The much-awaited OnePlus 12 is now official in China. This is the company’s flagship phone for 2024, powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset. The OnePlus 11 was launched in January in China and was seen as a “comeback” smartphone from the brand. The OnePlus 12 continues the same legacy, with a starting price just ¥300 (~$40) higher than the predecessor. The global launch is happening in January next year.
Starting with the design, the OnePlus 12 has a similar design language as its predecessor. For example, the phone has a curved display, an alert slider, and a circular camera module that extends from the frame. But there are some nice design upgrades this time. The camera module is bigger and also cleaner-looking. OnePlus calls this the ‘TIME’ design, as the company has spent quite some time designing the camera module.
The phone has a glass back and a metal frame.
This time, OnePlus switched the placement of the alert slider and the volume rockers. So, while on the OnePlus 11, the alert slider was on the right side, it is on the left on the 12. The same is true for the volume rockers on the left side of the OnePlus 11, which are on the right this time. On the front, the hole punch cutout is now placed in the center instead of on the top left corner.
The haptics are also upgraded, as the vibration motor now uses an N54 magnet versus an N52. An N54 magnet is 2-3% more powerful than an N52 magnet. The phone has a stereo speaker setup, an optical in-display fingerprint sensor, and a USB 3.2 Gen 1 port.
The OnePlus 11 did not have any IP rating, but the OnePlus 12 has an IP65 certification. It means protection against dust and protection against water jets from any direction. Note that this does not mean you can immerse the phone in water.
The OnePlus 12 is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, offering 30% better CPU and 25% better GPU performance than the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. The phone has up to 24GB LPDDR5X RAM and 1TB UFS 4.0 storage.
For better thermals, the phone uses aerospace-grade high-performance thermal conductive gel and a large 9140mm² vapor chamber. The total heat dissipation area is up to 38,547mm².
The battery is 5,400mAh, the largest on any OnePlus flagship. The phone supports 100W fast wired charging and 50W fast wireless charging. For comparison, the OnePlus 11 did not have wireless charging support.
Coming to the cameras, the OnePlus 12 has a triple camera setup on the rear. The primary camera has a 50MP 1/1.4″ Sony LYT-808 sensor with an f/1.6 lens and OIS. The ultrawide camera has a 48MP 1/2″ sensor with a 114-degree FOV. The third camera is a periscope telephoto camera with a 64MP 1/2″ sensor, OIS, f/2.6 lens, and 3x optical zoom. The phone has a 13-channel multispectral sensor for better color reproduction.
As for video recording, the OnePlus 12 can shoot up to 8K 24fps videos. The phone supports Dolby Vision video recording at up to 4K 30fps.
The selfie shooter has a 32MP sensor with an f/2.4 lens. The front camera can shoot 4K 30fps videos.
The OnePlus 12 has a 6.82-inch 2K (3168 x 1440 pixels) BOE OLED display with up to 4500 nits local peak brightness, 1600 nits global peak brightness, 120Hz refresh rate, Dolby Vision, and HDR10+ support. This is an LTPO panel, so the refresh rate can go as low as 1Hz and as high as 120Hz when required.
Finally, ColorOS 14 runs out of the box, based on Android 14.
In China, the OnePlus 12 comes in three colors. Here is the pricing –
- 12GB + 256GB – ¥4299 (~$600)
- 16GB + 512GB – ¥4799 (~$680)
- 16GB + 1TB – ¥5299 (~$750)
- 24GB + 1TB – ¥5799 (~$820)