OnePlus 9RT review: Sibling rivalry

Is this last hurrah for the OnePlus 9 series worth your time and money? Let’s dive right in!
OnePlus 9RT
OnePlus 9RT

There was a time when recommending a OnePlus was exceptionally easy on folks like me. You had one or two value flagships a year, all of which promised class-leading performance and an exceptional software experience at a price that was easy on the wallet. Fast forward to today, you have the numbered series flagships that have left their flagship-killer pretensions behind and are well and truly in fifty-grand territory, and there’s the budget series Nord which brings up the rear with a competent feature set at under thirty grand. Last year’s OnePlus 9R attempted to fill the price gap between the two but many, myself included, felt that while it offered choice to consumers, it really didn’t bring anything new to the table to differentiate itself from its cousins in the family. Which brings me to the OnePlus 9RT, and if you’re familiar with OnePlus T refreshes, this is just that – new chips inside, a better camera, all housed in a new look and finish. Is this last hurrah for the OnePlus 9 series worth your time and money? Let’s dive right in!

If you’re curious how much this new OnePlus lands at, the 8GB/128GB model costs Rs. 42,999 and the 12GB/256GB edition sells for Rs. 46,999, which slots it between the OnePlus 9 and the 9R, which retail for Rs. 49,999 and Rs. 39,999 respectively for the base 8GB/128GB model, although you can get offers on OnePlus’ own site for both, which bring them closer to the Rs. 45,000 and Rs. 37,000 price points. 

A word on the box contents, which one feels increasingly compelled to mention since many brands are cutting back on what you can expect in the box. Not the case here (pun intended) – not only do you get a case but there’s a 65W fast charger and a Type-A to Type-C cable as well inside the box. As far as the aesthetic goes, the 9RT shares a lot of design traits with the rest of the OnePlus 9 series, right from the Gorilla Glass 5 glass sandwich design to the way the back curves towards the frame. It’s slightly larger than the OnePlus 9 series and weighs a not-insignificant 198.5grams, but the in-hand feel is good, and I really like the look of the Hacker Black variant. It’s a matte texture, sort of like a starry night effect, but on a polished smooth finish which doesn’t attract smudges or fingerprints. Around the phone, the buttons are all in their expected places, and the stereo speaker is crisp and loud. The camera housing on the rear is a lot more pronounced, with large chrome rings borrowed from the 9 Pro adorning the primary and wide-angle cameras for a touch of classy flair.

Around the front, there’s an expansive 6.62-inch full-HD+ resolution panel, bumped up from the 6.55-inches on the 9R, and the panel itself is a E4 Fluid AMOLED panel which results in vibrant colors and excellent viewing angles, or if you prefer true to life colors, a Cinematic mode for color accuracy. Brightness levels are good outdoors as well, and a peak brightness of 1300nits ensures an excellent HDR experience. But it’s its gaming chops – from the 120Hz refresh rate to the 300Hz touch sampling rate which goes up to 600Hz in certain games – which will likely make a difference, particularly to those who plan to game on this device. 

And game you will want to on this, with the now-one generation-old but no less flagship-class Snapdragon 888 chip powering the 9RT. You get 8 or 12 GB of RAM and fast UFS 3.1 storage, all of which have this compounding effect on day-to-day performance. OnePlus claims to have improved the vapor cooling chamber, which keeps the phone cooler during extended gameplay sessions, and when you throw in a Pro Gaming mode and more consistent network performance courtesy triple Wi-Fi antennas, the 9RT inches ahead of 9R (and the rest of the 9 Series lineup, for that matter) in terms of gamer appeal. Mind you, the older 9R is still no pushover with the Snapdragon 870 chipset, so the difference between these two will be more evident a few years down the line. 

Battery is a largely unchanged affair, with a 4500mAh battery which lasts about six hours screen time, less if you’re a heavy gamer. There’s 65W charging with the included charger, and even though it isn’t the insane 120W charging speeds we’ve recently started seeing, it’s plenty enough for most folks who just want to quickly charge their phones in around half an hour. 

Now, a big part of the OnePlus experience, and the reason why many folks prefer to keep upgrading from one OnePlus to another, has been about Oxygen OS software experience. That’s largely the same, except there are a fair bit of Oppo’s ColorOS additions on the camera app (which I like) and the launcher – both of which largely add rather than detract from the experience, no matter what OnePlus purists tell you. What does bother me is that we’re in 2022 and a new phone like the 9RT ships with Android 11 out of the box, not the best look for a brand which was once heralded for its aggressive software upgrades. 

Back to those cameras, and the 9RT borrows the 50MP Sony IMX766 sensor from the OnePlus 9/9 Pro’s ultrawide, a 16MP ultra-wide and 2MP macro lens, with a 16MP IMX471 selfie shooter that’s been the mainstay of most OnePlus devices from the recent past. The primary shooter takes pretty good photos in daylight, with good dynamic range and color (if somewhat vibrant) reproduction that’s clearly the effect of using Oppo’s IP in the camera app. The ultrawide turns out good images, if a little soft around the edges, and the selfie camera is in dire need of improvement. The macro is well, there to pad up the camera count honestly. Impressively, the 9RT holds its own in low-light shooting as well, with improved colors and tight control on image noise and loss of detail, particularly if you’re using the dedicated Nightscape mode. 

There’s not a shadow of a doubt that every bit of the OnePlus 9RT is an improvement over the 9R (and in some cases, even the OnePlus 9). But is it a little too late to launch, especially when it faces stiff competition from above (OnePlus 9) and below (OnePlus 9R) within the family, not to mention other gaming-oriented offerings from the likes of iQOO which offer about the same for less? It isnt helped by launching on Android 11, and that as little as Rs. 2000 extra can get you the Hasselblad color science tweaks on the OnePlus 9’s camera and a longer committed software update cycle. That’s where a perfectly good phone like the 9RT comes undone, a middle child overshadowed by its siblings, for no fault of its own. 

OnePlus 9RT 

Pros: Excellent performance esp for gamers, fast charging, Hacker Black colorway is stylish, good display, decent primary camera

Cons: Priced too close to OnePlus 9’s current price for comfort, selfie and macro cameras are passable, Android 11 out of the box

Rating: 7/10

Price: Rs. 42,999 (8GB/128GB); Rs. 46,999 (12GB/256GB) as tested

Tushar Kanwar is a tech columnist and commentator, and tweets @2shar

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