Norris played in his fourth successive World Championship in 2012 and once again won his first round match, this time against 14th seed Benito van de Pas 3–2. In the second round, he recovered from 3–1 down against third seed Dean Winstanley to win 4–3 and reach his first World Championship quarter-final, where he was beaten 5–1 by eventual champion Christian Kist. Norris had a shot at double 12 for a nine-dart finish, which would have been only the second in the history of the tournament, but missed the shot and ended up losing the leg. He won the Welsh Masters and the Luxembourg Open for the second year in a row. In December, Norris reached the final of the Zuiderduin Masters, a run that included a 112 three-dart average in his final group match as well as two 170 checkouts. However, he was eventually beaten 5–0 by BDO number one Stephen Bunting in the final.