Until this point we hadn’t heard much about the OnePlus 12. There has been the odd small leak here and rumor there, but now we’re hearing an almost complete specs list for the phone, and it’s a mixed bag of promising and, well, the same the OnePlus 11.
This comes from leaker Yogesh Brar, who has a reasonable track record, but they add the caveat that this is for an engineering configuration of the phone, which might mean some aspects could change before launch.
In any case, Brar claims that the OnePlus 12 will have a triple-lens camera, with a 50MP main sensor, a 50MP ultra-wide, and a 64MP periscope zoom camera. For reference, the OnePlus 11 has a 50MP main, 48MP ultra-wide, and 32MP telephoto.
OnePlus 12(Engineering config)- 6.7" QHD OLED, 120Hz- Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (SM8650)- 50MP + 50MP (UW) + 64MP (periscope)- 5,000mAh battery- 100W chargingLaunch: December (China)May 25, 2023
As such, if Brar is right, then both the ultra-wide and zoom cameras will be different on the 12; both boasting more megapixels. That said, the description of the 64MP camera as being a ‘periscope’ suggests that it will also offer longer distance optical zoom than the 2x optical of the OnePlus 11, which was really intended for better-quality portrait shooting over capturing things farther away.
Typically, periscope cameras are used for 4x magnification optical zoom and beyond, with the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra using a periscope camera design to offer as much as 10x optical zoom. At a guess, we don’t imagine the OnePlus 12 will manage 10x magnification – as few phones do – but around 4x or 5x optical zoom seems very likely, if this leak is accurate.
The change in these two sensors could also mean improvements behind the scenes, such as a larger sensor size, though we don’t know that yet. It’s also worth noting that just because the main sensor is apparently 50MP once more, that doesn’t necessarily mean the hardware at play isn’t changing too, but it’s probably unlikely that OnePlus would switch out all three in a single generation.
More power but the same screen
As for the rest of the rumored specs, those are rather less exciting. Brar claims the OnePlus 12 will have 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.
On paper, the only change there is the chipset, and the one mentioned here is no surprise, since the OnePlus 11 uses the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. Of course, there could be details that these specs don’t tell us; for example the screen might be brighter this year, but we’ll have to wait and see.
It’s also worth noting that the 100W charging speed may not apply in the US, as while the OnePlus 11 charges at 100W in most of the world, it’s limited to 80W there, due to the US using 110-volt outlets that can’t make the most of the company’s charging system.
Finally, Brar claims that the OnePlus 12 will actually launch this year, with a December release apparently planned in China. However, OnePlus has been known to launch phones in China initially, and then give them a global launch a month or so later.
It did exactly that with the OnePlus 11 (though even China didn’t get that until January, with the rest of the world getting it in February). So we might see a global OnePlus 12 launch in January of next year – which would still be a month earlier in the year than the OnePlus 11.
You might not have to wait until then for an exciting new OnePlus phone though, as the first OnePlus foldable could land before the end of 2023.
