It is obvious that OnePlus is no longer what it was. The Asian company founded by Pete Lau and Karl Pei has changed a lot since its founding in 2013. Now it has merged with Oppo, one of its creators has created his own company, which is even a competitor, and there are no more Pro versions. or the iconic T variant that has so characterized the brand. Despite this, the company continues to release smartphones designed to compete with major traditional brands. And this year they intend to do it with OnePlus 12.
This is currently the most powerful OnePlus mobile phone. It even beats the foldable phone that the company announced last year – in fact, it inherits some of the features of that handset. Just look at the technical specifications to see that this is one of the most advanced phones on the market. Yes, one more.
OnePlus 12 plays in the premium league, just like Samsung. Galaxy S24 UltraHe iPhone 15 pro maxHe Google Pixel 8 ProHe Xiaomi 14 Ultra or Honor Magic 6 Pro. All of them are equipped with one of the most powerful processors on the market, stunning camera configurations, screens that stand out for their resolution and brightness, and unique designs. Each of them has their own strengths to compete with the rest, and the OnePlus 12 has some interesting ones.
The OnePlus flagship aims to carve out a niche for itself by betting on the photographic part, which makes a rather important leap compared to its predecessor: OnePlus 11. We also take care of the design with a somewhat distinctive aesthetic, thus improving the performance and software. But OnePlus is primarily trying to compete with the OnePlus 12 on price. Terminal goes on sale for 969 euros, which is slightly cheaper than the Google Pixel 8 Pro or Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. A priori it seems like an interesting alternative, but it depends, of course, on how the terminal behaves in each of its sections.
OnePlus 12 flies
Design is always one of the things that I usually pay attention to when testing a mobile phone. And the truth is that everything has not changed with this OnePlus 12, because, in addition, it is a little peculiar – we will talk about this later -. Now there is something that caught my attention much more and which I consider much more important than the appearance of this device: your speech.
Eventually: OnePlus 12 fliesThis is one of the most powerful smartphones I’ve tried in a long time. Open any application instantly, it is almost impossible to see clipping, slow loading or stops during the game. Absolutely everything moves with extreme smoothness.
This is, of course, thanks to its processor. Installed in OnePlus 12 Snapdragon 8 3rd generation, Qualcomm’s most powerful processor and one of the most advanced mobile processors on the market. This is also accompanied by 16GB LPDDR5X RAM, which is expandable, effectively taking up space from the 512GB of internal storage built into this device.
The excellent performance I’ve noticed in these weeks of rigorous testing of the OnePlus 12 also comes from the software: OxygenOS, which, we repeat, is one of the strengths of this team. The company has done a good job of optimization; The animation is fast without any lag and the minimalistic and well-tailored design makes the experience of this mobile phone more complete.
Of course, OxygenOS though has a lot of customization options, which is valuable considering it’s one of Android’s attractions. Has many useful features. For example, there’s a gaming app that adapts the interface, prioritizes performance, and lets you see data like device temperature. There is also an app to help you relax and another to help you stay focused. Both are well designed, but why are they there?
Design and screen: there’s something about it
OnePlus 12 looks like a typical person who is ugly, but there is something there. It’s not really a mobile phone; At least not for me. However, it has a very interesting design and, above all, shape, The more time I spend with him, the more I like him..
Let’s start with what is striking is that OnePlus 12 It looks exactly the same as its predecessor, OnePlus 11. It holds a circular camera at the top, right on the edge, with a photo module that literally protrudes from the side frame. It also retains the glass back with a matte finish, although this time in a rather flattering green tone that also has some touches of a darker tone.
According to OnePlus, these brushstrokes imitate, so to speak, the small streams that form in the Dart River in the Southern Alps. But it’s not the finish of the rear itself that’s important, but rather how well it’s built and how durable it feels. The materials that the company uses also make the OnePlus 12 very comfortable to use, despite its considerable size.
OnePlus 12 has one of the best screens on a mobile phone
This good design is complemented by a screen that is more than up to par. Here we see a significant jump compared to the OnePlus 11. Specifically, the OnePlus 12 a 6.82-inch AMOLED panel with 2K resolution is installed. and a refresh rate of 120 Hz.
But the biggest jump occurs in brightness, which reaches 1600 nitswith peaks up to 4500 when playing HDR content. It’s a beast compared to other phones in the same price range. For example, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has a peak brightness of up to 2,600 nits, while the iPhone 15 Pro Max reaches 1,000 nits with 2,000 peaks.
Moreover, the screen is extremely clear, with very correct color calibration and adaptive refresh rate, which makes the user experience of this mobile even better.
However, Do these brightness peaks affect battery life? Quick answer: no. The 5400mAh battery built into this OnePlus 12 does a great job and even allows you to achieve two days of use if you don’t abuse the advanced settings – for example, setting the screen quality to a lower resolution, keeping adaptive refresh. speed or let the brightness adjust automatically. However, even when adjusting the brightness manually, the OnePlus 12’s battery still performs very well.
OnePlus trusts Hasselblad again
OnePlus, of course, did not leave aside the photo section. OnePlus 12 supports cooperation with Hasselblad which the company started in 2021. This time with a camera configuration almost identical to the OnePlus Open foldable mobile phone.
So OnePlus 12 has a sensor Sony LYT-808 50 megapixels for the corner camera, as well as another 48 megapixels for the ultra-wide-angle camera. It also includes a 64-megapixel telephoto lens capable of taking photos at 3x optical zoom.
The first thing I thought of when checking results with main sensor — and after extensively testing phones like the Pixel 8 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro — we’re not reviewing the phone with the best camera on the market, but its results are excellent in most situations. The processing is amazing – in a good way – as it manages to create very realistic colors and maintain detail even in low light. These excellent results are reflected indoors, although as usual there is a little more noise.
Telephoto lens, especially when we shoot with the 3x optical zoom, it also does its job very well and also maintains the same colors and details that we get with the main camera. Again, indoors or in less lit areas the camera tends to lose quality, creating a little more noise than we’d like.
On the other side, ultra wide angle camera It also leaves no one indifferent, thanks in part to OnePlus’ fantastic processing, which Hasselblad apparently also worked on. In this case, a lot of information is lost at the edges of the image. In some cases, especially when shooting quickly, a blur effect is created, which is very typical of ultra-wide-angle cameras on mid-range mobile phones. This isn’t anything alarming because it rarely happens, but it does mean that if we want good results with this camera, we have to stop, focus properly, and take the photo.
The collaboration with Hasselblad, by the way, is evident in a very well optimized camera interface and various modes such as portrait, which gives good results, and various filters that make the photography section much more versatile.
Is OnePlus 12 worth the money?
We repeat, OnePlus 12 is available for 969 euros (in the case of the variant with 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of internal memory). And I dare say that this is one of the best premium phones that have passed through my hands in recent months. To tell the truth, it has been a long time since a mobile phone has surprised me with its good performance, how convenient it is (though not the best looking), software capabilities, screen and battery life.
However, the OnePlus 12 has some small negative points that are important to highlight. One of them is the ultra-wide-angle camera and telephoto lens, which, although they produce very good results, cannot compare with other phones in the same price range. The OnePlus 12 also doesn’t have water resistance, although other high-end smartphones do; and its software, while very nice and offering a lot of customization options, has few or no useful features that can get in the way in some cases.
I think OnePlus played its cards very well and, above all, did very well by putting it on sale for less than 1000 euros. Because nowadays, if you are looking for a premium mobile phone and don’t want to spend more than this barrier, this is the best option.
OnePlus 12
OnePlus 12 5G with 12GB RAM and 256GB Storage with 4th Gen Hasselblad Mobile Camera – 2 Year Warranty – Silky Black
Source: Hiper Textual
I’m Ben Stock, a highly experienced and passionate journalist with a career in the news industry spanning more than 10 years. I specialize in writing content for websites, including researching and interviewing sources to produce engaging articles. My current role is as an author at Gadget Onus, where I mainly cover the mobile section.
