OnePlus 12 No AI, no problemIn a global the place the most well liked manufacturers have normalized costs effectively above $1,000, the OnePlus 12’s $800 sticky label value would possibly depart you pondering it makes compromises. It does no longer. The instrument boasts the similar improbable efficiency, show high quality, battery existence, and digicam skills we might be expecting from the best possible available on the market.ProsExcellent, shiny displayIndustry-leading battery and chargingGreat Hasselblad-backed cameras ConsMinor fingerprint reader annoyanceOxygenOS has a finding out curveNot to be had on provider offers 
Samsung Galaxy S24 Extremely Tool-focused flagship$1150 $1300 Save $150 Samsung did not make massive adjustments to the S24 Extremely over the past technology however subtle a few of its very best options to face out much more. Its in the end flat show controlled to get even higher, the good battery was improbable, and the cameras somewhat extra succesful. However in case you are no longer into novel AI equipment, the fee is difficult to swallow.ProsMore crisp, colourful display than everTop-notch efficiency and efficiencyThe promise of evolving AI options ConsUnchanged, slightly bland designCameras nonetheless have bother with motionEye-wateringly excessive value
The Samsung S24 Extremely, just like the S23 Extremely sooner than it, is likely one of the maximum tough, user-friendly, handsome telephones available on the market. However, in some ways, it’s kind of too just like the S23 Extremely. It does recreation some welcome enhancements, like flat display and edge designs, upper brightness, and in some way even higher battery existence, however it is a long way from a progressive replace.
By contrast, the OnePlus 12 constructed at the nice design of ultimate yr’s OnePlus 11, however pumped up the depth of its {hardware}, show, and cameras, leapfrogging nearly each different telephone available on the market. One of the crucial few producers to not fall prey to the increasingly more overarching shadow of AI, OnePlus targeted its efforts on creating a no-nonsense, industry-leading flagship, and in maximum tactics, it succeeded.
Learn our score Perfect Android telephones in 2024 Out there for a brand new telephone? Get the most efficient Android revel in with those flagship telephones
Worth, specifications, and availability
Samsung and OnePlus’s probably the greatest smartphones each introduced in early 2024. Each height flagships added $100 to ultimate yr’s sticky label value, however the results of that build up is a long way other. The OnePlus 12’s MSRP now begins at $800 (rather commonplace for flagships), with an additional $100 doubling the garage and lengthening the RAM. And when purchasing from the OnePlus website online, you’ll commerce in actually any telephone in any situation to get a $100 recycling bargain.
Samsung, alternatively, fees a whopping $1,300 at minimal, and an extra $120 and $360 for the second one and 3rd garage tiers. For a non-folding telephone, that isn’t commonplace. It does generally tend to provide extra beneficiant trade-in bonuses despite the fact that.
Neither corporate has devoted shops in the United States, however each are readily to be had on-line and at primary brick-and-mortar shops like Perfect Purchase. Samsung does, alternatively, paintings with the 4 greatest US carriers, so they may be able to paintings inside your present contract or signal you up for a brand new one to get a bargain or per 30 days fee plan. OnePlus has no such tie-ins, despite the fact that it gives a trade-in program in the course of the website online, and puts like Perfect Purchase additionally be offering their very own.
OnePlus 12Samsung Galaxy S24 UltraSoCQualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for GalaxyDisplay typeLTPO AMOLED, 1-120HzLTPO AMOLED, 1-120HzDisplay dimensions6.82″, 19.8:96.8″, 19.3:9Display resolution3168 x 14403088 × 1440RAM12GB or 16GB12GBStorage256GB or 512GB256GB, 512GB, or 1TBBattery5,400mAh5,000mAhCharge speed80W stressed out (100W global), 50W wireless45W stressed out, 15W wirelessCharge optionsUSB-C SuperVOOC stressed out, AirVOOC wi-fi, opposite chargingWired, wi-fi, opposite chargingPortsUSB-CUSB-COperating SystemAndroid 14 with OxygenOS 14Android 14 with One UI 6.1Front camera32MP, f/2.412MP, f/2.2Rear camera50MP, f/1.6, OIS primary; 48MP, f/2.2 ultrawide; 64MP, f/2.6, OIS, 3x telephoto 200MP, f/1.7 primary; 12MP, f/2.2 ultrawide; 10MP 3x telephoto; 50MP, f/3.4 5x telephotoCellular connectivitySub-6 5G, LTEmmWave & sub-6 5G, LTEWi-Fi connectivityWi-Fi 7Wi-Fi 7ConnectivityIR blaster, NFCUWB, NFCBluetoothBluetooth 5.4Bluetooth 5.3Dimensions164.3 x 75.8 x 9.2mm162.6 × 79.0 × 8.6mmWeight220g233gIP RatingIP65IP68ColorsFlowy Emerald, Silky BlackTitanium Black, Titanium Grey, Titanium Violet, Titanium YellowStylusNoS Pen includedPriceFrom $800From $1,300
Learn our evaluate OnePlus 12 evaluate: All flagship, no AI This telephone leaves not anything at the desk, making for a in point of fact whole package deal
Learn our evaluate Samsung Galaxy S24 Extremely evaluate: Nonetheless the most efficient, until you’re taking pictures With none significant adjustments, Samsung’s newest phablet looks like a do-over for ultimate yr’s smartphone
Design
A featureless monolith and an excellent, huge circle
It kind of feels like Samsung’s spent the previous few years refining away all of its telephones’ noteworthy visible options till they are only one pristine, relatively glossy block. With none primary visible cues left to take away this yr, it went even blockier and fully flattened the perimeters and display.
That is not a complaint. The sharper edges make it really feel higher in hand, and the mirror-flat entrance works higher with contact and stylus enter. However the one in point of fact fascinating factor concerning the S24 Extremely’s seems to be is the selection of colours it is available in. The comfortable, titanium-hued inexperienced, blue, orange, violet, yellow, black, and silver virtually glance extra like jewellery than an digital instrument.
OnePlus gives a long way fewer colours — black, and a pleasing inexperienced marbling known as Flowy Emerald — nevertheless it sports activities a putting look that stands proud amongst flagships. At the higher left aspect of the 12’s again sits an unmistakable bump that homes the Hasselblad digicam lenses, an iconic design component first noticed at the OnePlus 11. Whilst the OnePlus 12 does additionally glance virtually precisely like its predecessor, it nonetheless seems to be lovely attention-grabbing.
Samsung does superceede OnePlus relatively from a bodily design perspective. The S24 Extremely’s Gorilla Glass Armor moves a steadiness of sturdiness and scratch resistance we now have no longer but noticed, marginally outperforming the Victus 2 discovered at the OnePlus 12. Samsung additionally shot for an IP68 ranking, whilst OnePlus most effective eked out IP65 coverage.
Show
How shiny is just too shiny?
Now we have reached some degree in high-end smartphone presentations the place numbers like share of colour gamut protection and colour variance delta-E do not imply a lot in real-world use. Each smartphones produce colours, deal with movement, and face up to ghosting and artifacts so effectively that it is tough to base comparisons on laborious numbers.
For instance, the OnePlus boasts a borderline-unbelievable 4,500-nit top brightness, however you will not ever in truth see that roughly shine in common use. OnePlus most likely measured the utmost imaginable output of a unmarried pixel whilst the remainder of the panel used to be at a low energy degree, a state of affairs you will not come upon in genuine existence. With that mentioned, the OnePlus does get brighter, however you can wish to flip off computerized brightness to get probably the most out of it. With the OS managing brightness by itself, the Galaxy has a tendency to be more uncomplicated to peer, however no longer through an enormous quantity.
Qualitatively, despite the fact that, there are some transparent variations between the displays. Maximum particularly, the OnePlus 12’s rounded corners glance, effectively, like a large number of telephone show designs we are used to seeing. The S24 Extremely’s unusual 90-degree corners stand out and build up the efficient display area. Samsung’s access unquestionably seems to be cleaner, even if the OnePlus seems to be improbable.
The aforementioned Gorilla Glass Armor is some other huge distinction that defies size. Now not simply formulated for sturdiness, it is also engineered to withstand glare in any respect angles with out noticeably affecting symbol high quality. It is one of the most S24 Extremely’s greatest benefits, and no different telephones use it but.
However the OnePlus nonetheless has some tips up its sleeve. Its panel helps no longer simply HDR and Professional XDR (necessarily a souped-up model of HDR for viewing pictures), but in addition Dolby Imaginative and prescient, in contrast to the Samsung. Aqua Contact is some other novel OnePlus characteristic; it makes the touchscreen extra persistently responsive when there is extra moisture to your arms or the display. That one’s laborious to quantify, however we spotted a distinction in side-by-side checking out with the OnePlus 11.
Tool
The most important distinction
Samsung’s OneUI Android pores and skin will get a ton of reward for its intuitive design and excessive diploma of customizability. It is probably not universally liked — not anything is — however mavens and informal customers alike broadly regard it as the most efficient Android implementation these days. It gives one of the most best multitasking equipment, together with Samsung Dex, which will necessarily flip your telephone right into a tiny desktop PC.
For probably the most in-depth use instances, the inclusion of Samsung’s vaunted S Pen and its in-body garage cannot be not noted. If you are making plans on taking notes or differently the use of a stylus to govern your smartphone, the S24 Extremely’s the one selection. The OnePlus 12 does not even give a boost to the corporate’s personal pen.
However arguably the most important gulf in device design comes within the type of gadget finding out equipment, which everyone’s simply made up our minds to name AI options. Samsung leaned into Galaxy AI laborious all the way through the Unpacked tournament when it introduced the S24 circle of relatives, pitching it as the brand new fashions’ maximum vital improve, and principally the tech of the longer term.
Constructed on Google’s Gemini Professional and Imagen 2 AI fashions, Galaxy AI provides novel options that the vanilla Google Assistant cannot rather deal with. This comprises neat stuff like doing away with shadows, reflections, or even whole gadgets from pictures. It could possibly transcribe audio recordings, and make fast summaries of huge be aware units. It even permits reside translation of calls, messages, and in-person conversations, easiest for global pros and vacationers.
The OnePlus 12 gives no such AI options. As a substitute, it employs the OxygenOS pores and skin, which deviates from inventory Android greater than just a bit. Under no circumstances bulky or complicated, it has somewhat of a finding out curve if you have not used a OnePlus telephone in the previous few years. Regardless of a couple of minor quirks, despite the fact that, it really works nice while you get to comprehend it, and will have to see persevered refinement.
Android replace lifespans
Fairly famously, Samsung adopted Google’s lead this yr and now guarantees seven years of complete Android updates and safety patches for its high-end units. Battery degradation however, there is little question the S24 Extremely will nonetheless carry out effectively a number of years down the street.
OnePlus, sadly, hasn’t adopted go well with. Whilst it no doubt has the {hardware} to last more, it’s going to most effective see 4 Android updates after which one additional yr of safety patches. For that topic, OnePlus itself in truth derided the idea that of a seven-year replace lifespan, evaluating it to a moldy sandwich — so do not dangle any hope that it will alternate its thoughts in a couple of years and be offering extra device.
Efficiency
Laborious to inform aside
The 2 telephones come with extraordinarily equivalent internals. They use the similar bodily Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, which boasts a marginal efficiency build up and notable potency improve to the Gen 2. They do use other variants, despite the fact that. The Samsung’s Cortex-X4 core will get a minor, 100MHz overclock on the expense of 100MHz for every of the opposite seven cores. That is possibly to deal with the AI options that take somewhat extra processing energy than your moderate smartphone process.
In daily utilization, despite the fact that, you can understand no distinction. Each telephones are blazing immediate and ready to deal with probably the most resource-intensive duties an app can throw at them. In case you love to get so much accomplished directly to your telephone, despite the fact that, the upper-tier OnePlus and its 16GB of RAM may just trap you. OnePlus additionally added a brand new SoC control engine known as CPU-Vitalization, which claims to steadiness energy and function to ship extra uncooked pace when you wish to have it, and higher potency when you do not.
Supply: JerryRigEverything/YouTube
OnePlus additionally employs complicated thermal control known as the Twin Cryo-velocity Cooling Gadget, which includes a sizable vapor chamber that minimizes the danger of throttling. Altogether, the 12’s improbable {hardware} and its novel implementation can, theoretically, push it a notch above the Samsung when it comes to efficiency. The typical person would possibly no longer understand, but when absolute breakneck pace is a concern, the OnePlus 12 has you lined to a greater extent than the S24 Extremely.
However from a extra practical perspective, we do have a few gripes with the OnePlus. The small one is that the fingerprint reader does not carry out in addition to it would; it periodically took a couple of tries and lagged unlocking the telephone. The loss of 5G mmWave connectivity is a relatively better factor, and method it may not have get right of entry to to the best possible over-the-air knowledge speeds and latency. That is probably not a deal-breaker, however it’s crucial level for some customers.
Battery existence
Do you wish to have nice, or improbable?
Each profit from the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3’s skill to sip energy, handing over spectacular, all-day battery existence, even with heavy use. In reality, maximum customers may just most certainly stretch them each to over two days of use with out requiring a recharge — despite the fact that we would not counsel that, as a result of discharging your battery beneath about 40% begins to inspire degradation. Nevertheless, there is one transparent winner.
In accordance with a natural video playback check, the Samsung in truth lasts a few hours longer (about 28.5 hours to the OnePlus’s 26), most likely because of the OnePlus’s upper brightness. However taking normal use into consideration — 4G and 5G radios, Wi-Fi connections, app switching, inputs and haptics, and geo-location pinging — the OnePlus 12 edges out the S24 Extremely persistently.
Neither’s getting vastly blown out, after all, and each ultimate lengthy sufficient to assert one of the most very best battery existence available on the market. However that isn’t the entire tale.
A story of 2 charging speeds
We generally tend to rag at the Galaxy Extremely’s 45W max charging fee. Now not as a result of it is unusably sluggish, however as a result of that is the most efficient, most costly Samsung has to provide, and we expect it will probably do higher. Positive, it would possibly not want blazing-fast refueling speeds, partially as it does not want topping off all the way through the day. But when we shell out $1,300 or extra for a telephone, we expect it will have to have one of the most very best high-end options.
On the very least, it will have to enhance upon its two-year-prior predecessor, or perhaps even come with the considered necessary distinctiveness charger within the field. Samsung’s newest top-dollar telephone does neither. What is worse, the cable integrated within the S24 Extremely’s field does not even give a boost to the amperage required to deal with the total 45W top. That is borderline shameful.
Questionable producer selections apart, half-hour on a standard 25W charger can take the S24 Extremely from empty to only over 50%. A 45W PPS charger strikes that determine to just about 70%. From 0 to 100%, 25W and 45W charging take about 1:05 and 1:15, respectively. The small distinction comes from the truth that Samsung’s charging set of rules slows considerably because it passes more or less 80%, to maintain battery longevity. The 45W PPS generation, due to this fact, is extra helpful for fast top-ups when the battery is low.
OnePlus does just about the whole lot in a different way. It comprises the specified SuperVOOC charger and cable wanted to succeed in the telephone’s top charging fee, which is proscribed to 80W (as a substitute of the global 100W) simply because of US electric infrastructure. OnePlus additionally does not fiddle with slowing down the rate fee routinely, so you can see the battery replenish at a rather consistent fee. A handy guide a rough, 15-minute spot at the charger takes it from empty to almost 50%, with a complete tank at simply over the 30-minute mark.
That is not simply spectacular, it is the most efficient available on the market, and slays the S24 Extremely. Then again, in case you plan to stay your OnePlus 12 for an important duration of time, remember the fact that quicker charging and the warmth related to it generally tend to degrade batteries quicker. If you are charging in a single day, it is OK to make use of a typical charger, and that’ll be certain your battery nonetheless works effectively two or 3 years into the longer term.
Cameras
The place reputations collide
Samsung is going out of its technique to come with virtually excessively nice optical {hardware} in its flagship. Arguably nobody wishes a 200MP picture from a smartphone, despite the fact that its pixel binning does do an excellent task, particularly in low mild. And whilst no longer everybody loves Samsung cameras’ predilection for slight oversaturation, the pictures do glance nice, and you’ll save you the saturation factor with a snappy settings alternate.
General, we controlled to get some superb pictures with the Galaxy, particularly the 200MP number one lens. The evening mode works specifically effectively in shooting colours in darkish settings, indoors and out. The broader telephoto lens additionally works higher in lots of instances, and the downgrade from 10× to five× is most effective relatively noticeable at excessive zoom ranges.
However that isn’t our gripe with Samsung’s images revel in. That is the 3rd yr working we now have encountered transparent movement dealing with problems, in large part within the type of blurry pictures in quite well-lit settings. This will not be the tip of the sector, however it is inconceivable to put out of your mind in this type of expensive instrument.
Now, for one thing utterly other. OnePlus partnered with Swedish images heavyweight Hasselblad to broaden one of the vital fascinating digicam setups to be had. Its 50MP wide-angle number one lens sits along a 64MP 3× telephoto setup, complemented through a 48MP ultrawide sensor. This dizzying array of high-resolution lenses supplies an outstanding degree of versatility, with the 32MP wide-angle selfie digicam most effective including to the combo.
Our hands-on checking out left us with not anything however nice issues to mention. The bevy of capturing modes, each guide and auto, give hand held photographers lots of choices for reaching the very best shot. And whilst OnePlus does not use any explicit AI photo-editing equipment, its symbol processing is up there with the most efficient telephones for images at the moment. If taking photos is vital on your smartphone revel in, the OnePlus 12 sticks out from the remainder.
Which one’s best for you?
The Galaxy S24 Extremely is a superb telephone and can, no doubt, promote extra gadgets than the OnePlus 12. However, rather then the anti-glare Gorilla Glass Armor, common OneUI Android pores and skin, and novel AI equipment, the OnePlus does virtually the whole lot higher. It is ridiculously immediate, seems to be particularly great within the Flowy Emerald colorway, lasts longer consistent with rate, fees manner quicker, and takes higher photos on a extra constant foundation than the Samsung.
And the true kicker? MSRP for the bottom fashion is a whopping $500 decrease, and simply $100 extra nets you 16GB of RAM and 512GB of garage. You’ll even commerce in any previous telephone you will have available for a $100 recycling bargain. If there have been ever a time to ditch Samsung, it is now.
OnePlus 12 Best pickLook actually laborious, and you’ll most effective to find small weaknessesOnePlus knocked it out of the park with the 12 through ignoring AI and specializing in the issues that make a conventional flagship smartphone in point of fact nice. Its exceptional pace, battery existence and charging, and digicam efficiency make it a powerful contender for telephone of the yr.
Nevertheless, a large number of folks position excessive significance on issues the S24 Extremely does rather effectively. It seems to be somewhat extra polished, if no longer as flashy, and the device revel in (particularly the multitasking options and Samsung Dex implementation) provides lots of software for customers who spend a large number of time running on their telephones.
Plus, regardless of its competitor doing a large number of issues higher, the Galaxy nonetheless does the whole lot extremely effectively — aside from a slightly inconsistent digicam revel in. If cash’s no object and you wish to have get right of entry to to the newest AI equipment, the Galaxy S24 Extremely is a smart selection.
Samsung Galaxy S24 Extremely The device kingAdvanced options and the associated fee to check$1150 $1300 Save $150 The S24 Extremely does not go away from its predecessor in any primary manner rather then an higher center of attention on AI equipment — one thing a large number of folks these days price. If you wish to have a probably the greatest device revel in and will abdomen the excessive value, there is not anything actually improper with Samsung’s newest big-screen flagship.
