OnePlus 12 Review: A Flagship Killer or Just Another Premium Device?

The OnePlus 12 might not have gotten as much attention as some other releases lately, but it’s packed with meaningful upgrades and comes at a very competitive price. Let’s talk about that price first: $799. And if you pre-order, you can get the 16GB RAM, 512GB storage version for that same price—basically a free upgrade. It’s already marked down on Amazon, so I’ll include a link below. While the price is definitely in flagship territory, when you compare it to phones that go for $1,000 or more, this one starts to look like a “flagship killer.”

In terms of design, it looks pretty similar to last year’s model. OnePlus has stuck with what works, keeping the same shape and the familiar round camera bump with those neat neural textures around it. The back is still Gorilla Glass 5, and while there are some new colors and textures, you might easily mistake it for last year’s phone. But don’t let the similar look fool you.

The biggest change is the display. This year’s screen is much brighter—up to 1,600 nits outdoors—and it hits an impressive 4,500 nits for peak HDR brightness. It’s incredibly readable in any lighting condition, whether you’re outside or in low light. It also dims down nicely when you need it. I’m not a fan of the curved edges, though; they cause some light falloff and reflections, but overall, this 6.8-inch, 1440p LTPO Pro XDR display is a big step up from last year.

As for the rest of the improvements, they’re mostly small but noticeable changes that add up to a much better experience overall. That’s how smartphones have evolved: years ago, a new model would come with huge changes in design and features. Now, it’s more about adding thoughtful little upgrades to make the phone better in every way.

To be a true flagship killer, a phone needs to pack the latest chipset, and this one comes through with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. You probably won’t notice a huge difference next to a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 device, but the improved cooling on this phone lets it push slightly higher clock speeds. The result? It benchmarks just behind gaming phones and the S24 Ultra. In day-to-day use, it means the phone is fast and smooth—like, really smooth. OnePlus has been nailing this for years, even with the high-performance mode turned off by default in the battery settings.

When it comes to battery life, this phone really shines. It prioritizes long-lasting power over squeezing every drop of performance or FPS. The big 5,400 mAh battery is one of the largest in a OnePlus flagship, beating many of the current ultra phones out there. Plus, they’ve kept their signature Super Fast Charging, of course.

The battery is actually two 2,700 mAh cells, and it charges up at an impressive 80W wired. With the combination of huge battery capacity, incredible longevity, and ultra-fast charging, this phone is easily in the running for “battery champion of the year.” If you stick with the default settings—regular performance mode, 1080p resolution, and auto frame rate—you can get two full days of light use. And when you finally need to charge, you can go from near zero to 50% in just 12 minutes. A full charge? That’ll take about 30 minutes. It’s that simple.

On top of all that, there’s up to 50W wireless charging. If you’ve got a compatible AirBoost charger (sold separately), this is a big upgrade from the OnePlus 11, which didn’t have wireless charging at all. I do wish it supported Qi2 wireless charging, though—especially since Qi2 has had a rocky start this year. With a 15W charging limit on Qi2, fast wireless charging is still better done with regular wireless charging.

So, there’s no Qi2 wireless charging or magnets, but the charging speed is insanely fast. On the bright side, the display is much better, the chip is upgraded, the battery is improved, and the cameras got a nice boost. Now, I’ll be honest—the cameras have been a weak spot for OnePlus’s flagship phones for a while. They’ve always marketed themselves as “flagship killers,” but when it comes to cameras, flagship phones are expected to deliver top-notch quality, and OnePlus has never quite hit that level. I’d say the camera’s finally at a good level for a flagship, but it’s still not quite on par with the absolute best out there—at least not yet.

The main sensor has a slight change. Instead of the OnePlus Open’s Sony LYT-T808 sensor, it now uses the LYT-808 sensor. It’s got two more megapixels and a slightly wider aperture, plus better glass in front. But honestly, these OnePlus 12 photos aren’t going to blow your mind. I’ve done some side-by-side comparisons, and while the photos are sharp and good most of the time, they tend to have a bit more contrast than the OnePlus Open. The HDR looks fine, but it tends to fall apart in tough lighting situations, especially in low light.

That said, it’s not far behind the competition. The camera system is mostly software-driven, but it holds up pretty well. In standard lighting, it scored the third-highest ELO rating, just behind the Pixel phones. In portrait mode, it was also in the top 10. But when it comes to low light, it was near the bottom, just above the Sony and below the Razr.

So yeah, the camera system is new with updated hardware and features like a new zoom lens. But overall, it’s just a bit better than last year. For most people, that’ll be good enough. But if we’re talking about true flagship camera performance, there’s still a gap before it can beat the very best. That being said, OnePlus continues to improve, so that’s a good sign.

There are also a ton of little features about this OnePlus phone that I really like. For instance, I love how I can force any app to run at the frame rate I want. There’s a list of all the apps on my phone, and by default, mapping apps like Waze and Google Maps usually lock to 60Hz—even on other 120Hz phones. But on this phone, I can override that and get the full 120Hz experience. It’s a small thing, but it makes a noticeable difference.

I really like that this phone has an infrared blaster—it’s one of those rare features you don’t see much in modern smartphones, along with things like a headphone jack. It’s great because it lets you control appliances remotely, like your TV or even someone else’s, without having to search for the remote. It’s those small touches that make a big difference.

The USB-C port is another highlight. It supports some of the fastest charging we’ve seen on a phone in the U.S. and also offers super fast data transfer speeds. This port is USB 3.2 Gen 1, though the names and generations can be confusing. The main takeaway is that it gives you some of the best data speeds you can get from a USB-C phone. With the right cable, you can quickly transfer large files, like videos, on and off the device.

And for those who are sensitive to screen flicker, you’ll love that this new display supports high PWM dimming. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s not a big deal, but there are people who can notice flickering at very low brightness on OLED screens, which can cause headaches or eye strain. This phone solves that with ultra-fast pulse-width modulation (PWM), flickering at a rate of 2,160Hz—way faster than the human eye can detect. It means the screen stays smooth and comfortable to look at, no matter the brightness.

If you’ve ever used your phone in the rain or when it’s wet, you know how frustrating it can be. The screen gets all unresponsive, and it almost feels like the phone starts doing its own thing when water hits it. It’s the kind of thing people joke about in memes. But this phone has a new technology called Aqua Touch, which claims to keep the screen just as responsive, even when it’s covered in water. You might have seen the ads and thought it sounds too good to be true, but honestly, it works. It’s not perfect, but it’s a lot better. You can actually type on the screen while it’s wet, something I’d never even try on other phones. It almost feels like magic, and I’m pretty impressed.

On top of that, there are some nice little extras. The phone has 12 or 16 GB of fast RAM, which is pretty impressive and definitely future-proof. It also supports Dolby Atmos with spatial audio, which sounds fantastic. The haptics are great too. All of these little things really come together to make a solid experience. But let’s be real—no phone is perfect, and this one has a couple of flaws too.

For one, I’m not a fan of curved displays, and this one still has them. It’s not a dealbreaker, though, and some people might even like the added character in a sea of 2024 smartphones. But curved edges do come with some downsides—there’s glare, light fall-off, and it’s not the most durable when it comes to drop tests. So yeah, they’ve kept the curved display. But then there’s also the fingerprint sensor. It’s still a basic optical sensor, and honestly, it feels like it hasn’t been upgraded in years.

And even though this phone is running the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip—just like many other flagship phones—it doesn’t have any of the AI features that other phones with the same chip are boasting about. Qualcomm’s new chip offers small performance gains and efficiency improvements, but the big selling point is its AI capabilities, which this phone seems to have skipped. It’s not a huge deal, but it’s a bit of a missed opportunity. The only AI feature I’ve found so far is in the photo editor, called AI Palettes, but it’s basically just a color overlay. I don’t even think there’s much real AI involved in that.

This phone doesn’t have any of those fancy features like generative fill, crop correction, Magic Editor, or things like auto transcriptions or translations of phone calls. No speaker labels in the voice app, no automatic summaries in the browser—none of that stuff. It’s just not on this phone.

Also, there’s this odd bug I’ve encountered. Every time I’m in the overlay browser and reach up to use the alert slider on the OnePlus phone to switch modes, it opens a search box for finding text on the page. I have no idea why, since those features shouldn’t be linked, but it happens every single time.

But the biggest downside to this phone, especially when comparing it to other high-end flagships, is the promised shorter software update support. I’ve already gotten a pretty major update since I started using it—improvements to the camera, bug fixes, that kind of thing—but OnePlus is only promising four years of software updates and five years of security patches. For some people, that might be enough, especially if they don’t plan on keeping their phone for more than four or five years. But when you consider that other flagship phones like Pixel, Samsung, or iPhones offer six or seven years of updates, this feels a bit behind. Maybe OnePlus just didn’t think it was worth the resources or that people wouldn’t care enough to pay for longer support, but there’s definitely a gap here.

So, is this phone a flagship killer? That really depends on how you define a flagship, doesn’t it? For me, the most attractive thing about this phone is how competitively priced it is. It’s very similar in a lot of ways to the Samsung S24 Ultra, but I’ve seen the 16GB RAM, 512GB storage version listed for $899 on OnePlus’ site. If you pre-order it, you can get it for $799. They’re also offering deals where you can trade in any old phone for $100 off, bringing the price down to $699. When you compare that to the $1,300 price tag of some other flagships, that’s an amazing deal.

So, in the end, it all comes down to what’s important to you. If the camera is a top priority for you, or if long-term software support matters a lot, or if you’re really into those AI features, then you might be better off with one of the other flagship phones. But for everything else—performance, a fantastic screen, amazing battery life, super-fast charging—this phone is probably better than you’d expect.