Prime Day is an exciting time for smartphone deals — especially Android phones. Big discounts on iPhones are often difficult to come by, but when something like Prime Day rolls around, you’re all but guaranteed to find a good Android phone deal.
While there are lots of great Android phone deals available this year, there’s only one that’s really caught my eye. The OnePlus 12R is already a very affordable smartphone at its normal $500 starting price. However, thanks to Prime Day, it can now be yours for just $400. That’s for the base model with 128GB of storage and 8GB of RAM. If you want to splurge for the 256GB storage/12GB RAM version, it’s also discounted to $500 from $600.
A $100 discount may not sound all that special, and you’ll almost certainly find other phones with bigger savings. But if you’re trying to get the most bang for your buck with your next Android phone, it really doesn’t get much better than the OnePlus 12R. Why? Let me explain.
It starts with the hardware. The OnePlus 12R looks and feels outstanding — far more premium than the price tag suggests. The metal frame is sturdy, the glass back looks and feels great, and there’s an IP64 rating for dust and water resistance. The display is also excellent. It’s a 6.78-inch AMOLED panel with a 2780 x 1264 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. It’s bright, colorful, buttery smooth, and reminiscent of a screen you’d find on a $1,000 smartphone.
The internal specs are just as good. Thanks to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip — the same chipset in some of 2023’s best flagship phones — the OnePlus 12R is incredibly fast and powerful. It also lasts forever. The 5,500mAh battery can easily last two days per charge, even with fairly heavy use. And with 80-watt wired charging, you can take the battery from drained to 100% in a little over 30 minutes. The iPhone 15 Pro Max wishes it could do that.
So, what’s the catch? Clearly, there’s a catch, right? Not really! The ultrawide and macro cameras on the back of the phone aren’t very good, but the 50-megapixel main camera is surprisingly solid. You don’t get wireless charging, but when you have 80W wired charging, it’s a very fair trade-off. And … that’s about it.
At its usual $500 starting price, the OnePlus 12R is easily one of 2024’s best smartphone values. But at $400? Stop what you’re doing and buy one right now. If not for you, buy it for a friend or family member. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a better smartphone deal this year, so don’t let this one slip past you.
