OnePlus isn’t forcing AI features on its users like Google and Samsung collectively want to promote in what appears to be a largely stagnated smartphone market that’s lately starved of innovation. While the OnePlus 12 will find its fair share of buyers thanks to its raw power and performance, it isn’t as exciting as OnePlus’s latest foldable flagship, the Open.
The OnePlus 12 is the brand’s regular flagship, which for several years has been following one straight line, attempting to nail the basics. It’s the flagship that many OnePlus fans will reach out for (versus the pricier Open), but unlike previous models, there seems to be no visible compromise. You get a very capable camera system from the OnePlus Open, an IP rating and even wireless charging. But one area OnePlus has stayed silent about is AI. Unlike Google’s Pixel 8 series and Samsung’s Galaxy S24 series, the 12 has no user-facing and fun generative AI software features. Apple, too, is expected to announce several generative AI features with iOS 18 this year.
So, is the lack of AI-enabled features a big deal in a smartphone segment that has stagnated over time? Or has OnePlus done enough to make one forget about the absence of AI features? Let’s find out.
Unlike the OnePlus Open, the OnePlus 12 is available in two variants. The visible bump in its price tag (from Rs. 56,999) seems justifiable given that the base variant now offers 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, which is priced at Rs. 64,999. The second variant, with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, retails at Rs. 69,999, which seems quite competitive, keeping the hardware on offer.
The OnePlus 12 is available in Flowy Emerald and Silky Black. We received the Flowy Emerald finish of the 512GB variant for review.
In the box, OnePlus offers a soft TPU case, a Type-A to Type-C charging cable and a 100W charger. This seems like quite a handful, given that Samsung’s Galaxy S24 only provides a charging cable in the box.
The OnePlus 12 sticks to its roots when it comes to design and choice of material. Unlike the OnePlus Open, which was a step in a different direction altogether, the OnePlus 12 builds on the bigger changes. These were brought about by the OnePlus 10 Pro, which introduced the odd-looking, gas stove-like layout. With time, this layout, which started off with four camera cutouts (one of which was for the dual-LED flash) set into a square with rounded corners, evolved into a circular module, which appeared to be pressed into the raised glass rear panel on the OnePlus 11.
For the new OnePlus 12, OnePlus goes with a flat glass rear panel and a similar-looking circular camera module, with the same wraparound design on the left side of the frame. To make it appear different, the company went with a flat holder for the circular camera module, which has flat glass fitted into the circular holder that resembles a premium timepiece and looks very classy. But for some reason, this one isn’t finished to the typical OnePlus standards.
The part where the camera module wraps around the edge of the frame is quite sharp at both corners, and the plastic filler that connects both the camera module and mid-frame together seems a bit misaligned as well, resulting in a noticeable ridge, which breaks the seamlessness of the curved flap. I’ve inspected some other OnePlus 12 units, and the sharp corners, along with the misaligned filler, indeed seem to be a design and quality oversight. These tolerances indeed seem to be similar to the ones initially reported by some users in China at the launch.
Thankfully, these misalignments and fitting issues don’t appear to affect the IP rating of the device. The IP65 rating also surprisingly aligns with the above, so there’s no reason for a user to immerse the phone in water as it is only designed to handle splashes of it. This is a bit limiting as several smartphones in and below this segment offer an IP67 or IP68 rating for dust and water resistance.
As for the finish, I like the polished metal frame, which adds a level of grip, given the beautifully textured glass of the Flowy Emerald finish. Fans will be happy to see the return of the iconic Alert Slider, but for reasons best known to OnePlus, it’s now located on the left side instead of the right. The power and volume buttons are now on the right. This is a layout similar to the OnePlus Open in an unfolded state.
As always, this flagship has the latest and best core hardware available. This would include a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC, there’s a maximum of 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and up to 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage but no room for storage expansion. The fingerprint reader is embedded into the display, is of the optical variety, and worked reliably during the course of this review.
Communication standards include Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, NFC and support for several global satellite positioning systems. There’s also support for plenty of 5G bands and space for two physical nano SIM slots and dual-5G standby.
