OnePlus 12 vs Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 | TechTalkTown
OnePlus 12 vs Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7
OnePlus 12
OnePlus
8.5
Flagship-killer value, software caveats
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7
Samsung
8.5
Finally feels like a normal phone
OnePlus 12
What Reviewers Agree On
Outstanding value — reviewers repeatedly call it a 'flagship killer' and 'the best value in an Android flagship', undercutting Samsung and Google substantially.
Battery life is a defining strength — the big 5,400mAh cell delivers 6–10 hours of screen-on time and is the single feature owners praise most, even those who switched away.
Charging is exceptional — 80W (US) / 100W (international) wired fully charges in roughly 30 minutes (owners report ~40 min real-world), plus 50W wireless.
The 6.82-inch LTPO AMOLED is among the best phone displays — 120Hz, Dolby Vision, and a 4,500-nit peak that stays readable in harsh sunlight.
Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 with up to 16/24GB RAM delivers top-tier performance that still feels fast a year-plus later.
Deal Breakers
Pros & Cons
OnePlus 12
Pros
Outstanding value — reviewers repeatedly call it a 'flagship killer' and 'the best value in an Android flagship', undercutting Samsung and Google substantially.
Battery life is a defining strength — the big 5,400mAh cell delivers 6–10 hours of screen-on time and is the single feature owners praise most, even those who switched away.
Charging is exceptional — 80W (US) / 100W (international) wired fully charges in roughly 30 minutes (owners report ~40 min real-world), plus 50W wireless.
The 6.82-inch LTPO AMOLED is among the best phone displays — 120Hz, Dolby Vision, and a 4,500-nit peak that stays readable in harsh sunlight.
Detailed Comparison
Design & Build
OnePlus 12
Premium curved glass-sandwich build with a polarising circular Hasselblad camera island. Reviewers and owners love the in-hand feel; the camera bump and curved edges divide opinion.
The OnePlus 12 feels great in hand right out of the box — curved front and rear glass and a smooth matte rear panel make it comfortable to hold without flat edges digging in.
The familiar circular rear camera housing on a glass-sandwich design stands out with character and contributes significantly to the phone's premium appeal.
The camera module is strikingly bulky and carries a Hasselblad watermark unless you opt to remove it.
Reddit reaction to the design is split — 'the ugliest camera layout in the game' versus owners who find the Flowy Emerald finish gorgeous.
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OxygenOS has regressed and software-update longevity lags Samsung/Google — a recurring concern that makes some buyers hesitate.
The curved screen frustrates ergonomically and makes finding a good screen protector a genuine, repeated headache.
US connectivity is compromised — no Forced SA/VoNR support and occasional Wi-Fi-to-mobile-data handoff bugs.
The camera island is strikingly bulky and the periscope struggles in low light versus the main sensor.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7
What Reviewers Agree On
At 4.2mm unfolded and 215 grams the Fold 7 finally feels like a normal phone when closed — the cover screen's 21:9 aspect ratio and slimmer chassis are the headline upgrades every reviewer leads with.
The redesigned Armor FlexHinge with a waterdrop fold has made the inner-display crease the least visible on any Samsung foldable to date — close to imperceptible when running a finger over it.
The larger 8-inch inner display and 6.5-inch outer display are bigger and brighter (2,600-nit peak) than the Fold 6's, with Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2 on the cover and a new titanium support lattice that makes the inner panel feel solid under the finger.
Borrowing the 200MP main sensor from the S25 Ultra is a real, visible upgrade over the Fold 6's 50MP unit — finally putting the Fold's main camera in the same league as Samsung's flagship slab phones.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy delivers fluid everyday performance — no stutters with three apps tiled on the inner display, even at high gaming settings.
Samsung's seven years of OS upgrades and security patches (through 2032) match the industry's best long-term support window and Samsung has committed to keeping preloaded Galaxy AI features free.
The asymmetric protruding camera bump makes the phone wobble badly on flat surfaces — virtually every reviewer flags this as the design's one real misstep.
Deal Breakers
The S Pen and digitizer layer were removed entirely — there is no stylus support on either display, which long-time Note/Fold users see as a core feature lost to the thinness chase.
Battery life is the Fold's weakest area: same 4,400 mAh cell as the Fold 6 with slow 25W wired and 15W wireless charging, well behind the Find N5 (5,600 mAh, 80W) and Honor Magic V5 (5,820 mAh, 66W) that have moved to silicon-carbon battery tech.
At $1,999 (raised by $100 over Fold 6 and now subject to a further mid-cycle price hike) it is one of the most expensive non-foldable phones you can buy, and reviewers from the Verge to Ars Technica call out that this price is a real friction point.
Still IP48 — water-resistant but only rated against particles larger than 1mm, not a true dust rating like the IP58/IP59 Honor is now offering on the Magic V5.
iFixit gave the Fold 7 a 3/10 repairability score, with even basic battery replacement requiring dismantling much of the device — a fragility flag for a $2,000 phone.
Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 with up to 16/24GB RAM delivers top-tier performance that still feels fast a year-plus later.
Cons
OxygenOS has regressed and software-update longevity lags Samsung/Google — a recurring concern that makes some buyers hesitate.
The curved screen frustrates ergonomically and makes finding a good screen protector a genuine, repeated headache.
US connectivity is compromised — no Forced SA/VoNR support and occasional Wi-Fi-to-mobile-data handoff bugs.
The camera island is strikingly bulky and the periscope struggles in low light versus the main sensor.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7
Pros
At 4.2mm unfolded and 215 grams the Fold 7 finally feels like a normal phone when closed — the cover screen's 21:9 aspect ratio and slimmer chassis are the headline upgrades every reviewer leads with.
The redesigned Armor FlexHinge with a waterdrop fold has made the inner-display crease the least visible on any Samsung foldable to date — close to imperceptible when running a finger over it.
The larger 8-inch inner display and 6.5-inch outer display are bigger and brighter (2,600-nit peak) than the Fold 6's, with Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2 on the cover and a new titanium support lattice that makes the inner panel feel solid under the finger.
Borrowing the 200MP main sensor from the S25 Ultra is a real, visible upgrade over the Fold 6's 50MP unit — finally putting the Fold's main camera in the same league as Samsung's flagship slab phones.
The Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy delivers fluid everyday performance — no stutters with three apps tiled on the inner display, even at high gaming settings.
Samsung's seven years of OS upgrades and security patches (through 2032) match the industry's best long-term support window and Samsung has committed to keeping preloaded Galaxy AI features free.
The asymmetric protruding camera bump makes the phone wobble badly on flat surfaces — virtually every reviewer flags this as the design's one real misstep.
Cons
The S Pen and digitizer layer were removed entirely — there is no stylus support on either display, which long-time Note/Fold users see as a core feature lost to the thinness chase.
Battery life is the Fold's weakest area: same 4,400 mAh cell as the Fold 6 with slow 25W wired and 15W wireless charging, well behind the Find N5 (5,600 mAh, 80W) and Honor Magic V5 (5,820 mAh, 66W) that have moved to silicon-carbon battery tech.
At $1,999 (raised by $100 over Fold 6 and now subject to a further mid-cycle price hike) it is one of the most expensive non-foldable phones you can buy, and reviewers from the Verge to Ars Technica call out that this price is a real friction point.
Still IP48 — water-resistant but only rated against particles larger than 1mm, not a true dust rating like the IP58/IP59 Honor is now offering on the Magic V5.
Versus the S24+, owners note the Samsung is cleaner, thinner and lighter — the OnePlus is the chunkier of the two.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7
Samsung's headline change is the chassis: 4.2mm thin unfolded, 8.9mm closed, 215 grams — 24g lighter than the Fold 6 and three grams lighter than the S25 Ultra. The new Armor FlexHinge cuts visible creasing significantly and the body uses Gorilla Glass Ceramic 2 on the cover with a titanium support layer behind the inner panel. The one near-universal complaint is the prominent rear camera bump, which makes the phone wobble badly on any flat surface.
It is thin. It is luxurious — Samsung joins Honor and Oppo in making a folding phone that's almost as thin as a regular phone, with real benefits.
At 215 grams the Fold 7 is 24 grams lighter than the Fold 6 and lighter even than the non-folding Galaxy S25 Ultra, and 4.2mm unfolded / 8.9mm folded is a 27 percent reduction over its predecessor.
I've shown the Fold 7 to more than 30 people and none could immediately identify that it unfolded — Samsung's goal of a folding phone that feels like a regular phone is achieved.
Samsung has shaved about a quarter of the weight and thickness compared to last year's Fold 6, and it's immediately noticeable when picking it up.
The phone sits crooked on surfaces and wobbles when you tap the screen — the camera bump protrudes a lot and a case feels like a requirement.
The Fold 7 is the most wobbly phone on a desk you've ever fought — get motion sick trying to type because the camera bump shakes the whole device.
Samsung has outdone the Oppo Find N5 on thinness — the Fold 7 feels nearly the thickness of a typical slab phone when closed.
The hinge is harder to open than previous generations — there's less material to grip and Samsung didn't add a notch, so you really have to work it.
Camera bump positioning leads to pronounced wobbling on flat surfaces, and the slimmer chassis means S Pen support is gone — those are the two design downsides for a 'good' (87%) score.
Performance
OnePlus 12
Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 with up to 16/24GB RAM makes it 'uber-powerful' — top-tier speed that holds up well over time, with only thermal-throttled gaming as a caveat.
Powered by the high-end Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 with up to 16GB of RAM — 'uber-powerful' and one of the best phones money can buy.
Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 with 12GB LPDDR5X and UFS 4.0 keeps the phone feeling as fast in 2025 as it did on day one.
Notebookcheck scores performance 86% — strong, with the OnePlus 12 carrying the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 (the 12R uses the older Gen 2).
Gaming is smooth and lag-free, but the phone restricts frame rates to 60fps once temperatures hit 40°C.
Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7
The Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy delivers fluid everyday performance, but in this thinner chassis Samsung has clearly throttled the chip to manage heat — Digital Trends benchmarks show the Fold 7 trailing both the S25 Ultra and even the 7-core Oppo Find N5 on multi-core CPU. GPU performance is closer to flagship S25 levels, and the phone gets warm but not distressingly hot under gaming load.
The Fold 7 had no problems running Diablo Immortal at the highest display settings and the phone didn't even get very warm — though using it as a hotspot in direct sun on a high-80s afternoon caused it to start closing apps after 10 minutes.
Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy boosts CPU and GPU by 38% and 26% respectively versus the standard 8 Elite, with NPU compute up 40% — paired with 12GB or 16GB of RAM.
In GeekBench 6 the Fold 7 scored 2650 single-core / 8143 multi-core / 16245 GPU — below the Galaxy S25 Ultra (2974 / 9475 / 17776) and even below the 7-core Find N5 in multi-core (7912).
Yet to experience a single stutter or any lag — high-end gaming on the internal screen with Crashlands 2 at max quality runs fine, and the 16GB RAM model handles three internal-panel apps simultaneously.
SoC performance turns out lower in benchmarks than the S25 Ultra, which can probably be traced back to the weaker cooling in the slimmer build — though this doesn't make much of a difference in everyday operation.
Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy performance is throttled in this chassis — Digital Trends benchmarked the Fold 7 below the S25 Ultra and even below the 7-core Oppo Find N5 in multi-core CPU.
iFixit gave the Fold 7 a 3/10 repairability score, with even basic battery replacement requiring dismantling much of the device — a fragility flag for a $2,000 phone.
Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy performance is throttled in this chassis — Digital Trends benchmarked the Fold 7 below the S25 Ultra and even below the 7-core Oppo Find N5 in multi-core CPU.
The 20-minute 3DMark stress test drained 7% on the Fold 7 versus 13% on the S25 Ultra — the chip is throttled to manage battery, mostly affecting CPU.
Slight stutters at times compared to the best flagship phones — likely one of the compromises we have to accept in ultra-thin phones, similar to the Galaxy S25 Edge.
