Xiaomi 12 Pro review

Introduction

Available in China since last December, the Xiaomi 12 Series just got its launch outside of China. The global variant of the range-topping 12 Pro has been keeping us company for a while now and here it is in its full glory.

And Xiaomi does take its portfolio ranking seriously. While the 12 Pro does come with a competent trio of 50MP cameras (a new main one, an ultrawide, and a short tele), it stops short of offering the biggest and best in the imaging department - clearly not an Ultra this one.

It's got the latest top-end Snapdragon at the helm, as is the norm, and it features an LTPO OLED display from Samsung that is all sorts of great. Charging should be class-leading thanks to the 120W support, which is a most welcome sight given the relatively modest battery capacity for the high-end hardware.

You can read some hand-picked numbers and features below. Don't miss the infrared emitter that Xiaomi keeps fitting on its handsets in 2022, much to the delight of owners of legacy non-connected tech.

Xiaomi 12 Pro specs at a glance:

• Body: 163.6x74.6x8.2mm, 204g; glass back, aluminum frame.
• Display: 6.73" LTPO AMOLED, 1B colors, 120Hz, Dolby Vision, HDR10+, 1000 nits (HBM), 1500 nits (peak), 1440x3200px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, 521ppi.
• Chipset: Qualcomm SM8450 Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 (4 nm): Octa-core (1x3.00 GHz Cortex-X2 & 3x2.50 GHz Cortex-A710 & 4x1.80 GHz Cortex-A510); Adreno 730.
• Memory: 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 12GB RAM; UFS 3.1.
• OS/Software: Android 12, MIUI 13.
• Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.9, 24mm, 1/1.28", 1.22µm, Dual Pixel PDAF, OIS; Ultra wide angle: 50 MP, f/2.2, 115˚; Telephoto: 50 MP, f/1.9, 48mm, PDAF, 2x optical zoom.
• Front camera: 32 MP, 26mm (wide), 0.7µm.
• Video capture: Rear camera: 8K@24fps, 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/120/240/960fps, gyro-EIS; Front camera: 1080p@30/60fps, 720p@120fps.
• Battery: 4600mAh; Fast charging 120W, 100% in 18 min (advertised), Fast wireless charging 50W, 100% in 42 min (advertised), Reverse wireless charging 10W, Power Delivery 3.0, Quick Charge 4+.
• Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, optical); NFC; Infrared port, Virtual proximity sensing.

Xiaomi 12 Pro unboxing

High-end Xiaomi Pros and Ultras get special treatment when it comes to packaging and are shipped in black boxes as opposed to the white livery of lesser models.

The inside of the thick cardboard box greets you with a sleeve that holds a clear silicone case - not the most premium protection option, but you can't argue with a free case. It's hard to complain about a bundled 120W adapter either, but we're pros at complaining, so we can't help but mention that it's way too heavy and bulky to leave the house. There's also a USB-A-to-C cable to go with it, and you'll need both proprietary peripherals to get the fastest charging speeds.