He qualified for his first PDC World Championship in 2012, where he was beaten 1-3 by Robert Thornton in the last 64. He threw a nine-dart finish in the opening Players Championship event of the season in a first round match against Mark Hylton. White reached the semi-finals of the event, where he was beaten 4-6 by the eventual winner Justin Pipe. In April, he earned a place in the European Tour Event 1 in Vienna by defeating Adrian Gray in the UK qualifier. He played Colin Lloyd in the first round and lost 3–6, with his opponent averaging 111. In May, he reached the final of the Players Championship Event 5 where he lost 2–6 to Dave Chisnall. He also qualified for the third European Tour Event with a win over John Scott, but was then beaten by Raymond van Barneveld 2–6 in the first round in Düsseldorf. By July, White had reached two semi-finals and two finals in PDC events in 2012, meaning he qualified for the World Matchplay for the first time in his career due to being the sixth highest player on the ProTour Order of Merit who was not in the world's top 16. He played Vincent van der Voort in the first round and took out 164 and 161 finishes in a 10–5 victory to set up a last 16 fixture with 12-time World Matchplay champion Phil Taylor, which he lost 3–13.