The OnePlus 12 build quality is disappointing some users (Update: OnePlus responds)

Update: December 12, 2023 (8:10 AM ET): OnePlus China has now issued an explanation after users reported that the OnePlus 12 has a gap between the camera housing and rear cover. Some users also reported excess glue in this seam.

OnePlus China president Li Jie Louis claimed that it wasn’t a design or quality issue, while also taking a shot at rival companies. You can read the full OnePlus response and the verbal sparring between Xiaomi and OnePlus executives here.

Original article: December 11, 2023 (8:36 AM ET): The OnePlus 12 was launched in China last week, bringing a top-tier flagship phone experience in many ways. However, user reports suggest that some units might suffer in the build quality and polish department.

Several Weibo users have reported gaps between the OnePlus 12 camera housing and the rest of the phone’s body. Check out some images below for a better idea.

It looks like some phones have a gap at the top or bottom of the housing, while others have a gap at both the top and bottom.

Weirdly enough, a few users also seemed to report an excess amount of glue around the camera housing.

It’s unclear how widespread these issues are, although it seems like more people have phones with a camera housing gap than phones with excess glue. It certainly doesn’t appear to affect every device as some users have reported that their OnePlus 12 looks just fine. However, the problem has seemingly drawn the attention of Redmi general manager Lu Weibing.

The Xiaomi executive didn’t specifically call OnePlus by name but appeared to suggest that these gaps were due to less stringent internal quality control standards. Check out a screenshot of the machine-translated post below.

Nevertheless, we hope this isn’t a widespread problem and that the company tightens things up (literally) for the global launch next month.