The OnePlus 12, which just launched in China, showed us what Samsung's Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S24, Google's Pixel 8 series, and the iPhone 15 series will have to contend with when they launch in other parts of the world next year.

OnePlus has promised that the global launch of the OnePlus 12 will be in "early 2024." Given that it's December now, that means we'll hopefully be able to test the phone's appeal ourselves in January or February, although depending on OnePlus' timing, the Galaxy S24 could be first.

We are only aware of prices for the Chinese market, which start at 4299 yuan. For comparison, the basic Galaxy S23 in China is priced at 5199 yuan and the iPhone 15 starts at 5999 yuan, suggesting that OnePlus is again aiming to undercut its main rivals (even allowing for differences in taxes on non-Chinese phones). Nevertheless, the OnePlus 12's price may be higher than the OnePlus 11, which was initially launched at 3999 yuan.

At first glance, the OnePlus 12 looks similar to the OnePlus 11, but the Alert slider has been repositioned (now on the left edge of the phone) and a new patterned back glass is used. Another major change is the improved IP65 rating for water and dust resistance. This is better than the IP64 OnePlus 11, but falls short of the IP68 dust and water resistance standard set by rival models.

OnePlus boasts that the 6.82-inch OnePlus 12 is 9.15 mm thick and weighs 220 g, thicker but lighter than the Galaxy S23 Ultra and the titanium-clad iPhone 15 Pro Max despite being almost the same size. Dominating the front of the phone, as with all major cell phones, is a 120Hz 2K display with LTPO technology. More impressively, however, OnePlus claims that the 12 is capable of an incredible peak brightness of 4,500 nits, in addition to a peak full-screen brightness of 1,600 nits. Assuming these numbers are achievable in real-world use, the OnePlus 12 would be one of the brightest phones available.

As OnePlus had announced prior to the launch event, the OnePlus 12 is powered by a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, which it claims offers 30% better CPU performance, 25% better GPU performance, and 10% better power efficiency than the OnePlus 11. In addition to this chip, the device comes with 12GB, 16GB, or 24GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB of storage, depending on the version selected, with Android 14 installed as standard. All of this is covered by what OnePlus calls a "dual cryogenic cooling system," which is expected to keep the phone's performance at peak when playing games or using chip-intensive apps for extended periods.

To keep everything running, OnePlus has included a 5,400 mAh battery in the 12. This battery can be replenished with either a 100 W wired charge or a 50 W wireless charge. While there is no guarantee that the global version will have the same speed due to different voltages in different countries, we are relieved to see wireless charging return in the OnePlus flagship, after only wired charging in the OnePlus 11.

As for photography, the OnePlus 12 has a 50MP main camera on the back, a 48MP ultra-wide camera, a 64MP 3x telephoto camera, and a 32MP front camera. All of these cameras appear to have been taken from the OnePlus Open foldable, but we expect OnePlus, along with its partner Hasselblad, to further improve the camera performance and make the new phone capable of taking on the best camera phones today.

It's too bad we have to wait to try the OnePlus 12, but it looks like it will be a phone worth the wait. We are particularly eager to see the phone's charging speed and battery life, and the power of the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, but we are also interested to see if OnePlus can deliver photo quality that will challenge Samsung, Google, and Apple this time, and what these new and improved I'm also interested to see what these new and improved capabilities mean for pricing.