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We’re here to compare two brand-new flagship smartphones, the OnePlus 12 vs Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra. Both of these devices launched in January 2024. Well, truth be said, the OnePlus 12 originally arrived in early December, but its global model launched this month. In any case, these two phones are the very best OnePlus and Samsung have to offer. It’ll sure be interesting to compare them.
They are quite different, and yet extremely powerful. What is especially interesting is that the OnePlus 12 is a lot more affordable than the Galaxy S24 Ultra, at least in the US. OnePlus decided to go with a truly aggressive price tag. Let’s see if shelling out more for the Galaxy S24 Ultra is worth it, or can you get away with getting the OnePlus 12. That’ll be your call, of course, but we’ll try to give you some information to make that choice.
Specs
OnePlus 12 vs Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, respectively
– Screen size:
6.82-inch LTPO AMOLED display (curved, 120Hz LTPO, HDR10+, 4,500 nits)
6.9-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X (flat, 120Hz, HDR10+, 2,600 nits max brightness)
– Display resolution:
3168 x 1440
3120 x 1440
– SoC:
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3
Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy
– RAM:
12GB/16GB (LPDDR5X)
12GB (LPDDR5X)
– Storage:
256GB/512GB (UFS 4.0)
256GB/512GB/1TB (UFS 4.0)
– Rear cameras:
50MP (f/1.6 aperture, 23mm lens, 1.12um pixel size, Dual Pixel PDAF, OIS), 48MP (ultrawide, 14mm lens, 114-degree FoV, f/2.2 aperture, 0.8um pixel size, PDAF), 64MP (periscope telephoto, 0.7um pixel size, OIS, PDAF, 3x optical zoom, 6x “in-sensor” zoom)
200MP (wide, f/1.7 aperture, OIS, multi-directional PDAF, 0.6um pixel size), 12MP (ultrawide, 120-degree FoV, f/2.2 aperture, Dual Pixel PDAF 1.4um pixel size), 10MP (telephoto, f/2.4 aperture, OIS, Dual Pixel PDAF, 1.12um pixel size, 3x optical zoom), 50MP (periscope telephoto, OIS, PDAF, 5x optical zoom)
– Front cameras:
32MP (f/2.4 aperture)
12MP (wide, f/2.2 aperture, Dual Pixel PDAF, 22mm lens)
– Battery:
5,400mAh
5,000mAh
– Charging:
100W wired, 50W wireless, reverse wireless (charger included)
45W wired, 15W wireless, 4.5W reverse wireless (charger not included)
– Dimensions (unfolded):
164.3 x 75.8 x 9.2mm
162.3 x 79 x 8.6mm
– Weight:
220 grams
232/233 grams
– Connectivity:
5G, LTE, NFC, Wi-Fi, USB Type-C, Bluetooth 5.4/5.3
– Security:
In-display fingerprint scanner (optical) & facial scanning
In-display fingerprint scanner
– OS:
Android 14 with OxygenOS 14
Android 14 with One UI 6.1
– Price:
$799.99+
$1,299+
– Buy:
Best Buy
Best Buy
OnePlus 12 vs Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: Design
These two phones have considerably different designs. The OnePlus 12 has a curved display, while the phone’s corners are rounded. Not a single side on that phone is flat. The Galaxy S24 Ultra, on the flip side, has a flat display, with very sharp edges, and the top and bottom sides of the phone are entirely flat. Both smartphones have a centered display camera hole on the display, and both have immensely thin bezels around the display.
All the physical buttons sit on the right-hand side of both devices. The OnePlus 12 also has a three-step alert slider on the left side. The Galaxy S24 Ultra does pack in an S Pen stylus, which is accessible from the bottom of the phone. Both phones are made out of metal and glass. The OnePlus 12 combines aluminum and glass, while the Galaxy S24 Ultra uses titanium and glass. When we flip them over, there are even more differences to see.
The OnePlus 12 has a circular camera island with three cameras. That camera island sits in the top-left corner of the phone’s backside. The Galaxy S24 Ultra has four cameras on the back, and each of those cameras is its own island, kind of. They all protrude from the backplate directly. The OnePlus 12 is a bit taller than the Galaxy S24 Ultra and noticeably narrower. It’s also a bit thicker than Samsung’s flagship, and a bit lighter (12-13 grams).
They do feel rather different in the hand, which is not surprising at all. One thing to note is that both phones are quite slippery, so using a case may not be a bad idea. They both have that premium feel to them, and both come with certification for water and dust resistance. The OnePlus 12 is IP65 certified, while the Galaxy S24 Ultra offers IP68 certification.
OnePlus 12 vs Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: Display
The OnePlus 12 includes a 6.82-inch QHD+ (3168 x 1440) LTPO AMOLED display. That panel is curved, and it supports up to 1 billion colors, and Dolby Vision too. It has HDR10+ support on top of that, and its refresh rate is adaptive (1-120Hz). The max theoretical brightness of this display is 4,500 nits. The OnePlus 12’s panel is covered by the Gorilla Glass Victus 2, as far as display protection goes.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra, on the flip side, has a 6.8-inch QHD+ (3120 x 1440) Dynamic LTPO AMOLED 2X panel. That display is flat, and it also offers an adaptive refresh rate (1-120Hz). HDR10+ content is supported here too, and the display aspect ratio is 19.5:9. This panel has a theoretical max brightness of 2,600 nits, and it’s covered by the Gorilla Glass Armor. The OnePlus 12 actually has a slightly higher screen-to-body ratio.
That being said, both of these displays are great. They’re vivid, sharp, and have great viewing angles. The blacks are deep, and the touch response is good on both. Both displays also get immensely bright when needed, so you don’t have to worry about that at all. The Galaxy S24 Ultra does have one major advantage, though, the Gorilla Glass Armor. Why? Well, because it battles reflections much better than Gorilla Glass Victus 2. In fact, it does better than basically anything else available in the market now, at least as far as display protection is concerned. Other than that, you’ll enjoy both displays, both are very good.
OnePlus 12 vs Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: Performance
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 fuels the OnePlus 12, Qualcomm’s most powerful chip. OnePlus also included up to 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM here, and UFS 4.0 flash storage too. The Galaxy S24 Ultra is fueled by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 for Galaxy SoC. That is basically an overclocked version of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. Samsung’s flagship comes with 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.0 flash storage.
The performance on both smartphones is outstanding. That is what you’d expect out of brand-new flagships, but still, it’s worth saying. They both offer great performance backed by very good animations through their Android UIs. No matter what you throw at them, they’ll do a great job of keeping up. They can multitask like nobody’s business, opening apps is fast, as is browsing, and camera launching, while they’re also great for consuming multimedia.
In regards to gaming, well, they do a great job in that area too. Samsung did actually focus on cooling in the Galaxy S24 Ultra, and the OnePlus 12 goes even a level above that and includes a truly massive vapor chamber. Running the most demanding games on these devices is not a problem at all. They both get warm during intense sessions, but never too much. The OnePlus 12 handles such situations even better in terms of heat, that vapor chamber is making a difference.
OnePlus 12 vs Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: Battery
A 5,400mAh battery sits inside the OnePlus 12. The Galaxy S24 Ultra, on the other hand, includes a 5,000mAh unit. You’ll be glad to hear that both of these smartphones are true road warriors when it comes to battery life. Their predecessors were some of the best flagship smartphones when it comes to battery life, and both of these devices carry on the torch. They offer truly outstanding battery life.
The Galaxy S24 Ultra did surpass the OnePlus 12 in our battery rundown test, but both offered some of the best results we’ve seen. They didn’t disappoint in general usage situations either, quite the contrary. Both of these can be two-day phones in terms of battery, for many people. Getting plenty of hours of screen-on-time is on the table, it surely is. We were able to cross 8 hours of screen-on-time on both devices and still had plenty of juice in the tank. On most days we had 5 hours of screen-on-time and more than 50% of battery charge left. Do note that we did not play demanding games during those days, but the phones handled plenty of other tasks. The whole point is that they both offer outstanding battery life, there’s no denying that, even though your mileage may vary, of course.
The OnePlus 12 supports 100W wired, 50W wireless, and 10W reverse wireless charging. The phone comes with a 100W charger in the box, by the way. Samsung’s flagship does not include a charger in the box. It supports 45W wired charging, though, in addition to 15W wireless charging, and 4.5W reverse wireless charging. The OnePlus 12 easily wins in the charging section.
OnePlus 12 vs Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra: Cameras
You’ll find three cameras on the back of the OnePlus 12. A 50-megapixel main camera is backed by a 48-megapixel ultrawide unit (114-degree FoV). A 64-megapixel periscope telephoto camera (3x optical zoom) is also included. The Galaxy S24 Ultra, on the flip side, has four cameras on the back. A 200-megapixel main camera comes with a 12-megapixel ultrawide unit (120-degree FoV). A 20-megapixel telephoto camera (3x optical zoom) is accompanied by a 50-megapixel periscope telephoto camera (5x optical zoom).
These two smartphones do provide considerably different camera results, but they’re both great in that regard. Samsung toned down on saturation and image processing in order to try and provide images that look closer to real life. It also leaves images a bit darker in low light than it did before. The OnePlus 12 provides very detailed shots with outstanding colors, and OnePlus’ image processing is on point most of the time. Both devices handle HDR situations with grace as well, and both worked on improved capture of skin tones as well.
Ultrawide cameras on both devices do a good job, though we preferred results from the OnePlus 12. That may not be surprising considering what hardware is used, but they simply looked better overall, at least most of the time. Ultrawide cameras on both phones also did a good job of keeping the same color profile as the main camera, most of the time, at least. The telephoto camera performance varies. It all depends on what distances you’re shooting at. The OnePlus 12 mostly did a better job at closer zoom levels, while the Galaxy S24 Ultra took the win in more pronounced zooms (5x and beyond). It all depends on the situation and the scene.
They both did a great job overall, and that includes low-light images. Their low-light shots also looked quite different, but great nonetheless. We preferred the colors provided by the OnePlus 12, while both captured well-balanced shots in those situations, even with their secondary cameras. You can see some camera samples in our OnePlus 12 review, while the Galaxy S24 Ultra review is coming.
Audio
Both of these phones include a set of stereo speakers. Those speakers are very good on both sides, even though they do sound a bit different. Sound is well-balanced, and they don’t break at high volumes, there’s no distortion to speak of.
If you were hoping to get an audio jack on either device, that’s not the case. You can always utilize their Type-C ports for wired audio connections, though. Alternatively, there’s always Bluetooth. The OnePlus 12 supports Bluetooth 5.4, while the Galaxy S24 Ultra comes with Bluetooth 5.3 support.