One of the finest bargain phones of 2021 was the Xiaomi 11T Pro from last year (£592), which provided a feature package comparable to a flagship for an upper-midrange price. Both in terms of specifications and price, the Xiaomi 12T Pro takes things to the next level.
It’s a risky game to play in a year that has produced more than its fair share of superb mid-rangers. So, has Xiaomi succeeded in hitting almost-flagship gold for a second year in a row, or has that delicate balance been upset?
What You Need to Know About the Xiaomi 12T Pro
The 12T Pro offers numerous exceptional flagship specifications at a price that is quite accessible, as we’ve come to anticipate from Xiaomi’s T-series. The most recent Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 processor and 256GB of built-in storage are included in those specifications.
The 200MP main camera is the standout feature of this device, but you might also notice that a 120W charger is included in the box.
All of this is housed in a more understated, dare we say mid-range, design than the Xiaomi 12 Pro that was unveiled earlier this year. The flat 6.67in AMOLED display on the 12T Pro, however, isn’t quite as large, clear, or dazzling as the corresponding panel on the aforementioned flagship phone.
A phone that can perform top-tier feats at a price that is several hundred pounds less than a genuine Android flagship is the consequence of a carefully considered set of compromises. But is that still sufficient?
Review of the Xiaomi 12T Pro: Price and rivalry
When the Xiaomi 12 Pro drove prices way above the £1,000 mark, the Xiaomi 12T Pro would appear to be a return to more reasonable pricing at £699. The Xiaomi 11T Pro (£592), the 12T Pro’s immediate predecessor, is the real benchmark for determining price. In late 2021, same phone went on sale for £599.
It’s important to note that while the Xiaomi 11T Pro shipped with 128GB of internal storage, the only Xiaomi 12T Pro model that is currently offered here in the UK has 256GB. This should be taken into consideration before you start complaining about inflation and increased prices. Although though it doesn’t entirely support the £100 price increase, it does lessen the shock.
The Xiaomi 12T Pro is directly competing with some strong alternatives elsewhere. It costs between the Pixel 7 (£599) and the Pixel 7 Pro (£849), for example, and is £70 more expensive than the OnePlus 10T (£629), which is priced similarly.
Design and main features of the Xiaomi 12T Pro
The Xiaomi 12T Pro may function like a flagship phone, but it doesn’t look like one. With a thickness of 8.6mm and a weight of 205g, its dimensions are fairly standard. Several minor features, however, point to a mid-range grounding.
It is clearly seen in the flat display’s thick plastic frame and slightly generic silky-shiny back glass finish. The 12T Pro is also offered in silver and blue, both of which, in my opinion, appear a little more intriguing.
The Xiaomi 12 Pro’s main design element is the industrial-looking camera module, though the 12T Pro’s massive 200MP main camera adds yet another layer. The most glaring difference between this phone and the standard.
Xiaomi 12T is its unattractive design
The depth of this mid-range design strategy extends beyond the appearance of the phone. Consider using Gorilla Glass 5 for the display instead of Gorilla Glass Victus, or offering an IP53 rating for dust and water resistance instead of the more common IP68.
There is written confirmation that Xiaomi has maintained its cooperation with Harman Kardon on the phone’s top edge. Similar to what it did with the Xiaomi 12 Pro, the American audio expert has tweaked the stereo speakers of the 12T Pro. When compared side by side with the iPhone 13 Pro, they provide good separation and a respectable high end, but they lack depth and have some noticeable low-end punch.
The Xiaomi 12T Pro’s top edge also has the company’s standard IR blaster, which you can use with the Mi Remote app to replace all of your remote controls.
Review of the Xiaomi 12T Pro: Display
The Xiaomi 12T Pro has a 6.67-inch AMOLED display with an odd 1,220 x 2,712 resolution. That is neither FHD+ nor QHD+, but rather something in the middle. If anything, it’s closer to the resolution found in Apple’s iPhone models, producing an attractively sharp image that doesn’t significantly drain the battery.
Since this isn’t an LTPO panel like the Xiaomi 12 Pro, it can only scale in increments of 30Hz rather than going all the way down to 1Hz. Still, you still get a 120Hz refresh rate here.
Even while the screen’s output isn’t as strong as the Xiaomi 12 Pro’s, it’s still rather adequate. Depending on the screen mode, I measured a top brightness (with auto brightness turned off) of between 490 and 520 nits. With auto-brightness on and in direct sunlight, Xiaomi claims it can reach a peak brightness of 900cd/m2, which is considerably less than the 1,500cd/m2 of the Xiaomi 12 Pro.
It has a well-tuned AMOLED panel and supports Dolby Vision, while the standard Xiaomi 12T does not. I obtained a fantastic average Delta E of 0.75 after switching from the garish default Vivid mode to Original. With a total volume of 101.4%, it also covered 99.3% of the sRGB color space.
In contrast to the Xiaomi 12 Pro’s dual-curved panel, this display is also completely flat. The 12T Pro screen is far better when it comes to removing erroneous inputs and supporting distortion-free media playing, even though it may not look as dazzling.
Review of the Xiaomi 12T Pro: Software
On top of Android 12, MIUI 13 is preinstalled on the Xiaomi 12T Pro. It has the same configuration as the Xiaomi 12 Pro before it.
As usual, Xiaomi has modeled its user interface after both Apple and Google, albeit with some awkward approximations. By default, you drag down from the top left for notifications and from the top right for Control Center toggles.
The Settings menu allows you to return to an integrated notification menu, and MIUI 13’s finest feature is undoubtedly its extensive customizability. Nowhere is it more obvious than in Xiaomi’s Themes app, which gives users access to a bewildering array of custom wallpapers and icon packs to download and use.
But, I could have done without the typical Xiaomi crap. Do we actually require Chrome, Xiaomi’s Mi Browser, and Opera in addition to each other?
Review of the Xiaomi 12T Pro: Cameras
The camera setup on the Xiaomi 12T Pro is oddly unbalanced. On the one side, you have a headline-grabbing 1/1.22in 200MP primary sensor. The 8MP ultrawide and 2MP depth sensors, on the other hand, are somewhat meager. There isn’t even a telephoto camera.
Still, let’s concentrate on the main camera because that’s what this is all about. As you might anticipate, it generates 12.5MP images with a fair amount of detail using 16-in-1 pixel binning.
Despite the abundance of pixels, it falls short of offering image quality that can compete with the finest that Apple and Google have to offer. It’s decent, but not great.
There is an AI helper mode, but you must manually turn it on if you want more help choosing your shots. I discovered that while this may improve otherwise dull or flat images, it usually gave scenes an unnaturally blue tint, so I tended to leave it off in favor of the normal mode’s more realistic appearance.
I found that taking photos in Night mode with its enormous sensor wasn’t something it excelled at. On this front, it’s completely adequate, but I noticed a noticeable grain and a general lack of clarity. In identical circumstances, the 50MP camera on the Xiaomi 12 Pro undoubtedly took clearer pictures.
Conclusion on the Xiaomi 12T Pro review
The Xiaomi 12T Pro is another potent almost-flagship from the company, providing some incredibly enticing specs for a price that is only slightly more than the actual top competitors. Yet, for a few reasons, it’s not quite as compelling a bundle as the Xiaomi 11T Pro (£592) from the previous year.
The Xiaomi 12T Pro is, unsurprisingly, £100 more expensive than its predecessor. Even if it’s still a decent bargain for what you get, the phone is now significantly more expensive than the most recent crop of appealing mid-rangers, putting its concessions in a less favorable light.
Ignoring the mid-range design, the absence of wireless charging, and the subpar secondary camera option is a little more difficult. The phone’s 200MP main camera may catch your eye and be capable of taking detailed, perfectly balanced pictures, but it isn’t the finest in the industry.
