OnePlus 15 vs OnePlus 12: Time to step into the future

OnePlus has come a long way as a company, and ever since the first flagship killer launched back in 2014, the brand has been evolving and expanding its cult following. So much so that now, right after the OnePlus 15 launch, we’re looking at the latest flagship of the company as a worthy rival of the latest Apple and Samsung phones.However, today we’re going to compare the recently released OnePlus 15 with a distant relative—the OnePlus 12. These two devices are two years apart, despite the bigger gap in the numbering scheme (OnePlus has decided to skip 14). 

The new model brings some cool upgrades and serve as a platform for the launch of the Snapdragon Elite Gen 5 chipset, so given the two-year upgrade cycle that most people follow, it’d be interesting to see how these two phones compare and whether or not it’s time to put down your OnePlus 12 and get the latest OnePlus 15 model.

OnePlus 15 vs OnePlus 12 differences:

Table of Contents:

 

There’s a big design change compared to the last couple of OnePlus generations, and it concerns the camera design. The new phone features a square camera bump with one oval and two circular cutouts for the cameras and the LED flash. The design is reminiscent of the camera housing used on the Pixel 10 Pro Fold.

In terms of dimensions and weight, there’s also a slight change, due to the different size and aspect ratio of the screens of both phones. The new OnePlus 15 is shorter but wider, while the OnePlus 12 is taller but narrower.

The OnePlus 15 will features an IP69 dust and water resistance rating, the highest in the industry currently. Check out our IP69 explainer article for more details. The OnePlus 12, on the other hand, only has IP65. One final thing, before we move to the colors. The mute slider is gone on the OnePlus 15.

CPU Performance Benchmarks:

GPU Performance:

The OnePlus 15 launched running OxygenOS 16, based on Android 16, and you get the same 4-year software support cycle as the on the previous two generations. 

The main wide camera inside the OnePlus 15 uses a Sony IMX906 50MP sensor under a lens with an aperture of f/1.8. The equivalent focal length will be 24 mm, and there’s also OIS on board.

The ultra-wide camera is features another 50 MP sensor, this time the OmniVision OV50D, coming in at 16 mm focal length, or 0.6X compared to the main camera. The aperture is f/2.0. Finally, the telephoto camera yet again relies on a 50MP sensor (a version of the Samsung JN5) with an f/2.8 aperture lens on top and 3.5X zoom (85 mm).

In comparison, the OnePlus 12 features a slightly different camera setup. The main camera is 50MP with an aperture of f/1.6, a 23mm focal length, and OIS. There’s a 48MP ultrawide and a 64MP periscope telephoto with 3x optical zoom.

The camera score of the OnePlus 12 is 145 (out of 158), which is pretty good. The OnePlus 15 managed 151 points, mainly due to a higher score in the main camera department, and a slightly better score in the zoom test.

Main camera

We were able to snap a quick one just after dusk started to fall and the quality isn’t great, but you can still see the better color reproduction, details and dynamic range on the OnePlus 15 compared to the OnePlus 12. We’ll make sure to snap some better quality samples soon.

Zoom Quality

Zoom pictures look much better on the OnePlus 15, with more resolved details, better exposure and also wider dynamic range. The OnePlus 12 sample, on the other hand, looks overexposed, and there’s a loss of detail that’s quite noticeable.

Ultrawide camera

The ultrawide camera samples display the same differences as the telephoto ones. The OnePlus 15 does a better job with exposure and the colors look a tad more real, while the level of detail is also quite a bit better. The OnePlus 12 once again overexposes the sample and details are not great.

Selfie

Selfies in low light conditions look a bit uninspiring, but again, the OnePlus 15 was able to catch more details (take a look at the letters on the T-shirt, and also Vic’s beard). The OnePlus 12 selfies look very dramatic, with high contrast and oversharpening to the point people don’t look real anymore.

OnePlus is notorious for bringing the silicon-carbon tech outside China and into the US. The OnePlus 15 brings new gains to the “Glacier” battery design (the company’s fancy name for the si-ca tech). We have a massive 7,300 mAh battery inside the phone, which will most likely put it in the top 10 spot when it comes to battery life (spoiler, it did much better than that).The OnePlus 12 in comparison relies on a conventional lithium-ion cell with 5,400 mAh capacity, and it managed 8h 23m in our composite battery test, placing it in the 17th spot among phones tested in the past 2 years.

PhoneArena Battery and Charging Test Results:

When it comes to charging, OnePlus is on the forefront with speeds pushing 100W (and even more). The OnePlus 15 supports 120W of wired charging, but that’s capped to 80W (with a strange “up to 100W” addition, so in the end it’s the same as the OnePlus 12. 

The OnePlus 12 supports 100W wired on the global model and 80W for the US. Both phones support up to 50W wireless, but you will need a proprietary wireless charger to get to these speeds. In our test, both phones were able to charge from zero to full in less than one hour. The OnePlus 12 charges faster (37 minutes) due to its smaller battery.

Even though there are just two years between these two models, the OnePlus 15 is a big upgrade in several departments. The all-new Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 chipset is one of the most exciting processors this year.

The massive 7,300 mAh battery skyrocketed the phone to the fist spot in our battery ranking. The screen is new with a high refresh rate and minimal bezels, and the camera system now features different sensors.

Compared to the two-year-old OnePlus 12, this new model is the clear winner, but there’s one key aspect that may spoil the victory parade. The price. At 1,149 euros recommended retail price this phone is more expensive than either the iPhone 17 Pro Max or the Galaxy S25 Ultra. So, if you’re upgrading from the OnePlus 12, it will be a hard sell to go and get the new model.