At Samsung’s Galaxy Unpacked occasion final week, the highlight was on #GalaxyAI, the Google-powered synthetic intelligence inside Samsung’s new Galaxy S24 smartphones. The {hardware} took a backseat. OnePlus’ newest telephone, then again, does not have many of those AI methods; it does not have prime billing within the smartphone world in spite of everything.

Instead, OnePlus labored with chipmaker Qualcomm to shine the {hardware} and software program within the OnePlus 12, crafting a robust, totally featured Android phone that is engaging and well-rounded—nothing extra, nothing much less. In a world the place the time period “AI” is thrown round to hype everything, it is refreshing to check a telephone that simply works.

No Limits

OK, I’ve to handle the design first as a result of this factor is a looker. The OnePlus 12 is available in Silky Black and Flowy Emerald, and why on earth would you choose black when you will get this showstopper of a inexperienced? It has a stunning marble-like design that oozes luxurious and is a dialog starter (the huge digicam bump helps too). The emerald choice is barely out there with 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage, therefore the upper $900 value (OK, that is a great motive to purchase black). The black’s base model is $800 and comes with 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage. That’s nonetheless more room than you will discover on most telephones at this value.

On to the meaty stuff. OnePlus says its shut collaboration with Qualcomm enabled a number of enhancements on the OnePlus 12 over its friends utilizing the identical Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset. It calls this “CPU-Vitalization,” which purportedly presents decrease energy consumption and thereby much less battery drain when performing the identical sorts of duties, plus clean efficiency even after years of utilization.

You’ll hear comparable phrases within the advertising and marketing of the OnePlus 12, from the “Trinity Engine” and RAM- and ROM-Vitalization to Hyper Touch … yawn. All it’s essential to know is that it is a very snappy smartphone. Launching apps and shifting between them is buttery clean. After 45 minutes of Genshin Impact at its highest graphical settings, the handset was comparatively heat however did not have overtly scorching spots. And in that point it solely misplaced round 10 % of battery life.

Compared to the brand new Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, I seen the OnePlus 12 delivered barely smoother gameplay in the identical recreation and was marginally cooler to the contact, and it additionally did a greater job of spreading the warmth throughout the gadget; the S24 had extra scorching spots. Outside of this graphically demanding recreation, the OnePlus 12 and Galaxy S24 Ultra have been almost similar in efficiency. Phones are actually quick and responsive these days, so most day-to-day duties aren’t going to really feel too totally different when evaluating units sharing a processor, CPU-Vitalization or not.

I can not communicate for a way this telephone will carry out years from now—you will must take OnePlus’ phrase—however I can inform you that OnePlus is committing to 4 Android OS upgrades and 5 years of safety updates, which is fairly darn good when you plan to carry on to your gadget for a very long time. It’s nonetheless not so good as the seven years of software program assist Google and Samsung are actually providing, although.