OnePlus started the year with the OnePlus 9RT, its first flagship for 2022 that still feels familiar to the company’s previous phones. It ticks a lot of the right boxes, and is a reliable workhorse — fast, reliable and good specs to boot. The successor to the OnePlus 8T and the OnePlus 9R (launched last year), it comes with minor upgrades to the latter. The phone comes with a Snapdragon 888 processor, along with a 120Hz display and a staple Warp Charge 65T that now comes with OnePlus’s devices.
We got the Hacker Black version with a matte finish for review, and it harks back to OnePlus’s sandstone covers on its initial models. However, the finish is not grainy but smooth and does not attract fingerprints. The build is sturdy and the phone has good handfeel despite being slightly on the heavier side. If you’re already a OnePlus user, you will notice that the fingerprint sensor has been moved down a little, which can take some getting used to.
At first glance, the phone looks like a mixed version of the OnePlus 9 and OnePlus 9R with a screen size of 6.62 inches. It does come with a cover out of the box, and it is safer to go for the cover as the back is the Gorilla Glass 5. Apart from the Hacker Black variant, the phone also comes in the Nano Silver colour variant, which comes with a glass back with matte finish.
The screen is bright with a good colour profile, and adjusts well even in low light conditions.
The camera was a bit disappointing. It has a triple camera setup and comes with a 50-megapixel Sony IMX766 sensor with optical image stabilisation and electronic image stabilisation, and is sans the Hasselblad branding that came with the premium phones in the current range. It comes with a 16-megapixel ultra-wide lens and a 2 megapixel macro lens as well.
The 50-megapixel primary camera offers good detail without the colours being overly saturated, and performs decently at nighttime as well. The ultra-wide sensor falters a bit, and it might be a tad bit difficult to get the right shot with the macro lens. The camera performs well for the average user, but if you’re someone with an interest in pro photography, it might not be the best in the segment. The camera does well for video, and can shoot at 4k at 60fps.
The front camera works well before both selfies as well as calls, and comes with the same customisations that comes on Oppo’s phones to tune the photo.
If you’re looking for surprises, the OnePlus 9RT may disappoint you. However, in terms of performance, there was nothing to complain about during the time of review and it holds up well whether while gaming or if streaming on platforms for long hours. The phone is geared towards gamers, and comes with a 600Hz touch sampling rate. It handles multitasking well, and while the battery may drain quicker than usual if one uses the phone for gaming at its highest setting for over an hour, the Warp Charge 65T takes roughly half an hour to get to 100%. The phone comes with a 4,500 mAH battery and with medium usage, it comfortably lasts over a day.
The OnePlus 9RT doesn’t blow you away. It’s not priced cheap and does face competition from phones such as the Vivo V23 Pro and Xiaomi 11T Pro, but comes without unnecessary bloatware and gets the job done well. If you’re looking to upgrade your phone after a few years and are looking at a flagship, this may be a solid option to consider.
The OnePlus 9RT 5G is priced at Rs 42,999 for the 8+128 variant and Rs 46,999 for the 12+256 variant.