As the ever-expanding Xiaomi phone family has been hard to keep track of, we have it easy with just announced Xiaomi 12T and 12T Pro models that replace the 11T and 11T Pro models. The new devices have a clear focus on "budget flagships".
Summary and Camera
The Xiaomi 12T Pro boast an impressive 200MP Camera with a Samsung-made sensor. This is the same camera recently introduced in our Motorola Edge 30 Ultra review, and it features 16/1 pixel binning, f/1.69 aperture, Phase Detection Autofocus (PDAF) and Optical Image Stabilization (OIS). It can take between 12.5mp stills at 2.56µm to 50MP pictures (1.28µm pixels) natively.
The Xiaomi 12T Pro also has a decent 6.67-inch, 120Hz AMOLED display to complement the Sony sensor and the energy-efficient Snapdragon 855 chip. It has Dolby Vision and HDR10+ certification and its resolution is higher than some other models in the series with LTPO panel. Other highlights of the 12T Pro include stereo speakers from Harman Kardon with Dolby Atmos support and a large 5,000 mAh battery supporting 120W HyperCharge.
Design and Build Quality
The Xiaomi 12T Pro has a very classic design and has a curved panel that is comfortable to hold in your palm. The 12T Pro measures 163.1 x 75.9 x 8.6 mm and tips the scale at 205 grams making it feel dense and nicely balanced with a solid grip. You can either have the 12T Pro in black, silver or blue.
This device has two separate camera sensors, which are arranged in the corners of its main lens, separated by a thin line. The subtle separator lines make for an attractive design.
The front is Corning Gorilla Glass 5, while the back is glass and built by a manufacturer that remains unknown. We would consider both devices to have an ingress protection rating of IP53.
Sensor and Connectivity
The 12T Pro has the best and fastest fingerprint reader that we have seen. No complaints in our opinion.
The dedicated speaker and microphone are at the bottom of the 12T Pro. It has a dual nano-SIM card slot to expand its use. Its proprietary Type-C port can charge up to 120W using Xiaomi HyperCHarge tech. On the front, there is no 3.5mm audio jack and the Pro lacks a notification LED. On the left hand side of the keyboard are HDMI, USB Type-C and SD card slots. The Xiaomi 12T Pro supports 5G on both its SIM slots as well as Bluetooth 5.2, Wi-Fi 6, and NFC.
There is no barometer on the Xiaomi 12T Pro; this comes in quite handy for outdoor activities. The proximity sensor and three-axis accelerometer and gyro help the camera offer good image quality when you want to shoot photos or videos.
Display and Performance
The 6.67-inch AMOLED display features an extra crisp 1220 x 2712 pixel resolution and is 20:9 - like on the 11T, but it comes with a higher resolution than FHD+ screens and boasts exceptional ppi. The panel uses "1920Hz frequency PW" dimming and the touch sampling rate is 480Hz. The Pro screen gets really bright and is perfectly usable outdoors.
The 12T Pro has a 120Hz refresh rate display and a smart system that automatically optimizes the refresh rate according to the needs of the Electronic Sports. The display is certified for both Dolby Vision and HDR10+, the phone has all of the bases covered and supports HLG, HDR10, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision.
The Xiaomi 12T Pro has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset and packs an Octa-core CPU, the best GPU on the market, 5G capability, and 6 GB of RAM. Other features include Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon X65 5G modem technology, and Qualcomm's 7th generation AI Engine.
The 12T Pro has LPDDR5 RAM and storage, with the top configuration having 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage or the lower configuration has 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. The review unit has a max of 256GB for memory, plus 3GB for virtual memory. With MIUI 13 and an improved MIUI, the Xiaomi 12T Pro has more room to breathe, with better RAM management and CPU utilization.
Check out these Xiaomi 12T Pro specs
- Body: 163.1x75.9x8.6mm, 205g, Corning Gorilla Glass 5
- Display: AMOLED, 1B colors, 120Hz, 6.67" 1220x2712px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio(446ppi), Dolby Vision, HDR10+
- OS/Software: Android 12, MIUI 13.
- Chipset: Qualcomm SM8475 Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 (4 nm): Octa-core (1x3.19 GHz Cortex-X2 & 3x2.75 GHz Cortex-A710 & 4x1.80 GHz Cortex-A510); Adreno 730.
- Battery: 5000mAh; Fast charging 120W.
- Memory: 128/256GB, 8/12GB RAM; UFS 3.1.
- Rear camera: Wide (main): 200 MP, f/1.7, 1/1.22", 0.64µm, PDAF, OIS; Ultra wide angle: 8 MP, f/2.2, 120-degree, 1/4", 1.12µm; Macro: 2 MP, f/2.4.
- Front camera: 20 MP, f/2.2, (wide), 1/3.47", 0.8µm.
- Video capture: Rear camera: 4K@30fps; Front camera: 1080p@30fps.
- Sensor & connectivity: Fingerprint reader (under display, optical); NFC; Infrared port; stereo speakers (Dolby Atmos, Harman Kardon).
