After waiting for a few weeks, it’s the time for OnePlus to make its flagship launch in India and globally. OnePlus has officially launched the OnePlus 12 and the OnePlus 12R globally at the stage in New Delhi. The two devices were unveiled in China in December last year. It meant we had to wait for more than a month before both the devices arrived in the international market.
Pricing and Availability
The OnePlus 12 is available in Silky Black and Flowy Emerald colorways with pre-orders today (Jan 23rd) followed by sales starting from February 6th in North America, India, and Europe. The pricing for the base 12GB+256GB at $800/ INR 64,999/- and its 16GB+512GB variant is priced at $900/ INR 69,999/-.
The OnePlus 12R is available in two colorways as well – matte Iron Gray and glossy Cool Blue. You have the base variant with 8GB+128GB storage at $500 / INR 39,999/- while the highest 16GB+256GB variant is priced at $600/ INR 45,999/-.
Just like the OnePlus 12, the pre-orders for the OnePlus 12R have already begun as of January 23rd with the shipping to India starting on February 6. The phone will be available in the European and North American markets from February 13. There’s a Genshin Impact edition clad in an Electric Violet colorway on the way for its arrival on February 28.
Introducing the OnePlus 12 & OnePlus 12R (Global Edition)
OnePlus 12 Series: The Design & Display
We have seen both the OnePlus 12 and OnePlus 12R before as with the Chinese launch. The global launch doesn’t bring any differences. The OnePlus 12 looks over the top aesthetic with a circular camera bump housing its triple rear camera setup. The front is flat with minimal bezels that you would expect with a flagship phone. The rear panel on the Emerald Green variant resembles the look and feel of granite while the black variant is simply matte. The phone uses an aluminum frame with a glass back and glass front (Victus 2).
The flagship OnePlus 12 dons a giant 6.82” 1440x3168px LTPO 4.0 AMOLED display with a max 120Hz refresh rate (variable). The display can churn up to 4,500 nits of peak brightness locally and 1,600 nits of peak brightness across the panel. Nothing has changed between the Chinese and global variants at least in this department.
Moving on, we have the OnePlus 12R and the phone brings a 6.78” 1264x2780px LTPO 4.0 AMOLED display with a max 120Hz of variable refresh rate. The display is the same as the 12 i.e. 1,600 nits of nominal brightness and 4,500 nits of localized peak brightness.
Design-wise, the phone doesn’t get much difference compared to the OnePlus 12. It still has a circular camera island housing the triple camera setup although it is much smaller than the 12. There’s no granite-looking color variant so you get a glossy bluish and a matte black color with the 12R. The bezels are around the slimmest as well so that’s taken care of.
OnePlus 12 Series: The Performance
Certainly one of the key points why you would get a OnePlus 12, right? The phone brings onboard a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC under the hood which has 25% faster GPU and 30% faster CPU compared to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. The global variant maxes at 16GB LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB UFS 4.0 storage. The 24GB+1TB variant has been deemed as China-exclusive.
On the other hand, the OnePlus 12R uses the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC under the hood which is last year’s flagship. I don’t have any doubt that 12R will outperform any flagship from last year given the various optimizations, one of the largest vapor chambers built-in among other components in use. The phone maxes out at 16GB LPDDR5X RAM and 256GB UFS 4.0 storage.
Both the phones are packed with a massive 9140mm2 dual VC chamber. What this VC does is, it helps dissipate heat faster enabling the phone to sustain its peak performance for longer. 12R (and so does 12) uses a 76% bigger VC chamber than 11R. Now that the performance is taken care of, we should proceed to yet another ‘impressive’ section of the device.
OnePlus 12 Series: The Camera
OnePlus has introduced the 4th generation Hasselblad Camera on the OnePlus 12. The rear camera setup uses three sensors i.e. a Sony 50MP LYT-808 primary with 23mm f/1.6 lens; a 70mm 3x optical f/2.6 zoom OmniVision OV64B sensor with a max 120x digital zoom; and finally, a tertiary 48MP 1/2.0-inch ultrawide 14mm f/2.2 lense with phase-detect autofocus. The front, on the other hand, uses a 32MP f/2.4 selfie shooter.
OnePlus 12R uses a different triple camera array at the back. It is populated by a 50MP Sony IMX890 24mm f/1.8 lens, an 8MP ultrawide cam with 16mm f/2.2 fixed-focus lens, and finally, a tertiary 2MP macro sensor. The front, on the other hand, uses a 16MP f/2.4 shooter. There’s no change in the camera department when compared with the Chinese variants.
OnePlus 12 Series: The Battery
OnePlus’s battery capacity and battery life have improved over the years and for good reasons. If you can’t have good battery life, even a quantum computer can’t help get the job done.
Coming back to the battery, the OnePlus 12 uses a massive 5,400mAh battery pack supplied with a 100W SuperVOOC wired that will get you 1% to 100% in just 26 minutes. Note that North American users will get a slightly slower 80W wired SuperVOOC that takes 30 minutes to fill up the tank. There’s a 50W AirVOOC wireless charging support onboard.
Moving on, we have the OnePlus 12R and it has an even larger 5,500mAh (the largest in OnePlus history) paired with 100W SuperVOOC charging support. The Chinese maker has integrated a SuperVOOC S Charging Management Chip onboard that promises up to 1,600 battery cycles worth four years of continuous usage. There’s no wireless charging on the OnePlus 12R.
OnePlus 12 Series: IP65, Wi-Fi 7, & Other Features
The OnePlus 12 brings an official IP65 rating which is the first for the OnePlus phones even though these phones were technically water-resistant for ages albeit without the certification. OnePlus 12R takes a lower IP64 dust and splash resistance which is great as well.
Apart from that, the OnePlus 12 has Wi-Fi 7 tri-band, Bluetooth v5.4, NFC, GPS, Infrared Port, USB Type-C 3.2, an under-display fingerprint scanner, and a stereo speaker setup. OnePlus 12R, on the other hand, has it all but with Wi-Fi 7 dual-band, Bluetooth v5.3, and USB Type-C 2.0. Both the phones are 5G compatible (of course) although the OnePlus 12 takes on a bigger chunk of the 5G spectrum including more bands than the 12R. Of course, this isn’t a major deal breaker given the fact that 5G is still brewing in countries such as 5G.
