Xiaomi 12

The Xiaomi 12 is Chinese Xiaomi's affordable flagship for 2022. That company is betting on a premium design, professional camera, and excellent performance with this 12. Here we will find out for you if they succeeded in this and if they left any stitches somewhere.

Part of the Xiaomi 12 series

Despite being announced just at the last minute of 2021, this Xiaomi 12 is the flagship for 2022. At least for as long as it lasts because Xiaomi is known for releasing new models at a killer pace. This Xiaomi 12, without Mi in the name, is part of a series consisting of this 12, the 12 Pro and a more affordable 12X. And altho the 12X is very similar, in appearance and specs, this 12 has a newer Android version, a better update policy and a more powerful processor. On the other hand, if you don't find those points important, you're better off going for the 12X. That will save some money after all.

No compromises on performance

Back to this Xiaomi 12. Xiaomi applies a fine display; an AMOLED panel of 6.28 inches in size. It has a maximum peak brightness of 1100 nits, which makes it very bright and it is also easy to read outdoors. The display looks smooth thanks to the 120Hz support and colours are rendered realistically thanks to the HDR10+ certification. It doesn't get much better than this and thus reason enough for DisplayMate to award an A+ score. Would we remove the curved panel we see a Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor. At the time of release the most powerful processor from Qualcomm and thus assured of powerful performance. There is at least 8GB of RAM memory and 128 or 256GB of storage available. Xiaomi is taking the safe bet and applying the fastest LPDDR5 RAM combined with UFS 3.1 storage for the best performance.

Main Xiaomi 12 specifications

• Compact 6.28" DotDisplay with FHD+ resolution and 120Hz display
• 50+13+8MP camera with 123° ultra-wide angle and macro lens + 8K video
• 32MP selfie camera with f/2.45 lens + portrait mode and AI Beautify
• Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor with 8/128, 8/256 or 12/256GB of RAM/storage
• 4500mAh battery with 67W wired fast charging + 50W wireless
• 5G and Dual-SIM support
• Dual speakers with Dolby Atmos sound from Harman Kardon

Professional camera for motion

Xiaomi further focuses on the camera features. On the back of the 12 is a 50MP main camera, according to Xiaomi this is even a professional camera. The Sony camera sensor has built-in optical image stabilisation (OIS) for sharper results. Camera specifications tell only one side of the storey. Xiaomi has built special software including motion tracking focussing for smoother videos with consistent autofocus. And focussing continuously on your subject's eye creates useable videos when there is a lot of movement. The result is natural and professional-looking videos. There is also a 13MP ultra-wide-angle with wide 123° lens and a 5MP telephoto macro camera for close-ups of 3 and 7cm. The latter we would only have liked to see exchanged for a real and much more useful zoom camera.