The OnePlus 12 debuted in China earlier this month ahead of a global release early next year. And while with brand new devices you can expect to find the occasional software bug or two, one man in China who purchased the new OnePlus 12 got a bit more than what he bargained for when he unboxed it only to find a literal, dead bug tucked into the chassis of the phone itself.
The user FIGO_2023 had posted on the Chinese social media site Weibo complaining that his brand new OnePlus 12 came with some pretty shoddy build quality. Not only did he find a dead insect under the rear glass panel right above the camera bump, but there were also stray hairs caught between the rear glass panel under the camera bump as well. He also highlighted that there were gaps between the glass panel itself and the middle frame of the device, leading to glue being used which unfortunately tacked on the dead bug and hairs onto it. FIGO_2023 then went on to complain that Li Jie, the president of OnePlus China, also blocked him on Weibo.
Perhaps amusingly, the user took pictures of the defects of his OnePlus 12 using the Xiaomi 14 Pro, very much one of OnePlus’ biggest rivals in the Android flagship smartphone scene. Lu Weibing, a Xiaomi executive, never mentioned OnePlus by name, but posted a cryptic update on Weibo shortly after the OnePlus 12 complaint went viral. Lu posted an anecdote about how an engineer came to him to teach him about the ‘gaps’ of smartphones and also about ‘glue dispensing’, and went on to highlight several things about the process of building smartphone chassis and the importance of having a ‘dust-free factory’ to prevent foreign matter sticking onto the glue.
That thinly-veiled shot at OnePlus wasn’t taken lightly by Li Jie, who later posted on Weibo himself about ‘some brand executives’ who were trying to mislead the public. But perhaps more importantly though, Li Jie also noted FIGO_2023’s complaints about the OnePlus 12, claiming that it’s neither a quality or design issue with the smartphone. Li says that their products do have some tolerances in mind, as failing to take this into account could cause the glass to crack when the material expands. As such, to fill it the small gaps left on purpose for tolerances, the OnePlus 12 uses a glue process at the seams that is common in the industry. He also adds that for anyone who doesn’t like the OnePlus 12 after getting it, they can exchange or return it to OnePlus China without having to worry.
In any case, it’s not been a good start for the OnePlus 12. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 3-powered flagship smartphone may have plenty of things going for it on paper such as a 6.83-inch, AMOLED display pushing 4,500nits of brightness, a triple rear camera setup with Hasselblad branding, 5,400mAh battery with 100W fast charging. But if the users themselves aren’t pleased about the build quality of the OnePlus 12, it could spell disaster for the once-beloved brand by the time it makes its full appearance on the global stage.
