OnePlus 12 launches internationally with an all-new Sony sensor and Hasselblad tuning

Luke Baker
·3 min read
OnePlus 12 phone on a green background.
OnePlus 12 phone on a green background.

The eagerly anticipated OnePlus 12 has finally launched internationally, after debuting in China in December 2023. The latest flagship smartphone promises impressive performance and serious camera quality, tuned by the experts at Hasselblad.

Starting with the looks, the OnePlus 12 doesn’t stray too far from its predecessor. The off-center circular camera array is still present, as is the Hasselblad branding and the popular notification slider.

The only things that stand out as different are that the flash has moved slightly, and there’s a new Flowy Emerald color option, which has a marble-like texture, apparently inspired by a river in New Zealand. There’s also a Silky Black option for those who like a more subtle design.

OnePlus 12 phone on a blue background
OnePlus 12 phone on a blue background

Hardware and performance

The new device is powered by Qualcomm’s latest and greatest processor, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, so it’s guaranteed to be a speedy and powerful phone. In addition, OnePlus has beefed up the cooling solution. It now takes advantage of the largest vapor chamber that OnePlus has ever designed. If you like mobile gaming, this is starting to look like a great option.

The OnePlus 12 boasts the world’s brightest OLED mobile display, which tops out at an astonishing 4500 nits peak brightness. It also supports Dolby Vision and HDR10+, so content from apps like Netflix will look better than ever. The display also supports 2160Hz PWM dimming, so if you’re sensitive to flicker, you’ll have a much more comfortable experience.

OnePlus has developed a technology that it calls Aqua Touch, and essentially it means that the touchscreen works properly in heavy rain. OnePlus showed a pretty impressive demo, where the phone was working as expected while being blasted by jets of water from all directions, competing devices, like an unspecified iPhone model, registered all kinds of unintended touches in the same scenario.

The OnePlus 12 packs an ample 5400 mAh battery pack, and OnePlus is confident that it’ll outlast its rivals during continuous video shooting. When it needs charging, it can be done in a flash with either 100W wired charging or 50W wireless charging.

OnePlus 12 phone held in a person's hands
OnePlus 12 phone held in a person's hands

Cameras

When it comes to the cameras, the OnePlus 12 debuts a brand new main sensor, the Sony LYT-808, not to be confused with the LYT-T808 that we saw on the OnePlus Open, although the results will likely be quite similar. This 1/1.4-inch sensor is relatively large and has a 50MP resolution. It’s paired with a 23mm equivalent lens with an f/1.6 aperture and OIS.

Also new is a 64MP 3x periscope telephoto camera with a 1/2-inch sensor. This is a larger sensor than we’ve seen on most flagship telephoto cameras, so it should perform better in low-light conditions. However, the reach lags behind the competition, with iPhone 15 Pro Max and Samsung S24 Ultra both offering 5x telephoto lenses.

Finally, there’s a 48MP ultrawide camera with a 114-degree field of view, which appears to be the same as the one on the OnePlus 11. All the lenses benefit from a new ALC coating, which is designed to reduce glare artifacts and red flaring. Plus, there’s Hasselblad color science applied to the image processing, which should help bring the best out of your snaps.

Two OnePlus 12 phones next to each other
Two OnePlus 12 phones next to each other

Price and availability

The OnePlus 12 will hit the shelves on February 6 2024 at a price of $799 / £849 for the 256GB model, or $899 / £999 for the 512GB variant.

OnePlus also announced a cheaper model, the OnePlus 12R, which cuts back on the camera tech and instead focuses solely on performance. The 12R will retail for $599 / £649.