After the OnePlus 12’s initial reveal in China, the launch date for the rest of the world has been confirmed as 23 January 2024, which is something to look forward to in the darkness of winter after the post-Christmas buzz of CES. In a surprise move, OnePlus has confirmed that the 12R will be coming to Europe and USA. Normally the 12R remains within India, and in China, it’s known as the Ace series. Think of the R versions as high-end specs with mid-range prices. OnePlus will then have quite a range in their portfolio from the Nord series, the R and then the full 12.
I’m not going to spoil the full specs and save those for the launch event for the 12, but suffice to say that the handset is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon Gen 3, there’s a 4th gen Hasselblad-blessed camera array with a 3x periscope lens, and wireless charging returns (thank goodness, what were they thinking?) The design’s an evolution of the 11, but there’s an attractive pattern on the back called Flowy Emerald which is modelling after a river delta.
And this comes within the 10th anniversary celebrations for OnePlus. Long time readers of GNC will know that I’ve been a user of OnePlus devices right from the very beginning. I managed to blag an invite code for the original phone and bought it to replace a Google Nexus 4 (which had wireless charging!) Since then I’ve probably had a phone from each generation, though my most recent purchase remains the 10 Pro. I’ve always appreciate the value, design and performance of these flagship-killing phones. OnePlus has documented a large chunk of my children’s lives and while the cameras haven’t always been the best, pictures taken on the 10 Pro are outstanding. I wish OnePlus the very best for the next 10 years. There’s more on the birth of OnePlus here in a festive fireside chat with Pete Lau and Kinder Liu, and an inspirational 10 year celebration here.
The launch event, OnePlus Smooth Beyond Belief will start at 9am EST, 14:00 GMT, 15:00 CET and 19:30 IST on 23 January, 2024