The Xiaomi 12X is a remarkably compact smartphone with predominantly premium specifications. Its price is a lot below that of real flagships. Does Xiaomi offer the best of both worlds with this? You can read it in this Xiaomi 12X review.
Xiaomi 12X
Recommended retail price € 699,-
Colour Black, Blue Purple
OS Android 11
Screen 6.28 inch OLED (2400 x 1080, 120 Hz)
Processor Qualcomm Snapdragon 870
RAM 8GB
Storage 256GB
Battery 4,500 mAh
Camera 50, 13 and 5 megapixels, 32 (front)
Connectivity 5G, 4G, Bluetooth 5.2, Wi-Fi 6, GPS, NFC
Format 15.3 x 7 x 0.82 cm
Weight 176 grams
Other dualsim, fingerprint scanner under screen, infrared
Website www.mi.com/eu 8 Score 80 
- Pros
- Compact
- good screen
- Battery life and fast charging
- Speed and camera performance
- Negatives
- Old and busy software
- Not waterproof and dustproof
- Not a real zoom camera
- Can’t charge wirelessly
The Xiaomi 12X is the cheapest member of the 12 series, which also consists of the 12 and 12 Pro. The suggested retail prices are 699, 899 and 1099 euros. Xiaomi released the three devices on April 1.
Colleague Joris recently published extensive reviews of the Xiaomi 12 and the Xiaomi 12 Pro. I started working with the 12X, which has already dropped in price considerably since its release. At the time of writing, at the beginning of June, you can get the smartphone from 549 euros.
Design
The competitive price is not immediately reflected in the design. The Xiaomi 12X is made of glass and feels premium, with a matte finish that minimizes fingerprints. The device is particularly notable because it is compact, thanks to the 6.28-inch screen with curved sides. The Xiaomi 12X is slightly narrower than the Samsung Galaxy S22 and a fraction longer.
At 176 grams, it is almost as heavy as the S22. It weighs 168 grams. If you are looking for a handy (Android) smartphone, the Xiaomi 12X is definitely worth a look.
A closer look at the 12X reveals some cutbacks to arrive at the friendly selling price. For example, the housing is only splash-proof. Many competing smartphones have IP certification that guarantees a water- and dust-proof design. And the 12X can’t charge wirelessly either, which is also a shame and very common in this price segment. The speakers, which bear the Harman Kardon name, are better than expected.
A good screen
Anyone who also expects cuts in the display is (fortunately) wrong. Xiaomi puts an excellent screen in the 12X. The 6.28-inch display supports 12-bit color display, a first for a smartphone. The Xiaomi 12 (Pro) also has a 12-bit display. The screen can show more colors, making the display more realistic. Admittedly: the difference with an expensive smartphone with a 10-bit screen is small, but it’s nice that Xiaomi is innovating.
The Xiaomi 12X display is also very pleasant to look at due to its sharp Full-HD resolution, high maximum brightness and smooth 120 Hz refresh rate. The fact that the screen has slightly curved sides is not a plus or minus point in my opinion. Some people find the curved sides annoying because they are more likely to accidentally tap something on the screen. I didn’t have this problem on the 12X.
The fingerprint scanner is located in the screen on this smartphone. Although it is fast and accurate enough, I find the scanner placed just too low.
Specifications
The specifications of the 12X reveal that the device is hundreds of euros cheaper than top smartphones. For example, Xiaomi opts for a mid-range Qualcomm Snapdragon 870 processor, which is in practice somewhat slower than the best processors at the moment. Is that disturbing? Not for me, because the Xiaomi 12X is just nice and fast. This will also be due to the large amount of RAM (8GB) that you will also find in expensive smartphones. The storage memory is even generous with 256 GB, because the more expensive Samsung Galaxy S22 and Apple iPhone 13 come with 128 GB.
Like the competition, the Xiaomi 12X supports 5G internet. You will only benefit from that from the end of 2023, when the important 3.5GHz frequency becomes available. It is convenient and obvious that the 12X is prepared for this. Wi-Fi 6 support is present, but the Snapdragon 870 does not support Wi-Fi 6E. Few people will care, as Wi-Fi 6E only seems to become interesting in a few years. The presence of an infrared sensor is useful to operate your air conditioning or television. Of course, an NFC chip is also available for contactless debit card payment in the supermarket.
Battery life and charging
The Xiaomi 12X contains a non-removable battery with a capacity of 4,500 mAh. Not particularly small or large for this type of smartphone. In practice, the battery lasts a long day without any problems and you don’t have to charge it until the next morning. That is nice and probably partly due to the more energy-efficient processor. Premium smartphones have a more powerful processor that requires more power.
The Xiaomi 12X charges via the supplied 67watt charger. The fact that it is in the box is worth mentioning anyway. After all, competitors such as Apple and Samsung sell their expensive phones with only a USB cable, in their own words to reduce the burden on the environment. Xiaomi chooses to put a USB cable and adapter in the box. Less good for the environment, but more user-friendly because you can get started right away with the right charger.
The powerful adapter needs 45 minutes to fully charge the battery and that is nice and fast. The Xiaomi 12 charges just as quickly, because it has an equally large battery and the same charger. The Xiaomi 12 Pro comes with a marginally larger battery and a 120-watt charger, which means it only takes twenty minutes to charge. Incidentally, the Xiaomi 12X cannot charge wirelessly, which many competitors can. Unfortunately.
Cameras
On the back of the Xiaomi 12X you will find three cameras, exactly the same as on the more expensive Xiaomi 12. It comes with a 50-megapixel main camera, a 13-megapixel wide-angle camera and a 5-megapixel macro camera. The main camera has optical image stabilization (OIS). The photo quality of the main camera is good. Realistic, sharp and detailed, even in low light. With the wide-angle camera, you can capture a larger part of the environment. The lens has little distortion, but shows objects such as houses a bit darker than desired.
The zoom function that you will find in the camera app gives the impression that the smartphone offers 2x zoom. That is not the case: the Xiaomi 12X lacks a real zoom camera and makes a crop of the image via software. A ‘zoom photo’ is therefore not much, but fortunately looks fine. In this price segment you can buy enough smartphones that do have a real zoom camera. That’s good to keep in mind.
Below you see from left to right the normal camera, the wide-angle camera and the software 2x zoom function.
When photographing colorful objects such as flowers, it is noticeable that the Xiaomi 12X shoots pleasant pictures. The colors are lifelike, the lighting is perfectly fine and the images appear sharp.
Old software
It is very strange that the Xiaomi 12X appears in stores with Android 11, the version from 2020. Where is Android 12 from last year? Can be found on the Xiaomi 12 and Xiaomi 12 Pro, but for unclear reasons not yet on the 12X. An update will change this, although it is unclear when that update will come. By mid-May, when I returned the phone, I still didn’t have it. And that’s a shame, because Xiaomi calls the Android 12 update as one of the three updates for the device. The other Xiaomi 12 models, which already run on Android 12, will therefore receive one extra update.
Xiaomi has been rolling out security updates for four years. There could be more pace. In mid-May, the 12X was still equipped with the December 2021 update. That while Google releases an update every month – Xiaomi could have been in May but is certainly four behind.
The MIUI software shell over Android is not my favorite anyway. Xiaomi provides a number of commercial apps that you have to remove yourself if you do not want them and the brand also imposes advertisements when setting up the device. Even if you indicate that you do not want personalized advertisements, you can still see general advertisements. I don’t think that fits on an expensive smartphone.
The visual adjustments of MIUI should suit you, but in my opinion they are very drastic and certainly not always an improvement over the standard Android version.
Conclusion: Buy Xiaomi 12X?
The Xiaomi 12X is a bit of a strange duck, because there are few compact smartphones with good specifications. And that makes it a welcome addition in the full smartphone market. The 12X offers a lot of value for not too much money. You currently buy it for 550 to 600 euros.
The smartphone scores well on important points such as the screen, battery life, cameras and speed. The software, on the other hand, is a weak point and you have to take into account budget cuts such as the lack of a waterproof case and wireless charging. In view of that competitive selling price, the Xiaomi 12X is an interesting choice. If you want a compact smartphone that is more complete, the more expensive Samsung Galaxy S22 is still your best option.
Other interesting alternatives to the Xiaomi 12X can be found in our current buying guide of the best smartphones from 600 euros.
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