Amazon may have just confirmed the OnePlus 12's big price hike over the OnePlus 11
Are you excited to see the state-of-the-art OnePlus 12, which was exclusively unveiled in China a little over a month ago, internationally expanded at last in less than a couple of weeks? You might want to start saving up if you are because it certainly looks like the next big OnePlus thing will cost significantly more than its surprisingly budget-friendly predecessor.
Following a fairly credible and not-very-encouraging pricing rumor concerning the US market a few days back, an even more rock-solid leak out of India appears to settle the matter once and for all with 11 days ahead of the highly anticipated official OnePlus 12 global launch event.
Too costly for its own good? Not necessarily...
Unless Amazon temporarily and prematurely published the wrong information (which seems unlikely), this Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 powerhouse is set to cost 70,000 rupees in the world's second most populous nation in an entry-level configuration with 256 gigs of internal storage space and a generous 12GB RAM count.
That's around 845 US dollars at today's official conversion rate, but of course, that doesn't mean the OnePlus 12's recommended price point stateside will be exactly $845. Instead, we are now even more inclined to believe that the ultra-high-end handset will start at $799 in the land of the free and the home of the brave, thus adding a full Benjamin to the OnePlus 11's price tag in its most affordable variant.
That's because the previous-gen OnePlus flagship normally starts at Rs. 56,999 in India, which would make this freshly leaked Rs. 69,999 price roughly 22 percent higher. Although we realize that sounds bad, there are a number of important things you should consider before you start shaking your fist at your computer screen (or your current phone) in anger.
The key detail to take into account is that the cheapest OnePlus 11 model only packs 8 gigs of memory and 128GB storage space, so of course that bringing those numbers up to 12 and 256 respectively will cost the company more, which has to be reflected in the retail pricing to some degree or another.
The OnePlus 12 also brings several other major upgrades to the table compared to its fairly well-reviewed forerunner, although it remains to be seen if that will be reflected in even better reviews when all is said, done, and analyzed. These other upgrades include much better cameras, a newer and faster processor, slightly larger display with way higher peak brightness figures, a bigger battery, and the return of wireless charging support.
The OnePlus 12R will be the ideal budget-friendly alternative anyway
In short, the OnePlus 12 is better than the OnePlus 11 in essentially every department and area, which makes this virtually guaranteed price hike feel... pretty normal and sensible.
Besides, if you have such a big problem with how much the next OnePlus super-powerhouse will cost, you can always opt for the 12R "normal" powerhouse. That one's expected to fetch a significantly more reasonable $499 in the US with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage, as well as an outdated but still impressive Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC, and somehow, an even larger 5,500mAh battery than the OnePlus 12 squeezed into a slightly smaller and lighter body.
The OnePlus 12R is all but certain to look exactly the same as the Ace 3 (pictured here).
The OnePlus 12R is technically not official in any region yet, even though it's extremely clear that all of its specs and features will be "borrowed" from China's Ace 3. For $599, the 12R should bump up your memory and storage to 16 and 256 gigs respectively, thus undeniably beating the likes of Samsung's Galaxy S23 FE, Google's Pixel 8, and the Motorola Edge (2023) in terms of value for your money, at least on paper.
Naturally, we expect a second variant of the OnePlus 12 to hit markets like the US and India as well, pairing a 16GB RAM count with a whopping 512 gigs of internal storage space for around $100 and 5,000 rupees more than an entry-level model. Tough choices all around, eh?
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