OnePlus 12 review

Design, build quality, handling

Continuity appears to be the key word in the OnePlus 12 design, the new model looking a lot the previous one, itself an improved version of the OnePlus 10 Pro that came before it. OnePlus came up with a distinct styling for its camera cluster - arguably the one bit that can add personality to a phone, and it's only natural that they iterate on it.

The promo materials ramble on about drawing inspiration from luxury watches and nature at the same time and we can see where that is coming from, for once. The circular assembly with a knurled ring, the cameras, their inset background, the Hasselblad badge and various specs inside - all of that is not far removed from a timepiece with a handful of complications - in its looks, of course.

The 'nature' clues are a bit more specific to this particular colorway, called Flowy Emerald. It's been inspired from the Dart River in the Southern Alps, OnePlus says, and those aren't the Alps you're likely to think of first - these are in New Zealand. Indeed, having a look at some satellite imagery, we can see the resemblance.

Things are almost as nature-inspired when it comes to the Silky Black colorway, though it's not like we haven't seen this particular finish elsewhere, it's just that silk reference has been eluding us. We'd normally go with glitter as the word to describe it.

Actually, the Flowy Emerald is in on that glitter action too.

The Chinese market is also getting the OnePlus 12 in one additional color - a white/silver combo. From the way it's being featured on the website, we're understanding that to be the hero colorway, yet the international market isn't getting it.

Best as we can tell, that white colorway is also using a glossy rear panel, unlike the green and black ones which have anti-glare frosted treatment.

Trade-offs tend to be pretty familiar and we did find our OnePlus 12 review unit quite slippery, particularly if your palms have relatively dry skin, though on a positive note it wasn't welcoming of fingerprints at all.

You can expect the white one to be more prone to smudges, though they aren't quite as prominent on a white-ish colored panels.

OnePlus says the back glass is Gorilla Glass 5.

The front of the OnePlus 12 is covered with Gorilla Glass Victus 2, so that OLED display gets more advanced protection than the induction coil on the rear - rightfully so.

Speaking of protection, the OnePlus 12 carries an IP65 rating for dust and water resistance. While the IP6X means it's 'dust-tight' as is virtually every other flagship in existence (save for the foldables, that is), the IPX5 part means it's not quite as water-resistant as the IP68 folk out there - which is, again, virtually every other top-tier model. The 'water jets' resistance should be plenty to guarantee that the 12 survives in most environments, but it's not rated for submersion.

As has been customary for OP's high-end models, the display and its protective glass are slightly curved towards the sides, with a faint curvature at the very corners too. That makes for a premium look though there remains a possibility that you may not be fond of the handling - some people have more issues with misinterpreted palm touch input than others.

The bezels surrounding the display are nicely slim, as befitting the 12's flagship aspirations.

The OnePlus 12 measures 163.3x75.8x9.2mm and weighs in at 220g - hardly a pocketable package when looking at the numbers. In practice, however, it doesn't feel nearly as chonky as you'd think. The curved edges front and back do wonders to minimize the perception of bulk and the slim aluminum frame creates an illusion of slimness than the dimensions themselves can't convey.

Additionally, the 12's fairly restrained camera hardware and the modules' placement make it less top heavy than comparable handsets like the vivo X100 Pro or the Find X7 Ultra. Or it could be due to something else, who are we to say - but the observation remains.

The OnePlus 12 uses an underdisplay fingerprint reader of the optical variety, placed reasonably high up so you don't have to compromise grip or stretch your finger to touch it. That said, it took this reviewer some time to fully adjust to using it, coming from a slightly lower-placed daily driver - after an initial transitional period and re-registering a different portion of the finger to account for the change in placement, things got a lot smoother.

A staple of the lineup which has now spilled to sister brands, the alert slider is once again present - on the left side of the phone. It's just as stiff as it needs to be and leaves a very positive impression in its action. So too do the power key and the volume rocker on the right of the handset.

Up top, you'll find an infrared emitter - that one we hadn't seen on a 'flagship' OnePlus. Also here is a mic and an opening for the top speaker. Another speaker and mic can be found on the bottom, joining the USB-C port. The SIM slot is here too - the tray can take one or two nano SIMs.

Alert slider • Buttons on the right • Introducing an IR blaster • SIM tray on the bottom