Weekly poll: is the OnePlus 12 your next flagship?

10 December 2023

Bigger, faster, stronger – the new OnePlus 12 beats its predecessor in just about every way. It was unveiled for the Chinese market a couple of days ago, the global release is expected in January.

OnePlus dropped the “Pro” designation last year since it hasn’t released two sizes of flagships since 2021. The top of the line number series comes in only one size – large. Larger still now that the 12 has a 6.82” display (up from 6.7”). The company managed to shave off some of the bezels, so the phone is almost the same height as its predecessor, but it is nearly 2mm wider, a bit thicker and 15g heavier.

While we’re talking about the body, the OnePlus 12 ups the water resistance to IP65 (from IP64). The overall design remains the same, but engineers equipped it with a larger 5,400mAh battery (up from 5,000mAh). Also, wireless charging made a comeback (at 50W) in addition to faster wired charging (100W). Both of these account for the weight increase.

The main camera boasts a new Lytia 808 sensor from Sony (1/1.4” vs. 1/1.56” on the old model). Even better, the telephoto camera now has a longer lens (70mm vs. 48mm, so 3x magnification instead of 2x) and its sensor has double the resolution (64MP) so it offers 6x lossless zoom. The ultra wide camera is unchanged, but the selfie camera doubled its resolution to 32MP and also gained the ability to record 4K at 30fps.

Last and certainly not least, the chipset is upgraded to the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 as expected. The base configuration has been raised to 12/256GB (some OnePlus 11 models came with 8/128GB), the maximum went up to 24GB of RAM and 1TB storage.

It was almost a year ago when we asked you about the OnePlus 11 and the poll results showed a lot of uncertainty – people decided to wait until they had the full picture from reviews before deciding whether to buy one. Will it be the same this year?

Let’s briefly look at the price and the competition. We only have the Chinese pricing for now, the base 12/256GB model starts CNY 4,300. For comparison, the OnePlus 11 with the same memory configuration was CNY 4,000, so the new model will be slightly more expensive. The global market missed out on the 12/256GB configuration, but the 16/256GB one was $800/€900/₹62,000.

The Xiaomi 14 Pro is another Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 phone, this one with a 6.73” display. It uses a custom 50MP 1/1.31” sensor, a 50MP 75mm tele and 50MP ultra wide. The battery is on the small side with 4,880mAh capacity and 120W wired plus 50W wireless charging. The 14 Pro is pricier at CNY 5,000 for the 12/256GB model.

The vivo X100 Pro bets on the Dimensity 9300 instead. It also has a huge LTPO display at 6.78”, but it drops the resolution to 1260p (the OnePlus and Xiaomi are at 1440p). The main camera has a massive 1/0.98” sensor (50MP), a 50MP 100mm periscope and a 50MP ultra wide. The battery matches the OnePlus 12 with 5,400mAh capacity and 100W/50W wired/wireless charging. The X100 Pro in 12/256GB trim is also CNY 5,000. The X100 is also worth a look, it has a less capable camera system and a smaller 5,000mAh battery with 120W wired-only charging. The X100 12/256GB starts at CNY 4,000.

The iQOO 12 Pro uses the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 instead of the MediaTek chip. It has a 6.78” 1440p LTPO display and a 50MP 1/1.3” main camera, plus a 64MP 3x tele and 50MP ultra wide. The battery is similar with 5,100mAh capacity, 120W wired and 50W wireless charging. The base 16/256GB configuration is CNY 5,000 in China. The price for the vanilla iQOO 12 for India did leak – it’s almost the same as the Pro, except for a lower resolution display (1260p), lower water resistance (IP64 vs. IP68) and a 5,000mAh battery with only the 120W wireless charging.

The Realme GT5 Pro is another Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 phone and this one puts a bit more effort into the cameras with a 50MP main (1/1.4"), 50MP 65mm (2.7x) periscope and disappointing 8MP ultra wide. The phone has a 6.78" 144Hz AMOLED display with 1264p resolution and an IP64 rating. The base 12/256GB model starts at CNY 3,400 (though there is an early bird deal that reduces that price slightly).

The Redmi K70 Pro stuck with Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 like its Xiaomi sibling. This one puts less focus on cameras and we’re not sure whether the phone will be available globally. The 12/256GB model is cheaper than the OnePlus at CNY 3,300.

There are more flagships that we didn’t mention – the Meizu 21, the Red Magic 9 Pro(+) and others. There is the looming Galaxy S24 series from Samsung too.

With this much competition on the board, do you think that the OnePlus 12 has what it takes to become your next phone?