Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 Pro+ review

Display

The Redmi Note 12 Pro+ features a 6.67-inch Flow AMOLED display with FHD+ resolution (395ppi) and a small perforation for the selfie camera. The panel is protected with a Gorilla Glass 5 sheet.

While the display appears to be similar to the one on the Redmi Note 11 Pro+, it has been updated with 10-bit color depth, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision certifications. The rest of the specs include 240Hz touch response, wide color support, and 1920Hz PWM dimming to minimize eye strain in low-light conditions.

Xiaomi is promising 900nits of maximum brightness, and we can confirm that. In fact, the display can be as bright as 990 nits of maximum brightness via the Sunlight Boost, while the typical manual brightness achievable via the brightness scrubber is 535nits.

Finally, the minimum brightness at point white was 2.1nits, in line with most of the OLED panels nowadays.

Color accuracy

The Redmi Note 12 Pro+ offers your typical MIUI color controls. The display color options have three different color models - Vivid (default, DCI-P3), Saturated (DCI-P3 with saturation boost), and Standard (sRGB). You can fine-tune the color temperature for each mode. There is also a custom mode, where you can select the color gamut and fine tune colors, saturation, hue, contrast, gamma.

The Vivid (default) option reproduces DCI-P3 mostly faithfully, excluding the slightly bluish white and gray hues (fixable by selecting Warm Color temperature). The Standard option corresponds to sRGB and offers accurate rendering, including the white and gray colors.

Color options

Refresh rate

Let's explore the refresh rate capabilities of the screen. The panel supports up to 120Hz refresh rate, and there are two modes in Settings - Custom (choose between 120Hz or 60Hz), and Default (automatic switching behavior).

Exploring the matter further, we found out that the screen supports four fixed refresh rates per its specifications - 30Hz, 60Hz, 90Hz, and 120Hz.

Refresh rate options

Quite expectedly (from our experience with many other MIUI-powered phones), Custom 120Hz and Default (auto) do the same - the system uses 120Hz for the phone's UI and most apps (games included), at least while the user is interacting with the display or there is motion on screen. Then, once it sees a static picture for a couple of seconds, the system drops the refresh rate down to 60Hz to save power. 60Hz is always used for the camera app, video playback and streaming.

The screen is capable of using the 30Hz mode, too, but the only occasion we saw it in action was for the Always-on Display and the Notification Light.

Theoretically, the screen should be able to switch to 90Hz refresh rate, but we didn't find an app to trigger this particular refresh step.

Streaming and HDR

The Redmi Note 12 Pro+ comes with Widevine L1 DRM support, and Full HD streaming with HDR10 and Dolby Vision support is available across popular platforms, Netflix included.

Netflix

Battery life

The Xiaomi Redmi Note 12 Pro+ is powered by a 5,000mAh battery - up from 4,500mAh on the Redmi Note 11 Pro+. The phone employs a newer Dimensity chipset and the next version of MIUI. And, just like the previous Plus model, this one supports 120W fast charging.

In our Active Use Test, the Redmi Note 12 Pro+ posted an average time for web browsing, but solid scores for video streaming and gaming, better than the Redmi Note 12 numbers though worse than the regular Redmi Note 12 Pro.

Charging speed

The Redmi Note 12 Pro+ supports 120W HyperCharge for its 5,000mAh battery. The device comes bundled with that charger and an appropriate 6A-rated cable, which is nice considering the current eco-friendly trend.

Just like other 120W charging-capable Xiaomi phones, this one also has Boost Charge mode. This is the feature that allows the fastest possible charging at 120W, but there is a catch - it works only when the phone is with its screen turned off as an overheating prevention measure. The Boost option is turned off by default, but you can enable it from within the Battery settings.

Charging settings

We did our charging test with the Boost mode, as otherwise, the phone is limited to 60W-80W charging.

The Redmi Note 12 Pro+ with its 120W GaN charger is an incredible combo. We got 38% of charge in just 5 minutes, while 15 minutes replenished 81% of the battery.

A full charge took 23 minutes, while we clocked 95% on the 19min - the time Xiaomi advertises for a full charge. Factors like room temperature, SIM card, connected accounts, among others, do affect the charging time, so we think the slight difference of 4 minutes is easily explained by these.

During the 120W fast charging, the phone didn't get hot, just warm.

We also tested without the Boost mode, and quite expectedly, the charging process is a bit slower. In 5 minutes, we got 26%, 15 mins - 58%, and a full charge took 30 minutes.

Speakers

The Redmi Note 12 Pro+ features a stereo speaker setup. One of the speakers is placed at the top of the phone and has two outlets - top-facing and front-facing for earpiece purposes. The other one is placed at the bottom of the Redmi.

The Redmi Note 12 Pro+ supports Dolby Atmos enhancement, and it's enabled by default. We tried listening to music with and without Dolby Atmos, and we found the experience better when we kept it on - the speakers are a bit louder, and the audio is somewhat crisper. Turning the Dolby Atmos enhancement will make for an arguably richer sound, but the bass and the volume are a bit lower.

The Redmi Note 12 Pro+ scored a Good mark on our loudness test, and Good is also what best suits the description of its audio quality - the vocals are good, there is bass, and the Dolby Atmos helps for better high frequencies.

We cannot but acknowledge the Redmi Note 11 Pro+ sounded louder and richer, though.

Use the Playback controls to listen to the phone sample recordings (best use headphones). We measure the average loudness of the speakers in LUFS. A lower absolute value means a louder sound. A look at the frequency response chart will tell you how far off the ideal "0db" flat line is the reproduction of the bass, treble, and mid frequencies. You can add more phones to compare how they differ. The scores and ratings are not comparable with our older loudspeaker test. Learn more about how we test here.