OnePlus 12 Review: A Stellar Flagship Experience with a Missing AI Ingredient
The OnePlus 12 is the brand’s flagship contender, aiming to deliver a premium experience with a focus on the fundamentals. It aims to appeal to loyal OnePlus fans seeking a powerful device without breaking the bank. This year, unlike previous models, the OnePlus 12 seems to boast nearly everything you’d expect from a top-tier smartphone, including a capable camera system, IP rating, and even wireless charging. However, there’s a notable omission: AI-powered features. Unlike competitors like the Google Pixel 8 series and Samsung’s Galaxy S24 series, the OnePlus 12 lacks any user-facing generative AI software. This begs the question: Is the absence of AI a dealbreaker in an increasingly stagnant smartphone market? Or, has OnePlus delivered a compelling package that overshadows the lack of AI? Let’s delve deeper into the OnePlus 12 and find out.
OnePlus 12 Review: Price in India
Unlike the foldable OnePlus Open, the OnePlus 12 is available in two configurations, making the price bump from its predecessors seem justified. The base variant offers 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, priced at Rs. 64,999. The higher-end variant, featuring 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, retails at Rs. 69,999, which seems highly competitive considering the hardware.
The OnePlus 12 comes in two colors: Flowy Emerald and Silky Black. We had the Flowy Emerald finish of the 512GB variant for review.
The OnePlus 12 includes a TPU case, a Type-A to Type-C charging cable, and a 100W charger – a generous package considering Samsung’s Galaxy S24 only offers a charging cable.
OnePlus 12 Review: Design
The OnePlus 12 sticks to its design heritage, embracing familiar materials and aesthetics. While the OnePlus Open marked a departure with its foldable design, the OnePlus 12 builds upon the changes introduced by the OnePlus 10 Pro. This model featured a distinctive, “gas stove-like” camera layout – four camera cutouts (including one for the dual-LED flash) arranged in a squared design with rounded corners. This design evolved into a circular module seemingly pressed into the raised glass rear panel of the OnePlus 11.
For the OnePlus 12, OnePlus opts for a flat rear glass panel and a similar circular camera module with a wraparound design on the left side of the frame. However, a flat holder for the circular camera module sets it apart. This flat holder, with its flat glass fitted into the circle, resembles a premium timepiece and adds elegance. Unfortunately, this design element doesn’t quite meet OnePlus’s usual quality standards.
The corners where the camera module wraps around the frame are quite sharp, and the plastic filler connecting the camera module and mid-frame appears slightly misaligned. This results in a noticeable ridge, disrupting the smooth flow of the design. Examining other OnePlus 12 units revealed that these sharp corners and misaligned fillers appear to be a design and quality oversight – similar to issues reported by some users in China at the launch.
Despite the misalignments and fitting issues, the OnePlus 12 maintains its IP65 rating, making it water-resistant to splashes but not submersion. This is a departure from several other smartphones in this price range, which typically offer IP67 or IP68 ratings.
The phone boasts a polished metal frame that adds grip, complementing the Flowy Emerald finish’s textured glass. The iconic Alert Slider is back but shifted to the left side instead of the right – a move reminiscent of the OnePlus Open’s unfolded state. The power and volume buttons are now on the right side.
OnePlus 12 Review: Specifications and Software
The OnePlus 12, as expected, packs the latest and greatest core hardware. This includes the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC, a maximum of 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM, and up to 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage, with no option for storage expansion. The in-display fingerprint reader, an optical type, performed reliably throughout the review.
The OnePlus 12 features Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, NFC, and support for several global satellite positioning systems, plus numerous 5G bands. It includes two physical nano SIM slots with dual-5G standby.
The device boasts a 5,400mAh (dual-cell) battery and comes bundled with a 100W charger, although charging speeds are capped at 80W. For wireless charging, the OnePlus 12 supports 50W wireless charging using a proprietary wireless charging dock sold separately at Rs. 5,499.
Running OxygenOS 14.0, based on Android 14, the OnePlus 12 promises four years of OS updates and five years of security updates, which is an attractive proposition. OxygenOS 14 appears largely similar to the previous version, derived from ColorOS.
One of the most notable software additions is Fluid Cloud, a feature reminiscent of iOS’s Live Activities. It adds a Dynamic Island-inspired capsule on the left edge of the status bar, providing relevant information for both native and third-party apps. Similar to iOS, you can tap and hold the capsule for an extended card with additional buttons, or tap once to open the app itself. This information is also visible on the lock screen. Fluid Cloud is also available on Oppo’s ColorOS and Realme UI 5.0 (called Flash Capsule) versions of Android 14.
Another new feature is Smart Suggestions, which works with Fluid Cloud on the home screen, lock screen, and Always-on Display (AOD). This feature leverages the phone’s AOD to display relevant updates from Zomato and Swiggy (for now), eliminating the need to unlock your phone for notifications.
While the overall software experience is polished, the phone lacks any generative AI software features – a defining trait of premium devices today. There are a few AI-enabled features hidden away, such as Smart Touch, which extracts text from a screenshot, and Smart Imaging Matting, which utilizes AI to cut out people and objects from photos. However, these features are not groundbreaking, having been seen on Samsung devices and iPhones in the past year.
This lack of AI-powered features is not unique to OnePlus. It extends to all brands under the BBK Electronics umbrella, including Vivo X100 Pro, priced at Rs. 89,999. While Google and Samsung are pushing for AI integration, BBK brands are lagging behind. If they don’t introduce compelling AI features in future updates, they risk losing customers, especially since Apple is expected to heavily incorporate AI in its upcoming iOS 18 software update.
OnePlus 12 Review: Performance
Considering the OnePlus 12’s top-of-the-line hardware, expectations were sky-high, both for software experience and benchmark performance. The software experience is undeniably smooth, but synthetic benchmarks, even with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC, fell short compared to the iQoo 12 (also Snapdragon 8 Gen 3) and were noticeably lower than the Vivo X100 Pro (MediaTek Dimensity 9300) – especially in AnTuTu and Geekbench. The OnePlus 12 scored 1,629,220 points on AnTuTu, while the Vivo X100 Pro achieved 2,020,631 points on the same test.
Despite this, the phone delivers impressive performance while playing games like Call of Duty: Mobile. It easily manages 120fps with "medium" graphics and "ultra" frame rate settings. High graphics and frame rates don’t seem to strain the phone, and its large vapor chamber cooling system effectively keeps temperatures under control during resource-intensive tasks, including high-end 3D gaming and 4K video recording.
The OnePlus 12’s 120Hz display keeps up with the action, boasting a responsive touch sampling rate, making it a reliable mobile gaming device. The Pro Screen color mode displays mostly accurate colors, resulting in sharp pictures and text at 510 ppi. The OnePlus 12 remains one of the few smartphones to offer a QHD+ display at this price point, and we used it at its full resolution during the review.
With 4,500 nits of peak brightness, the OnePlus 12 tackles outdoor usage without issue. This also benefits the display when enjoying HDR10+ or Dolby Vision content on supported streaming platforms. The ProXDR display enhances the viewing experience for photos and Dolby Vision 4K 30fps videos, which the phone can capture. Audio quality is also impressive, with an immersive experience while gaming and sufficient volume for video watching. Aqua Touch works well when the display is wet, proving helpful on rainy days, especially as the phone now supports IP65 rating.
Battery life is equally impressive. The phone achieved a solid 28 hours and 6 minutes in our standard video loop battery test, surpassing expectations at this price point and beyond. In everyday use, we consistently achieved around 9 hours of screen-on time or about a day and a half of heavy usage with data and Wi-Fi connections, including camera use, an hour of gaming, and 3 hours of video streaming.
Recharging is also remarkably fast. The capped 80W wired charging managed 99 percent in 30 minutes and a full charge in 37 minutes. Wireless charging is available, but we were unable to test it as OnePlus did not provide their AirVOOC charger.
OnePlus 12 Review: Cameras
The OnePlus 12 packs an impressive camera system, largely inherited from the OnePlus Open. The main camera uses a Sony LYT-808 50-megapixel sensor, slightly different from the Sony LYT-T808 camera on the OnePlus Open, but the results are very similar. The noticeable differences lie in focusing speed, reliability, and slightly better image processing, potentially due to the newer Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC’s more advanced ISP, as the OnePlus Open has an older Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC.
The primary camera captures detailed pictures with excellent contrast and color, showing ample detail in shadows without overexposure in bright areas. Sharpness is exceptional, and details are excellent, from textured surfaces to foliage. Low light performance is also impressive, but it suffers slightly in terms of detail and dynamic range.
Like the OnePlus Open, the 64-megapixel 3X telephoto camera is the standout feature, producing jaw-dropping photos across various lighting conditions. Pictures of objects and subjects are remarkably sharp, even under artificial light, with a natural bokeh. This lens excels in portrait photos of pets and people, and we enjoyed using it to capture pictures of our four-year-old. However, the camera prioritizes exposure over shutter speed, struggling to handle moving subjects effectively. Despite OIS, there’s a chance your subject might appear slightly blurry if they move during capture. In terms of zoom, the phone delivers good photos up to 6X (lossless in-sensor zoom), beyond which image quality starts to decline.
One consistent issue, even on the OnePlus Open after updates, is the white balance of the telephoto camera. Images captured with this lens appear warmer and more saturated compared to the primary camera, leading to a yellowish cast, especially when shooting predominantly white subjects.
Given the primary and telephoto cameras’ impressive performance, we expected similar results from the ultra-wide lens, hoping the new SoC would make a difference. Unfortunately, it maintains the same performance as the Open. While photos look good on the phone itself, they lack sharpness and detail and appear slightly soft in both low light and daylight. They fall short of the results delivered by the Google Pixel 8 Pro, although that phone is priced higher.
Macro photos are detailed, and the telephoto lens allows for sharp close-ups. Selfies are decent, showing good dynamic range, accurate skin tones, and edge detection in daylight, but low-light shots are merely average, lacking desirable quality.
Video quality has noticeably improved compared to the OnePlus 11. 4K footage is very stable and displays slightly vibrant colors. The dynamic range and bitrate are excellent. While quality drops slightly in low light, noise is minimized. Colors remain accurate, and stabilization is well-managed. We also tried out 8K video, which, while gimmicky, doesn’t maintain a steady frame rate while recording.
OnePlus 12 Review: Verdict
The OnePlus 12 performs exceptionally well in all aspects and easily surpasses its predecessor. It earns a strong recommendation as an upgrade, even for those who own the OnePlus 11.
OnePlus has adhered to its formula, delivering a smartphone that fits perfectly between the sub-Rs. 50,000 premium devices and the high-end sub-Rs 90,000 segment, which includes devices like Google’s Pixel 8 (starting at Rs. 75,999) and Samsung’s Galaxy S24 (starting at Rs. 79,999). However, both of these rivals boast cool AI features that are absent from the OnePlus 12.
If you’re drawn to trying out new AI features, the Pixel 8 and Galaxy S24 are better choices. But if you aren’t particularly interested in AI, the OnePlus 12 is difficult to ignore. It offers fantastic value, providing a larger and better display, exceptional performance, versatile cameras, and outstanding battery life—with wireless charging—for a more affordable price.
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