I received the OnePlus Ace 5 Racing Edition.
High performance despite the low price
The OnePlus Ace 5 Racing Edition is in the affordable $200 range, yet it’s equipped with a MediaTek Dimensity 9400e, LPDDR5X memory, and UFS 4.0 storage, delivering enough performance to play Genshin Impact at the highest quality settings for 30 minutes at an average of 59 FPS.
The battery capacity is also a substantial 7100mAh, and with bypass charging support, you can enjoy long gaming sessions without worrying about the remaining battery life.
This review is based on the 12GB+256GB version, model PLF110_15.0.2.410(CN01).
- High CPU performance with MediaTek Dimensity 9400e
- Bright 1000-nit flat display
- Well-balanced 50:50 center of gravity
- Large 7,100mAh battery
- Bypass charging support
- Supports auto item collection and frame interpolation in Genshin Impact
- Relatively weak GPU performance
- Mono speaker
- Underwhelming camera quality
| OnePlus Ace 5 Racing Edition | |
|---|---|
| OS | Android 15 |
| RAM | 12GB / 16GB LPDDR5X |
| Storage | 256GB / 512GB UFS 4.0 |
| SoC | MediaTek Dimensity 9400e |
| Display | 6.77 inches 2392 x 1080 Aspect Ratio 19.93:9 120Hz refresh rate |
| Size | 163.58mm × 76.02mm × 8.27mm |
| Weight | 200g |
| SIM | nano SIM + nano SIM |
| Rear Camera | 50MP (OIS) + 2MP (Portrait) |
| Front Camera | 16MP |
| Battery | 7100mAh |
| USB Port | USB Type-C (USB 2.0) |
| Bands | 2G GSM: 850/900/1800MHz 3G WCDMA: 1/5/8 4G LTE FDD: 1/3/4/5/8/19/28A/66 4G LTE TDD: 34/38/39/40/41/42/48 5G: n1/ n3/ n5/ n8/ n28A/ n38/ n40/ n41/ n48/ n66/ n77/ n78 |
Index
A manual, protective case, charging cable, and charger are included.
The protective case is black, which hides the back of the phone, but it’s resistant to yellowing, so it should last a long time.
A protective film is pre-applied.
The charger is a type that supports 80W fast charging even in 100V regions.
Display: Flat and Easy to See
The OnePlus Ace 5 Racing Edition features a 6.77-inch display with a resolution of 2392 x 1080.
It’s a flat screen, making it easy to see to the edges, and the bezels are also thin.
The pixel arrangement is a diamond pixel layout.
When measuring the brightness with an LX-1336B light meter while displaying a full white image at maximum brightness, it reached a peak of 1088 nits.
It’s bright enough to be clearly visible outdoors in daylight.
It’s a unit that indicates the level of brightness; the higher the number, the brighter the display.
Indoors, 400-500 nits is considered sufficient, while outdoors, 800-1000 nits is needed to avoid visibility issues.
Incidentally, many devices limit the maximum brightness unless auto-brightness is enabled.
The refresh rate is 120Hz.
It can be set on a per-app basis.
When measuring the touch sampling rate with Touch Sample Rate Tester, the Movement Rate for both single-touch and multi-touch was around 125Hz on average.
This relates to the sensitivity of the screen when touched.
A higher number often means the screen responds more quickly to touch.
However, actual touch latency is not determined by this alone; other factors can contribute to a larger overall delay.
As a guideline, a Movement Rate that is about twice the screen’s refresh rate is average. If it’s over three times, it’s high, and for gaming phones, it’s often around 5-6 times.
The touch latency measured with WALT Latency Timer was a total of 36.8ms.
This is the time it takes for the screen to respond after being touched.
The smaller this number, the faster the response.
Gaming phones typically have around 25ms, while standard smartphones are generally in the 30-40ms range.
It supports Widevine L1, allowing for high-quality streaming playback on services like Amazon Prime Video.
Back Panel: Marble-like Finish on the White Model
On the white model, the back panel has a marble-like design that emerges with the reflection of light, though it’s hard to see in photos.
It has a smooth texture, is resistant to fingerprints, and despite being plastic, it doesn’t feel particularly cheap.
The weight distribution is also 50:50, so the center of gravity isn’t shifted upwards, making it easy to hold.
The weight is 203.5g.
Camera: High Saturation
The OnePlus Ace 5 Racing Edition is equipped with a 50MP main camera, which can take reasonably good photos.
Handheld photos are saved here.
The saturation is high, making the blue sky appear much bluer than it actually is. The maximum zoom is 20x, but since it’s digital zoom, it’s not very useful.
In night mode, you can take bright photos even in the dark.
However, details are lost, and the image quality is only good enough to make out what’s there.
Speaker: Mono
The OnePlus Ace 5 Racing Edition has a mono speaker, so the soundstage is not very wide.
The bass is also weak and lacks punch, so if you’re looking for good audio quality, it’s better to use earphones.
OReality sound effects are available, so customizing it with modes like “Music” can improve it slightly.
The top is clean, with only a microphone hole.
There is no alert slider, so the left side is also bare.
Since it’s not a metal frame, it doesn’t feel very premium, but it’s easy to hold because heat doesn’t transfer as much when it gets hot.
Checking the supported codecs with Bluetooth Codec Changer, it supports AAC / aptX / aptX HD / LDAC / LHDC.
LHDC V5-compatible earphones are not brand-locked and can be used with those from other manufacturers.
Ports: Large 7100mAh Capacity and 80W Support
The OnePlus Ace 5 Racing Edition has a 7100mAh battery and supports 80W fast charging.
During gaming, bypass charging can be used, allowing for long gaming sessions while reducing heat and battery strain.
Outside of gaming, there is no bypass charging option yet; only a charge limit that stops at 80% is available.
It has IP64 water and dust resistance, so minor splashes are not an issue.
The supported bands are:
- 2G GSM: 850/900/1800MHz
- 3G WCDMA: 1/5/8
- 4G LTE FDD: 1/3/4/5/8/19/28A/66
- 4G LTE TDD: 34/38/39/40/41/42/48
- 5G: n1/ n3/ n5/ n8/ n28A/ n38/ n40/ n41/ n48/ n66/ n77/ n78
The power and volume buttons are on the right side.
It supports Wi-Fi 7, but since it’s the Chinese version, the 6GHz band is not available.
It connected at a link speed of 2882Mbps.
Performance: High CPU Performance
The OnePlus Ace 5 Racing Edition is powered by the MediaTek Dimensity 9400e, allowing it to comfortably play CPU-intensive games like Genshin Impact.
It supports 90FPS frame interpolation and upscaling, and in Genshin Impact, convenient features like automatic item collection are available.
In Geekbench 6, the package-name-spoofed version (unaffected by manufacturer performance boosting) scored 1108 in single-core and 4783 in multi-core, while the regular version scored 1419 in single-core and 5699 in multi-core.
The difference indicates that the device engages in performance manipulation based on the application’s package name.
Many manufacturers have been caught cheating by identifying popular benchmark apps like AnTuTu by their package name and then loosening thermal controls or locking high clock speeds to inflate scores.
This behavior differs from normal app usage, leading to situations where “benchmarks are good, but other apps don’t perform as well.”
Since each manufacturer’s boosting behavior is different, comparing boosted results is meaningless.
Therefore, it’s crucial to change the package name to disguise the app as a general one to obtain the correct, unboosted score.
This is explained in detail in this article.
This is a benchmark that quantifies CPU processing performance used in tasks like background blur and text processing.
Single-core performance is important for light, everyday tasks, while multi-core performance is crucial for heavy tasks like demanding games.
A single-core score of 1200 and a multi-core score of 3000 or more is generally sufficient for a comfortable experience.
Benchmark results are compiled in this article.
In the 3DMark Wild Life Extreme Stress Test with a spoofed package name, the score went from 5290 to 1912.
While peak performance surpasses that of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, it quickly drops due to thermal throttling and is not stable.
As seen in the Honkai: Star Rail results below, it fails to maintain stable performance in games that actually demand high GPU power.
Wild Life Extreme is a benchmark that uses the Vulkan API to quantify GPU performance with graphics rendered at 3840×2160 resolution.
A higher score indicates smoother 3D rendering in games, and a high Stability score means the device can maintain high performance over long periods.
This is only a general, simplified indicator for Vulkan API usage. Considering that most popular games hardly use the Vulkan API, the score is not very useful, and its main purpose is to check the heat generation during GPU usage.
We can only infer that if performance is good in Vulkan, it will likely be high in OpenGL as well, and if it tends to heat up, it will probably struggle to maintain FPS in real games.
The PCMark Work 3.0 (spoofed package name) score, which measures performance in everyday tasks like document manipulation, was 11761.
This benchmark quantifies the processing performance for tasks like web browsing and image/video editing.
A higher score means faster processing, but the balance with battery consumption is also important, so a lower score isn’t necessarily bad.
A score of 8000 or more is generally sufficient.
It is equipped with UFS 4.0 storage and LPDDR5X memory.
The results from the CPDT Benchmark show decent read and write speeds, which, while not reaching high-end model levels, are more than adequate.
Sequential read/write speeds affect the reading and writing of large files, such as during file copying or video encoding/decoding.
Random read/write speeds are for small files, and this speed is more important for app and game usage.
When playing the CPU-intensive game Genshin Impact for 30 minutes in Pro-Gamer (performance) mode at the highest graphics settings and 60 FPS (testing in Natlan by using skills in combat while moving along a path) and measuring with Scene 8, it averaged 59.5 FPS with a power consumption of 86.72mW per FPS.
The battery temperature rose to a maximum of about 42.5°C.
Battery consumption is low, and it remains stable with a 5% Low of 51.8 FPS.
Genshin Impact also offers convenient features like automatically collecting items when you get close to them and automatically breaking free from being restrained or frozen.
Lower power consumption per FPS indicates better power efficiency.
Good power efficiency means less battery drain, while poor efficiency leads to rapid battery depletion.
A phone with poor power efficiency in games tends to have high battery consumption in other apps as well, often making the battery feel like it drains quickly.
Average FPS (frames per second) indicates how smoothly the display can be maintained, with higher being better.
(To be more precise, a high average FPS with few “janks” or stutters results in a better perceived smoothness.)
When playing the GPU-intensive game Honkai: Star Rail for 30 minutes in Pro-Gamer mode at the highest graphics settings in Penacony’s “Golden Hour” by repeatedly using Acheron’s technique, it averaged 30.2 FPS.
It quickly gets capped at 30 FPS, and with a power consumption of 196.36mW per FPS, the power efficiency is poor, making it unplayable.
Lowering the graphics quality can make it smoother, but it’s prone to throttling unless set to Pro-Gamer mode instead of Balanced mode.
It supports 120FPS frame interpolation in Genshin Impact and 90FPS frame interpolation in various other games like Honkai: Star Rail, allowing for a slightly smoother gaming experience.
However, since the performance is already stretched at 60FPS, the frame rate is likely to drop quickly without an external cooler.
HDR and upscaling are also available.
Conclusion
- High CPU performance with MediaTek Dimensity 9400e
- Bright 1000-nit flat display
- Well-balanced 50:50 center of gravity
- Large 7,100mAh battery
- Bypass charging support
- Supports auto item collection and frame interpolation in Genshin Impact
- Relatively weak GPU performance
- Mono speaker
- Underwhelming camera quality
For an affordable price in the $200 range, it offers higher performance than other mid-range smartphones, featuring a 7,100mAh battery with bypass charging support, all while keeping the weight down to about 200g.
It’s easy to hold thanks to its balanced center of gravity, and the display is bright and easy to see with over 1000 nits of brightness.
With convenient features like automatic item collection, frame interpolation, and upscaling, it is recommended for those who primarily play Genshin Impact.
The OnePlus Ace 5 Racing Edition is available for purchase starting from $249.99.