The OnePlus 12 debuts with the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 SoC and impressive cameras. Thanks to OnePlus for providing a unit, I had a week to explore their latest flagship before its launch. At the Beebom office, we also had the iQOO 12, prompting this comparison. Both phones feature the 8 Gen 3 chipset and similar camera setups. So, which is superior? Let’s delve into this OnePlus 12 vs iQOO 12 comparison and find out!
Specs At a Glance
| Specs | OnePlus 12 | iQOO 12 |
|---|---|---|
| Dimensions | 164.3mm x 75.8mm x 9.15mm | 163.22 x 75.88 x 8.35mm |
| Weight | 220 grams | 203.7 grams |
| Processor | Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 | Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 |
| RAM/Storage | 16GB LPDDR5X/ 512GB UFS 4.0 | 16GB LPDDR5X/ 512GB UFS 4.0 |
| Display | 6.82-inch QHD+ 120Hz LTPO AMOLED, 3168 x 1440, 510 ppi, up to 4500 nits peak brightness | 6.78-inch 1.5K 144Hz LTPO AMOLED, 2800 x 1260, 453 ppi, up to 3000 nits peak brightness |
| Rear Camera | 50MP Main + 48MP Ultra-wide + 64MP Telephoto (3x optical zoom) | 50MP Main + 50MP Ultra-wide + 64MP Telephoto (3x optical zoom) |
| Front Camera | 32MP | 16MP |
| Video | Up to 8K at 24FPS | Up to 8K at 30FPS |
| Dual SIM | Yes; Supports eSIM | Yes; Supports eSIM |
| Connectivity | 5G, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, LE, NFC | 5G, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, LE, NFC |
| USB-C | Type C 3.2 Gen 1 | Type C 2.0 |
| Battery | 5,400 mAh | 5,000 mAh |
| Charging | 100W SUPERVOOC Fast Charging, 50W AIRVOOC Wireless Charging | 120W Wired Charging, No wireless charging |
| IP Rating | IP65 | IP64 |
| Software | Android 14-based OxygenOS 14 4 years of OS updates |
Android 14-based Funtouch OS 3 years of OS updates |
Design
Here, we present the iQOO 12 Legend and the OnePlus 12 Flowy Emerald. The iQOO 12 Legend is white with iQOO insignia and BMW M series branding on the rear. Meanwhile, the OnePlus 12 is green with darker ripples on the back. From looks alone, the OnePlus 12 caught my attention.
However, two aspects stood out to me in the iQOO 12’s design. Firstly, the unique rounded-square camera module at the back, surrounded by a textured border. Secondly, when light hits the back glass, it creates a pentagram, which is incredibly cool!
Next is the in-hand feel of both devices. The OnePlus 12 felt more premium to me, partly due to its matte finish and metal frame. The curved craftsmanship also adds to its comfort, allowing extended use without discomfort.
Contrarily, the iQOO 12, while lighter, lacks comfort due to its boxy design, feeling heavier during prolonged use. Despite featuring an aluminum frame, it doesn’t exude the same premium feel, possibly due to its finish.
Being a clumsy person, I felt more secure using the OnePlus 12, thanks to its Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection. The iQOO 12 lacks Gorilla Glass protection, which was disappointing for me. The company doesn’t specify the glass protection on its website, but based on Vivo’s track record, I assume they are using Schott AG’s Xensation Up protection on the iQOO 12.
The OnePlus 12’s curvy design adds to its ease of hold, providing anti-slip properties. In contrast, the iQOO 12 felt slippery during my week-long testing.
While the OnePlus 12 boasts an IP65 rating, the iQOO 12 features IP64, offering similar splash and spill resistance.
The volume rockers and port placement are identical on both phones. However, the OnePlus 12 comes with the alert slider on the left side of its frame. And yes, the alert slider’s placement has changed, and I prefer this.
Display
After admiring the design of both phones, I turned on their displays. The OnePlus 12 features a 6.82-inch Quad-HD+ AMOLED display with a 3168 x 1440p resolution, offering a fast 120Hz refresh rate backed by LTPO technology. Additionally, OnePlus claims the OnePlus 12 reaches 4,500 nits of peak brightness.
The phone’s brightness varies, but when compared to the Galaxy S23 Ultra, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and OnePlus 11, the OnePlus 12 emerges as the brightest, as shown in our recent video.
The iQOO 12’s display, at 6.78 inches, features a quad-HD+ (2800 x 1260 pixels) LTPO AMOLED display with a faster 144Hz refresh rate and up to 3,000 nits of peak brightness.
However, viewing content on the devices revealed negligible differences. These panels boast top quality, whether in color reproduction, viewing angles, or overall picture clarity, rendering the phones nearly indistinguishable. In brightly lit indoors or sunny outdoors, both phones shine brightly without any complaints.
From binge-watching Suits and Jack Reacher’s latest season to rewatching The Batman on Netflix, I encountered no issues with either phone. Both exhibited prominent blacks and distinct color profiles, delivering exceptional display performance.
Note that iQOO 12 lacks Corning Gorilla Glass, featuring Schott AG’s Xensation Up glass protection. Conversely, OnePlus 12 boasts Gorilla Glass Victus 2, enhancing durability against impacts.
Speaker Quality
Speaking of entertainment, let’s discuss stereo sound output on OnePlus 12 and iQOO 12. I often use John Wick 4’s Le Castle Vania to assess smartphone and laptop audio quality, as it offers dynamic range.
Testing both phones with this track revealed a discrepancy. At the 1:41 mark, where the audio intensifies, OnePlus 12’s speakers failed to capture the buildup effectively.
However, the iQOO 12 excels in audio quality while preserving the essence of the track. Therefore, I prefer the iQOO 12 in terms of audio. The OnePlus 12 also has good speakers, but they are overly bass-heavy for my taste and lack the richness of the iQOO 12.
Cameras
Regarding cameras, the OnePlus 12 boasts a 1/1.4-inch 50MP Sony LYT-808 primary sensor with f/1.6 aperture and OIS. Additionally, it features a 48MP Sony IMX581 ultra-wide-angle sensor with f/2.2 aperture and a 64MP OmniVision OV64B periscope telephoto sensor with f/2.6 aperture and 6x optical zoom. For selfies, there’s a 32MP Sony IMX615 sensor.
Discussing the iQOO 12, there’s a 50MP Omnivision OV50H primary sensor with an F/1.68 aperture and OIS. It’s paired with a 64MP Omnivision OV64B telephoto sensor featuring an f/2.57 aperture providing 3x optical zoom. Also present is a tertiary 50MP Samsung JN1 sensor with an f/2.0 aperture.
Enough with the on-paper camera specs. Let’s delve into real-world performance:
Human Subjects
Capturing human skin accurately isn’t simple. On both devices, minimal skin smoothening occurs. Details remain clear upon zooming in. The iQOO 12 exhibits slightly better details indoors compared to the OnePlus 12. While the iQOO 12 enhances colors, the OnePlus 12 aims for natural color tones.
Meanwhile, the latter excels outdoors. Additionally, portrait modes impress on both phones. While edge detection satisfies, the OnePlus 12 feels more natural. I preferred its depth of field. However, the iQOO 12 boasts exuberant, vivid pictures, albeit with less depth. Moreover, iQOO offers warmer tones compared to OnePlus’ cooler ones.
Daylight
Both the OnePlus 12 and iQOO 12 excel at daytime photography. However, the OnePlus 12 demonstrates superior white balance, contrast, and dynamic range, securing an edge over the iQOO 12.
Night-time
To truly assess a phone camera’s capabilities, night-time is ideal. Capturing the essence of the night is challenging, but a well-optimized night mode effortlessly achieves this.
Both the OnePlus 12 and iQOO 12 excel in night mode photography. However, the iQOO 12 exhibits some unnatural processing, and there’s a slight delay in capturing night mode shots compared to the OnePlus 12, which delivers superior low-light images.
While the iQOO 12’s night mode shots tend to be overly bright, creating an evening-like effect, it does better in maintaining exposure levels, thus preventing light sources from overexposing. Both devices maintain excellent detailing when zoomed in.
The iQOO 12 features a dedicated Supermoon mode for capturing detailed moon shots, similar to Samsung’s AI camera. Although AI-generated, it performs admirably. Attempting to replicate this effect with the OnePlus 12’s pro mode proved unsuccessful in capturing adequate detail. However, the OnePlus 12 offers a more realistic portrayal.
Telephoto
Let’s delve into the telephoto sensors on both phones. The OnePlus 12 boasts 3x optical zoom and up to 120x digital zoom, while the iQOO 12 features 3x optical zoom and 100x digital zoom. With HDR enabled, I captured shots at 1x, 3x, and 10x optical zoom on both devices.
Remarkably, shots up to 10x or slightly higher were satisfactory on both phones. The iQOO produces images with slightly more contrast, yet maintains sharpness and detail that the OnePlus 12 lacks. This trend persists until around 20x zoom, after which both phones capture identical photos.
Ultra-Wide
Ultra-wide-angle shots excel on both the OnePlus 12 and iQOO 12. However, the former struggles with shadows, resulting in slightly darker images. Conversely, the latter consistently produces well-balanced ultra-wide shots, making it superior in this aspect. It’s worth noting that both phones excel at capturing details.
The OnePlus 12’s pictures exhibit slightly more noise. In contrast, the iQOO 12 effectively manages all elements, maintaining excellent dynamic range and white balance in photos.
Selfie Camera
The selfie shooter performs well on both flagships. However, the iQOO 12 captures slightly better details. The OnePlus 12 retains natural skin tones, while the iQOO 12 applies some unnatural processing, which I personally dislike. The OnePlus 12’s ProXDR further enhances shots.
One of the phones occasionally takes overexposed photos. Yet, for portrait shots with the selfie shooter, the OnePlus 12 excels in natural and accurate edge detection.
Videos
Discussing videos, I struggled to discern quality differences between the iQOO 12 and OnePlus 12. Both phones’ primary sensors capture 4K and 8K videos at 60 FPS. However, the iQOO 12, with its 30 FPS for 8K, offered notably smoother footage than the OnePlus 12, limited to 24FPS. We’ve linked video samples of both phones for your reference.
Regarding the front shooter, there’s a significant distinction. While the OnePlus 12 records 4K at 30 FPS, the iQOO 12 is restricted to 1080p at the same frame rate. Examining the samples reveals OnePlus’s clear superiority in this aspect.
Performance
Now, onto performance. I’ve categorized it into three segments for clarity. Let’s dive in.
Benchmarks
Before diving into benchmarks, it’s worth noting that even the OnePlus 11 didn’t excel in them. OnePlus’ flagship phones typically lag behind others with the same SOCs in benchmark tests.
However, does this translate to poor real-life performance? In my testing, while the OnePlus 12 fell slightly behind the iQOO 12 in benchmarks, it proved to be a strong performer. Here’s a brief overview of the tests I conducted for both devices:
Day-to-Day Usage
Using both the OnePlus 12 and iQOO 12 for approximately a week, I encountered no issues in daily use. There were no jitters or lags; both phones performed admirably. To stress test them, I opened 20 apps simultaneously and had over 40 tabs in Chrome, yet the phones handled everything effortlessly.
It became evident that these are indeed flagship devices capable of seamless multitasking. RAM management was excellent, allowing me to easily resume apps from the background without any hiccups.
Gaming
Both phones feature the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, delivering exceptional gaming performance. Supported by LPDDR5x and UFS 4.0 technology, the gaming experience is seamless. After testing numerous games on both devices, here are the results:
| Games | FPS/Settings |
|---|---|
| Genshin Impact | Maximum Graphics – 60FPS |
| Fortnite (including Lego Fortnite) | Epic Settings – 60FPS High Settings – 90FPS |
| CoD Mobile | Medium/Ultra Settings – 120FPS (Multiplayer), 90FPS (Battle Royale) Very High/Max Settings – 60FPS (Multiplayer and Battle Royale) |
| BGMI | Smooth Setting – 90FPS Ultra HDR + Ultra FPS – 40FPS |
Both phones could play all the above games at maximum settings. However, while playing Genshin Impact, I had a superior experience on the iQOO 12. Despite identical performance, the iQOO 12’s 4D Game Vibration feature enhanced the experience.
With this feature, each Genshin Impact character emits a distinct vibration felt at the back panel. Additionally, the Frame Interpolation feature provided extra smoothness to the game on the iQOO 12, giving it an edge over the OnePlus 12. Other games ran smoothly on both phones without any frame drops or lags.
Here are some of the most graphic-intensive smartphone games ever made. Playing them on the OnePlus 12 and iQOO 12, the temperatures never exceeded 37 degrees, even during the winter season. In summer, the temperature doesn’t go beyond 43 degrees. The iQOO 12’s VC technology works exceptionally well.
The OnePlus 12 remains comfortable to hold, even when running Genshin Impact at maximum settings. These are among the best gaming phones available.
Battery and Charging
The OnePlus 12 features a 5,400mAh battery with 100W SUPERVOOC fast charging. The iQOO 12 has a 5,000mAh battery with 120W wired charging.
Putting these specifications to the test, I spent about 2.5 hours gaming, ran all major benchmarks, watched YouTube videos, and streamed Netflix for 3 hours on both phones, with AOD (Always-On Display) turned off. Both phones were fully charged before testing.
While the OnePlus 12 delivered 6.5 hours of screen-on-time, the iQOO 12 provided an impressive 7.5 hours, clearly excelling in battery optimization.
In terms of charging speeds, the OnePlus 12 reached full charge in 23 minutes, as advertised, whereas the iQOO 12 took approximately 30 minutes. Despite the OnePlus 12 having a larger battery and slightly slower fast charging support, its ability to fully charge in the specified time is noteworthy.
Connectivity
Both phones offer identical connectivity features, including WiFi 7 and Bluetooth. Additionally, they both feature Bluetooth 5.4 and stereo speakers at the top and bottom.
They also support dual-SIM and have a USB Type-C port. However, the OnePlus 12 has a 3.2 Gen 1 port, while the iQOO 12 has a Type 2.0 port.
The OnePlus 12 stands out in India with its 19 5G bands compared to the iQOO 12’s 12 bands. Both phones also include NFC support.
Software Experience
In my experience, the OnePlus 12 surpasses the iQOO 12 in software experience, chiefly due to OxygenOS. While personal preference plays a role, Funtouch OS 14 on the iQOO 12 feels outdated. Whether on the lock screen or in the app drawer, everything lacks the premium feel of OxygenOS 14.
Not to mention, Oxygen OS 14 introduces innovative features such as File Dock and Smart Cutout, enhancing day-to-day tasks. Conversely, Funtouch OS 14 on the iQOO 12 boasts numerous features but lacks the smoothness of OxygenOS. Although I utilized minimized app windows on the iQOO 12, the overall experience felt cumbersome, with clunky animations.
While using Funtouch OS 14, I encountered irritating bugs, such as the inability to swipe back to the home screen in fullscreen YouTube mode. In contrast, the OnePlus 12 delivers a seamless, bug-free experience.
Final Verdict
In my opinion, the OnePlus 12 appears more feature-packed. Despite being cheaper at Rs 52,999 in India, the iQOO 12 disappoints in the software department. Funtouch OS misses the mark, and iQOO offers only 3 years of OS updates. In contrast, the OnePlus 12 provides 4 years of OS updates, which is impressive.
Although the iQOO 12 has been available for some time and has received several updates, its software performance still feels lackluster. OxygenOS offers a superior experience. Additionally, the design and overall feel of the phones favor the OnePlus 12. Notably, the iQOO 12 lacks screen protection.
That brings me to the bright and vivid displays on both phones, offering unparalleled visibility in any scenario, so no winners there. However, the iQOO 12 offers a more balanced set of cameras, whereas the OnePlus 12’s cameras are not well-optimized. I hope the company rolls out a Day 1 patch to fix the issues.
So, if you want a balanced phone in the long run and can extend your budget to the Rs 64,999 asking price, then the OnePlus 12 is the ideal choice. However, if you are on a strict budget, the iQOO 12 is a good all-rounder flagship phone. Ultimately, no smartphone is perfect, and you just need to go with the one that fits your budget and requirements the best.
With that said, let me know in the comments which phone seems like a better option to you!
Pritam Chopra is a seasoned IT professional and a passionate blogger hailing from the dynamic realm of technology. With an insatiable curiosity for all things tech-related, Pritam has dedicated himself to exploring and unraveling the intricacies of the digital world.
