The best phone in 2025 costs $500 (and it's not the Pixel 9a)

Phone Arena

09-05-2025

We are getting close to the midpoint of 2025, and we already have quite a few new mid-range phones that have entered the market since the beginning of the year. Google has come out with the Pixel 9a, Apple released the bizarre iPhone 16e , Samsung is expected to bring back its mid-range king to the U.S. with the Galaxy A56 5G, and the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro breaks the mold.
But before all of these phones came out, we began the year with the OnePlus 13R, which I felt was worth revisiting now that we are nearing six months after its release. What inspired me to do so are the new tools that we launched this year — these tools allow you to compare our phone scores and test results in a super easy way. As I was fidgeting with them, I noticed that in many ways, the OnePlus 13R is still a top-notch mid-ranger, even compared to the phones that followed after it.Now, calling it "the best phone of 2025" might sound like a stretch—especially for a mid-ranger—but hear me out.
Personally, I've always had a soft spot for mid-range phones . With every passing year, they've become a smarter choice for more people. Sure, you can spend twice as much for a flagship and get some extra bells and whistles, but in most cases, you're running headfirst into the law of diminishing returns. And yes, I know the OnePlus 13R is technically priced at $600—so before you head to the comments to correct me, let me clarify. OnePlus still offers a $100 discount if you trade in any phone, in any condition. That's a deal most of us can easily take advantage of, and it brings the 13R down to a much more competitive price point.
Now let's get into the details...
The processor is traditionally one of the most expensive parts in a phone, if not the most expensive one. So, it comes as no surprise that this is the first part that we see downgraded in mid-range phones .
However, that is not the case with the OnePlus 13R , which comes equipped with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset. With this chip, the phone surpasses rivals like the Google Pixel 9a (nearly 30% higher single-core performance and 50% higher multi-core).
The Galaxy A56 and Nothing Phone (3a) Pro were even further behind.
The iPhone 16e was the only one that managed to get a higher score, but even then, the OnePlus 13R dominates in GPU performance, scoring an impressive 4,748 on the 3DMark's Extreme benchmark — easily ahead of the Pixel 9a and the iPhone 16e . In fact, the 13R even beats the more expensive iPhone 16.
Even outside the scope of benchmark numbers, the OnePlus 13R just feels as snappy as any flagship released in the last year. There was absolutely nothing we did with the phone that would make it slow down or lag. Of course, the extra smooth display and OnePlus' Parallel Processing helped with that too.
Speaking of the display, it is yet another part that OnePlus decided to go above and beyond. The 13R has the same ProXDR AMOLED panel that also comes with the pricier OnePlus 13. It spans 6.78 inches and comes with a 2800 x 1260 resolution.
Our tests show a remarkable peak brightness of 2384 nits, slightly below the Pixel 9a 's excellent 2561-nit peak but still significantly outshining the rest of the competition, the closest of which is the Galaxy A56 with 1715 nits. The iPhone 16e , on the other hand, feels like an outdated piece of tech with its near 800 nits of peak brightness — making it much harder to use in broad daylight.
Even color accuracy—an often neglected aspect of display quality—is exceptional on the 13R, with a Delta E grayscale of just 3.82, far ahead of Pixel 9a 's 5.76 and Galaxy A56 's disappointing 7.4. This metric is important for general use, but especially if you watch a lot of movies or work on photo and video-editing apps. OnePlus made a key improvement this year, which was the decision to ditch the largely useless macro camera for a versatile 50 MP telephoto.
Portrait shots and zoom photos benefit significantly thanks to this change, marking a clear difference in quality compared to the Pixel 9a 's reliance on digital zoom and the iPhone 16e 's single camera.
Of course, that's not to say the 13R's camera system is flawless. The 8 MP ultra-wide camera remains a weak point, sometimes oversaturating colors—but it's still adequate for its class and the second best among its competitors, only trailing the Pixel 9a .
Video recording is also quite good for a phone of this caliber, scoring just 2 points below the Pixel 9a , and narrowly ahead of the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro, which lags behind by another 2 points. Another thing that truly sets the phone apart from the rest is that it maintains decent performance even in low light, which is something we typically associate with flagship phones.
Battery life and charging have slowly turned into the latest trending topic when it comes to phone upgrades, and OnePlus is at the forefront of this wave with the OnePlus 13 and 13R. The company used a single-cell battery with a Si/C anode, allowing for a capacity of 6,000 mAh.Now, while we expected more out of this new battery, the OnePlus 13R still managed to score an impressive 7 hours and 22 minutes of estimated battery life. The Pixel 9a is the only one that beat this score by about an hour.
Charging speed, however, is where the OnePlus truly shines. Its super-fast 80W wired charging can juice its enormous battery in just under an hour—far faster than the Pixel 9a 's sluggish 1h 42min at 23W, the iPhone 16e 's painful 1h 41min at 20W, and even the Galaxy A56 's decent 1h 15min at 45W. The only phone that came close in real-world speed was the Nothing Phone (3a) Pro, which also fully charged in under an hour thanks to its 50W wired charging.It's true that there's no wireless charging support on the 13R, but at this price, the speed advantage of wired charging is unbeatable.
While Google's Pixel 9a might have the AI edge with Gemini Nano XXS and Apple delivers reliable updates and ecosystem benefits with the iPhone 16e , the OxygenOS 15 on the OnePlus 13R offers an appealing balance. It feels cleaner and smoother than Samsung's Awesome Intelligence-laden One UI or Nothing's heavily stylized Nothing OS 3.1, yet packs useful features like Task Prediction, real-time translation, and a superior gaming mode.
Not to mention that OnePlus now promises four years of Android updates and six years of security patches, placing it in line with the top mid-range rivals. Samsung matches it, and Google offers even longer software support, but OxygenOS's balance between useful customization and performance optimization like Parallel Processing help keep the 13R appealing. There are certainly compromises. Video stabilization on the 13R isn't ideal, and it lacks the Pixel's computational photography. Additionally, it doesn't offer expandable storage or wireless charging, omissions some users might find frustrating.Midway through 2025, the OnePlus 13R (arguably) remains the best mid-range phone you can buy. Google's Pixel 9a offers unbeatable battery life, Samsung's Galaxy A56 charges quickly, Nothing's (3a) Pro is stylish and unique, and the iPhone 16e holds raw power and ecosystem perks. Yet, none of them provide the holistic balance of performance, display quality, camera versatility, and practical fast-charging that the 13R does.
Months after its release, it's clearer than ever that the OnePlus 13R wasn't just the first major mid-range phone of 2025—it was, and still is, the best one.