better than 93% of devices on the market for $599 — probably faster than even some flagship phones — averaging ~30fps in 3DMark Wild Life Extreme.
Sustained gaming holds near 120fps in PUBG and Call of Duty Mobile with no noticeable lag or frame drops over 30–40 minute sessions.
It only really gets warm at 100% brightness with everything maxed, or during prolonged GPS use — in normal scrolling/streaming use it stays cool, with heat localised to the camera cutout area.
Vivo X300 Ultra
Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 plus Vivo's custom imaging silicon delivers flagship benchmark numbers and strong gaming, but the camera-heavy hardware runs hot — sustained stress tests show roughly 60–65% stability and the camera app warms it up fast.
At the heart is Qualcomm's current flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5, supplemented by Vivo's custom VS1 and V3-Plus imaging chips.
It boots in 16 seconds (vs 21s for the S26 Ultra and 19s for the iPhone 17 Pro Max) and posts an AnTuTu score over 3,800,000, stronger than Samsung.
In a prolonged stress test it throttled CPU performance to about 60% of peak — in line with other high-powered flagships — and 3DMark stability landed around 63–66%.
It gets a bit hot after 30–40 minutes of gaming, but with no throttling even past an hour and never uncomfortable to hold; boost mode at max graphics gives around 4 hours of Wuthering Waves on a full charge.
Native 120fps gaming with smooth/very-high graphics in many titles, with temperature barely crossing 35°C and power draw around 4W in battle-royale modes.
Battery & Charging
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.
Vivo X300 Ultra
Vivo grew the silicon-carbon cell 10% to 6,600mAh while keeping the body the same size. Real-world endurance is strong — ~16h active-use score, ~7h heavy screen-on, 13–14 hour days with charge to spare — and 100W wired refills it in under an hour, with 40W wireless.
Vivo increased the battery by 10% to 6,600mAh despite the phone being practically the same size on paper.
In our battery test it earned an active-use score of almost 16 hours; 100W charging took it 0–66% in 30 minutes and a full charge in 46 minutes, plus 40W wireless. A charger is in the box except in Europe.
On the China version I'm finishing entire 13–14 hour days with 25–30% left; the global version keeps the 6,600mAh cell so battery life should comfortably last 12–13 hours of heavy use.
Getting nearly 7 hours of screen-on time with very heavy usage from the 6,600mAh silicon-carbon unit, with 100W wired and 40W wireless charging support.
After a 4-hour heavy-usage simulation the phone still had ~45% battery left, which is solid by today's standards, and 100W wired charging takes about 45 minutes to full.
Cameras
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.
Vivo X300 Ultra
The reason the X300 Ultra exists: a near-1-inch 200MP 35mm main (Sony Lytia 901), a 200MP 85mm periscope, and the best ultrawide sensor on the market, tuned with Zeiss. Reviewers near-universally rate it the best-equipped camera phone of 2026 — with two important caveats: the 35mm default is divisive, and on raw image quality it's only marginally ahead of the cheaper X300 Pro.
At the center is a 200MP main that's nearly a 1-inch sensor (Sony Lytia 901), backed by a 200MP 85mm-equivalent periscope telephoto — the phone is focused on camera quality and, even more so, video.
Featuring three extra-large image sensors, the X300 Ultra's uncompromising camera hardware earned a solid rating — but it's hardly better than the cheaper X300 Pro in actual camera performance despite the top-notch hardware.
I'm not sure I've seen better results from even 1-inch sensors — it's so close to 1-inch and the 35mm focal length makes for more cinematic-looking shots; the 85mm periscope is the sweet spot for portraits.
It still holds the record for the best portrait-mode photos on a smartphone, especially at 85mm and 135mm; the 14mm ultrawide is sharp edge to edge.
Under sustained camera/imaging load the front reached ~46.8°C and the back ~45.2°C, and around 47°C the refresh rate drops slightly though not all the way to 60Hz.
In a head-to-head charge race against the Oppo Find X9 Ultra (80W), the Vivo on 100W finished first at 50 minutes 20 seconds to the Oppo's 52:39.
Comparing it directly with the Oppo Find X9 Ultra, even though the Vivo looks great at a glance you could edit the Oppo image and get better detail because the Vivo isn't all over-sharpened and crusty.
Schools the Galaxy S26 Ultra in zoom quality without an excessive camera count — shaping up to be one of the best camera phones not just for 2026 but 2027 and 2028.
The 35mm main is divisive — many feel 24mm is better for phone photography and that 35mm is too tight; cropping to 23–28mm shows a noticeable detail drop.
