OnePlus 12 won't match the Galaxy S24 Ultra with this one key feature

Man, what is there not to love about the upcoming OnePlus 12? With a 6.82-inch OLED screen with 2K resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, and peak brightness of 4,500 nits, the device is expected to be powered by one of the top application processors next year, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3. Toss in up to 24GB of LPDDR5X RAM, up to 1TB of UFS 4.0 storage, a huge 5400mAh battery, and a 50MP primary camera, and there will be enough features to furrow some brows over at Samsung.

One feature allows the touchscreen to register touch input even when it is wet from the rain. The IR blaster will allow a user to employ the OnePlus 12 as a remote control for the television. Yes, the OnePlus 12 seems to have it all except in one area where it won't match the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, water resistance. Ever since the beginning with the OnePlus One when the company tried to save money by not paying for IP certification, water protection wasn't so important as getting the phone down to a lower price point.

For the OnePlus 7 in 2019, the company created an ad (which we've embedded in this story) that showed the new phone getting submerged in a bucket full of water. That was cheaper than getting the phone certified with an IP rating and hinted that the device would still work after swimming in a bucketful of water. Eventually, OnePlus started paying for IP ratings; for example, OnePlus has started promoting the OnePlus 12's IP65 rating which is a slight improvement over the IP64 rating of the previous model.

IP65 means that the OnePlus 12 has the highest level of protection from dust (that is what the "6" rating means) and can withstand low-pressure water jets from all directions. We expect the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra to carry an IP68 rating which would make it impervious to dust and able to be submerged in up to 1.5 meters of fresh water (nearly 5 feet) for up to 30 minutes.

While the OnePlus 12 won't match the same level of water protection that the Samsung Galaxy 24 Ultra will have, the important thing for phone buyers to understand is that water damage still won't be covered by the warranty on any phone. As a result, no one should be using their phones in the swimming pool or in the shower (the hot steam is not good for the device). So if you like the OnePlus 12 more than the Galaxy S24 Ultra, that's the phone that you should buy next year; don't base your phone buying decisions on a handset's IP rating.

OnePlus is also promoting the USB 3.2 Gen 1 charging port for the phone. Like other flagships with it, with the right cable, this will allow fast data transfers up to 10Gbps. Once again, we must repeat that the OnePlus 12 will be as packed as any Android flagship including Samsung's top-of-the-line flagship.