Xiaomi 12 and 12 X: the cheapest brothers in the best family | Hands-on video

a Xiaomi 12 It was launched in China at the end of 2021 and arrived with variants 12X And the 12 Pro. Only now in March the global version has finally been launched, initially arriving in Europe, but has already been certified by Anatel – which indicates that the Xiaomi 12 will not take long to reach our market. Looking forward to the new Chinese top of the line? So we gave a hands-on exercise on our first impressions in partnership with our Italian brothers from HDBlog.

Here we have not only Xiaomi 12, but also 12X. The two have a lot in common and are nearly identical in design. The chassis is made of metal and has two curved glass panels that meet perfectly on the narrow sides. The measurements are the same on both models, with the weight difference being a few grams in the Xiaomi 12.

The front glass is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus and the back is Gorilla Glass 5 in a matte finish. Both were launched in grey, blue and purple, while the Xiaomi 12 has an additional green option.

The camera module follows the current language adopted by Xiaomi since 2021, where the main lens is larger than the others. There are a total of three cameras in both, as well as a dual-tone LED flash. On the sides, you’ll lose the headphone jack, as well as the chip tray that doesn’t have a memory card slot.

The Xiaomi 12 was smaller than its predecessor due to the reduced screen size. The selfie camera hole has come out of the corner and is now more centrally placed. Forward leverage hasn’t evolved, and we still have more edges than we see in recent releases from other brands.

The build quality is identical in both, as is the ergonomic grip. In terms of connectivity, the only thing missing is support for wireless charging on 12X, but it does come with the same 67W charger as the more expensive model. Xiaomi also sends a case in the box.

The front is almost entirely taken up by a 6.28-inch OLED screen with a resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels and a refresh rate of 120 Hz. It’s good to see that Xiaomi didn’t cover the panel used in the 12X as it supports Dolby Vision, HDR10+, and a touch sensor that responds to a maximum of 480Hz.

The two are the first Xiaomi phones with a 12-bit panel, which guarantees the reproduction of 68 billion different colors. This combined with the strong brightness ensures an excellent experience with any type of movie on streaming services, which is impressive at first glance. By default, they both have bluish white, but there is a way to change that in the settings.

The sound of the Xiaomi 12 is enhanced by Harman Kardon and supports Dolby Atmos. The power is pretty good, but right away you can see that the two speakers don’t deliver the same volume. The lower part is more powerful and manages to reproduce the bass, while the upper part sounds more focused on the treble.

So far, everything looks the same on the Xiaomi 12 and 12 X, but things are changing on the platform and software part. The most expensive model comes with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, while the cheapest one comes with the less powerful Snapdragon 870. We still have our performance tests to see the real difference, but in AnTuTu we see nearly 300,000 feature points for the Xiaomi 12.

RAM and storage capacity ranges from 8 GB and 128 GB for the simplest model to 12 GB and 256 GB for the most expensive. Whatever you choose, it will perform great in popular apps and games, especially with the screen in 120Hz mode.

Perhaps the disappointing thing is the Xiaomi 12X system version, which comes out of the box with Android 11, while the most powerful version actually comes with Android 12. To make matters worse, Xiaomi promises three small bot updates only for the Xiaomi 12., which shows that the 12X It will be without Android 14 in the future.

Technical Specifications

• 6.28 inch AMOLED display with FHD + resolution
• Display with aperture and refresh rate of 120 Hz
• Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 platform
• 8 GB or 12 GB RAM
• 128 GB or 256 GB of internal storage
• 32 MP front camera
• Three rear cameras:
  • Primary lens with 50 mega pixel sensor
  • Wide angle lens with 13 MP sensor
  • Telemacro lens with 5 mega pixel sensor

• 5G connectivity, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC, stereo audio and fingerprint reader
• 4500 mAh battery with 67W fast charging
• Android 12 runs under MIUI 13

• 6.28 inch AMOLED display with FHD + resolution
• Display with aperture and refresh rate of 120 Hz
• Snapdragon 870 . platform
• 8 GB or 12 GB RAM
• 128 GB or 256 GB of internal storage
• 32 MP front camera
• Three rear cameras:
  • Primary lens with 50 mega pixel sensor
  • Wide angle lens with 13 MP sensor
  • Telemacro lens with 5 mega pixel sensor

• 5G connectivity, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC, stereo audio and fingerprint reader
• 4500 mAh battery with 67W fast charging
• Android 11 runs under MIUI 13

Both come with a 4,500mAh battery and with a 67W charger, there’s the promise of a full battery in less than 40 minutes. In the face of other brands we’ve tested with this same charger, it’s not hard to doubt that this is really possible.

Xiaomi 12 supports wireless charging up to 50W, which also ensures fast charging for those who run from cable chargers. For this type of technology, we’d expect a full battery in just under an hour. Finally, it is also possible to use the cell phone as a power bank and to recharge other wireless devices, but here it is limited to a maximum of 10W.

Finally, we have the cameras. The two have the same imaging array consisting of a 50MP main sensor, 13MP ultrawide, and 5MP macro. On the front there is a 32MP camera for selfies.

And as much as the two have the same sensors and lenses, don’t expect the same photographic quality. The Xiaomi 12 has a more advanced image processor and makes better use of the Sony IMX766 sensor. Either way, you’ll get high-quality photos with anyone, without losing colors and details.

The wide range also takes good photos and is not much inferior to the quality of the main sensor. Perhaps the biggest limitation is night shots, so it’s best to use the larger sensor to take clearer photos with better colours.

Macro has autofocus and allows you to get closer to what you want to photograph. Image quality is generally satisfactory, and shows that we have a more useful macro camera than brand intermediaries.

The front end makes good selfies and gets the skin tone and color balance right, but it can be a bit sharper. The effect of the picture is good and really pleases at first glance. The camcorder records at a maximum of 8K at 24 fps, as well as in Full HD or 4K at a maximum of 60 fps. The quality is good, but as in the pictures it doesn’t compete with other top brands.

And what is the price of the news? While Xiaomi Brazil does not reveal how much the Xiaomi 12 will be charged on national soil, the top of the line is being sold in other countries with an initial price of $749, while the 12X comes out for $649 also in an 8GB version. RAM and 128 GB.

In direct conversion, we would have between 3200 and 3700 R$. Of course, don’t expect to see the Xiaomi 12 for less than R$5,000 here, but you can get an idea of ​​the cost. Is it all worth it? We’ll leave that question to answer in our full review, but right away we see that they’re great phones that strive to offer an advanced experience at a fair price.

• Xiaomi 12X is not yet available in Brazilian stores. To be notified when it arrives.
• Xiaomi 12 is not yet available in Brazilian stores. To be notified when it arrives.