Unlike last year, the top of the range that will have to hold the Xiaomi flag high during the first part of 2022 is not the first to boast the latest Qualcomm home improvement, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 which at the beginning of the month made its first appeared on Motorola Edge X30. Business records aside (and related disappointments, probable knowing Xiaomi), Xiaomi 12 is official, and even if the event and announcement took place in China, there is no doubt that the entire Xiaomi 12 family, perhaps when it is complete with all the variants – and we are referring in particular to the Ultra -, will arrive in Europe and the rest of the world.
Xiaomi 12 comes with a fairly traditional front surface design, but it’s hardly surprising since the display extremes of recent years have ended up tying the designers’ hands. On the opposite surface, the situation is different: the margins are wider and the design of the Xiaomi 12 camera group changes appreciably compared to its predecessor, adopting more balanced lines, perhaps less “cartoonish” than in the past and therefore also more “European”.
We then went back to take a step forward, in terms of aesthetics (from our perspective) and handling. Xiaomi seems to have given up on the excesses of recent years: the company pushed a lot during the presentation on the handling of the new top of the range, which thanks to a large but not excessive display (6.28 inches) managed to contain the weight to 180 grams and above all the width below 70 millimeters, which results in a more comfortable grip with one hand.
On a technical level, Xiaomi 12 confirms itself as a top-of-the-range, certainly less premium than Xiaomi 12 Ultra – which will arrive later – but still high-profile. The display is a 120 Hz Full HD + AMOLED with 1,100 nits of maximum brightness, protected by a panel of Gorilla Glass Victus, to whose multimedia experience Dolby Atmos audio contributes. Confined where the gaze does not reach there is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, thanks to which Xiaomi 12 will offer – according to the company – 25% more efficiency and 52% in graphic performance. There is however a liquid cooling system.
The battery loses 100 mAh compared to the past (4,500 mAh on Xiaomi 12) but gains faster wired fast charging (67 watts) and maintains fast wireless charging at 50 watts, with the possibility of reverse charging at 10 W.
