Recent updates
December 3: We're almost at the end of the year, so have been doing some tidying up to reflect that. And while it's not on sale here yet, the OnePlus 13 has now launched in China, featuring what are likely to be near-identical specs to the phone we'll get in the new year.
I'm always happy to recommend the best OnePlus phones to people, since they blend value with performance like few other brands can match.
Over the past year, I've loved trying out the OnePlus 12's flagship powers, the competitively priced but still potent OnePlus 12R, and the OnePlus Open - still the world's best foldable phone even a year after launch. We have other recommendations for you besides these, but if you were to pick one of those, you're unlikely to go wrong.
Based on my own experience, and with the help of other TG team members, these are the best OnePlus phones we can recommend you right now. We'll take you through our different categories and testing criteria, and hopefully answer any questions you might have that will help you find the perfect phone for your needs.
The first OnePlus phone I tried was the OnePlus 7 Pro (the one with the fun pop-up selfie camera) and I was instantly captured by the company's approach to making phones. I also remember encountering OnePlus in my pre-phones life when a work colleague showed me his OnePlus 2, from back when OnePlus sold its phones by invitation only. It's a brand that is dedicated to its own vision of how smartphones should work and feel. But even better than just having a clear goal — these phones stand up to scrutiny even after rigorous testing by me or my colleagues.
The quick list
The latest conventional OnePlus flagship offers a well-rounded set of premium features at a price you'd get much less from if you went with another brand. But the price has crept up from last year, and there's limited AI features if you're keen on trying those.
In return for downgraded photography, charging and chipset specs compared to the regular 12, the 12R gives even better battery life and near-identical performance overall at a lower price point, although the availability of the best version is limited.
OnePlus absolutely cracked the foldable phone formula on its first try, with a gorgeous design, ingenious multitasking and the performance, battery and charging abilities you'd expect. But you'll be paying quite a bit for it.
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It's not too strong in the photography department, but you'll love how high the battery life, charging speed and display refresh rate are on this sub $300 phone.
The best OnePlus phones you can buy
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The best OnePlus phone overall
It feels like the best part of half a decade's efforts to crack the flagship phone market have finally come together in the OnePlus 12. It's got the quality and breadth of features that previous top-tier OnePlus phones have always missed one or two checklist items from, and even if it's more expensive than the OnePlus 11 that preceded it, it's still cheaper than equivalently sized and specced Androids from other brands.
The standout features, as you'd expect, are battery life (enhanced by an enlarged cell) and charging speed. The 12 comes with a 100W wired charger in the box (80W in the U.S.), and can also be powered up at 50W wirelessly. But don't forget the top-notch chipset and display either, which help deliver the rest of the all-rounder experience.
Read our full OnePlus 12 review.
The best OnePlus phone value
OnePlus' R models have not come to the U.S. and Europe prior to the 12R, and all we can say is better late than never. In exchange for an older chipset, less hi-tech display and cameras (including a macro sensor in place of the telephoto), OnePlus knocks a few hundred off the price, and increases the battery size.
The result is a mid-range phone with a surprising amount in common with a full-blown flagship device, and the current second place on our best phone battery life page, with first place belonging to a premium gaming phone almost twice the price.
If your priority for your new phone is the most power at the least cost, then the OnePlus 12R will be worth the trade-offs for you. Just be aware that the cheapest version is tragically not on offer for U.K. buyers.
Read our full OnePlus 12R review.
The best premium OnePlus phone
Thanks to some help from sister company Oppo, OnePlus' maiden voyage into the world of foldables turned out brilliantly. The OnePlus Open is our favorite foldable around right now, due to its compact folded size and light weight, lengthy battery life and impressive specs like 512GB of storage by default, two 48MP cameras and a 64MP telephoto one on the back, and the Open Canvas system that lets you open and work between multiple apps very easily.
This is a foldable phone though, which means it's not the best photography phone, even among OnePlus' own phones. There's also no wireless charging, which is an odd thing to leave out on a premium phone, but unfortunately this is something OnePlus has missed off of its phones historically. If you can live with that though, there's little to turn you off of this impressive example of a foldable phone.
Read our full OnePlus Open review.
The best budget OnePlus phone
The OnePlus Nord N30 5G (or OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite if you're outside the U.S.) is very affordable but still spoils you in some areas. Most notably that it gives you 50W charging and a 120Hz display in a device that costs less than $300. The battery life is strong too.
Its biggest limitation is photo quality, which could be a dealbreaker for some of you. This is unfortunately the literal price of making a cheap phone, as is the Nord N30's low-powered chipset. So hopefully if you want to save money, you will focus on the great display, charging and battery instead.
Read our full OnePlus Nord N30 5G review.
Also tested
While we've basically run the gamut of all OnePlus' current smartphone offerings, there are a few still worth singling out for being good, albeit in more limited ways.
What to look for in a OnePlus phone
When shopping for the best OnePlus phones, keep in mind that OnePlus divides its smartphone product line into two different categories. The more expensive OnePlus flagships usually cost $700 and up and pack in the best features OnePlus has to offer. OnePlus Nord devices are the phone maker’s budget devices — prices are lower and features are scaled back, though you’ll still find a few notable capabilities.
OnePlus used to release flagships twice a year — once in the spring, followed by a T series version of that same phone in the fall. But OnePlus has changed a lot in recent years, so it's hard to predict what the company will do next. You can play the waiting game forever with OnePlus, so it's best to just go for the phone that stands out to you at the time it makes sense for you to upgrade.
How we test the best OnePlus phones
We take the same approach to finding the best OnePlus phones as we do any smartphone we review, running various tests and benchmarks. We use Geekbench 6 to measure overall performance and 3DMark Wild Life to test graphics performance. For real-world testing, we use Adobe Premier Rush to transcode a video, timing how long it takes. (This test does not work on all devices due to app compatibility issues.)
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | Geekbench 6 (single-core / multicore) | 3DMark Wild Life Unlimited (FPS) |
| OnePlus 12 | 2,188 / 6,525 | 116.4 |
| OnePlus 12R | 1,553 / 5,135 | 84.4 |
| OnePlus Open | 1,087 / 4,203 | 84.8 |
| OnePlus Nord N30 5G | 690 / 2,011 | 7.2 |
In our lab, we test the brightness of the phone’s display as well as how colorful each screen is (using both the sRGB and DCI-P3 color gamut). We measure color accuracy as well.
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | sRGB (%) | DCI-P3 (%) | Delta-E |
| OnePlus 12 | 111.3 | 78.9 | 0.2 |
| OnePlus 12R | 113.2 | 80.2 | 0.21 |
| OnePlus Open | 111.8 | 111.8 | 0.14 |
| OnePlus Nord N30 5G | 152.7 | 108.2 | 0.09 |
We have a custom battery test in which we have phones surf the web continuously over a cellular connection, timing how long it takes until they run out of power. We also time how quickly a phone can recharge, checking the battery status after 15 and 30 minutes.
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | Battery life (Hrs:Mins) |
| OnePlus 12 | 17:41 |
| OnePlus 12R | 18:42 |
| OnePlus Open | 11:31 (main display) |
| OnePlus Nord N30 5G | 12:42 |
Finally, to test cameras, we take the best OnePlus phones out into the field and shoot photos of landscapes, portraits, night images and other shots. We compare those shots to similar images captured by phones with comparable specs and prices.
