Carter's 2011–12 season got off to a poor start as he exited the first two ranking events of the year, the Australian Goldfields Open and the Shanghai Masters, in the first round. At the UK Championships he defeated Robert Milkins, but then lost 2–6 to Mark Allen in the last 16. After the match Carter stated on Twitter: "I'm going to retire at the end of the season! And I can't wait!" and that he was "dead serious" about the threat. Later on he admitted the comments were made "in the heat of the moment" but that he did have some "serious thinking to do at the end of the season". His retirement threat looked to be more likely as he lost in the first round in the Masters and the next two ranking events, and then withdrew from the World Open in China due to medical reasons.&lt;ref name="2011/12"&gt;&lt;/ref&gt; Although he reached the quarter-finals of the China Open with wins over Dominic Dale and Lu Ning before losing 2–5 to Ding Junhui, Carter found himself out of the world's top 16 for the first time since 2005.