Xiaomi 12 Pro review

Portrait mode

The 12 Pro's portrait mode relies on the telephoto camera for capture. On most other phones, that means getting the good perspective of a longer lens (when compared to the distorted one of wide 'primary' cameras) but suffering in quality because of telephotos' general inferior light gathering capability. That's not so here, however.

The choice of hardware that helps in the dark also helps here, and the bright aperture and large sensor contribute to image quality. At the same time, the otherwise modest focal length is just right for the task, putting you just far enough from your subject to avoid being uncomfortably close and also making their facial proportions just 'right'.

Subject detection is very competent as well, even handling our traditionally difficult wooden wall paneling. The default blur level is perhaps a bit much however - toning it down a notch would help make for a more natural-looking bokeh, we think.

Portrait mode samples

Selfies

Selfies on the Xiaomi 12 Pro are captured at the nominal 32MP resolution of the sensor, and that's a bit much. That said, the images are indeed very well detailed, and while there's not strictly 32MP worth of data in there, they make for spectacular 12MP shots when resized in post. The colors are lovely, dynamic range is nice and wide.

Once more, however, one flaw inherent in the design must be mentioned, and that's the lack of autofocus. The distance it's fixed at, combined with the available depth-of-field, makes for sharp faces at an arm's length, so you should be fine.

Selfie samples

Portrait mode in selfies is pretty good, though it's not infallible - it may, on occasion, blur clothes along the border between subject and background. More annoyingly, however, it's not doing a ton of HDR processing and backlit scenes can turn into just your face (admittedly, properly exposed) against a white background.

Selfie samples, Portrait mode

Video recording

The Xiaomi 12 Pro can record video up to 8K in resolution at 24fps with its main camera, as well as 4K up to 60fps with all three rear modules - there's no 8K capture on the ultrawide or the tele, though that's not an omission you'd hear us complain about anytime soon.

The default codec is h.264, but you can choose to use h.265, which is also the only option for 8K encoding. Audio is recorded in stereo at 96kbps.

Stabilization is available in all resolutions and frame rates and is always on - there's no toggle to disable it if you're supporting the phone otherwise.

8K footage (131Mbps bit rate) from the main camera isn't great - there's barely any detail advantage to be gained, and the way it's rendered isn't particularly likable either. Mind you, that's not our blanket hate on smartphone 8K capture, nor is it a Xiaomi-specific observation - the 11 Ultra, for example, records pretty decent 8K as smartphones go.

4K is our go-to resolution, and 4K30 (36Mbps) clips from the 12 Pro's main camera are good, good enough. It's not the most detailed image - the Galaxy S22 Ultra delivers finer textures, and the way it's rendered has a distinctly processed look. Dynamic range is nicely wide, but we're not entirely sure about its exposure - it's looking a little overexposed and washed out. This scene definitely looks better half a stop darker and with a pinch more contrast. The colors are slightly off, too - the asphalt has this warm yellowish cast.

On a positive note, the 4K60 mode (50Mbps) comes with no quality penalty whatsoever.

The telephoto could similarly use a tweak in exposure and tone curve, and its color rendition is similar to the main cam's, so not ideal. Detail is excellent, though, and there are no signs of noise.

The ultrawide gets the colors right - the other two had us wondering if the scene was, indeed, yellow and particularly bright that one specific time. It does have its own deficiencies - mostly with sharpness, where it's somewhat softer than most at this level (latest iPhones and Galaxies, the vivo X70 Pro+, not to mention the Mi 11 Ultra gold standard).

We have little to complain about when it comes to stabilization - on the contrary, we have high praise for the 12 Pro's ability to compensate for walking-induced shake or stay locked on the subject if you're not moving. Panning is also trouble-free, without any abrupt jerky transitions. All of that applies to all three cameras, telephoto included (minus the walking, we tend not to walk when shooting zoomed in, so we don't normally test for that).

In low light, the main camera of the 12 Pro holds up well and captures good detail while managing noise decently. Dynamic range is a bit limited, however.

The telephoto, in turn, is doing an okay job, and despite a relatively high noise level and a general softness, there's good detail being captured in the better-lit areas. Colors are well preserved, and dynamic range is acceptable, we'd say.

The ultrawide, on the other hand, isn't liking the dark and struggles to expose our (admittedly pretty demanding) test scene. The video is soft and noisy too.

Here's a glimpse of how the Xiaomi 12 Pro compares to rivals in our Video compare tool. Head over there for the complete picture.

Xiaomi 12 Pro against the iPhone 13 Pro and the Huawei P50 Pro in our Video compare tool