The OnePlus 12 is my favorite phone for gaming, and at $699 it's a freaking steal on Prime Day

I fell in love with the OnePlus 12 for one reason and one reason only — it’s a beast of a gaming phone without the full flagship cost. Alright, maybe there are two reasons: because it doesn’t have the over-the-top aggressive styling we’ve come to expect from gaming phones, either. Regardless, it’s a great gaming phone with a jam-packed spec sheet, and it’s even better now that it’s down to just $699 as part of Amazon’s Prime Day celebration.

The power to play

Now, there’s no denying that the OnePlus 12 is a full-blooded 2024 flagship, it keeps up with the Samsung Galaxies and the Google Pixels just like we’d expect it to. However, its secret power comes from the fact that OnePlus decided to push it just a little bit further. The OnePlus 12 starts with 12GB of RAM in its base configuration, but the version on sale for Prime Day is even more powerful with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. It’s far more than I’ve ever needed — but I haven’t had to uninstall a single title when I got bored with it, either.

This Prime Day deal knocks the OnePlus 12 down to the price of a Google Pixel 8, but given its Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset, massive 5,400mAh battery, and blistering fast wired or wireless charging options, I’d say OnePlus has a bit of a leg up. It stays cooler during marathon gaming sessions, too, thanks to its Dual Cryo-Velocity Cooling System — a crazy long name to tell you that OnePlus packed two vapor chambers to keep its flagship performance in check.

Oh, and with a 6.82-inch display and 4,500 nits of peak brightness, you don’t even really have to be into gaming to see the OnePlus 12 for a good deal. It’s a beast for streaming shows and movies, too, with its 120Hz refresh rate and Dolby Vision tuning. It was my go-to display to keep up with True Detective: Night Country, a show that takes place in almost exclusively pitch blackness. I’ll also readily admit I’ve lost plenty of productivity time while absorbed in titles like Warhammer 40,000 Tacticus and Asphalt 9: Legends. I don’t regret it — the games looked great, and I could technically tell my boss that I was working on a review, but I probably could have been finished a few days earlier had I stayed on track.

Sounds like a steal

So, whether you’re after a powerful gaming phone in disguise or just a flagship device at a great price, the OnePlus 12 ticks both boxes. It’s a flagship with a spec sheet to rival any other on the market, and a discount to $699 that puts it in competition with phones like the Samsung Galaxy S24 and Google Pixel 8 — neither of which can keep pace.

If you’re interested in what a true OnePlus mid-ranger can do, the OnePlus 12R is on sale for Prime Day too. It’s down to $449 from $599 with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, along with several other features that would be perfectly at home on a 2023 flagship device.

Check them both out below: