OnePlus 13 vs OnePlus 12: What’s changed?

OnePlus recently announced its flagship smartphone dubbed the OnePlus 13. The smartphone comes with an updated design, has new internals, and runs on the latest Android 15 OS out of the box.

If you are someone who’s planning to buy a new OnePlus flagship or is confused about whether or not to switch from your OnePlus 12, this comparison will help you learn the exact differences between the two, allowing you to make your final purchase decision.

OnePlus 13 vs OnePlus 12: Design and display

The OnePlus 13 comes with an updated design, which means that it’s not exactly a visual overhaul, but rather a slight improvement, making the device look more minimal. We still get the standard round camera island on the rear and a flat screen with very minimal curving.

However, the Hasselblad branding has moved towards the right, instead of being on the camera island, as on the processor.

Both the OnePlus 13 and the OnePlus 12 have the same screen size, i.e., 6.82 inches. And the LTPO AMOLED panels support a 120Hz high refresh rate, 1 billion colours, HDR10+, and 4,500 nits of peak brightness. The screens also share the same 1440 x 3168 pixels.

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However, the OnePlus 13 gets a higher typical brightness of 800 nits, up from the 600 nits panel of the predecessor. The device also has a crystal shield super-ceramic glass over the Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 on the OnePlus 12.

OnePlus 13 vs OnePlus 12: Cameras

Coming to the optics, the OnePlus 13 gets an improved camera setup, with a 50MP Sony LYT-808 main lens with OIS, a 50MP periscope lens with 3x optical zoom, and a 50MP ultrawide sensor.

For comparison, the predecessor OnePlus 12 has a 50MP Sony LYT-808 main lens, an old 64MP OmniVision OV64B lens with 3x optical zoom, and a 48MP Sony IMX581 ultrawide lens. So, the periscope and the ultrawide cameras have received a major upgrade.

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Also, the rear camera on the new OnePlus 13 can shoot 8K videos at 30fps over 8k 24fps video recording support on the OnePlus 12. The front camera remains the same, i.e., a 32MP sensor. However, it is not limited to 4K 30fps footage, rather it can now shoot 4K videos at 60fps.

OnePlus 13 vs OnePlus 12: Performance and battery

One of the major highlights of the OnePlus 13 is its chipset. The device comes powered by the newly launched Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite processor, which is based on a 3nm process. It has an Adreno 830 GPU for better graphical performance.

The predecessor OnePlus 12 is powered by a 4nm-based Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset with Adreno 750 GPU. So, a newer chipset brings upgraded performance as well as better thermal efficiency.

Users also get a major battery upgrade with the OnePlus 13. It packs a mammoth 6,000mAh cell with 100W wired, 50W wireless, and 10W reverse wireless charging support. The OnePlus 12, on the other hand, houses a smaller 5,400mAh cell with the same fast charging speeds.

OnePlus also says that the OnePlus 13 can be fully charged in 36 minutes, comapred to the 30 minutes one the OnePlus 12. However, considering the newer phone has a larger battery, we’d say the overall batteyr life is likely to be an improvement.

OnePlus 13 vs OnePlus 12: Extras, software

The OnePlus 13 gets a better IP68 and IP69 water resistance rating, an improvement from the IP65 rating of the OnePlus 12. What this improvement means is that the newer phone can now withstand submersion, along with pressurised water jets.

The OnePlus 13 boots Android 15 out of the box, whereas, the OnePlus 12 runs on Android 14. While the latter will get the Android 15 support later, it will still likely miss out on a year of software compared to the newer phone.

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Other than this, the rest of the specifications remain the same, such as a stereo speaker setup, an under-display fingerprint scanner, Wi-Fi 7, and 5G connectivity.

Overall, the OnePlus 13 is a good choice for those who are planning to purchase a new premium OnePlus phone. Those with OnePlus 12 don’t necessarily need to upgrade unless they want an even faster performance and some camera gains.