Already launched in China, the OnePlus 12 has today made its global debut, and even at this very early stage of 2024, it promises to be one of the year's best Android flagships. Packed with Qualcomm's latest silicon, a herd of RAM, and Sony's industry-first LYT-808 wide-angle camera, the OnePlus 12 even welcomes the return of wireless charging for the first time since the OnePlus 9 Pro. That's already quite a list of hardware, yet it's just a scratch on the surface of what the OnePlus 12 flagship offers, so let's delve a little deeper.
The Basics
The first thing you might notice about the OnePlus 12 is that it bears more than a passing resemblance to 2023's OnePlus 11 5G, other than the new colorways, repositioning of the LED flash module on the rear panel, and the new location of the alert slider on the left-hand edge. There's also a notable similarity to Oppo's Find X7 Ultra, which shares much of the same hardware but is unfortunately not scheduled to launch outside of China.
Powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, like most 2024 flagship smartphones will, the OnePlus 12 sports an industry-leading vapor chamber that aims to keep the phone fast and cool during those extended gaming sessions. There's up to 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM on hand (sadly, the 24GB option is a China-exclusive) and up to 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage.
One of the OnePlus 12's party tricks is the ability to keep up to 6 applications available in the background for up to 72 hours.
A 6.82-inch ProXDR AMOLED display with QHD+ resolution is present, adaptive 120Hz refresh rate, and, amazingly, up to 4,500 nits peak brightness, meaning you can stand in the sun and still watch TikTok videos.
The new Aqua Touch touch experience on the display ensures that the panel still registers your touch even when wet from the rain.
Order both the One Plus 12 and 12R here.
The Return Of Wireless Charging
For the first time since the OnePlus 9 Pro, we see the return of AirVOOC wireless charging with 50W charging speeds. If you still have the official wireless charger from a couple of years ago, it will work perfectly with the OnePlus 12. In the US, the OnePlus 12 is capable of 80W SuperVOOC wired charging, fully charging the 5,400mAh battery in 30 minutes. That's pretty fast, but the European models feature 100W SuperVOOC charging, which knocks 4 minutes off that total.
The Cameras
This is where things get exciting because the OnePlus 12 packs a trio of rear cameras consisting of Sony's 50MP LYT-808 wide lens with OIS, EIS, F/1.6 aperture, and AutoFocus. This main camera can take in high levels of light to capture more details in dark environments.
Also packing OIS and EIS is the 64MP periscope telephoto lens, which uses the OV64B sensor and boasts 3x optical zoom. Up to 120x hybrid zoom is also supported, as is 6x in-sensor zoom.
Bringing up the rear is the 48MP Sony IMX581 ultra-wide lens with EIS and a 114-degree FoV. A 32MP (Sony IMX615) sensor takes care of selfie images and resides in a central punch-hole in the display.
The fourth-generation Hasselblad Camera for Mobile is included on the OnePlus 12, as is the camera company's Xpan Mode.
Besides the USB-C 3.2 charging port, which boasts increased data transfer speeds, you'll also find 3D Spatial Audio and an IR blaster on the OnePlus 12.
Price And Availability
The OnePlus 12 costs $799/£849 for the 256GB variant, with the 512GB version priced at $899/£999. As is usually the case with OnePlus flagships, the OP12 is available in green (Flowy Emerald) and classic Black, which is said to have a textured rear panel to resist fingerprints.
How does the OnePlus 12 sound to you compared to the Galaxy S24 series that launched a week ago?
