OnePlus 12 Review: Still killing flagships, but premium ones!

OnePlus’ journey into the premium smartphone zone has been a typically Never Settling one. In 2022, it seemed to be getting into the Phone zone with the OnePlus 10 Pro 5G, priced at Rs 66,999. It then seemed to take a step back and get closer to its flagship killing roots with the OnePlus 11 5G, which was priced at Rs 56,999 and had no ‘Pro’ avatar at all. However, this year has seen the Never Settling brand again put its premium foot forward with the OnePlus 12 5G, which starts at Rs 65,999/$799, and there’s still no Pro version at the time of writing. The price increase has not gone down too well in some quarters, and the phone has even copped criticism because of its seeming similarity to its predecessor.

But is the OnePlus 12 5G merely a better-specced, higher-priced OnePlus 11 5G, as many have alleged? We think not. The phone sees OnePlus get back into the premium zone. The big specs, the big features, and the strong focus on rock-solid basics are all there, and so is the penchant for performing much better after an update. The big question, of course, is whether all this is worth the higher price tag that the OnePlus 12 5G comes with.

OnePlus 12 5G design and appearance: The attack of the OnePlus 11 clone, unless you go green? Actually…not quite

At first glance, you can see why so many have accused it of being a OnePlus 11 copy because the phone seems pretty much a design clone of its predecessor. You get a similar curved front and back, with a large, shiny, spherical camera unit with Hasselblad branding on it and a metal frame with curved sides in between. In fact, if you take the black variants of the OnePlus 11 and OnePlus 12, it is difficult to tell them apart, with both having similar backs that shine in the sun. The most visible difference between the two phones in design terms seems to be the green shade of the OnePlus 12, which has wav-y patterns on it. We got the Silky Black variant of the phone, for the record, and our initial take was similar to that of many of our colleagues – it seemed like a OnePlus 11 copy.

Spend a little time with the OnePlus 12, however, and the differences between it and its predecessor become apparent. The OnePlus 12 is a noticeably bigger phone than the OnePlus 11 in all regards – it is 164.3 mm tall as compared to 163.11 of the OnePlus 11, 75.8 mm wide against 74.1 mm and at 9.2 mm thick, is not just thicker than the 8.5 mm OnePlus 11, but even the very first OnePlus (8.9 mm). Not surprisingly, all these make the OnePlus 12 a heavier phone, too – 220 grams compared to 205 grams for the OnePlus 11. It is a very tough phone, though – the front and back are Gorilla Glass Victus 2, and the frame is high-quality aluminum. The phone has also got an IP65 rating, up from IP64 on the OnePlus 11 – you still cannot take it swimming, but it will comfortably defy splashes of water and gusts of dust.

A closer glance will also show subtle changes in design from the OnePlus 11. The iconic alert slider has now been moved to the left side, and the volume buttons have been moved to the right (the exact opposite of the OnePlus 11). That Hasselblad-y camera unit on the back has two flashes, one within the lenses for the cameras and one slightly outside the camera unit. The camera is the biggest difference in the fronts of the two devices as well – while the OnePlus 11 had a camera in a punch hole notch in the top left corner of its display, the OnePlus 12 has it bang in the center of the top of the display.

It is not the most compact, light, or thin device we have seen, yet OnePlus has made the OnePlus 12 look remarkably elegant. The silk black unit we got had the aura of a gladiator in a well-tailored tuxedo – big yet quietly brilliant. It won’t scream for attention, but will be seen – shades of the other smartphone biggie, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. And while it does bear a strong resemblance to the OnePlus 11, those who have used that phone will not mistake this one for it.

OnePlus 12 5G specs: Heavy hardware and software

There are some big specs inside that big frame. Although the slightly larger display retains its quad-HD resolution as on the OnePlus 11 and continues to be an LTPO AMOLED one with a 120 Hz refresh rate that can vary from 1-120 Hz depending on the content on it, and also supports HDR10+ and Dolby Vision, it now comes with a staggering peak brightness of 4500 nits. For context, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has a peak brightness of 2600 nits, and the iPhone 15 Pro has a peak brightness of 2000 nits. This is one of the most bright displays we have seen on a phone. Powering the OnePlus 12 is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, the current Android flagship favorite and it comes with not just speedy LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.0 storage (without any doubts whatsoever) but significantly increased RAM and storage variants of 12 GB/ 256 GB and 16 GB/ 512 GB – no 8 GB/ 128 GB variant this time. Also on board are stereo speakers with support for Dolby Atmos.

The OnePlus 12 5G comes with a very formidable camera set up on paper – a 50-megapixel Sony LYT-808 main sensor with OIS and a large f/1.6 aperture, a 64-megapixel periscope telephoto sensor with OIS and 3X optical zoom and a 48-megapixel ultrawide camera that comes with autofocus and can also double up as a macro snapper. The front camera has also been bumped up to 32 megapixels. That’s a lot of megapixels to go around, and of course, the rear cameras have been made in collaboration with the legendary Hasselblad.

The phone runs on Android 14, with OnePlus’ clean OxygenOS 14 on it, and till the time of writing, no talk of AI. OnePlus has committed to four years of Android updates (and has also made it clear that it is no fan of seven-year assurances) and five years of security updates. The phone also packs in the biggest battery we have seen on a OnePlus that does not fold – a large 5400 mAh battery – and it charges at 100W, with a 100W charger in the box. Wireless charging also returns to the OnePlus world and does so at a crazy speed – the OnePlus 12 charges wirelessly at 50W if you can find a charger that fast!

OnePlus 12 5G cameras: Good main sensor, handy zoom, superb portraits, and some Hasselblad too

The OnePlus 12 comes well-stacked with cameras in terms of specs, but how well does all this translate into performance? Well, initially, we felt that the cameras on the OnePlus 12 were a bit underwhelming in terms of both color reproduction and details. However, as so often happens with OnePlus flagships, a software update has improved matters no end. So much so that we would say that in good light, at least, the OnePlus 12 can go toe to toe against the likes of the Pixel and the iPhone.

While OnePlus had initially gone with Hasselblad’s more realistic color tones in its earlier devices, in the OnePlus 12, it has gone for a blend of people-pleasing popping colors and Hasselblad’s realism. The main sensor, by and large, sticks to more mainstream, eye-pleasing, slightly saturated colors, but get into portrait mode with Hasselblad’s filters or into Hasselblad’s Master mode, and you see the colors shift subtly. We would ideally have liked to be able to shift between the Hasselblad color signature and OnePlus’ own. Still, even this split is useful enough as many users in the past have not liked Hasselblad’s realistic color and detail style, which at times can appear faded.

While the main Sony LYT-808 sensor is a very good normal light and even a good low light performer in terms of color and detail, the surprise package is the 64-megapixel periscope telephoto sensor, which not only gives us very good 3x optical zoom but actually gives very handy and usable digital zoom in good light conditions for up to 20x. Technically, it can zoom right up to 120x, but we found that that mode was best left for moon shots, which the phone does surprisingly well. It is also said to come with 6x relatively lossless zoom, which is best used in good light conditions.

The OnePlus 12 churns out some very impressive portraits, sometimes even in low-light conditions. The telephoto sensor gets you three levels of zoom on portraits. It lets you tweak the depth of field to increase or decrease bokeh, emulating the performance of Hasselblad’s legendary X lens systems. There are three high-quality Hasselblad filters on board – the bright Radiance, the slightly dark Serenity, and the subtly greenish Emerald – and the legendary wide-angle XPan mode, adding a whole new perspective to photography.

But the biggest Hasselblad addition to the phone is the Hasselblad Master mode, which replaces Pro mode and features Hasselblad’s signature colors. It lets you shoot in a simpler Auto mode as well as a more detailed Pro one, letting you tweak shots and settings and even choose between JPG and RAW formats. Selfie snaps have also improved substantially with the 32-megapixel new selfie sensor. OnePlus claims to have used a fair bit of computational photography in its cameras, and we certainly got more detail in our shots than in the past.

One area where the cameras lag behind the competition is videos. While the OnePlus 12 took good-quality videos in daylight, its performance dipped when night fell. We also felt it was not quite in the league of the iPhones in terms of capturing sound, but then, not many phones are in that league. All said and done, the OnePlus 12’s cameras are very able performers and give you a variety of shooting options. Just remember to update your phone and explore different shooting modes well (it can seem a little complex at times). Handled well, the OnePlus 12 can hold its own against the likes of the Galaxy S24, the Pixel 8, and the iPhone 15, especially in good light conditions.

OnePlus 5G performance: Effortlessly flagship level with terrific battery life

All that high-end hardware packed into the OnePlus enables it to turn in a sterling performance. The bigger and brighter display, allied with the superb stereo speakers, makes it a great device for consuming content. Of course, the top-notch processor, RAM, and storage make the OnePlus 12 the perfect gaming and multitasking beast. The phone easily handled Genshin Impact at its highest graphics settings and played the likes of Asphalt and Call of Duty with seemingly effortless smoothness. The phone did heat up a little initially. Still, a software update seems to have sorted matters out, and it subsequently has never gotten into uncomfortably warm waters while gaming or during extended photography sessions.

While there have been concerns in the OnePlus loyalist community about the brand’s tie-up with Oppo, OxygenOS continues to be one of the cleaner Android interfaces around. It works very smoothly on the OnePlus 12 – those who do not like the Shelf feature (a collection of widgets and information that appears when you swipe down from anywhere except the very top of the phone) can turn it off. Our biggest challenge was getting used to the new positions of the alert slider and volume buttons. The fingerprint scanner works smoothly enough, and its placement at a location that is closer to the middle than the ‘chin’ of the phone makes it easier to use.

One of the strongest points of the OnePlus 12 is its battery performance. This is the first phone we have used in a while that comfortably went past a day of normal to heavy usage, even when we kept it at full quad HD resolution. Move the display to FHD+ resolution, and you can comfortably get a day and a half or even two days with a bit of care. This is one of the best battery performances we have seen from a high-end Android flagship for a while – that 5400 mAh battery does seem to make a difference. The fact that the 100W charger in the box gets the phone from nil to 100 percent in about 30-35 minutes is also very impressive. OnePlus claims that the phone can get charged wirelessly in less than an hour if you can get a 50W wireless charger – we could not verify this, but charging it using a 15W charger (the most common one these days) could end up taking more than three hours!

OnePlus 12 5G Pricing: Premium pricing for premium specs

The OnePlus 12 comes in the following RAM and storage variants at these prices:

• 12 GB / 256 GB: Rs 65,999
• 16 GB / 512 GB: Rs 69,999

While this might seem much higher than the OnePlus 11’s starting price of Rs 56,999, what needs to be kept in mind is that this was the price for an 8 GB/ 128 GB variant, while the OnePlus 12 starts with a 12 GB/ 256 variant. Still, there is no denying that the OnePlus 12 comes with a premium price tag and is in the range of the Pixel 8 and the iPhone 15, both of which are often available in the range of Rs 70,000 – Rs 75,000. Given its spec sheet, we, however, suspect it might be laying siege to those who want Galaxy S24 Ultra-like specs in terms of display, processor, and RAM but on a much tighter budget.

OnePlus 12 Review verdict: Should you buy it?

On paper, the OnePlus 12 might be hovering in the price segment of the Pixel 8 and the iPhone 15, but we think neither of those phones is in its sights. The OnePlus 12 is, in fact, hands down the most well-specced phone you can get on paper for not just under Rs 70,000, but even under Rs 85,000. And that makes it a challenger for the likes of the elite iPhone 15 Pro, Pixel 8 Pro, and the Galaxy S24 series.

It seemed a little shaky on the camera front initially, but a software update has improved matters no end on that front as well. We would say that it remains the best option for those who want a big phone with big hardware at the most affordable price possible. However, the iQOO 12 gives it very tough competition with a similar processor and equally good (some might say better) cameras.

It has the looks, the specs, and the performance to take on pretty much any phone out there. It might not win, but its lower price than most similarly specced devices gives it a massive edge. Its price has gone premium again, but the OnePlus 12 remains a flagship killer – only now it is hunting down premium flagships.

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