What you need to know
- Leakers have claimed the OnePlus 12 will have 50W wireless charging.
- Recent OnePlus flagships like the OnePlus 11 and OnePlus Open have eschewed wireless charging.
- We expect the OnePlus 12 to arrive in December with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, 6.7-inch 120Hz display, and some key upgrades to the camera and battery.
OnePlus traditionally gives its phones some of the speediest charging in the industry, both wired and wireless. Last generation, the company decided wireless charging wasn't a priority, now, based on recent leaks, it appears the OnePlus 12 will shift back to offering 50W wireless charging, as the OnePlus 10 Pro did.
Leakers Digital Chat Station and Max Jambor both made this claim on Monday, matching a July specs leak that first suggested the 50W standard would return. The OnePlus 12 should also offer 100W wired charging.
With the OnePlus 11, our reviewer asked the company about the missing wireless charging coil. OnePlus responded that it "left out the feature because it wanted a thinner device this time, and adding a charging coil would have made it bulkier."
The foldable OnePlus Open likely missed out on wireless charging for a similar reason: to keep it skinny enough to fold easily in your pocket.
We can now assume the OnePlus 12 will end up thicker than the 8.53mm-thick OnePlus 11 when it launches, thanks to its built-in charging coil. Otherwise, leaked phone renders show the design hasn't changed much from this year's model. Current rumors point to the OnePlus 12 arriving this December in China and January 2024 for its global launch.
The OnePlus 12 will hit a faster wireless charging speed than brands like Samsung (15W), Google (23W), and Apple (15W) while matching rival phones like the Xiaomi 13 Ultra (50W).
Leaks have already given us a pretty comprehensive look at the OnePlus 12's alleged specs. It'll have the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, up to 16GB of RAM, a 6.7-inch 120Hz display, and OxygenOS 14 out of the box.
As for more significant upgrades over the 11, the OnePlus 12 should get a larger battery capacity (5,400mAh instead of 5,000) and a 64MP telephoto lens with 3X optical zoom (beating the 11's 32MP with 2X zoom).
Just like the OnePlus 11, we fully expect the OnePlus 12 to be one of the best Android phones of the year. We gave the 11 a glowing review, but we hope the newer model will fix its other downsides, not just wireless charging. It will mainly come down to how well OxygenOS performs, now that it's essentially a variant of ColorOS; we spoke to OnePlus about the future of OxygenOS, and have reason to be optimistic about its future.
