Two generations ago, OnePlus made a significant change to the names of its families. The OnePlus One company adopted the “Pro” surname in 2019 with the OnePlus 7 Pro, which aims to compete with the best on the market. OnePlus 8 Pro, 9 Pro and 10 Pro followed, and the family name that accompanied the models for several generations disappeared with the OnePlus 11 last year.

If you are wondering whether there will be OnePlus 12 Pro, the answer is clear: NO. Li Jie Louis, OnePlus’s president in China, published a statement on Weibo regarding the death of the Pro surname. In times when the waters bring us increasingly assertive surnames (Ultra, Max, etc.), OnePlus wants to swim against the opposite current.

OnePlus has always had a clear commitment: high-end fight at a discounted price. It’s a philosophy they’ve maintained for years, and despite the price increases, the OnePlus 11 at 959 euros competes with terminals a few hundred euros more expensive.

Jie Louis says that when designing a high-end product, the Pro version is often defined and then “a few trade-offs” are made with the product to achieve the standard version. This is an artificial division that manufacturers have been doing for generations, putting all the cards on the table with Pro surnames.

According to OnePlus, “they do not want to follow industry practices.”

The OnePlus 12 experience should be excellent; hence performance, picture, display, battery life, texture, processor, network signal etc. everything is extremeso users don’t have to fight and make choices. . One, that is, all

OnePlus wants to compete in the top range without surnames, setting aside historical commitments such as photography, betting on a new Sony Lytia sensor configuration and foreseeable improvements in processing.

Surnames as an excuse for producers

The majority of manufacturers use surnames to limitcapabilities of their phones, either physically or artificially.

One of the most obvious examples of this 2023 came to the hands of Xiaomi, which released the Xiaomi 13 and Xiaomi 13 Pro. This latest model had absolutely everything to be the company’s flagship model until the Xiaomi 13 Ultra arrived. A (slightly) superior terminal in terms of hardware and artificial unlocking features. Before going any further, the Xiaomi 13 Pro cannot shoot 50 megapixels in RAW mode, even though it has the exact same processor as its older brother.

Something similar to the iPhone 15, which has a panel with the same resolution, brightness and size as the iPhone 15 Pro. but does not support 120 Hz ProMotion. And something like that, if you spend more than 1,000 euros on a Samsung Galaxy S23+ you get a “second-rate” camera because the best is reserved for the “Ultra” model.

It is standard practice to create an “Ultra, Max, or Pro” top level with a “second-class” top level. OnePlus seems to want to move away from this, but it will now have to show that it is possible to offer anything, with or without the surname.

Image | Xataka

in Xataka | The best mobile phones of 2023, their analysis is here