Xiaomi 12T Pro (Hardware)
Official GBAtemp Review
Product Information:
- Official Store: https://www.mi.com/uk/product/xiaomi-12t-pro/
Xiaomi are a name that have quickly moved to the forefront of phone makers thanks to their wide range of devices at usually-affordable prices. Sticking with their yearly schedule of an upgraded flagship to end the year, we check out the Pro flavour of the 12T to see what's new this time around.
Before going any further, let’s have a look at what this phone is packing:
- Screen: 6.67” 120hz AMOLED HDR10+ compatible, 1220 x 2712p
- Chipset: Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1
- RAM: 8GB, 12GB
- Storage: 128GB, 256GB
- Rear Cameras: 200MP wide, 8 MP 118˚ ultrawide, 2 MP macro lens
- Front Camera: 20MP in-display selfie camera
- Android Version: MIUI 13, Android 12
- Sensors: Proximity sensor, 360° Ambient light sensor, Accelerometer, Electronic compass, Gyroscope, Colour temperature sensor, IR Blaster, Flicker sensor
- Battery: 5000mAh
- Charger: up to 120W Fast
- Colour: Blue, Silver, Black
- Price: £???.?? (128GB/8GB), £699.00 (256GB/8GB), £???.?? (256GB/12GB)
If you’ve been keeping a keen eye on the review box lately, you’ll know we recently covered the Xiaomi 12T, the base model of the phone I have with me. There’s actually a lot of cross-over between this device and that one, with the two key changes that I’ll be focusing on being the improved camera and Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset. From the screen to the charging speeds and aesthetic, everything else matches up with the 12T, so I’d encourage you to give that review a read before looking at this one for a fuller image.
To give a brief overview of my general thoughts though, this phone is fantastic. I’ve previously covered the Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G from Xiaomi as a really sleek midrange device, and it’s great to see the strong points of that shining through here with the added performance you would expect from a flagship offering. MIUI remains an incredibly clean and responsive Android skin with plenty of available customisation via the built-in theme manager. Both the 12T and 12T Pro have also been promised three major OS updates and four years of security patches, which is a nice assurance to have given the rate Xiaomi put out phones. The question quickly moves to whether you’d want to be using this phone for four years, and honestly, there’s not much I can say against it.
Now £700 isn’t necessarily a budget phone, but it is a relatively affordable flagship device, especially for the chipset you’re getting. In terms of performance, the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 is phenomenal, and able to handle even the highest of emulation hurdles. As I discussed in a recent post, this was the big draw for me with the 12T Pro, and having it setup for emulation and some of the trickier high-end Android games is a really pleasant experience. Switching the default launcher up to something more controller-friendly and throwing it into a grip gives you an absolute emulation titan, and this is something you can explore even with this as your daily driver using the Second Space feature.
Second Space is something I’ve generally overlooked in previous devices, allowing you to launch into an entirely separate Android configuration by using a different password at the lock screen. You can even have two different default launchers. Using this, you could have MIUI and your usual day to day setup on hand, while also getting a dedicated and isolated gaming setup. It’s a neat feature that can take away a bit of the Android emulation clumsiness without compromising your day to day usage.
To give a brief overview of what it can take on emulation-wise, Citra MMJ has run everything I’ve thrown at it at x3 native resolution and speed up options enabled. AetherSX2 has no trouble running Shadow of the Colossus at 720p, and Dolphin MMJR can even tackle games like Mario Galaxy without having to disable your cursor if you’re happy to play at native resolution. I’ve even managed to play some Switch games thanks to the in-development Skyline Edge emulator, though it is still very much a work in progress. To put a Geekbench score to it, you’re looking at a single-core score of 1308, and a multi-core score of 4186, which is fairly standard for the SD8+G1.
The other half of the 12T’s Pro moniker is of course its 200 MP camera, a relatively hefty upgrade from the base model’s 108 MP variant, at least on paper. As a bit of a photographical novice, I quite enjoyed using the camera, and there is a relatively impressive amount of detail that can be captured when you bump it all the way up to the highest quality picture taking. As phone cameras continue to get better though I feel much more of the experience starts to fall on the software, and it’s here Xiaomi really stand out. You have an assortment of really intuitive AI-enabled options to complement your more standard editing suite. My favourite of these is by far Xiaomi’s ProCut feature. Only available for pictures taken in the 50 MP or full 200 MP mode, ProCut looks at your original image and gives you a number of crops, each with a different aspect ratio or primary subject. Though it can do a decent job of reframing any picture, you do need as focal point to get the best results.
With the phone shipped to me with an EU charger, I took it upon myself to head to Xiaomi’s UK storefront and pick up my own 120W brick to see if the promises made in terms of its fast charging were all they were saying. To give you a brief overview of the Xiaomi store experience, it’s quick and easy. The plug and cable came to £40 with an additional £5 delivery. It was posted on the day I ordered it and turned up the day after. You usually would get this with the phone assuming you’re buying in-region, but if you happened to find yourself in a position like mine, is it worth spending the extra £45? Yes. 120W charging is wild, and completely eliminates the routine of leaving your phone plugged in overnight. With 0 to 100% taking around 18 minutes, I plug it in while I go for a shower and know it’s ready to go for either a day of usage, or a day of gaming in my case. Both the 12T and 12T Pro don’t feature wireless charging, but when you can charge it as fast as this, it feels like a redundant feature anyway.
So can I recommend Xiaomi’s 12T Pro? I can, undoubtedly so. You have an incredibly strong flagship device with the hardware to support both daily use and some pretty heavy gaming. With security patches promised for the next four years, my only real question is how such fast charging will affect battery life in the long-run. 120W charging only debuted last year, so we’re left trusting what we’re told from Xiaomi themselves. I’m hoping it has what it takes, but only time will tell.
Verdict
- Fantastic performance thanks to SD8+G1
- Great 200 MP camera with interesting AI editing options
- MIUI serves as a good skin on the Android experience
- 120W charging allows for full charge within 20 minutes
- Vivid 120 Hz AMOLED display
- Three major OS updates and four years of security patches promised
- No wireless charging
- No expandable storage
- No headphone jack
