What you need to know
- The OnePlus 12 has been unveiled in China, with the phone set to go on sale starting December 11.
- The phone is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and comes with up to 24GB of RAM and 1TB of storage.
- You get a large 5400mAh battery at the back, and it picks up wireless charging tech.
- A global launch is slated for “early 2024,” and while OnePlus didn’t mention a date, it will be at the end of January.
OnePlus isn’t waiting around to launch its 2024 flagship — the OnePlus 12 is now official in China, and the device will go on sale starting December 11. OnePlus showed off the design last week, and while the overall aesthetic is similar to the OnePlus 11, there’s a gorgeous white color variant and a new Flowy Emerald model that looks very distinctive.
But it’s all about the hardware with this phone. The OnePlus 12 is powered by Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, and it is getting a considerable upgrade on the storage side of things as well: it is the first OnePlus phone to feature 1TB of UFS 4.0 storage, and you get 24GB of LPDDR5X RAM in that configuration. If you don’t need that much RAM or storage, the device is also sold in 12GB/256GB, 16GB/512GB, and 16GB/1TB variants.
The OnePlus 12 is rocking a 6.82-inch QHD+ screen with a resolution of 3168 x 1440, and you get dynamic refresh that goes up to 120Hz. That’s all pretty standard fare, but what’s unique is that the BOE panel goes up to 1600 nits in daily use, and an insane 4500 nits in HDR content — that’s more than double that of the Galaxy S23 Ultra and iPhone 15 Pro Max, so I’m interested in seeing how HDR content holds up on this phone. With a 2160Hz PWM dimming, the device should be easy on the eyes as well.
You also get a larger 5400mAh battery, and the charging tech is getting an upgrade too; wired charging is the same at 100W, but the device is picking up 50W wireless charging, a sore omission on the OnePlus 11. You even get reverse wireless charging at 10W if you want to charge accessories on the back of the device.
Elsewhere, there’s Wi-Fi 7, global 5G bands, Bluetooth 5.4, NFC, AptX HD codecs, and LHDC. Interestingly, the Chinese model gets IP65 dust and water resistance, and while that’s not on par with the best Android phones, it is a far sight better than what we got this year. The phone launches with OxygenOS 14 based on Android 14 out of the box, and will get four OS updates.
The biggest talking point is the cameras at the back, and it picks up the same 50MP f/1.6 Sony LYTIA LYT808 module that debuted on the Open foldable. Joining that is a 64MP OmniVision OV64B zoom lens with 3x optical zoom, and a 48MP wide-angle lens.
Overall, the OnePlus 12 is looking like quite the upgrade over the OnePlus 11, and while the device is now available in China, the global launch is still a while away. Although OnePlus didn’t reveal the date — only stating that it will be in “early 2024” — an earlier leak suggested January 24 as the global launch, so we’ll be getting a look at the device pretty soon.