Best OnePlus Phones 2024: The top OnePlus handsets we’ve tested
Buying a OnePlus phone in 2024 is much more difficult than it used to be. While the company once shipped a single phone per year, that has since expanded massively, making it hard to decide which model is best for you. But that’s where we at Trusted Reviews come in.
Back in 2013, OnePlus started life as a small startup, releasing a single flagship smartphone every year and building hype with a dedicated fanbase – one that remains just as dedicated in 2024 as it was in the early 2010s.
However, that model has shifted in recent years following a buy-out by Chinese smartphone giant Oppo. As a result, OnePlus now tends to release multiple phones a year, producing multiple product lines targeting various price points, be it budget, high-end or foldables.
Even if you have narrowed down your choice of smartphone to OnePlus, deciding which to buy can still be difficult. Prices range wildly and it can be a challenge to work out which features you need – you likely won’t need the flagship OnePlus 12 if you only use your phone for basic tasks, for example.
That’s why we at Trusted Reviews have recommended multiple devices at varying prices, from cheaper options to full-blown OnePlus flagships.
All the OnePlus phones below have been fully tested by one of our product experts, who used the smartphone as their main device during the review period, transferring their SIM and favourite apps for at least a week. As a result, our recommendations all have good screens, adequate battery life and reliable build quality.
We also have a selection of other best lists for those open to trying products from other brands: our best camera phone round-up, for instance, while our best cheap phone and best mid-range phone lists focus solely on more affordable options.
Best OnePlus phones at a glance
- Best overall: OnePlus 12 – check price
- Best foldable: OnePlus Open – check price
- Best mid-range: OnePlus 12R – check price
- Best affordable: OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite – check price
- Best flagship alternative: OnePlus 11 – check price
How we test
All the phones included in our Best OnePlus phone list have been thoroughly tested and used by one of our product experts. We never review a phone based purely on specs and benchmark scores. We use them as our everyday device for the review period, which is usually at least five days but often a lot more.
Whenever you read a phone review published on Trusted Reviews, you should be confident that the reviewer has put their personal SIM card into the phone, synced across their most-used apps and logged into all their typical accounts. We do this so you’ll feel confident in our review and trust our verdict.
- Large, mega-bright curved screen
- Consistently solid camera performance
- OxygenOS is a visual treat
- Excellent battery life
- No AI features
- Performance is slower than similarly specced phones
- IP65 resistance falls short for the price
- Solid foldable hardware with minimal display crease
- Custom foldable camera tech
- Unique Open Canvas multitasking software
- True fast charging capabilities
- IPX4 water resistance isn’t the best
- Still hefty at 245g
- The screen is great
- Good power for the price
- The best OnePlus phone for battery life
- Boring design
- Rubbish camera selection
- No wireless charging
- Two-day battery life
- New OLED display looks great
- Great user experience
- Fingerprint magnet
- Limited camera experience
- Lackluster update support
- Stunning 6.7in AMOLED display
- Solid flagship performance
- Great rear camera performance
- All-day battery life
- No wireless charging
- Basic selfie camera setup
OnePlus 12
The best flagship OnePlus
Pros
- Large, mega-bright curved screen
- Consistently solid camera performance
- OxygenOS is a visual treat
- Excellent battery life
Cons
- No AI features
- Performance is slower than similarly specced phones
- IP65 resistance falls short for the price
The OnePlus 12 is the traditional flagship device from the brand for 2024, available alongside the OnePlus 12R and OnePlus Open.
This is an evaluation of the already excellent OnePlus 11 – a phone we still recommend if the price is right – rather than a full reinvention but it still stands as the most complete OnePlus phone on the market. Features like an IP rating and wireless charging are included, and there’s plenty of power thanks to the high-end Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset.
Our expert was thoroughly impressed by the phone’s display, which he called a ‘real treat for the eyes’. The 2K resolution is sharp, the 120Hz refresh smooth and the 4500 nits of brightness put it right up against the Galaxy S24 Ultra. It’s a similar story for the cameras, a traditional weak point for OnePlus devices.
With the OnePlus 12, the main sensor has picked up a welcome upgrade and the 48MP 2x telephoto found on the OnePlus 11 has been swapped for a much better 64MP 3x periscope lens. Aside from the main camera’s tendency to brighten things up a little too much, all the cameras here snap excellent shots.
The rest of the phone is made up of parts OnePlus knows how to use very well. There’s a fast 8 Gen 3 chipset giving it a boost over the OnePlus 11 and OnePlus 12R, up to 512GB storage and a new cooling chamber that keeps things cool all the time.
The icing on the cake is the seriously speedy 100w charging that can take a completely depleted phone to 100% in under 30 minutes.
Reviewer: Lewis Painter
Full Review: OnePlus 12 review
OnePlus Open
Best OnePlus foldable
Pros
- Solid foldable hardware with minimal display crease
- Custom foldable camera tech
- Unique Open Canvas multitasking software
- True fast charging capabilities
Cons
- IPX4 water resistance isn’t the best
- Still hefty at 245g
OnePlus certainly wasn’t the first company to hit the foldable scene, but with the OnePlus Open, the company has definitely raised the bar for what these phones are capable of.
Starting with the design, the OnePlus Open is a technical marvel. There are no major reinventions of the foldable concept, but rather tons of refinements that result in a sturdy hinge and a near creaseless inner screen that provide the best book-style foldable experience yet.
More than design however, OnePlus has made sure that its software is ready to embrace the foldable form factor with Open Canvas. This bit of tech allows for seamless split-screen multitasking, which delivers on the OnePlus Open’s promise of being a productivity device for when you’re on the go.
As a final flourish, OnePlus has also made sure that its camera tech has successfully made the transition to foldables. The main 48MP sensor on the OnePlus Open can produce truly jaw-dropping pictures, brimming with vibrant colours and tons of detail that implore you to zoom in and crop. Other companies need to take note – this is how you make a foldable phone.
Reviewer: Lewis Painter
Full Review: OnePlus Open
OnePlus 12R
The best mid-range OnePlus phone
Pros
- The screen is great
- Good power for the price
- The best OnePlus phone for battery life
Cons
- Boring design
- Rubbish camera selection
- No wireless charging
The OnePlus 12R, launched alongside the flagship OnePlus 12, represents a solid attempt at a mid-range smartphone that manages to stand out in a busy market with unique features and, in some cases, better tech than the most expensive flagships around.
Let’s not bury the lede here; the OnePlus 12R’s display is an absolute treat. While the 6.78-inch AMOLED screen isn’t quite as high-res as the OnePlus 12, it boasts the same smooth 120Hz refresh rate and, rather importantly, LTPO 4.0 tech.
It’s one of the first phones on the market to sport the tech, and essentially allows the phone not only to drop down to as little as 1Hz, but to adjust the refresh rate as you scroll. This not only translates to a more responsive screen, but one that’s much more battery-friendly too.
That also means that the OnePlus 12R has the best battery life of any OnePlus phone to date, managing around 7-8 hours of screen-on time before needing a top-up. This makes it a solid two-day device for most people. Even then, with the same 100W SuperVOOC charging as the OnePlus 12, it’ll get a full charge in under 30 minutes.
It’s also a decent performer with the 2023 flagship Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, especially when coupled with OnePlus’ various software and hardware optimisations. It can run apps smoothly and even play games like Genshin Impact at a solid 60fps.
Elsewhere, it has a solid primary 50MP8 camera, though it is let down by its supporting 8MP ultrawide and 2MP macro cameras that our reviewer came away feeling underwhelmed with, and it also lacks some key features like wireless charging.
Still, if you want a great phone at a mid-range price point, the OnePlus 12R represents a solid choice.
Reviewer: Max Parker
Full Review: OnePlus 12R review
OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite
The best affordable OnePlus phone
Pros
- Two-day battery life
- New OLED display looks great
- Great user experience
Cons
- Fingerprint magnet
- Limited camera experience
- Lackluster update support
Editor’s Note: Though the OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite only garnered 3.5 stars in our review, we felt it was still worthy of inclusion here as it’s one of few budget-friendly options available from OnePlus right now.
The OnePlus 12 might be the best high-end OnePlus phone, but if your budget is a lot lower, we’d recommend the Nord CE 4 Lite instead. This is a more modest phone, but it still outperforms its price tag in many ways by offering a great build, decent performance, some of the fastest charging around, nice software and 5G support.
It improves upon last year’s OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite in important ways, sporting a more elegant, premium design with a reflective rear in place of the solid colours, OLED screen tech that replaces the ageing IPS LCD tech and even a boost to the already-fast charging, now up to 80W. The latter is pretty impressive for a budget phone, offering a full charge in around 50 minutes in tests.
You’ll also get a headphone jack and expandable storage – two things you won’t find on the OnePlus 12 – alongside OnePlus’ spin on the Android OS dubbed OxygenOS, introducing a handful of AI features in the process. It isn’t on par with the likes of Galaxy AI, but it’s also not too far from what you’ll get with the flagship OnePlus phone.
Though the camera offering seems to have been downgraded, going from a 108MP main to a 50MP main, it’s the same Sony LYT-600 sensor used in the regular Nord CE 4, and importantly, it offers OIS. That boosts night performance by quite a bit compared to last year’s lacklustre option, though it’s only flanked by a 2MP depth sensor, so you don’t have much in the way of versatility when capturing shots.
But it’s likely performance that most users will struggle with, offering the same Snapdragon 695 5G as the CE 3 Lite and even the CE 2 Lite, and the benchmarks reflect this with lower scores than similarly priced phones like the Nothing Phone (2a). It’s still fine for day-to-day use with OnePlus’ software optimisations, but how long it’ll continue to feel that way is up for debate.
Reviewer: Alex Walker-Todd
Full Review: OnePlus Nord CE 4 Lite review
OnePlus 11
Best flagship alternative
Pros
- Stunning 6.7in AMOLED display
- Solid flagship performance
- Great rear camera performance
- All-day battery life
Cons
- No wireless charging
- Basic selfie camera setup
Even though the newer OnePlus 12 is amongst the best smartphones you can buy right now, its predecessor still has plenty of great features and can be picked up for just a fraction of its original cost.
After the somewhat disappointing OnePlus 10 Pro, the company went back to the drawing board and returned with a far more eye-catching handset that feels great in the hand, and it’s backed up by the powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset.
Whether you’re catching up on a bit of YouTube or scrolling through your favourite apps, it all looks incredible thanks to the OnePlus 11’s 6.7-inch AMOLED display. With a screen that spills over the sides and minimal bezels to boot, it really feels like you’re getting a cinematic experience with this phone.
Where the OnePlus 11 really stepped up to the plate was in the camera department. There are three rear-facing cameras but it’s the main 50MP sensor that impressed us the most particularly in daytime shots, although it can’t quite match certain competitors like the Samsung Galaxy Ultra series when it comes to low-light photography.
Reviewer: Lewis Painter
Full Review: OnePlus 11
We also considered…
FAQs
Yes, all of the OnePlus phones we have recommended here support sub-6GHz 5G, the most widely adopted form of the tech.
OnePlus still includes a charger with all of its phones and the speed of the charging remains an important, and widely touted, feature.
Trusted Reviews test data
You can see a detailed breakdown of the test data we collected by reviewing all the OnePlus phones in this list. As you can see the 12 is the fastest with its benchmark scores and charge times easily beating OnePlus’ more affordable handsets.
Comparison specs
The OnePlus 12 stands out as having the best specs, as you’d probably expect considering the high price. The OnePlus 12R comes a close second, followed by the 11. The foldable OnePlus Open is also highly specced, but it’s more of a niche prospect.