Summary
In the past few years, OnePlus has become well-known for making some of the best Android phones on the market. When it comes to top phones, the OnePlus 12 is a great choice for anyone who wants something different from a Samsung Galaxy or an Apple iPhone.
But if you can wait, the OnePlus 13 next year might have some big changes that make it worth the wait. Here are some reasons why you might want to wait for the OnePlus 13 instead of the OnePlus 12.
OnePlus, like Samsung, Google, and Apple, has stuck to the same design style for its most recent smartphones.
If you look at the OnePlus 10, 10T, 10R, 11, 11R, 12, and 12R, they all look pretty much the same. Your camera section is big and not in the middle. It’s lined to the left with metal to make it look like it’s attached to the device frame. It was a square camera sensor until the OnePlus 11. Then OnePlus changed it to a round bump, but it’s still in the same place.
It’s been three years since this style was last changed. It’s time for a change, and the OnePlus 13 might bring it. There is a post on Weibo that says the OnePlus 13 will have a new design without the “family hinge.” Since this phone doesn’t fold, the “family hinge” probably refers to the camera section and how it fits into the frame.
There are no hints about what the design change will involve, but I think the camera’s position will change since the “hinge” is no longer there. Given that it won’t be attached to the frame, it might be more in the middle. One of the things that makes OnePlus stand out is its relationship with Hasselblad, so I don’t think they would make the camera section smaller. OnePlus will take any chance it gets to show off how good its camera is.
Of course, we won’t know what the OnePlus 13 looks like until either the end of this year or the beginning of 2025. If you don’t like the way the OnePlus 12 looks, though, you might want to wait to see what changes.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 from Qualcomm
Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip is what the OnePlus 12 has right now. Most people think that the OnePlus 13 will use the next generation of Qualcomm’s top-of-the-line chipset, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4.
Qualcomm has already said that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 will come out in October. This is the chip that will run most high-end Android phones in 2025. The OnePlus 13 should be one of them. There aren’t many details about the chip’s abilities, but some leaks say that Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 might even be faster than Apple’s A18, which is what we expect to see in the iPhone 16 Pro.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 has been working very well in our OnePlus 12 and Samsung Galaxy S24 devices so far. There’s a lot to look forward to with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 if it can make speed even faster and power economy even better.
Fingerprint reader that uses ultrasound
An under-screen fingerprint reader is something that most Android phones have. You can safely unlock your phone and apps with it, and the tech is hidden under the screen.
OnePlus has used fingerprint readers under the screen before. For a few years now, it has stuck with optical under-display fingerprint readers, which have mostly worked well and been quick. One problem with the optical sensors, though, is that they shine a bright light on your finger when they read it. This can be annoying to use in dark places.
There is a rumor that the OnePlus 13 will use ultrasonic technology for the fingerprint reader under the screen. Instead of a bright light, an ultrasonic sensor sends out bursts of ultrasonic sound waves. Your fingerprint is picked up by the echoes of those sound waves that are returned.
Touch devices that use ultrasound are not new; they’ve been around for a while. Samsung’s S24 family of phones are the newest ones to use an ultrasound scanner. Samsung says that ultrasonic technology makes fingerprint reading 77% bigger and 50% faster than it was in the past.
It will be cool if the OnePlus 13 gets an acoustic fingerprint reader. That being said, it might be even faster than the standard optical reader, safer, and better for your eyes. I think that’s a win-win-win situation.
A telescopic camera with more features
The camera system on the OnePlus 12 is better than the one on the OnePlus 11, which was released before it.
There is a 48MP ultrawide camera, a 32MP selfie camera, a 64MP periscope telephoto camera with 3x optical zoom, and a 50MP main camera on the OnePlus 12. OnePlus has also kept the relationship with Hasselblad, which makes it a great phone for shooters in general.
Even though the wide lens has a great clarity, the fact that it can only optically zoom three times is a bit frustrating. As an example, the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra has four cameras, with a 10MP telephoto lens and a 50MP periscope telephoto lens that can optically zoom in at 3x and 5x, respectively. There are also some cool telephoto features on the Honor Magic 6 Pro. It has a 180MP periscope telephoto camera with 2.5x optical zoom and 100x digital zoom.
When it comes to cameras, OnePlus still has a lot of room to grow. There may be a new design (and probably a new camera module) in the works for the OnePlus 13. Let’s hope that means the telephoto camera gets better.
More powerful IP rating
The OnePlus 12 has an IP65 grade, which means it is safe from dust and water. With this number, the exterior is resistant to dust and the phone’s body can handle drops of water without breaking. That amount of safety is fine, but it’s not the best you can get.
On the market, there are many other smartphones that get even better reviews. The iPhone 15, the Google Pixel 8, and the Samsung Galaxy S24 all have an IP68 grade, which means they are more resistant to water. They can be buried up to six meters deep in fresh water for up to thirty minutes.
Again, since the OnePlus 13 will almost certainly have a different look, we hope that it will have a higher IP grade that makes it more resistant to dust and water. Since we live in the present day, OnePlus should give IP68. The OnePlus 13 might be the phone that makes this happen.
Updates that last longer
At the moment, OnePlus says that the Android OS will get big changes for up to four years and security patches for five years.
Plus, Google and Samsung have promised OS patches for seven years, which is even better. With its iOS changes, Apple has never promised a certain number of years, but an iPhone usually lasts at least five years.
Because of all of that, OnePlus might be able to support its next premium phones just as well as its rivals. And the OnePlus 13 is a great way to start a seven-year plan to update.
Now is the time to wait.
The OnePlus 12 first came out in China on December 5, 2023. It then went on sale around the world in January of this year. We can expect the same schedule for the OnePlus 13 unless something very unexpected happens.
It might be best to wait for the OnePlus 13 if any of the functions listed above are important to you. However, the OnePlus 12 is still one of the best phones you can buy right now if you need a new one and don’t care about the above changes.
At MWC, OnePlus 12 R debuts its stylish new Genshin Impact partnership
