Xiaomi 12 is the Best Small Screen Phone in the World Right Now

Xiaomi’s next-generation flagship phone is finally official, at least in China. Xiaomi 12 is the company’s first and the world’s second phone to get the latest Qualcomm flagship chip, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. But unlike Motorola Edge X30’s heating issues, Xiaomi has promised to fix them.

Let’s have a look.

Design and Display

The Xiaomi 12 is a compact phone, at least according to modern flagship standards. It has a 6.28-inch screen, down from the gigantic 6.81-inch display on the Mi 11. Sadly, the resolution has been decreased to 1080p, but you still get the smooth 120Hz AMOLED experience provided by TCL.

The screen is not as curved as before but still maximizes the screen-to-body ratio with tiny bezels. It can display more than 68 billion colors and has support for HDR10+, Dolby Vision, variable refresh rates, and more. It supports up to 16,000 different brightness levels.

The only major change in terms of looks is on the rear, with a huge main camera and two secondary cameras underneath.

Internals and Storage

As mentioned earlier, this is Xiaomi’s first phone to feature the 4nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC. Its CPU is 20% faster and 30% more power-efficient than the Snapdragon 888 and the GPU is 30% faster as well. The chipset is paired with up to 12GB LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB UFS 3.1 memory. As always with Xiaomi flagships, there is no memory card slot.

Xiaomi has equipped the phone with a massive VC cooling plate to keep thermals in check while the phone runs the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC. The total heat dissipation area measures 13171 mm², bigger than most phones these days.

You will get the latest MIUI 13 interface out of the box on top of Android 12. MIUI 13 not only has updated animations and appearance but improved smoothness and stability as well with new security features.

Cameras

The main camera setup on the rear includes the familiar 50MP Sony IMX766 sensor primary lens which is found on several 2021 flagships. This is next to a 5MP telemacro camera with 3x optical zoom and a 13MP ultrawide sensor. All of them include Optical Image Stabilization (OIS) to prevent shaky photos and videos. It is capable of 8K videos at up to 30 FPS.

The centered punch-hole selfie camera is a 20MP shooter capable of 4K videos as well as 1080p 60 FPS clips.

Battery and Pricing

The 67W fast charging can fill up the 4,500 mAh battery in only 40 minutes, while the 50W wireless charging can do so in 53 mins. The phone can also act as a power bank with its 10W reverse charging.

The 8GB/128GB variant has a starting price of only $580 (in China) and doubling the storage will cost you $627. The highest memory configuration (12GB/256GB) for the Xiaomi 12 will go for $690.

Xiaomi 12 Specifications

• Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1
• CPU: Octa-core (1×3.00 GHz Cortex-X2 & 3×2.50 GHz Cortex-A710 & 4×1.80 GHz Cortex-A510)
• GPU: Adreno 730
• OS: Android 12, MIUI 13
• Supported Networks: 2G, 3G, 4G LTE, 5G
• Display:
  • 6.28″ AMOLED with 1080 x 2400 pixels resolution; 120Hz, 68 billion colors, HDR10+, 16k brightness levels
• Memory:
  • RAM: 8GB, 12GB LPDDR5
  • Internal: 128GB, 256GB UFS 3.1
  • Card slot: No
• Camera:
  • Rear (Triple): 50 MP, f/1.9, 26mm (wide), 1/1.28″, 1.22µm, PDAF, OIS
    XX MP, (telephoto), PDAF, OIS, 3x zoom
    13 MP, f/2.4, 123˚ (ultrawide), 1/3.06″, 1.12µm
  • Front: 20MP
• Colors: Slate Black, Sky Blue
• Fingerprint sensor: Under-display
• Battery: 4,500 mAh, 67W fast charging, 50W wireless charging, 10W reverse charging
• Price: $580