The OnePlus 12 smartphone, which the company teased a few months ago, has officially arrived. The new flagship phone will be available in both Canada and the U.S.
The phone boasts a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor that OnePlus says offers up to 30% improved CPU performance and a 25% enhancement in GPU performance. The proprietary Trinity Engine is combined with up to 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB of UFS 4.0 ROM, so the OnePlus 12 can keep applications readily available in the background for 72 hours. The OnePlus 12 is also the first Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 device to be approved as Snapdragon Spaces Ready. This will allow developers to bring their XR ideas to life and explore the full potential of head-worn AR.
Especially useful for gamers is the Dual Cryo-velocity VC cooling system featuring a 3D capillary dissipation structure and a dual VC design covering 9,140 mm², with improves the flow of coolant to significantly reduce overheating. Crafted using a unibody die-casting manufacturing process, the larger VC consistently absorbs heat from the smaller VC to accelerate the entire heat dissipation process, says OnePlus, which makes it ideal for marathon gaming sessions, pro-level video editing, and concurrent charging without risk of overheating.
Gamers will also love HyperRendering, which was built on OnePlus’ in-house graphics algorithms and a dedicated Pixelworks X7 Independent Visual Processor. The visual quality enhancement technology permits the efficient delivery of super-resolution picture quality. The device achieves a 120Hz frame rate for all games through frame interpolation technology while ensuring real-time HDR colour calibration. For enhanced touch accuracy, Aqua Touch detects wet fingers and water droplets on the screen and compensates accordingly, so you don’t have to worry about sweaty hands triggering mistouches while gaming.
With support for 80W SUPERVOOC Endurance Edition and a 5,400mAh big battery, the OnePlus 12 can charge from 1% to 100% battery capacity in 30 minutes. There’s also 50W AIRVOOC wireless charging that makes use of the twin-battery design, with each cell charging at 25W, which is effectively faster than most wired chargers, and certainly the fastest we’ve seen for wireless charging.
For stable wireless signal performance, the omnidirectional antenna design has a total of 16 antennas to enable high-speed connectivity.
The 2K 120Hz ProXDR 6.8-inch display is powered by BOE’s new blue diamond pixel layout, which enables the OnePlus 12 to reach a peak brightness of 4,500 nits. ProXDR also further ensures that lossless images with high dynamic range and a rich colour spectrum can be enjoyed in full detail.
Fitted with LTPO technology, the display can automatically switch between a refresh rate of 1Hz to 120Hz based on preferences and specific usage scenarios while keeping power consumption comparatively low. Dolby Vision is also supported.
Complementing the high-quality visuals are immersive 3D sound spaces. When paired with the OnePlus Buds 3 or other OnePlus earbuds with spatial audio and in-app customization support, the OnePlus 12 delivers simultaneous playback of different audio content in multiple directions to create a flagship 3D Spatial Audio experience. Equipped with dual stereo speakers with Dolby Atoms, dedicated spatial audio can even be enjoyed without earbuds.
What about photos? The OnePlus 12 aims to excel in this department as well. It comes equipped with a professional-grade camera system featuring flagship hardware and advanced image processing algorithms developed in collaboration with Hasselblad. The phone takes the flagship-level triple camera system of the OnePlus 11 and adds Sony’s 50MP LYT-808 main camera. Featuring a large ƒ/1.6 aperture and 1/1.4-inch sensor size, the camera offers a greater depth of field while compensating for the loss of light. Along with better photos in low light environments, red glare and artifact reduction are also supported to help capture more true-to-life images.
As the first OnePlus single-screen flagship to feature an OV64B 3x periscope telephoto camera with 6x in-sensor zoom, the OnePlus 12 also offers a 3x to 120x photographic zoom range so you can capture spontaneous moments and expressive portraits from afar. The 64MP camera with optical image stabilization (OIS) ensures high image quality after cropping and enlarging an delivers steady shots with rich details. The camera features a 114° field of view in 48MP resolution.
OnePlus’ latest HDR algorithm further enhances the phone’s ability to control light by understanding visual landscapes and the interplay between highlights and shadows. It renders optimal brightness, balanced exposure, authentic colour saturation, and seamless vignette control.
The newly upgraded Portrait Mode simulates the nuances of bokeh and flare effects on Hasselblad’s classic lenses from 1x to 3x to impart a natural depth of field and create seamless transitions between subject and background.
Design-wise, the OnePlus 12 draws inspiration from the craftsmanship of luxury watches with a hollow-curved design. It comes in Flowy Emerald or Silky Black. It will be available in Canada starting February 6 for $1,070. Customers who purchase the phone directly from OnePlus.com will get an additional $100 off by trading in any phone in any condition.
If you don’t need the top of the line features and you’re looking for a more budget-friendly option, there’s the OnePlus 12R. It has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, the proprietary Trinity Engine, 6′.78″ AMOLED 120Hz screen, new LTPO 4.0 technology, Cryo-Velocity Cooling System, a 5,500 mAh, and 80W SUPERVOOC fast charging. It will sell for starting at $670 in Canada with the same trade-in deal.