OnePlus 12 Review: Perfectly Polished Hardware

At Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked occasion final week, the highlight was on #GalaxyAI, the Google-powered synthetic intelligence inside Samsung’s new Galaxy S24 smartphones. The {hardware} took a backseat. OnePlus’ newest cellphone, alternatively, would not have many of those AI methods; it would not have high billing within the smartphone world in any case.

As a substitute, OnePlus labored with chipmaker Qualcomm to shine the {hardware} and software program within the OnePlus 12, crafting a robust, totally featured Android phone that is enticing and well-rounded—nothing extra, nothing much less. In a world the place the time period “AI” is thrown round to hype everything, it is refreshing to check a cellphone that simply works.

No Limits

OK, I’ve to deal with the design first as a result of this factor is a looker. The OnePlus 12 is available in Silky Black and Flowy Emerald, and why on earth would you decide black when you will get this showstopper of a inexperienced? It has a stunning marble-like design that oozes luxurious and is a dialog starter (the huge digital camera bump helps too). The emerald choice is just accessible with 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage, therefore the upper $900 value (OK, that is cause to purchase black). The black’s base model is $800 and comes with 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage. That is nonetheless more room than you may discover on most telephones at this value.

On to the meaty stuff. OnePlus says its shut collaboration with Qualcomm enabled a number of enhancements on the OnePlus 12 over its friends utilizing the identical Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset. It calls this “CPU-Vitalization,” which purportedly affords decrease energy consumption and thereby much less battery drain when performing the identical sorts of duties, plus easy efficiency even after years of utilization.

You will hear comparable phrases within the advertising and marketing of the OnePlus 12, from the “Trinity Engine” and RAM- and ROM-Vitalization to Hyper Contact … yawn. All you have to know is that it is a very snappy smartphone. Launching apps and shifting between them is buttery easy. After 45 minutes of Genshin Impact at its highest graphical settings, the handset was comparatively heat however did not have overtly sizzling spots. And in that point it solely misplaced round 10 % of battery life.

In comparison with the brand new Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, I seen the OnePlus 12 delivered barely smoother gameplay in the identical sport and was marginally cooler to the contact, and it additionally did a greater job of spreading the warmth throughout the gadget; the S24 had extra sizzling spots. Exterior of this graphically demanding sport, the OnePlus 12 and Galaxy S24 Extremely have been practically an identical in efficiency. Telephones are actually quick and responsive these days, so most day-to-day duties aren’t going to really feel too totally different when evaluating units sharing a processor, CPU-Vitalization or not.

I can not communicate for a way this cellphone will carry out years from now—you may must take OnePlus’ phrase—however I can let you know that OnePlus is committing to 4 Android OS upgrades and 5 years of safety updates, which is fairly darn good in case you plan to carry on to your gadget for a very long time. It is nonetheless inferior to the seven years of software program assist Google and Samsung are actually providing, although.