AH Awards: Best Smartphone of 2024 – OnePlus 12

In 2024, OnePlus 12 set the Gold Standard for Smartphones

It’s a bit odd that the very first smartphone to be announced in the US in 2024, ended up being the Smartphone of the year. But it is just that good. The OnePlus 12 ticked all of the boxes and outperformed all of its predecessors, which is why in an anonymous poll amongst the editors here at Android Headlines, we chose the OnePlus 12 as the smartphone of the year, with over two-thirds of the vote.

The OnePlus 12 truly did everything right for 2024. It produced the best battery life we’ve seen on a smartphone, some of the best cameras on a smartphone, the best display, the best build quality, and the best price for a flagship phone. The OnePlus 12 starts at $799 for the 12GB/256GB model, which is a solid $200+ cheaper than the competition.

In our review, which we published back in January, we called the OnePlus 12 the “Best $800 Smartphone on the Market,” and now, a full 11 months later, we still stand by that statement. After using it on and off again all year, I have to say that I have only one complaint with this phone – the curved display. Which OnePlus has actually ditched with the OnePlus 13 (which has already been announced in China).

OnePlus stuck to the basics, instead of AI’ing it up

One thing that OnePlus did that we can all appreciate is they stuck to focusing on the basics. That means smooth and fast software, which has only gotten smoother and faster with the OxygenOS 15 update recently, as well as providing top-notch hardware. Instead of opting to add all kinds of AI features,

However, OnePlus has since added a slew of AI features to its smartphones, like Google’s Circle to Search; there are also features like editing your photos and more. But it’s not overdone, like some other brands. And that’s what really sets the OnePlus 12 apart and why it has been chosen as Smartphone of the Year here at AndroidHeadlines.