Fast Charge: There’s a lot to unpack from the first OnePlus 12 teaser

OPINION: We’re huge fans of the OnePlus 11 over here at Trusted Reviews – it got our Phone of the Year 2023 award at this year’s Awards, after all – but I’m all about the next big thing, and the first OnePlus 12 teaser has got me really looking forward to the 2024 flagship. 

That’s because OnePlus this week officially released the first teaser images and details about the next-gen flagship, including one that gives us a pretty good look at the rear of the smartphone – and it’s a right beaut. 

My eyes are immediately drawn to what looks to be a new pattern on the rear of the smartphone, again in OnePlus’ signature green hue. 

Dubbed the Flowy Emerald colourway, the company used the phone’s camera to capture an aerial shot of the Dart River and, using AG technology, imprinted the design on the rear glass. It’s undoubtedly a unique finish in a sea of plain glass or matte-reared smartphones that’ll considerably boost the appeal of the flagship.

The more eagle-eyed will also notice that the famous Alert Slider has moved from the right of the device alongside the volume rockers and power button to the left of the device – something OnePlus confirmed along with releasing the teaser images.

The simple reason for its relocation is to improve connectivity when gaming. The company found that the optimal antenna placement is between the user’s forefingers when held in a landscape orientation – a space that the Alert Slider took.

By moving the Alert Slider to the other side of the phone, it frees up space for the antenna relocation and OnePlus claims online gameplay latency has dropped by 15% on average as a result. 

You’ll also notice that the side-mounted circular camera housing is back. This design first appeared on this year’s OnePlus 11, and though it’s fairly large, it’s certainly unique. You won’t have any issues spotting the OnePlus 12 from a sea of similar-looking smartphones, that’s for sure.

There are what look to be a few changes to the camera housing, including a raised bezel around the central circular housing. The LED flash has also been moved outside the main housing, matching the foldable OnePlus Open.

However, look even closer and you’ll see something else that’s entirely new to the OnePlus 12 – a periscope lens sitting to the left of the sensor housing, complete with its signature rectangular lens shape. Zooming in, you’ll see the markings ‘70mm’ and ‘f/2.6’ near the lens, suggesting that it’ll offer at least a 3x optical zoom.

The OnePlus 12 design announcement included the aforementioned image of Dart River captured on the OnePlus 12 at 3x, confirming this year’s model’s jump from 2x to 3x. However, that could’ve been achieved with a fixed 3x telephoto. 

Given that periscope lenses are used for higher levels of zoom, it wouldn’t surprise me if the OnePlus 12 matches or even exceeds the OnePlus Open’s 6x in-sensor zoom. 

Combine that with leaks that the OnePlus 12 will be one of the first phones to run the GenAI-focused Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, and we could see a particularly exciting 2024 flagship from OnePlus – but we’ll have to wait and see for now. No doubt OnePlus will continue to tease elements of the phone in the run-up to its release, whenever that might be.