The Honor 400 Pro is here to shake up the premium end of the mid-range market, but how does it compare to the OnePlus 13R?

While the two share similarities including the same premium Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset and a triple camera setup, there are key areas where the two diverge quite dramatically. 

To help you decide which is best for your needs, we’ve thoroughly tested both the Honor 400 Pro and OnePlus 13R, and here’s how the two phones compare. 

Pricing & availability

The Honor 400 Pro comes in at a cool £699.99 in the UK, complete with 512GB of storage. It’s available to buy now following release on 22 May 2025.

The OnePlus 13R has a slightly cheaper RRP of £679, but as it was released back in January 2025, it can now be found at a discount. It’s available for just £529 at the time of writing, for example.

Design

The Honor 400 Pro and OnePlus 13R look quite different at a glance. 

The Honor 400 Pro retains the premium, although slightly dated, curved-edge design, while the OnePlus 13R leans into the more modern flat-edge look. Which is best depends on your preferences; the curved edges of the 400 Pro feel nicer in the hand, but the flat-edged OnePlus 13R provide better purchase. 

Shape aside, the two feel pretty similar in the hand. That’s no real surprise given that there’s only 0.1mm difference in width, and a single gram in weight, between the two. 

The OnePlus 13R opts for an off-centre circular camera housing on the rear, while the Honor 400 Pro offers a more unique, almost D-shaped, cutout in the top-left. Both are adorned with a glass rear to add to that premium feeling, with both also offering a matte finish to help negate fingerprints and other marks. 

The Honor 400 Pro wins out when it comes to durability, however, sporting both IP68 and IP69 dust and water resistance. The former protects it from being submerged in water, while the latter protects it from hot water jets. It’s a little niche, but the added protection is nice considering the premium price point.

The OnePlus 13R falls short in this respect with its IP65 dust and water resistance, which will protect it from low-pressure jets, but it likely won’t survive a dunk in water. That is a surprise, given that even mid-range phones like the Pixel 9a offer better IP68 protection. 

When it comes to colour options, neither offer particularly vibrant finishes; the Honor 400 Pro is available in Midnight Black, Lunar Grey and Tidal Blue, while the OnePlus 13R comes in either Astral Trail or Nebula Noir. 

Winner: OnePlus 13R

Screen

The Honor 400 Pro’s curved screen, as noted earlier, makes holding and using the phone’s 6.8-inch AMOLED screen much easier, though as we’ve found out, that can come at the cost of mispresses. It’s easy for the palm of your hand to touch the curved edge of the screen and accidentally tap something. 

Shape aside, the screen experience is fairly impressive; the Honor 400 Pro offers a 5000nit peak brightness that makes HDR content pop, and it also makes it much easier to use in direct sunlight. 

It also features a range of eye care options, including PWM dimming to help reduce eyestrain, although it’s challenging to quantify the actual benefit in daily use. Still, it’s a nice-to-have, and we didn’t notice any eyestrain during testing. 

However, the biggest omission is the lack of an LPTO-enabled refresh rate. It’s still smooth at its maximum 120Hz, but it lacks the ability to dynamically adjust the refresh rate based on what you’re doing. This has the dual benefit of feeling more responsive while being a little easier on the battery, and is increasingly common at the premium price point.

That’s particularly apparent when comparing the phone to the OnePlus 13R. Despite costing around the same price, the OnePlus 13R’s flat 6.7-inch AMOLED screen offers a 120Hz refresh rate with LTPO 4.1 support. 

That’s the latest version of LPTO tech, not even used by the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, and essentially means that the phone can adjust the refresh rate while scrolling and more. As a result, it’s more responsive, and it also means that the phone doesn’t drain as much battery when displaying its always-on screen. 

It’s also a joy to use, with a combination of vibrant colours, seriously slim bezels and a pixel-packed 1.2K resolution, though it lacks the eyecare features offered by Honor’s alternative. 

Winner: OnePlus 13R

Cameras

The Honor 400 Pro is one of few phones on the market to boast a high-res 200MP main camera. While a good camera is more than a high megapixel count, it does help that the phone can perform 16-in-1 pixel binning to boost light and detail – and it’s noticeable in the results. 

The main camera captures a great photo, packed with detail, and even retains that performance in low-light conditions. That’s further improved by a fairly large 1/1.4-inch sensor. 

It’s not just a good main camera either, as is seen by some mid-rangers; it’s bolstered by a solid 50MP 3x telephoto lens to get closer to the action, and a 12MP ultrawide with autofocus, which essentially allows it to double-up as a macro lens.

The OnePlus 13R’s offering isn’t quite as exciting however, sporting a 50MP main camera alongside a 50MP 2x telephoto and an 8MP fixed-focus ultrawide. The main camera remains the best of the trio in most scenarios, though with a lower megapixel count and smaller 1/1.56-inch sensor, it’s not quite as capable once light levels begin to drop. 

Winner: Honor 400 Pro

Performance

Neither the Honor 400 Pro or OnePlus 13R offer the latest and greatest Qualcomm chipset, the Snapdragon 8 Elite – but they’re not too far behind with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. It was the flagship chip of choice in 2024, found in the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and OnePlus 12, so it’s far from a slouch.

Both phones also sport 256GB of storage, along with the same 12GB of RAM, so there really isn’t much of a difference on offer here.

That said, both phones are blisteringly fast in everyday use, and both can easily handle prolonged gaming sessions without getting too hot on the rear. We didn’t experience any stuttering or slowdown during testing, though given the chipset on offer, that’s no real surprise.

As a result, the phones benchmark results are pretty close in both CPU and GPU tests, though the OnePlus 13R seems to eke out a little more power in the GPU department with a slightly higher score in the top-end 3DMark Wildlife Extreme test. Still, in everyday use, you likely won’t be able to tell a difference.

Winner: Tie

Software & AI

The Honor 400 Pro comes out of the gate running MagicOS 9.1, Honor’s spin on the Android 15 operating system. Unlike some skins that try to stay true to the stock Android experience, Honor’s UI can be quite different. It includes a range of Honor-exclusive features and services, and it’s clear that Apple’s iOS was an inspiration here. 

The software boasts Apple-esque features like a split notification center and quick settings panel, as well as Honor’s take on Apple’s dynamic island tech. These are great if you’re coming from an iPhone, but if you’re switching from a different Android manufacturer, there might be a slight learning curve here. 

That said, Honor’s software has seen a lot of polish over the past few years and is much easier to use than it once was, with no real big complaints once you understand the tweaked layout. 

It also stands out in terms of its AI offering; while most mid-rangers miss out on the big, flashy AI features found in flagships, Honor has brought all its AI functionality from its top-end Magic 7 Pro to the 400 Pro. This includes Honor’s spin on Circle to Search, Magic Portal, along with various photo editing tools and even exclusive functionality that turns photos into videos with scarily accurate motion. 

How helpful these are will depend on your uses, but it’s nice to see the full-fat AI featureset available here.

The OnePlus 13R also eschews stock Android 15 for its own flavouring, this time in the form of OxygenOS 15. It’s very similar to Oppo’s ColorOS 15, though that’s not a surprise given that the latter owns the former. Still, OxygenOS has always been praised for its ease of use and heavily customisable UI, and that’s very much still the case with OxygenOS 15.

It also offers OnePlus’ unique Open Canvas multitasking functionality, which essentially lets you run two apps in full screen mode simultaneously, with a tap on one of the sides of the screen to switch between apps. It works better on bigger screens like the OnePlus Open and OnePlus Pad 2, but it’s a great addition for power users.

The OnePlus 13R also has a range of AI features, though these are quite limited in comparison to the breadth of features on offer from Honor’s alternative. The regular AI staples are present and accounted for, including the ability to remove reflections and blur from photos, along with AI Notes and Magic Compose, but there’s nothing particularly exciting or unique about OnePlus’ offering. 

Its long-term support also falls short of the Honor alternative, with just four years of OS upgrades and six years of security patches. The Honor 400 Pro, on the other hand, will get six OS upgrades and six years of security patches. 

Winner: Honor 400 Pro

Battery life

Neither the Honor 400 Pro nor the OnePlus 13R will struggle to get you through the day, but the 13R certainly had the better longevity of the two during testing. It all comes down to battery capacity; the OnePlus 13R’s 6000mAh cell is sizeable, and a notable increase on the 5300mAh equivalent from Honor. 

In testing, the Honor 400 Pro can get you through the day and well into a second day of use depending on your usage habits, but the OnePlus 13R can go a full two days before reaching for a charger. 

Both smartphones also offer fast charging tech, with Honor’s 100W offering besting the 80W equivalent from OnePlus – but there’s a catch. Both of these phones need a proprietary charge – SuperCharge for Honor, SuperVOOC for OnePlus – and neither ship with a charging brick. That means that, even if you have a regular 100W charger lying around, you still won’t be able to hit those top speeds.

That said, the Honor 400 Pro’s combination of a slightly smaller cell and faster charge speeds translates to a faster charging experience than the OnePlus equivalent, but there isn’t that much in it, with both hitting a full charge in under an hour using the appropriate chargers. 

Winner: Honor 400 Pro

Final thoughts

The Honor 400 Pro and OnePlus 13R are great phones in their own right, but each has strengths and weaknesses.

The Honor 400 Pro impresses with its high-end camera setup, Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 power, all-day battery life and flagship-level AI smarts, but it misses out on key features like an LTPO-enabled refresh rate seen on much of the competition at a similar price point.

It’s the same story with the OnePlus 13R; it has one of the most capable displays around at the price point, and its flat-edged design makes it much easier to hold and use than the curved alternative, but its camera offering is comparatively weak compared to Honor. Still, it offers solid two-day battery life and OnePlus’ well-designed OxygenOS 15. 

Ultimately, it’ll boil down to specifics, such as whether you prefer a top-end screen, a great camera, or long battery life over flagship AI features. For the most part, though, Honor’s mid-ranger seems to deliver a more balanced experience overall than OnePlus’ alternative.

That said, take a look at our selection of the best mid-range phones to see how they both compare to the competition.