OnePlus 12 Review: Android Dark Horse

At a look

Skilled’s Score

Execs

• Elegant, distinctive design
• Present-stopping display screen
• Quick wired and wi-fi charging
• Nice essential and telephoto cameras

Cons

• Fewer OS updates than rivals
• So-so wide-angle and selfie cameras
• Dearer than OnePlus 11
• Restricted water resistance

Our Verdict

OnePlus has beefed up its newest flagship with wi-fi charging and a strong processor. Whereas the OnePlus 12 is costlier than the OnePlus 11 was at launch, the specs are nonetheless mighty spectacular for the worth, with a beautiful design, punchy efficiency and succesful cameras. It’s a terrific purchase.

Worth When Reviewed

From $799 | Mannequin reviewed $899

Greatest Costs At present: OnePlus 12

$799

OnePlus has steadily made a reputation for itself throughout the globe by providing competitively priced smartphones that undercut flagship telephones from Samsung, Google and others.  

The OnePlus 12 bucks this pattern, and isn’t as low cost because the OnePlus 11 was at launch. But it surely does justify the worth hike with some new options in addition to offering all of the stuff you’d count on: a top-notch display screen, succesful efficiency and nice cameras. But once more, OnePlus resides as much as its motto of by no means settling.  

Design & Construct  

• Out there in inexperienced and black
• IP65 score quite than IP68
• Alert slider nonetheless a useful function

I really like the OnePlus 12’s design. To me, it seems higher than another telephone I’ve reviewed, though I’m biased in the direction of inexperienced tech.

Weighing 220g and measuring 9.15mm thick, the ’12 is par for the course nowadays: it’s a giant, weighty flagship that doesn’t simply match into pockets.

OnePlus has saved the huge round digicam module on the again that was first launched on the 11, full with inscriptions indicating the specs of every digicam.

The inexperienced color is named Flowy Emerald, which is allegedly impressed by the rivers that move down the Alps. Advertising and marketing lingo apart, the feel is like an earth-toned marble whose tones varies relying on the ambient lighting. It additionally is available in Silky Black for many who don’t like inexperienced as a lot as me.

The glass again feels easy within the hand, as does the curved show. Throughout testing, the telephone survived an unintended drop with the Corning Gorilla Glass 5 on the rear and Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the entrance doing job and never cracking or shattering.

Hannah Cowton / Foundry

The IP65 score makes the OnePlus 12 much less inclined to wreck from water and dirt than the 11, however nonetheless isn’t pretty much as good because the IP68 customary that many different costly smartphones adjust to. What it means is that you may’t submerge the OnePus 12 in water: it’s solely protected in opposition to low-pressure jets of water.

I’m a giant fan of OnePlus’s alert slider. It eliminates additional faucets on the display screen and presses of the quantity slider. It’s motive to go for a OnePlus telephone over rivals which don’t have one.

There’s no headphone jack, which is the norm for flagship telephones nowadays. The SIM-tray (with dual-nano SIM help) sits subsequent to the USB-C port on the underside, while the quantity rocker and energy button stay on the right-hand aspect.  

Haptics – the vibrations for alerts and key presses – are a number of the finest I’ve used, with noticeably totally different patterns for alerts, calls and messages. You regulate the depth in addition to alternating between ‘crisp’ and ‘light’ relying in your preferences.

Display screen & Audio system  

• Very vibrant 6.82-inch show
• 120Hz adaptive refresh price
• Stereo audio system with Dolby Atmos help

The AMOLED show has been elevated to six.82-inches from the 6.7-inch panel seen on the OnePlus 11. The decision can be increased, at 1440 x 3168. As earlier than it makes use of LPTO tech with a 120Hz refresh price that may robotically regulate all the best way all the way down to 1Hz to save lots of battery energy.  

With help for Dolby Imaginative and prescient and HDR10+, it’s vibrant, daring and conscious of faucets and scrolls. Vivid daylight doesn’t have an effect on it in anyway due to the wonderful peak brightness of 4,500 nits, round 2.5x greater than the brightest present telephones. It’s virtually overpowering in dimmer rooms, though it does regulate robotically.

Put merely, the OnePlus 12 is classy for streaming Netflix reveals and enjoying video games.

There’s an under-display fingerprint sensor for biometrics, and face recognition. Each work a deal with, with the latter having no points with glasses or solely minor hassle with darkish rooms.

Hannah Cowton / Foundry

The stereo audio system are nice, with help for Dolby Atmos. They sound clear and produce energetic sound with a little bit of bass. I wouldn’t wish to take heed to a lot music on them, however they’re good for podcasts and video games.

Underneath the Dolby Atmos part within the settings, there are 4 sound profiles to select from: Good (adaptive), Film, Gaming and Music. Film was my most well-liked opinion.

There’s additionally help for spatial audio and ‘holo audio’ (see under), offering you have got appropriate earbuds and apps for these options. The identical goes for head monitoring. Testing with the Jabra Elite 8 Lively earbuds, spatial audio sounded first rate for motion scenes, however dialogue was echo-y.

Holo audio lets you have totally different sounds coming from totally different instructions. So, you may have your Spotify audio enjoying from the entrance, your notifications coming from the appropriate and alarms pinging from the left. That’s the idea. After I tried it, notifications wouldn’t play over Spotify, and the timer would halt the audio altogether.

Clearly some work must be executed there, otherwise you want OnePlus’s personal buds.

Specs & Efficiency  

• Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
• 12/16GB RAM
• 256/512GB storage

Should you’re in search of flagship efficiency, the OnePlus 12 doesn’t disappoint. It’s fitted with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, the identical chip seen within the Xiaomi 14 and Samsung Galaxy S24 Extremely, although it’s tweaked particularly for the latter.  

Relying upon your alternative when buying, you get both 12- or 16GB RAM, and 256- or 512GB storage. Even the bottom mannequin is greater than sufficient for demanding apps and video games. Evidently there’s an abundance of efficiency for day-to-day duties.

Hannah Cowton / Foundry

To maintain that efficiency in test the OnePlus 12 has a Twin Cryo-velocity VC Cooling System, which has a bigger floor space and a shortened gas-liquid circulation distance in comparison with rivals to enhance warmth dissipation.

Tech jargon apart, it does work. The telephone stayed remarkably cool when enjoying the demanding sport Genshin Influence. In reality, the one time the OnePlus 12 felt heat was throughout charging, however not problematically so.  

Genshin Influence might run at medium graphics settings with out overclocking. There was no stuttering and responses to touches, swipes and digicam changes had been speedy. That is seemingly aided by HyperBoost, HyperRendering and HyperTouch, three new options in Oxygen OS 14 designed to enhance gaming efficiency.

OnePlus 12 Benchmarks 

In our exams, the OnePlus 12 bested rivals in GeekBench 5. This contains the iPhone 14 Professional Max, which is a formidable feat contemplating that iPhones often outpace Android fashions right here.

Nonetheless, surprisingly it fell wanting the OnePlus 11 in GeekBench 6, which has the older chip – a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, as additionally fitted to the extra inexpensive OnePlus 12R.

These artificial benchmarks are only one measure of efficiency, although, and it doesn’t imply it’s slower total.

The ’12 produced some spectacular numbers in GFXBench, exhibiting the graphics prowess of this telephone compared to different flagships. It’s additionally acquired some the quickest charging out of the group, solely bested by the 11, which has a smaller battery that’s faster to recharge.

Cameras  

• Very good essential digicam
• Succesful low-light efficiency
• Selfie digicam not as spectacular as rivals

OnePlus is continuous its partnership with Hassleblad for its triple rear digicam set-up. 

The principle 50Mp essential digicam makes use of Sony’s LYT-808 1/1.4 sensor and has OIS – optical stabilisation. The sensor permits for plenty of mild to be let in, and as such the telephone can seize surroundings and textures extraordinary readability. 

This additionally applies to pictures taken in darkish environments. Clouds within the evening sky have unbelievable depth, and vibrant lights are dealt with properly with out an excessive amount of flaring or glare. Textures seem lifelike, and hues are real looking. The OnePlus 12 makes it simple to take a formidable photograph.

The upgraded 64Mp f/2.6 telephoto digicam offers 3x optical zoom. There’s additionally 6x ‘lossless’ zoom and as much as a whopping 120x digital zoom. Utilizing optical zoom, the digicam resolves particulars like strands of hair with ease.  

If you begin heading into the digital zoom territory, it nonetheless holds up at 10x. Past that, particulars begin to grow to be fuzzier and whenever you get previous 60x zoom, it’s exhausting to maintain the telephone nonetheless sufficient, and is a largely pointless train.

Some rivals (the iPhone 15 included) don’t have a telephoto digicam, so this can be a massive tick for OnePlus.

The 48Mp wide-angle digicam produces dimmer tones in comparison with the primary snapper, with softer edges and usually much less aptitude. Evaluate the colors under, significantly on the grass:

For selfies, there’s a 32Mp front-facing snapper with a Sony IMX615 sensor. Portrait mode has a good quantity of blur within the background, although there’s some smudging on unfastened hairs. This digicam isn’t as spectacular to make use of at evening as the primary rear one.

Photographs will be edited both straight in OnePlus’s personal gallery, which incorporates pores and skin retouching options and an eraser instrument for any undesirable background parts, or in Google Photographs. I a lot favor utilizing Google’s Magic Eraser, which robotically finds background parts and pre-selects them for sooner modifying.

Neither are foolproof, with some bizarre textures typically left behind, however Google’s modifying instruments are undoubtedly superior. Nonetheless, you’ll want a Google One subscription – OnePlus 12 customers get a three-month free trial.

The OnePlus 12 shoots as much as 8K video at 24fps, but it surely’s additionally able to 4K, 1080p and 720p all at both 30fps or 60fps. There’s the choice to activate HDR video (Dolby Imaginative and prescient) and an ‘extremely regular’ mode to minimise shakes.   

Hannah Cowton / Foundry

Battery Life & Charging  

• 5400mAh battery
• 100W charging
• 50W wi-fi charging

The OnePlus 12 is fitted with a 5,400mAh battery. On common, this lasted for a day and a half however lower than that if I saved the 120Hz refresh price on completely and used it closely for gaming.

100W charging means the battery goes from empty to 67% full in simply quarter-hour, and 100% inside half an hour. 

On prime of all that, there’s 50W wi-fi charging. You should purchase OnePlus’s official charger for just below £40 on the time of writing.

It’s nice to see a flagship telephone with not solely sturdy battery life, but in addition speedy wired and wi-fi charging. Not all can compete with that.

Hannah Cowton / Foundry

Software program  

• OxygenOS 14.0 (primarily based on Android 14)
• 4 years of OS updates
• 5 years of safety updates

OxygenOS has lengthy been one of many favorite Android skins among the many Tech Advisor crew, and that is still the case now. It’s clear, intuitive and minimal in relation to app bloat. There’s a neat little ‘OnePlus’ folder with a number of the manufacturers personal apps, however no undesirable video games in sight. 

You possibly can simply customise the house display screen with giant folders for apps and help for some widgets that aren’t out there on different Android fashions – Pinterest, for instance. Timers additionally neatly sit within the nook of the display screen when lively, so you may see the standing even whenever you’re in different apps.

That is the latest replace, primarily based on Android 14. Meaning it has options resembling sensible cutout, the place you may lengthy press and individual or object in a photograph to isolate it from the remainder of the background. This may then be saved to your gallery or despatched to somebody. 

There are additionally new safety instruments such because the Security Centre, the place you may select what information is shared on an app-by-app foundation. In the meantime, Auto Pixelate 2.0 blurs any delicate info that the telephone senses on pictures.

Hannah Cowton / Foundry

OnePlus offers 4 years of OS updates and 5 years of safety updates. That is on par with another manufacturers, but it surely doesn’t match the Google Pixel 8 and Samsung Galaxy S24 sequence, which provide a formidable seven years of each sorts.

Hopefully we’ll see extra Android manufacturers comply with swimsuit within the coming years, because it encourages folks to carry onto telephones for longer which is each useful for folks’s wallets and the planet. Clearly, it’s much less useful for gross sales…

Worth & Availability  

The OnePlus 12 is offered from 6 February, and will be pre-ordered from OnePlus from 23 January. Should you get in fast, then you may seize a free pair of Bang & Olufsen Beocom Portal headphones, that are usually £459.

It ought to be out there on Amazon and different websites however wasn’t on the time of evaluate.

Right here’s the costs for the OnePlus 12: 

• 12GB/256GB – $799/£849 
• 16GB/512GB – $899/£999 

That’s a $100/£120 enhance on final 12 months’s flagship, the OnePlus 11. However there’s 50W wi-fi charging (the 11 had none), a better IP score and a extra highly effective chipset. On prime of all that there’s inflation, which has affected different telephones: it isn’t simply OnePlus placing up costs. 

The hike means the OnePlus 12 goes toe-to-toe with the Pixel 8 Professional. The Pixel’s flat, wider show make it much less comfy to carry (particularly if in case you have small arms like me), and the plain pastel finishes aren’t as fascinating as Flowy Emerald although, admittedly, these items do come down to non-public choice.

Extra definitively, the Pixel 8 Professional has a much less highly effective processor and shorter battery life. Nonetheless, pictures taken on the Pixel 8 Professional are barely higher than these on the OnePlus 12, and the seven years of OS updates trumps OnePlus’s four-year promise.

You would additionally contemplate the Samsung Galaxy S24+, which has a raft of recent AI software program options and once more seven years of OS updates. However regardless of the upper value of £999/$999.99, the S24+ is a downgrade from the OnePlus 12. A better match could be the Extremely mannequin, however that’s costlier nonetheless, and it makes the OnePlus 12 look even higher worth for cash.  

See what different choices can be found in our roundups of the very best smartphones and the very best OnePlus telephones.  

Hannah Cowton / Foundry

Must you purchase the OnePlus 12? 

The OnePlus 12 is a unbelievable telephone and a pleasure to make use of. It has a surprising and distinctive design, an extremely vibrant, wonderful efficiency, cracking essential cameras and a surprisingly lengthy battery life for the whole lot that’s working within the background.  

The principle downsides are that Samsung and Google supply longer guarantees of OS and safety updates, and that the worth isn’t as a lot of a steal because the OnePlus 11 was. Nonetheless, the fortified specs and a tricky economic system make this inevitable. 

The very fact of the matter is that I’ve no hassle giving a glowing badge of advice to the OnePlus 12. It isn’t flawless, but it surely ought to actually be in your shortlist together with the Google Pixel 8 Professional.  

Specs

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
• Android 14 (Oxygen OS 14.0)
• 6.82-inches, 1440 x 3168 QHD+, 1-120Hz LTPO 3.0, 20.1:9, AMOLED show
• In-display fingerprint sensor
• Digicam:
  • 50Mp Sony’s LYT-808 essential digicam, f/1.6, OIS
  • 48Mp Sony’s IMX581 ultrawide, f/2.2
  • 64Mp OV64B periscope telephoto, f/2.6
  • 16Mp Sony IMX615 selfie digicam, f/2.4
• 12/16GB LPDDR5X RAM
• 128GB/256GB UFS 4.0 non-expandable storage
• USB 3.2 Sort-C port
• Twin nano-SIM slot
• 5400mAh twin cell battery
• 100W wired charging
• 50W wi-fi charging
• NFC
• 5G
• Bluetooth 5.4
• Wi-Fi 7-ready
• 164.3mm × 75.8mm × 9.15mm
• 220g