AI-powered portraits have me excited for the Oppo Reno12’s European arrival

On-device and generative AI are still fresh to the phone world, and (aside from a few exceptions) are mostly limited to flagship phones. That’s not the case for the new Oppo Reno12 and Reno12 Pro, which are heading to Europe at sensible prices to compete with the best mid-range smartphones.

The duo will launch at €499 and €599 respectively. They’ll be taking on the likes of the Google Pixel 8a and Honor 200 Pro with triple lens camera systems, big batteries with rapid wired charging, and large AMOLED displays – but it’s the AI additions that make them stand out.

Best Face – Oppo’s take on Google’s Best Take, which looks through multiple shots and swaps out faces so none of your subjects are blinking or looking away from the lens – and AI eraser – which can delete background distractions from your photos with a tap – sound familiar.

The big addition is AI Studio, which can create generative AI portraits of your subjects from a single snap. You pick from several styles, rather than write your own prompt, and the heavy lifting is likely done on a server somewhere rather than your phone – but I’m pretty sure this is the first time this sort of tech has come baked in to a smartphone.

On the hardware front it’s the Oppo Reno12 Pro that leads the way, with tougher Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 glass protecting its 6.7in AMOLED screen. That’s a first at this price point, according to Oppo. The glass curves slightly at all four edges, and sits over a 2412×1080 panel with a 120Hz refresh rate and 1200 nits peak brightness. It’ll display HDR10+ content, too.

There’s a 50MP main camera at the rear, with an f/1.8 aperture, omni-directional phase-detect autofocus, and optical image stabilisation (OIS). A 50MP telephoto is good for 2x optical zoom, with up to 20x hybrid zoom on tap. There’s also an 8MP ultrawide, plus a 50MP selfie camera (with PDAF) up front.

Power comes from a Dimensity 7300-Energy chipset, which MediaTek has tweaked specifically for the Reno series. Exp[ect up to 12GB of RAM and as much as 512GB of storage. There’s also a 5000mAh battery that should manage all-day use between charges, which can be at up to 80W using an Oppo Supervooc adapter. It’s running Android 14 out of the box and should get three three new software generations over its lifespan.

The Oppo Reno12 Pro’s polycarbonate frame is IP65 dust and water resistant, and can be had in Nebula Black (a mix of matte and glossy black) or Nebula silver (a subtle silver-to-purple blend) colours. There’s an in-display fingerprint sensor and even a microSD card clot.

Colours and cameras are the two main areas the more affordable Reno12 differs from the Pro. It can be had in Black Brown or Astro Silver hues, and is the first phone to use Gorilla Glass 7i to protect its display. It also keeps the IP65 weather resistance.

The 50MP main camera sticks around, but the ultrawide drops to an 8MP unit, and the telephoto has been ditched in favour of a 2MP macro camera with 4cm focus distance. I’m not a big fan of these, given a good ultrawide with autofocus can usually do a better job – even at this price. The selfie cam up front gets a 32MP sensor, but keeps its autofocus abilities.

The Reno12 Pro goes on sale through the Oppo web store on the 28th of June for £499 in Nebula Silver and Nebula Black. Early birds with an existing handset to trade in can get a £100 bonus. The Reno12 will follow in mid-August.

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