HoYoverse and mobile manufacturer OnePlus recently revealed the OnePlus 12R Genshin Impact Edition smartphone, and it's certainly an interesting proposition.
Usually, when we talk about merchandise tied in with games, it's about figures, artbooks, or soundtracks, but a dedicated special edition smartphone is pretty rare. That being said, it's also appropriate considering that Genshin Impact (which will soon get its version 4.5) is one of the most popular mobile games in the world.
The OnePlus 12R Genshin Impact Edition is entirely dedicated to Keqing, one of the most beloved characters in the game, who has been part of the playable cast since its release in 2020. It takes on her color scheme and iconography and comes packed with many unique collectibles dedicated to Electro heroine.
So let's start with what you get in the box, which is rather luxurious to begin with. It's basically a chest that also includes a display box where you can arrange the smartphone and the rest of the goodies like a little Keqing shrine. The display box is actually magnetic which helps with display pins and badges.
You get a can badge, a set of super-cute chibi pins and matching stickers, a poster, and an acrylic stand portraying Keqing in her normal proportions alongside a second with chibi proportions designed to hold the smartphone.
Moving on to accessories more directly related to the smartphone itself, the box includes a case, a power adapter, a USB-C cable, and a beautiful sim ejector pin portraying Keqing's iconic Lightning Stiletto.
What's pretty impressive is the price. Not only is the OnePlus 12R one of the best phones on the top end of the mid-range in terms of quality-price ratio (so much that many define it with the coveted title of "Flagship Killer"), but this special edition only costs $50 or €50 more than the default model.
For the level of cosmetic customization of the smartphone itself and the quantity and variety of merchandise included, I'd say that's a pretty good deal, especially since the goodies don't feel at all cheap in terms of quality.
The smartphone itself feels definitely premium in its build quality with its full metal and glass construction, you're not going to touch any plastic when holding it. It's light (207 g) and thin (8,8 mm) and it feels even thinner in the hand thanks to the slightly curved edges of the screen.
A rather unique element is the physical switch on the side to set your phone to ring, vibrate, or silent, which may perhaps be slightly gimmicky but is a nice have and contributes to the premium feel.
If you're the kind of fan who doesn't want to display it too overtly like the mobile equivalent of a bright, colorful, in-your-face video game T-shirt, this is great, because the subtlety of the decoration means you can use this as a daily driver without standing out too much.
If you'd rather display your fandom loud and proud, don't worry, as the included case is much more showy, with a lovely illustration of Keqing and a higher-contrast pattern.
The customization isn't limited to the exterior, as the theme, animations, and default icons are also designed to match the theme. There are even special sounds (alarm, notification, and ringtone) with Keqing's English voice Kayli Mills. Unfortunately, the Japanese equivalent is not available, which is a pity as I love Eri Kitamura.
Especially cute is the animation of the on-screen fingerprint reader, which reacts like a little spark when touched. The charging animation and the clock on the always-on screen are also lovely.
Incidentally, the fingerprint reader is really snappy and precise, which isn't always the case among those built into some screens, so that's a plus.
The hardware proposition is excellent since the OnePlus 12R packs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip. While it's last year's flagship and it has recently been succeeded by the Gen 3 inexpensive smartphones, at this price point, it's basically unbeatable.
It's considered by many one of the best processors Qualcomm has ever made, and paired with the 16 Gigabytes of RAM it'll eat up pretty much everything you'll throw at it.
The 256 Gigabytes of internal storage are plenty to let you store all the games you need, as Genshin Impact's installation size isn't getting any smaller.
Speaking of which, I imagine that if you're considering purchasing this smartphone, HoYoverse's games are probably your drift.
I've tested both Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail and both run stable at 60 FPS in most situations, with occasional drops during special attacks and really busy scenes that are pretty much invisible to the naked eye. If you want to play HoYoverse's titles on the go with great performance without getting into the thousand bucks range, this is basically the perfect mobile platform.
Fortnite tests the 12R closer to its limits if you crank it up at Epic graphics settings, but you're still going to get consistent 30+ FPS. If you're a bit less greedy and drop the settings to High, the game will comfortably run at 60 FPS.
To round up the tests, 3DMark's Wild Life test returned a pretty crazy 13093 score, while the ultra-demanding Wild Life Extreme for high-end mobile platforms scored at 3,699. The Vulkan 1.1 ray-traced test Solar Bay scored 5,320, all excellent results for a smartphone in this price range.
By comparison, my Motorola Edge 30 Pro which has a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip and 12 Gigs of RAM scored 8,426 in Wild Life and only 2,5434 in Wild Life Extreme (it couldn't run Solar Bay). While it's a phone from 2022, it used to be a flagship, so the generational improvement isn't unimpressive.
OnePlus' "Trinity Engine" promises great performance and fast loading time, and marketing jargon aside, it certainly feels like it delivers. Gaming performance is indeed very robust and loading into both Genshin Impact and Honkai: Star Rail is really quick from icon tap to gameplay.
The AMOLED screen is really nice, rendering at 2780 x 1264 resolution and up to 120 Hz for animations and transitions that feel really fluid and sharp visuals. HDR10+ support also guarantees bright and brilliant colors.
While in most of the marketing material, you'll see 4,500 nits of brightness, do keep in mind that the small asterisk means that's peak brightness. The average brightness is 1,600 nits, which is still very respectable and will let you operate comfortably even on a sunny day.
Audio performance is also very solid, with powerful speakers and even Dolby Atmos if you have a compatible headset. As usual, I'm missing the headphone jack. Call me a dinosaur, but I still hate that fewer and fewer smartphones have one nowadays.
The 5.500 mAh is pretty much a monster, and after an intense day with plenty of gaming, I was left with 37% charge. On top of that, if you need a quick pit stop, the included battery charger (yes, they do give you one with this smartphone. Amazing, isn't it?) is lightning fast, and worthy of an Electro character like Keqing.
If you're in Europe like me, you get a 100W charger, while the American model appears to be "only" 80W, but should still be plenty quick. This specific edition comes with a special USB cable with a T design so it lays flat on the bottom of your phone, which is lovely. It even has a purple LED when it's powered for the additional cool factor.
The phone supports 5G connectivity (which I suppose is obvious at this point in time) and 2 nano-SIMs. One less-than-positive note is the absence of eSIM support, which nowadays is a little annoying, especially for those who travel a lot.
The cameras are likely the most visible factor that differentiates the OnePlus 12R from a true $1,000 flagship phone. The 50-megapixel main camera is pretty great but the ultra-wide camera is mediocre and the macro lens may as well not be there.
The front camera isn't bad, but it's limited to 1080p, 30 FPS video. Of course, the main camera can record at crisp and smooth 4K, 60 FPS, so you'll be able to shoot some good videos, as long as you're not filming yourself.
Lastly, let's briefly talk about the operating system, OxygenOS 14. It's snappy and not too heavily customized, just as I like. Perhaps even more importantly, it's almost completely free from bloatware.
Besides the usual Google apps and proprietary utilities, the only pre-installed app I found when turning on the phone for the first time was Netflix. I'm going to blow your mind and tell you that this Genshin Impact phone does not come with Genshin Impact pre-installed.
All things considered, the OnePlus 12R Genshin Impact Edition is an excellent smartphone, offering a ton of value and performance for the price. Even if you count the additional 50 bucks for the custom finish, the theme, and the goodies, it's challenging to find better at this price range.
The great hardware overall guarantees that this is a smartphone that will age well even for those who don't get a new one every year, or even every two years.
If you enjoy Genshin Impact on mobile and you're a fan of Keqing (or simply if you love the idea of having a purple phone, which isn't a super-common color), this is definitely a fantastic choice.
That being said, even for those who aren't interested in the game or the collectibles, or prefer different colors, I'd still place the OnePlus 12R among the best options for smartphones this year. The "Flagship Killer" reputation feels definitely deserved.
The OnePlus 12R Genshin Impact Edition was reviewed on a sample provided by the manufacturer over the course of several days - all images were shot during the process of review.
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Started as News Editor at TechRaptor in January 2023, following over 20 years of professional experience in gaming journalism both on print media and on the… More about Giuseppe
