After years of large-sized flagship phones, with this year’s Mi 11 even breaching the 6.8-inches mark, Xiaomi appears to be heading back to a more compact form factor. The launch event today that also unveiled MIUI 13, dedicated a large part of itself to simply explaining how comfy the Xiaomi 12’s compact body feels in the hand.
The device with its 6.28-inch AMOLED display is, after all, considerably smaller than most of the other Android flagships out there whose screen sizes have lately stabilized at around 6.7-inches. A curved display helps the Xiaomi 12 further shave off a few millimeters from its width and the phone effectively measures just 152.7 x 69.9 x 8.16 mm.
Other display specs include FHD+ resolution, 120Hz refresh rate (variable from 1Hz to 120Hz), 480Hz touch sampling rate, peak brightness of 1100nits, 12bit colors, HDR10+, and Dolby Vision support. Notably, the FHD+ resolution is a drop from the Mi 11’s 2K display but that’s okay considering the smaller screen. Also, the display is a top-notch one otherwise, as a Xiaomi official had earlier argued, and even offers Gorilla Glass Victus protection.
The inclusion of the 4nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 processor is another highlight of the Xiaomi 12 and should offer a significant performance upgrade. The chip comes with a much-improved GPU and AI engine, which are claimed to be 52% and 400% faster respectively over the last-gen. Temps are kept under control with a 2600mm² super large VC liquid cooling unit.
Moving on to the camera department, the Xiaomi 12 comes with a triple camera setup at the rear with the primary one sporting a 50MP IMX766 sensor (1/1.56″, 1.0µm). Advanced tracking tech has been added for better snaps of fast-moving objects, supported by the new ‘Xiaomi Image Brain’ that helps reduce processing times. The primary is joined by 5MP macro and 13MP ultrawide cameras. And upfront, you get a 32MP shooter for selfies.
The Xiaomi 12’s battery is sized 4500mAh and supports 67W wired, 50W wireless, and 10W wireless reverse charging. An under-display fingerprint is present for security.
The device is available in black, blue, purple, and field green color options. RAM and storage variants include 8GB+128GB, 8GB+256GB, and 12GB+256GB, priced at CNY 3,699 ($580,) CNY 3,999 ($628), CNY 4,399 ($690), respectively.
Xiaomi 12 Pro
The Xiaomi 12 Pro, just like its name implies, is the beefier version of the vanilla model and offers a number of boosted specs.
For starters, you get a larger 6.73-inch display with a 2K resolution. The charging rate has also been increased nearly two-fold and stands at 120W. The speakers are in a four-unit setup which should offer better audio than the Xiaomi 12’s stereo arrangement.
A larger display means a larger body as well and the Xiaomi 12 Pro measures 163.6 x 74.6 x 8.16 mm, although the thickness remains exactly the same. Weight is also a tad more compared to the non-Pro model, standing at 205g.
Another significant difference is in the cameras with the Xiaomi 12 Pro coming with three 50MP snappers comprised of 50MP IMX707 primary (1/1.28″, 1.22µm), 50MP telephoto, and 50MP ultrawide cameras.
RAM and storage variants include 8GB+128GB, 8GB+256GB, and 12GB+256GB, priced at CNY 4,699 ($738), CNY 4,999 ($785), CNY 5,399 ($848), respectively.
Xiaomi 12X
The Xiaomi 12X is aimed at those looking for the best experience from Xiaomi but without blowing a hole in their wallet. As such, it is exactly the same as the vanilla Xiaomi 12 in literally every aspect, except that it is powered by the more humble Snapdragon 870 chip, gives a miss to wireless and reverse charging, and lacks the fancy CyberFocus tech found on both of its pricier siblings. Available color options are black, blue, and purple and its price starts at CNY 3,199 ($502).
All of the three devices will be booting into MIUI 13 based on Android 12 out of the box, and are actually the very first from the company to run a stable version of the update. The series will be available to purchase from December 31st in China and a global launch should follow sometime in early 2022.
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