If you’ve kept an eye on OnePlus for as long as we have, you might think of it as an unlikely survivor of its own various machinations. December 16, 2023, marks ten years since the Chinese tech brand’s founding, and it has a lot to celebrate, especially under a closer relationship with corporate sister Oppo. It’s got a shiny and useful foldable phone, makes some popular devices for the renegade customer on American carriers, and it’s been able to streamline software updates — despite the software not being entirely up to today’s handset standards.
OnePlus 12 vs OnePlus 11: Is it already time for an upgrade?
The new OnePlus flagship is packed with updates, but should you buy the new smartphone? We put them head to head to compare.
Whatever the reason you might be shopping for a new phone, OnePlus might fit your taste. We’re here to give you a better sense of the company’s latest offerings, whether you’re looking for something to tide you over or investing in a runner that can go the distance with you.
Best OnePlus phones: Our top picks
OnePlus 11 5G
1. Best OnePlus phone overall
Plenty of wow, here and now
$660 $700 Save $40
The OnePlus 11 takes a middle road as the only entry in catalog of its flagship slabs for 2023. But you’re getting a lot for the compromise with a Quad HD+ AMOLED display, fast wired charging, and Hasselblad-tuned cameras, along with four OS updates, guaranteed.
- Wonderfully bright and colorful display
- Long battery life and screaming fast charging
- Terrific spec-for-value punch
- Glass build can easily be smudged, scratched, or both
- Camera output can be hit-and-miss
- Post-2022 OxygenOS isn’t for everyone
Even with the OnePlus 12 waiting in the wings, you can tell what comprises the company’s DNA by looking at the OnePlus 11. This was the only flagship-tier slab phone that the company released in 2023 (some would expect the slightly more affordable OnePlus 11R that was targeted towards India and South Asia) and comes after years of semiannual releases with regular and Pro versions abound.
OnePlus 11 5G review: ‘Pro’ in all but name
OnePlus’ flagship phone for 2023 has dropped the ‘Pro’ name, tightened up the experience and delivers a stellar experience (mostly).
There’s a consistency in how OnePlus approaches each component of the smartphone experience: Quad HD+ display with adaptive refresh rate support between 1Hz and 120Hz, tons of pixels to go around the Hasselblad cameras, and boosted charging speeds (though minus the wireless charging here, sadly) that can literally change how you structure your daily life.
You also get a better look here at how OxygenOS operates nowadays. If you’re coming from a OnePlus device launched prior to the codebase merger of Oppo’s ColorOS and OxygenOS, it’ll be a radical change. Customization is available at every corner but comes at the cost of simplicity, intuitive interfaces, and navigability. Part and parcel of the formula is the pricing: $700 gets you 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, while $800 will net double all that memory.
OnePlus 12
2. Best future OnePlus phone
Latest and greatest
Just released in China and set to wow the world in a short time, it’s a member of the inaugural class of devices featuring the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset. Other specifications show that the company has taken the OnePlus 12 right to the limits.
- Incredibly bright display
- More RAM and storage for the base model
- Improved, brighter cameras
- The price of the base model will probably be higher
For those who have more immediate purchasing needs, this one isn’t for you. But if you are biding your time, we’d be doing you a disservice to go without mentioning the OnePlus 12 because, of course, the newest phone has to be the best, right? Well, you’ll want to wait until our review to get a complete picture of its strengths and weaknesses.
Still, the highlights seem to be well worth pointing out: the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset is on board along with options of between 12GB and a terrifying 24GB of RAM (at least in China, where the phone is on sale now), and between 256GB and 1TB of memory. Wireless charging returns to the OnePlus flagship series with support of 50W AirVOOC power in addition to 100W SuperVOOC via cable. But what should catch your eye are the visuals on both the inbound and outbound sides.
The OnePlus 12 is here, and those flagship specs don’t disappoint
The OnePlus 12 has been been announced. Here’s the full spec sheet for the the 2024 flagship.
The Quad HD+ AMOLED display refreshes 120 times a second, is extremely colorful when handling HDR content, and can be extremely, extremely bright with a peak-of-peak brightness of 4,500 nits — more than enough to battle sunlight and drive up the contrast ratio to the billions. Importantly, every camera on the device brings beefy hardware with 50MP, 48MP, and 64MP sensors allotted for the wide, ultra-wide, and telephoto units.
The phone is expected to make it to Western Europe in late January and North America around the same time or shortly afterward. Pricing in China tops out at the equivalent of about $820.
OnePlus Open
3. Best premium OnePlus phone
A foldable done right
$1500 $1700 Save $200
Open wide, the OnePlus Open really nails the material build for a foldable phone. It’s sturdy, it’s sized correctly, and its software takes great advantage of the form factor to explode on multitasking.
- The folding display works well on both the folding and display parts
- Open Canvas software features are the star
- Camera performance great for the foldable category
- Lack of wireless charging
- Bulky camera system adds to overall heft
- Priced less than the Galaxy Z Fold 5, but only just
Executive Pete Lau made no secret that OnePlus and Oppo would share this product release, but it doesn’t seem as though anyone truly minded. What some know as the Oppo Find N3, we call the OnePlus Open.
OnePlus Open review: A no-compromise foldable phone
OnePlus took its time to get into the foldable phone market, but this is a staggeringly good way to show its hand.
In many places where Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold series is the only direct competitor to this device, the Open breathes some fresh air into the game. The physicality of the device is thought-out well, from the hinge to the displays’ usability. The Open Canvas software features simply let you breeze between apps. And the Open’s cameras handily beat the Fold 5’s snappers any day of the week.
Combine that with the typical OnePlus table stakes — including how it undercuts Samsung in price — and it would probably be the winner in our list if it weren’t for the fact that foldables are still so expensive in the first place.
OnePlus Nord N30 5G
4. Best budget OnePlus phone
Whether you hear it called the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite or the Nord N30, this is the company’s epitome of a budget phone for the 2023 model year. The display’s brightness, an enduring battery, and a decent primary camera are key features.
- Performant and capable display
- Runs well, lasts a long time
- Great photos from the main camera
- Samsung provides better displays at this price range
- Mediocre material build
- Other cameras don’t stack up
While Pocket-lint has yet to do a full hands-on review of the OnePlus Nord N30 (or CE 3 Lite if that’s the region you live in), but our colleagues at Android Police and XDA-Developers did. For all the praise we’ve heaped on OnePlus for mastering the mix on its flagships, the Nord N30 does alright, especially if you’re shopping on s stricter budget.
The LCD panel here supports adaptive refresh at up to 120Hz, there’s enough running room provided by the Snapdragon 695, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage, and the 108MP primary camera can do wonders. That said, the company doesn’t exactly cut its corners gracefully: the phone suffers from “accessory camera syndrome” with its 2MP macro and depth sensors, the storage disk runs on the dated UFS 2.2 spec, and the LCD is a step-down from the N20’s OLED screen — the CE 2 Lite was distinct from the N20 and still had an LCD, see Android Police’s review of the N20 and ours on the CE 2 Lite — to list a few examples. Is it a bad $300 phone? By all means, not really. Could you do better? We would argue so with the Samsung Galaxy A34.
OnePlus Nord N300 5G
5. Best free OnePlus phone
If you’re headed to Metro by T-Mobile, that is
If you just need a gimme, and you’re willing to sign onto Metro by T-Mobile, the OnePlus Nord N300 is one option you can consider. The performance is significantly reduced, but if you’re looking for a lifeline to the internet, this will get you there.
- Extremely power efficient
- Generous 33W fast charging at this price
- Light on power
- Notched, low-res display
The OnePlus Nord N300 was introduced earlier in 2023 as an exclusive to T-Mobile and its major prepaid subsidiary, Metro by T-Mobile. As of this writing, it only exists at the latter carrier, seemingly permanently free if you’re looking to open a new line (along with several other phones from Samsung and Motorola).
For full reviews, be sure to look at our sister-sites, Android Police and XDA-Developers, but to summarize, it’s a smartphone for people who need a smartphone but aren’t into technology. If you’re patient, you might be able to coax a few nice pictures from the 48MP camera, and the 5,000mAh battery affords you that kind of patience.
Heck, the 33W charging rate is actually pretty fast for an ostensibly free device. But if you’re told to pay the $230 MSRP for the N300 because you don’t meet the current promo requirements, you are better off looking at other options.
The bottom line: What is the best OnePlus phone overall?
The OnePlus 11 is one of the most well-rounded devices you can get. Its arsenal of powerful cameras gives you incredible versatility when you’re looking to capture a moment. It provides all the horsepower you need to get work and play done for those long hours of the day and keeps going with only a few scant minutes near an outlet.
OnePlus 11 5G
Editor’s Choice
$660 $700 Save $40
That kind of persistence, in tandem with its bountiful display, comes in handy whether you’re in bed, in the dark, in the middle of a binge-watch session, or under the bright sun’s rays and under a deadline to upload those documents to Slack. The omission of Qi charging, the obfuscation of OxygenOS, and the less-than-perfect glass design really look like small potatoes when the phone meets your day-to-day needs for $100 less than what the Galaxy S23 usually costs. If you need to buy a phone today, it’s got to be the OnePlus 11.
If you are interested in a well-built foldable, the OnePlus Open is a great model, and we can’t wait for the OnePlus 12 global launch to see it perform in person.
How did we choose these OnePlus phones?
We’re not going to sugarcoat it. The range of phones that OnePlus offers at any given time nowadays has shrunken significantly. As of late 2023 in North America, you’re easily able to buy the OnePlus 11, Open, and Nord N30 from the company itself. You’ll be able to grab a few older models such as the OnePlus 10 Pro on Amazon. The OnePlus Nord N300 remains available solely on Metro by T-Mobile.
We’ve done our best to collate critical experiences across Pocket-lint and our sister sites to give you the best idea of what to expect from these devices.
What can I expect from the OnePlus 12?
Typically, OnePlus will launch devices into China first before expanding availability to the rest of the world. This is usually done without too many changes to the product, but you’ll most likely miss out on the super-spec versions that only the company’s home market seems to get.
Again, details about a launch plan are scarce, but you should expect shipments to start sometime early next year with a pricing ballpark in the upper three-digits. The OnePlus 12 comes in green and black colors.
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