With the Xiaomi 12 series, the Chinese brand is trying to connect with a versatile smartphone. Will Xiaomi be able to offer an alternative to Samsung and Apple with the 12?
xiaomi 12
Recommended retail price from € 899,-
Colors blue, black
OS Android 12 (MIUI 13)
Screen 6.3 inch amoled (2400 x 1800, 120hz)
Processor 2.5GHz octa-core (Snapdragon 8 gen1)
RAM 8GB
Storage 256GB
Battery 4,500 mAh
Camera 50, 13 and 5 megapixels (rear), 32 megapixels (front)
Connectivity 5G, 4G (LTE), Bluetooth 5.2, Wi-Fi 6e, GPS, NFC
Format 15.3 x 7 x 0.8 cm
Weight 179 grams
Other Fingerprint scanner behind screen
Website www.mi.com
6 Score 60 
- Pros
- Design
- computing power
- fast charger
- Negatives
- Software
- Price
- Update Support
Since Huawei disappeared from the scene, the cards in the smartphone market have been redistributed. More than ever, the market is a duopoly, dominated by Samsung and Apple. Although Chinese manufacturers rolled over each other and flood the market with budget smartphones, it seems mainly Xiaomi is taking over the budget segment from Huawei.
In the high-end market, Chinese brands such as OnePlus, Oppo and this Xiaomi like to play a significant role. This is also the case with this latest Xiaomi 12 series, which consists of three devices. The cheaper Xiaomi 12X, the top model Xiaomi 12 Pro and this Xiaomi 12 that hangs in between.
The company is not subtle about the fact that Xiaomi is trying to take the old market share of Huawei. This can already be seen from the packaging: “With easy access to Google apps you use most”. To make it clear that you can simply visit the Play Store with this Chinese smartphone.
The software does not rhyme with a smartphone in this price range.
Connection with Samsung and Apple
However, Xiaomi is unable to resist the powerful phones such as the Galaxy S22 and iPhone 13. Or even the Galaxy S21 and iPhone 12, which are more equal in price. Xiaomi falls very seriously short on one point: the software.
This is reflected in several points: first of all, the support. Three Android updates and four years of security updates (on top of Android 12) is much less than Samsung and Apple offer. In addition, the rollout is also much slower. The Android software shell from Xiaomi also does not belong to a phone in this price range. Childish colors and sounds, messy interfaces, lots of bloatware, an annoying and above all unnecessary virus scanner. And there is also advertising and associated data collection ingrained.
Finally, the software adjustment largely determines whether the phone takes good pictures. Differences between photo results are large, while just about every manufacturer uses Sony lenses. That difference is made by the software control. Although the photos from the wide-angle lens, regular camera and zoom lens are fine in good lighting conditions, especially in low light and backlight the photos are noisier, darker and blurry.
From left to right: zoom, primary, and wide-angle camera.
Handy
Is the Xiaomi 12 a bad phone then? Well no. The device is light and handy. The 6.3 inch screen has curved edges, which looks nice, but may not appeal to everyone practically. In terms of image quality, that screen is also perfectly fine, although the brightness could have been a little better, which is handy for use in sunlight. The full-HD resolution with a dynamic refresh rate of 120 hertz is as you would expect. The same can be said about the fingerprint scanner under the screen.
One of the strong points is the powerful fast charger, which charges the 4,500 mAh battery with 67 watts. Within minutes you have enough to get through a few hours. Whether that is good for long-term battery health, however, is difficult to test. The battery life is fine, about a day and a half. This could also be due to the fact that many background apps are interrupted, without you as a user being able to do much about it.
The charger is also included in the box, as is a case. A memory card slot, ip rating and audio port are missing.
computing power
The Snapdragon 8 (Gen 1) chipset (with 5G modem) provides the phone with more than enough computing power, although I noticed a stutter here and there that may have been caused more by software bugs. The device is also equipped with 256G storage memory and 8GB RAM.
Thanks to the chipset, you are not only future-proof with 5G, but WiFi 6e and Bluetooth 5.2 are also supported.
Alternatives to the Xiaomi 12
As indicated, Xiaomi is not an alternative to Samsung due to its mediocre software and support. That, for example, with the Galaxy S22 (or even the Galaxy S21 and Galaxy S21FE) offers a better and cheaper alternative, both in terms of software and camera. The extra computing power and fast charger of the Xiaomi 12 do not outweigh this.
The iPhone 13 is also roughly comparable in price and manages to beat the raison d’être from under the Xiaomi 12 in the same way. Even the iPhone 12 sounds like a more logical choice.
The Xiaomi 12 is not a bad phone, but it is not recommended either.
Conclusion: buy Xiaomi 12?
Xiaomi has a lot to improve on if it wants to compete with the top smartphones from Samsung and Apple. Although the design, computing power and fast charger are certainly sufficient, the software and support in particular are very substandard. The camera doesn’t shine either. That doesn’t make the phone a bad device, but it certainly isn’t recommended either.
†