OnePlus 12: latest news, rumors and everything we know so far

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

In fact, the phone is now regularly leaking, and we’ve even 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? Possibly December 2023 in China, January 2024 elsewhere
• How much will it cost? Likely upwards of $699 / £729 / AU$1,199

OnePlus 12: release date and price

• May launch in China in December
• Global launch reportedly happening in January or February
• Could cost more than the OnePlus 11

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.

One early OnePlus 12 release date leak supports that theory. It suggests the OnePlus 12 will be unveiled in China in December 2023, and then get a global launch in February 2024.

That said, it might actually land earlier, with leaker Max Jambor agreeing about the December launch for China, but saying the OnePlus 12 will go global in January.

There’s little news on the price yet, but it will hopefully have a similar price to the OnePlus 11, which starts at $699 / £729 / AU$1,199. Then again, one source says to expect a price rise from the OnePlus 12, so you might have to pay more.

OnePlus 12: name

• Expect this to be called the OnePlus 12
• There probably won’t be a OnePlus 12 Pro

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.

OnePlus 12: design and display

• Could have either a 6.7-inch or 6.82-inch QHD OLED screen
• Brightness might top out at 2,600 nits
• Almost certain to have a 120Hz refresh rate
• Might have a more premium build than the OnePlus 11
• Could have proper water resistance

A detailed OnePlus 12 specs leak has revealed that – among other things – it might have a 6.7-inch QHD OLED screen with a 120Hz refresh rate. This claim has also been echoed in another big OnePlus 12 specs leak.

That’s the same as the OnePlus 11, but more recently one of these sources said that the display will have a peak brightness that’s higher than 2,000 nits. For reference, the OnePlus 11 has a peak brightness of 1,300 nits, so this wouldn’t just be a lot brighter, it would also be one of the brightest screens of any phone.

In the same breath, this source additionally claimed that the IP rating would be upgraded compared to the OnePlus 11, suggesting the OnePlus 12 might have a decent level of water resistance. They mentioned a premium build as a key upgrade too.

A recent leak echoes that brightness claim but gets more specific, saying that the OnePlus 12 might have a peak brightness of 2,600 nits. They also claim though that it will have a 6.82-inch 1440 x 3168 screen with a 120Hz refresh rate, with the size there being bigger than we’ve previously heard. 

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 launched a phone with a screen that can be properly used when it or your fingers are wet, without the water interfering with taps and swipes. There’s no news on whether this technology will make it to the OnePlus 12, but it’s certainly possible.

OnePlus has also 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 high-performance phones will remain a key focus.

OnePlus 12: cameras and battery

• 50MP main, 50MP ultra-wide, and 64MP 3x zoom camera rumored
• Battery could be massive at 5,400mAh
• 100W wired and 50W wireless charging may be offered

One source suggests the OnePlus 12’s 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 possible if this leak is right.

That said, a later OnePlus 12 specs leak which largely echoes the specs above suggested that the telephoto camera will be limited to 3x optical zoom. They also added that the OnePlus 12 will have a 32MP front-facing camera, though we’ve elsewhere heard that the OnePlus 12’s selfie camera will be 16MP, so that spec is unclear for now.

And a source also spoke about the battery, saying the OnePlus 12 will have a massive 5,400mAh one, which would be bigger than the battery in any other OnePlus phone, or most other phones period.

They also mentioned 50W wireless charging (a feature missing from the OnePlus 11), and 100W wired charging, all of which has since been echoed in another major OnePlus 12 specs leak, which additionally mentions reverse wireless charging – another feature the OnePlus 11 lacks.

Note though that while some regions will likely get 100W charging (just like with the OnePlus 11), the US might be limited to 80W, as it is with the current model.

OnePlus 12: specs and features

• Likely to have a powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset
• May top out at 24GB of RAM and 1TB of storage

Leaks widely suggest the OnePlus 12 will have a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, which is likely to be the most powerful chipset available to Android phones for much of 2024, and is what we’d expect the phone to use.

Additionally, one OnePlus 12 leak points to 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. However, the OnePlus 11 tops out at the same configuration, so this wouldn’t be an upgrade. It’s also likely that a version with less RAM (and perhaps less storage) will be offered too.

The top model may actually have more than the leak above suggests though, with another source pointing to 24GB of RAM and 1TB of storage in the OnePlus 12, though if this is offered at all it might be exclusive to China.

OnePlus 12: 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.