Review of Xiaomi 12T Pro

The Xiaomi 11T Pro, which was released last year, was one of the most valuable smartphones of 2021. It offered a flagship-adjacent feature list for a high-end price. The Xiaomi 12T Pro takes things to the next level in terms of pricing and specs.

It’s dangerous to play in a year that has produced more than its fair share classy mid-rangers. Is Xiaomi able to achieve almost-flagship success for the second consecutive year, or is that a tangled web of precarious compromises?

Review of Xiaomi 12T Pro: What you should know

The Xiaomi 12T Pro, as we have come to expect from the T-series, offers a number of standout flagship specs at an affordable price. These specs include the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 processor as well as 256GB internal storage.

While the main feature is the 200MP main camera, your attention might be drawn to the 120W charger included in the box.

This is all wrapped in a smaller, dare I say mid-range design than the Xiaomi 12 Pro earlier this year. The flat 6.67in AMOLED display on the 12T Pro isn’t as sharp, sharp, or bright as that of the flagship phone.

This carefully crafted set of compromises result in a phone capable of top-end feats for a price that is several hundred pounds lower than an Android flagship. Is that enough?

Design and key features

Although the Xiaomi 12T Pro may look and perform like a flagship smartphone, it is not. The Xiaomi 12T Pro’s dimensions are quite typical with a thickness 8.6mm and a weight 205g. Many details point to a mid-range foundation.

It’s right there, in the flat display with its thickened plastic frame and the generic silky-shiny finish on the black glass rear. You can also get the 12T Pro in blue and silver, which I find a bit more interesting.

The main design element carried over from the Xiaomi 12 Pro is the industrial-looking camera module. However, the massive 200MP main camera on the 12T Pro adds another layer. It is quite unobtrusive, but it is the main difference between this phone and the regular Xiaomi 12T.

This mid-range design approach goes beyond how the phone looks. Consider the use of Gorilla Glass 5 instead of Gorilla Glass Victus for the display, and the IP53 dust-and water resistance rating. This is in addition to the IP68.

You’ll see written evidence on the top edge that Xiaomi has remained loyal to its Harman Kardon partnership. Just like the Xiaomi 12 Pro, the 12T Pro’s stereo speaker speakers were tuned by the US audio specialist. Although they offer good separation and decent high-end, they lack depth and have a lot of punch when compared to the iPhone 13 Pro.

The top edge also features Xiaomi’s IR blaster. This allows you to use the 12T Pro as a stand in for all your remote controls via the Mi Remote app.

Display

The Xiaomi 12T Pro has a 6.67in AMOLED screen with an interesting 1,220×2,712 resolution. It’s not FHD+ or QHD+ but something in-between. It’s actually closer to the resolution found in Apple’s iPhone line. This makes for a pleasingly sharp image that doesn’t impact the battery life too much.

This panel also has a 120Hz refresh rate. However, it isn’t an LTPO panel such as the Xiaomi 12 Pro. It can only scale in increments 30Hz instead of dipping down to 1Hz.

Although the screen isn’t as bright as the Xiaomi 12 Pro, its brightness is not bad. The screen’s brightness was between 490 to 520 nits depending on which screen mode I used. Xiaomi claims it can reach a peak brightness of 900cd/m2 with auto-brightness turned on and direct sunlight. This is a lot lower than the 1,500cd/m2 Xiaomi 12 Pro.

The panel is a finely tuned AMOLED panel that supports Dolby Vision, something that the Xiaomi 12T does not have. The Delta E average was 0.75 when I switched from the default Vivid mode to Original. This is an excellent result. It covered 99.3% of sRGB colours, and a total volume was 101.4%.

It is also flat, unlike the Xiaomi 12 Pro with its dual-curved panel. Although it may not be as striking, the 12T Pro screen excels in eliminating false inputs and hosting distortion free media playback.

Performance and Battery Life

The Xiaomi 12T Pro’s performance is what makes it superior to the Xiaomi 12 Pro. This is thanks to the latest Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 processor.

The phone runs as fast as other non-gaming Android smartphones in late 2022, so it’s not surprising. Geekbench 5 multicore scores are around 4,269 which is 600 points more than the Xiaomi 12 Pro’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 score. Our GFXBench scores also show a significant advantage for the Xiaomi 12T Pro with its newer processor, over the Xiaomi 12 Pro or the rest of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 brigade.

Xiaomi managed to save some money by giving us only 8GB LPDDR5 RAM. There are 12GB versions available, but they are not available in the UK.

The Xiaomi 12T Pro has a 5,000mAh lithium battery. This is 400mAh more than the Xiaomi 12 Pro and 200mAh larger than the OnePlus 10T which is a direct competitor.

Despite its size advantage, the Xiaomi 12T Pro performed poorly in our looping video test. It lasted six hours less than the OnePlus 10T. The Xiaomi 12 Pro was almost four hours shorter than the 12T Pro early in the year. This could be an issue with the Xiaomi software.

In real-world usage there isn’t much to worry about. With around half of the charge remaining, I was able to go through 15 to 16 hours of moderate to light usage. It should last until bedtime even on the most strenuous days.

The box comes with a 120W charger in case you use the 12T Pro too hard to need a quick charge. It can charge the 12T Pro in as little as 23 minutes. This is amazing.

The lack of wireless charging is another sign that the Xiaomi 12T Pro doesn’t have the ambition to be a true flagship phone. It’s disappointing that the Xiaomi 12T Pro doesn’t have wireless charging.

Software

The Xiaomi 12T Pro runs MIUI 13 right out of the box. This is Android 12’s top-of-the-line operating system. It is basically the same setup that the Xiaomi 12 Pro.

Xiaomi is taking its UI cues as much from Apple as Google as usual, but it’s a rather clumsy imitation. You can drag down from the top of the screen for notifications, and from the top of the screen for Control Centre toggles.

You can return to the integrated notification menu from the Settings menu. The best thing about MIUI 13 is its customisation capabilities. This is more evident than in Xiaomi’s Themes App, which offers access to an incredible array of custom wallpapers and matching icons packs that you can download and use.

However, I could live without the usual Xiaomi bloatware. Are we really going to need Opera’s web browser, and Xiaomi’s Mi Browser?

Cameras

The Xiaomi 12T Pro’s camera system is curiously uneven. The main sensor is a headline-grabbing 1.22in 200MP. The other side has a tiny 8MP ultrawide sensor and a small 2MP depth sensor. There is no telephoto camera.

Let’s not forget about the main camera. It is the real star of this show. It produces 12.5MP photos of great detail using 16-in-1 pixel binning.

It doesn’t provide image quality comparable to Google and Apple, despite the abundance of pixels. It’s not great, but it’s still good.

You can activate the AI assistant mode manually if you need additional assistance in shot selection. This mode can lift flat or murky images, but it tends to give scenes an unnaturally blueish tint. I prefer the naturalistic default mode.

I found that the huge sensor did not capture convincing Night mode photos. Although it’s quite good on this front, I noticed some grain and lack of clarity. In similar conditions, the 50MP camera on the Xiaomi 12 Pro captured clearer shots.

The 8MP ultrawide, as expected, isn’t very impressive. It has a huge drop in detail towards the edges. The pixel-packed main sensor can do a reasonable shot cropping for 2x shots but it is still not a replacement for a decent Telephoto.

If you disable the horrible beauty slider from Xiaomi, the 20MP selfie camera will do a decent job with skin tones.

Verdict

The Xiaomi 12T Pro, another strong brand almost-flagship, offers some compelling specs at a price that is just below the top competitors. The package isn’t as compelling as the Xiaomi 11T Pro last year, but there are a few reasons.

The Xiaomi 12T Pro is 100 higher than its predecessor. It’s still a good deal for what you get, but the phone is priced much higher than flagships and far more than the most compelling mid-rangers. This means that its compromises are viewed in a harsher light.

It is difficult to overlook the shortcomings of the mid-range design, including the inability to charge wirelessly and the weak secondary camera offerings. The phone’s main camera, which has a 200MP resolution, grabs your attention. However, it is not the best in the industry.

The Xiaomi 12T Pro is an excellent choice if you are on a tight budget for 700. It’s not the only option, though, with the Google Pixel 7 and other options available for less.