Newsletter
Xiaomi has announced its new flagships globally. The global Xiaomi 12 series launch event took place today, and the company announced three smartphones as part of it. Those phones are the Xiaomi 12, 12 Pro, and 12X, as expected. Only the first two are flagship-grade, and those are the two we’ll talk about in this article. We’ve covered the 12X in a separate article.
Some people were hoping the Xiaomi 12 Ultra will arrive as well, but that device is tipped to arrive either in Q2 or H2 this year. Having said that, the Xiaomi 12X is inferior to the Xiaomi 12 and 12 Pro, but it’s still a compelling phone.
All three of these phones launched in China at the end of last year, so we knew what to expect for the global launch. There are not that many differences, aside from the software-side of things, of course.
All three phones look very similar. In fact, many people would struggle to recognize which one is which. To the keen eye, the Xiaomi 12 Pro does have slightly larger camera sensors on the back (second and third camera), and the Xiaomi 12 and 12 Pro have slightly thinner bezels than the 12 X. Other than that, it’s really difficult to differentiate between them. Let’s kick things off with the Xiaomi 12 Pro, shall we.
Xiaomi 12 Pro
The Xiaomi 12 Pro is, needless to say, the most powerful device Xiaomi announced. It features a 6.73-inch QHD+ (3200 x 1440) AMOLED Dot Display. This display is DisplayMate A+ rated, and it is curved. It has a peak brightness of 1,500 nits, and it does support adaptive refresher ate up to 120Hz (LTPO panel).
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 fuels the phone, while the device comes in 8GB and 12GB RAM options. This is LPDDR5 RAM, by the way. Those two models both include 256GB of UFS 3.1 flash storage, by the way.
A 4,600mAh battery sits inside of this phone, and the device supports 120W fast wired charging. 50W wireless charging is also supported, and the same goes for 10W reverse wireless charging.
There are four speakers included here, boosted by Harman Kardon. 5G connectivity is supported (dual 5G), and there are two SIM card slots. Bluetooth 5.2 is also supported, as are Wi-Fi 6 and 6E. Android 12 comes pre-installed, along with MIUI 13.
You will find three cameras on the back of this phone. A 50-megapixel main camera (wide-angle, Sony’s IMX707 sensor, f/1.9 aperture, 7P lens, 2.44um pixel size, 8K recording, Xiaomi ProFocus) is backed by a 50-megapixel ultrawide camera (115-degree FoV, f/2.2 aperture). A 50-megapixel telephoto camera is also included (f/1.9 aperture, 48mm equivalent focal length).
You will also find a 32-megapixel selfie camera (f/2.45 aperture, 1.4um pixel size, 4-in-1 Super Pixel). The device measures 163.60 x 74.60 x 8.16mm, and weighs 205 grams. It comes in Gray, Purple, and Blue colors. The pricing starts at $999.
Xiaomi 12
The Xiaomi 12 is also quite a powerful smartphone. It is inferior to the 12 Pro, though, of course. This smartphone features a 6.28-inch fullHD+ (2400 x 1080) AMOLED Dot Display. That display has a peak brightness of 1,100 nits, and it is a 120Hz panel, not an LTPO one, though.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 fuels this phone as well, while the device comes in 8GB and 12GB RAM (LPDDR5) variants. The 8GB RAM model will be on offer with 128GB and 256GB of UFS 3.1 flash storage, while the 12GB RAM model comes with 256GB of storage.
A 4,500mAh battery is included here, and it supports 67W fast wired charging. 50W wireless charging is also supported, and so is 10W reverse wireless charging.
This phone also supports Wi-Fi 6 and 6E connectivity, and comes with Bluetooth 5.2. There are two SIM card slots included here, and dual 5G standby is supported. There are two speakers included inside, and they are tuned by Harman Kardon. Android 12 comes pre-installed on the Xiaomi 12, while MIUI 13 is included on top.
There are three cameras included on the back here. A 50-megapixel wide-angle camera (f/1.88 aperture, 6P lens, 2um 4-in-1Super Pixel, 8K recording). A 13-megapixel ultrawide camera (f/2.4 aperture, 123-degree FoV) also sits on the back, and the same goes for a 5-megapixel telemacro camera (50mm equivalent focal length).
A single 32-megapixel selfie camera is included here (1.4ump pixel size, 4-in-1 Super Pixel). The Xiaomi 12 measures 152.70 x 69.90 x 8.16mm, while it weighs 180 grams. It comes in Gray, Purple, and Blue colors, and its pricing starts at $649.
