OnePlus 12: what we want to see

With the OnePlus 11 now available, we’re already turning our thoughts to the likely successor, the presumed OnePlus 12. Though it probably won’t be launching for quite a while, it’s almost certainly well into development.

In fact, the phone is starting to leak, and we’ve even now seen renders showing a slightly different design to the OnePlus 11, all of which you’ll find below, and we can also take some guesses about the phone based on the current model.

Then further down you’ll find a wish list of what we want from the OnePlus 12, to make it even better than the OnePlus 11.

Cut to the chase

• What is it? The next OnePlus flagship
• When is it out? Probably early 2024
• How much will it cost? Likely upwards of $699 / £729 / AU$1,199

OnePlus 12 release date and price

We don’t yet know for sure when the OnePlus 12 will launch, but it’s likely to land early in 2024, as OnePlus tends to launch new flagships in the first few months of the year.

The OnePlus 11 landed in January 2023, but that launch was just for China, with its global launch happening in February. The OnePlus 10 Pro landed in January 2022, and the OnePlus 9 series launched in March 2021.

Some earlier models launched closer to the middle of the year, but going by the last three years, sometime between January and March seems most likely. We’d think probably January or February, so that it’s around a year after the OnePlus 11.

The one release date leak so far supports that theory. It suggests the OnePlus 12 will be unveiled in China in December 2023, which likely means a global launch in January 2024.

There’s no news on the price yet either, but it will hopefully have a similar price to the OnePlus 11, which starts at $699 / £729 / AU$1,199. The latest phone got a price drop over previous editions.

OnePlus 12 news and leaks

There aren’t many OnePlus 12 leaks yet, but one thing we can quite confidently say is that there won’t be a OnePlus 12 Pro. At least, that’s the hint OnePlus has given so far.

In early 2023, OnePlus said “Starting with our 2023 lineup, we are streamlining the flagship portfolio in North America (and globally) by removing our Pro lineup. In our opinion, you don’t need to have a ‘Pro’ name for a device that’s already ‘pro’.”

So while it didn’t specifically mention the OnePlus 12, it sounds like this is the plan going forward, meaning that there will probably just be a single model and it will be called the OnePlus 12, but likely with specs that are more in line with what you might expect from a Pro model.

As for what those specs might be, a detailed leak has revealed some possibilities, including a 6.7-inch QHD OLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, and a 5,000mAh battery with 100W charging (though possibly only 80W in the US).

Other than the chipset, that’s all the same as the OnePlus 11, but the same source suggests the camera could be in for some big changes, with a 50MP main, 50MP ultra-wide, and 64MP periscope camera apparently planned.

That would mean the ultra-wide and periscope cameras differ to those on the OnePlus 11 (and possibly the main camera too, but the megapixel count is the same so it’s too early to say).

Not only would the ultra-wide and periscope cameras have more megapixels and new sensors this year though, but the latter of those would probably also optically zoom further than the 2x of the OnePlus 11’s telephoto snapper. Periscope lenses are usually used for 4x zoom and upwards, so 4x or 5x optical zoom seems likely if this leak is right.

We’ve also now seen renders supposedly showing the OnePlus 12. These come from leaker @OnLeaks in collaboration with SmartPrix, and they were apparently created based on real photos of a testing unit prototype.

You can see some of these images above, and they show a similar design to the OnePlus 11, but with some key differences, including a square camera lens, which is the shape we’d expect from a periscope lens.

The camera block looks slightly different in other ways too, with the flash being in a different position, and there are tweaks to the front of the phone as well, such as a repositioned punch-hole camera and smaller bezels.

Beyond that, OnePlus has shown off a OnePlus 11 Concept phone, with PC-grade cooling and a partially transparent back that shows off its cooling pipes.

This phone isn’t expected to commercially launch, but it’s not impossible that we’ll see these features in a future handset – such as the OnePlus 12. At the very least, OnePlus is showing that gaming and performance phones will remain a key focus.

What we want to see

While the OnePlus 11 is a great phone, it’s far from perfect, so the following things could make the next model much better.

1. Better water resistance

Most high-end phones these days have an IP68 rating, meaning that they can survive pretty much any watery incident – as long as it doesn’t last more than 30 minutes or so. But the OnePlus 11 only has an IP64 rating, which means it can survive splashes, but not much more.

That’s a real disappointment in a phone of this price, especially as some previous models did have an IP68 rating. So for the OnePlus 12 we want that rating to make a return.

2. A less slippery finish

The OnePlus 11 is a reasonably attractive phone, but in our OnePlus 11 review we found that it was also quite a slippery device, so it’s something you’re likely to drop, and it could even slide off your desk.

Coupled with the lack of significant water resistance, this makes the OnePlus 11 feel extremely vulnerable, so hopefully this is something the company will address for the OnePlus 12.

3. A proper telephoto camera

The OnePlus 11 only has a 2x optical zoom, which is nice for portraits but not so good for taking photos of distant subjects. It’s also some way short of rivals, which tend to offer at least a 3x zoom and in some cases up to 10x.

So we’d like to see a three – or more – times optical zoom on the OnePlus 12, as that would help make the camera setup much more versatile.

4. Wireless charging

As with water resistance, wireless charging is a fairly standard feature for flagship phones, yet it’s not present on the OnePlus 11.

The phone does at least charge fast, and not everyone will miss wireless charging, but it’s a popular feature, and one we’d expect to see so. So hopefully the OnePlus 12 will include it.

5. Charging speed parity

The OnePlus 11 is a fast-charging phone, but how fast depends on what country you’re in, because while most units charge at 100W, versions sold in the US top out at 80W.

There are reasons for that, as the 110V outlets in the US don’t fully support the company’s fastest charging tech, but hopefully that can be remedied for the OnePlus 12, because while 80W is still very fast, it’s a shame that buyers in the US are getting a slightly lesser version of one of the best OnePlus phones.