OnePlus 12 Smartphone Review

The OnePlus series launch event just concluded in India today, where we got a deep dive into the new OnePlus 12, which is available for preorder now. Luckily for me, I have spent the last couple of weeks with the OnePlus 12 smartphone for everyday use. Since I have been using the OnePlus 11 as my primary phone, I wasn’t shocked at the quality of the OnePlus 12’s features like the first time I switched over to the brand.

The OnePlus 12 smartphone has incremental upgrades that most major brands bring annually. I often feel cheated when a new flagship launches and a lot still feels the same. All the numbers go up, but unless you really tear the device apart, you don’t see a difference that would justify a new cost. However, OnePlus has done more than just upgrade the hardware in the OnePlus 12, meaning I can still say it is a quality smartphone with premium features at an extremely competitive price and that the company has been committed to doing better with hardware, software and the user experience.

Unboxing the OnePlus 12 was a pleasure, as always. Available in Flowy Emerald and Silky Black, I received the Black version (but damn, do I love the look of the 12R’s Cool Blue). I am in love with the style of the new OnePlus 12. Though the camera bump is a significant jump from the 11, the texture and overall design are stunning—and no fingerprints! In the box, you’ll find the classic red USB-A to USB-C cable (insert groans from people wanting USB-C to USB-C), some paperwork, a sim tool, and an 80W SUPERVOOC charger, but more on that later. Where I want to start are the cameras.

The cameras on the new OnePlus 12 are what I find the most complicated to touch on in this review. To be clear, my smartphone reviews come from the place of a standard user. I always aim to talk about how an everyday smartphone user, whether that be a tech savant, grandparent, teen, or otherwise, would jump into the device. Though there are some amazing advanced features on the OnePlus 12, using the camera at its most basic settings did not blow me away.

Now, that is to say, I’ve come to expect a lot from OnePlus, especially in the camera department. More important to me, though, was that I don’t believe the camera in itself warrants an upgrade from the OnePlus 11. I found standard images were still gorgeous, but they didn’t hold up when you zoomed in on the image, and a lot of the detail was lost.

I also found that in January in Canada—or during my time in Las Vegas for CES 2024—literally everything is considered low-light. This meant that if I didn’t preemptively wait an extra second or two after a photo when I looked back on it, it would be completely blurry. Once I got the hang of it and realized what was happening, I remembered to wait a beat before pulling the OnePlus 12 away from the subject to prevent this from happening. 

This is likely due to OnePlus’ new HDR algorithm, meant to bring out the best in your photos. It aims to capture natural light and choose the perfect exposure to get you the best photo possible. A great thing in theory, but without the warning above, I spent the first few days snapping pictures like normal, not realizing that for the OnePlus 12 to make this all work, it would indeed change the exposure, meaning I needed to give the image a second to process before I pulled away.

“The OnePlus 12 smartphone is the world’s first to equip Sony’s LYT-808 1/1.4″ sensor…”

You can absolutely take a deep dive into the Master Mode (no longer called Pro) and work on perfect lighting to get some gorgeous images. The OnePlus 12 smartphone is the world’s first to equip Sony’s LYT-808 1/1.4″ sensor, which brings “rich layers, accurate details, and natural light and shadow” to your images. There is an opportunity to really dive into photography on the OnePlus 12, with settings like sharpness, contrast, and saturation available in Master Mode before you even take a photo. 

If you’re someone like me who wants to snap a quick photo and move on, the images are good—just as good as the OnePlus 11. If you’re upgrading for the camera alone, the OnePlus 12 may be better suited to a pro, though a standard user won’t be disappointed with what they get either. Also, more for professionals, though it doesn’t hurt, is the ability to support 4K video shooting supported by Dolby Vision. Again, OnePlus really aims to bring vivid but true-to-life colours and depth to bring you the best video possible.

The OnePlus 12’s main camera features a 50MP lens with the sensor mentioned above, a 64 MP periscope telephoto lens, and a 48 MP ultrawide lens. These are paired with Hasselblad Color Calibration to make images look as authentic as possible. What I noticed most when comparing images was that the OnePlus 12’s camera brought darker colours into the fold. Again, in Canada in January, everything feels dark all the time, but the OnePlus 11 seemed to naturally brighten images, whereas the 12 kept them truer to life.

As for the front selfie camera, I will say it applies the same rule where you should wait a beat before you pull the phone away, especially in low light. This is a 32 MP camera, and I was generally pleased with the quality—or displeased, depending on how I looked that day. Snapping photos with my daughter, the detail was excellent. Every dark circle and line on my face was accounted for. The blues of her eyes were vibrant. Even when snuggled up with my cat, you could see the detail in her fur.

Cameras tend to be the most talked about part of smartphones nowadays. So, to summarize everything above into one neat and tidy place, the OnePlus 12’s camera system might take an adjustment, but standard users will find photos that meet their needs after they get the hang of things. Pros who want to take a deep dive into the Master Mode will find the settings and options they need to take great-quality photos. If you’re already working with the OnePlus 11, you may not need to make the jump based on the camera alone, but there is plenty more to look at.

After using a few OnePlus smartphones in a row, I have noticed that they love to move stuff. From a user perspective, I tend to get annoyed because it is rarely consistent, but as someone who reviews these devices, I also get to look at why they are constantly changing things, and that is for progress and innovation. In this case, the slider has been moved from the right on the OnePlus 11 to the left, and the volume buttons are swapped in the opposite direction. The 12 also weighs 220g, up 15g from the 11, but still coming in under the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra at 232g.

But what do OnePlus 12 users get in exchange for these changes? For some reason, it can now be a remote for your television and more if needed. But let’s talk about the guts. Our model tested sits at 512GB and 16 GB of LPDDR5X RAM (also available in 256GB/12GB RAM). We have moved from the Adreno 740 GPU to 750 and now the Qualcomm SM8650-AB Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, which is what the S24 Ultra will also be running on at release. The 12 also starts on OxygenOS 14, which is based on Android 14.

The screen is an LTPO AMOLED, 120Hz ProXDR Display with LTPO, with over 93% screen-to-body ratio, Aqua-touch (you can actually use the screen when it is wet) and Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 for protection. LTPO technology allows the OnePlus 12’s refresh rate to adjust whether you’re reading, gaming or something else and back again. The PPI density has dropped from 525 in the OnePlus 11 to 510 in the 12. I can’t say I have had a single complaint about the display at all, however. It’s been bright and crystal clear in any condition, and using it at full brightness has been completely unnecessary.

OnePlus also impresses with its security. The face recognition, on-screen fingerprint and pin options are all there to choose from. What matters to me most, though, is that they work. My last phone review was the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold5, and the face recognition never knew who I was. The fingerprint scanner was on the side instead of the screen and rarely worked. I have never had an issue getting into my OnePlus 12. In fact, it’s usually unlocked before I even realize it.

Something new is the Dual Cryo-velocity VC cooling system. OnePlus has put a focus on bringing more power to their device with the OnePlus 12, and with more power comes more heat. This new system allows you to game while plugged in without completely overheating it. In testing, the OnePlus 12 hovered between 35 and 38 degrees, and I was never concerned with things feeling too hot etc.

Also, in my gaming testing, I played a series of smaller point-and-click games like Block Blasters, but I also spent some time in Genshin Impact, Vampire Survivors and Terra Nil. In Balanced Mode, I was getting as high as 60 FPS in Vampire Survivors, and everything looked smooth. The only issue I ran into was “Device temperature too high. Hyper Resolution is unavailable.” The OnePlus 12 won’t let you push things into overdrive if the device isn’t in the optimal state for it. I just worry that these weren’t entirely intense games, so it seems unlikely that hardcore mobile gamers will be able to make use of the Hyper Resolution features. 

Outside of that, the OnePlus 12 smartphone brings a perfect mobile gaming experience. A big part of that is the battery that just won’t die. The 12 features a 5400mAh battery, which supports 80W SUPERVOOC fast charging and—wait for it—50W AIRVOOC wireless charging! OnePlus claims 12 mins to 50% and 30 mins to 100% via the 80W SUERVOOC option. In testing, my battery went from 24% to 98% in 20 minutes of wired charging, so I’d say it is pretty on par.

What is even better, though, is that it took me almost two days to get the battery down to 24% in the first place. I use Always on Display at all times and about 30% brightness. With light videos from TikTok and YouTube, occasionally diving into light gaming, social media scrolling, emails and camera use, the OnePlus 12 has a battery built to keep up. Even during writing, I have been unplugged for about nine hours, and including phone calls, taking photos, texting and emails, I’m still sitting at 81%.

During CES, I used the OnePlus 12 as my primary device, which included heavy use of my camera for photos and video, constant GPS use, texting, emailing and scrolling. During a full eight-hour work day under this use, I still ended up with 60% battery. OnePlus smartphones never fail to amaze me with their power. Between excellent fast charging, a battery that won’t quit, and now wireless charging, I have no reason to complain. Now, I just need “Close All” to actually close all my apps, and I will be a happy girl—seriously, why doesn’t this close everything open yet?

But what is talking about a Flagship if we aren’t talking about its price? The OnePlus 12 is priced at $799.99 USD for the 12GB/256GB model and $799.99 for the model tested, 16GB/512GB. OnePlus also offers a trade-in deal where you can trade in any smartphone in any condition for $100 USD off ($150 CAD), meaning you can get the 512GB model for $799.99

For reference, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra is priced at $1299.99 on Amazon right now, the S24+ is $999.99, and the very base S24 with 256GB storage is $799.99. The OnePlus 12 smartphone can compete with the S24 Ultra. It may not push all the limits, but for the price of Samsung’s entry-level device, you can come damn close.

That right there is why I keep raving about OnePlus. They can bring everything a standard user wants and then add a ton of extras for a fraction of the competition’s cost, and not enough people know about it. My only issue this time around was getting used to the camera blurring, but in reality, it is because they improved how the camera works, so it was just a learning curve.

The OnePlus 12 brings incredible battery power, a camera that knows what it is doing if you don’t, the ability to take pro photos if you do know better, gestures, functional features and a whole lot more for the price of the competition’s entry-level device. It’s a no-brainer. 

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