OnePlus is sticking to a tried-and-true recipe, which doesn't seem all that horrible, rather than taking any major chances with AI.
Google may have declared 2023 to be the year when its Pixel smartphones will formally receive a slew of AI-enabled capabilities. With its Galaxy S24 series, which mainly emphasizes AI features—some of which are strikingly similar to Google's—Samsung started 2024 with a similar trend. However, the rest the Android community is either a little behind schedule or still catching up. Although AI has long been used by cameras for image processing, companies like Vivo, Oppo, or OnePlus have yet to fully embrace and promote AI as a key component that enhances their software or smartphones as a whole.
Having said that, OnePlus essentially belongs to the second group. With this year's OnePlus 12, the firm stuck to the model and put more of an emphasis on superior hardware than any innovative AI features. And based on my observations from my evaluation of the Pixel 8 Pro, that's also not a bad concept. After using the new OnePlus 12 for a few days, I'm really impressed.
OnePlus includes a soft silicon case with a matte finish, a Type-A to Type-C charging cable, and a 100W charger in the box. The phone has a beautifully textured back panel with flowing lines, and it looks amazing in the new Flowy Emerald finish that I was sent for evaluation. The camera arrangement caught my eye, which appears very elegant and very much like the dial of a traditional timepiece.
Its certified IP65 rating is another noteworthy feature. While it's not as excellent as an IP68 rating, it's still useful at this price range because few smartphones provide better.
With its rounded corners, curved sides, and trademark attention to detail, its design is distinctly OnePlus. It kind of reverts to the brand's original aesthetic following the extreme departure from it with the Open foldable.
A sizable 6.82-inch QHD+ screen with a wide 19.8:9 aspect ratio and 510ppi sharpness is included. According to OnePlus, it has a peak brightness of 4,500 nits and a maximum brightness of 1,600 nits. Corning Gorilla Glass protects the 3D curved edge display.
One of the phone's potential advantages is that it runs on the most recent Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC. Since both Vivo and Samsung this year chose to use MediaTek and Exynos CPUs, it is one of the few smartphones at this price range that offers the same. A total or 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB of storage using UFS 4.0 are available for the phone.
Regarding its cameras, the OnePlus 12 has a configuration that is almost the same as its Open foldable camera layout. A 48-megapixel ultra-wide camera with a 114-degree field of view, a 64-megapixel macro camera with a 3X optical zoom, and a fifty-megapixel main camera with OIS are all included. One fixed-focus person handles the selfies.
Considering that the phone has a brand-new 5,400mAh dual-cell battery inside, it is surprisingly thin. Considering that OnePlus is renowned for fine-tuning its software, I have high expectations for overall performance. With the 100W charger included in the package, this battery can be charged up to 80W. Although it might seem like a step back from the 100W wired charging from the previous year, this is a necessary evil to charge OnePlus' largest battery pack in a phone to date. This year, 50W AirVOOC wireless charging is also returning.
All things considered, even though OnePlus appears to have taken certain parts from its parts bin, there is a lot to get excited about when reviewing the OnePlus 12. Though it bundles Android 14 with OxygenOS 14, there isn't much software-wise to look forward to. But where Google's AI-heavy Pixel faltered, I anticipate OnePlus to make up for it with some incredibly strong performance. Is OnePlus able to offer smartphones that are more affordable than those in Samsung's Galaxy S series? See for yourself in my in-depth evaluation, which will be released soon.