Xiaomi 12: A small smartphone with high-end equipment

At 6.28 inches, the Xiaomi 12 is nowadays one of the more compact smartphones. This makes it an exception in the high-end segment where Xiaomi's youngest sprout with its high-end Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SoC definitively belongs, but it is still in good company. With a footprint of 153 x 70 mm (~6 x 2.8 in), the Xiaomi 12 is even slightly smaller than the Apple iPhone 13 and has almost the same size as its Sony Xperia 5 III high-end rival.

Curved AMOLED panel with 120 Hz

Xiaomi not only makes the middle model of its new flagship series (the other models are the Xiaomi 12X and the Xiaomi 12 Pro) comfortably small in size but also provides it with a high-quality exterior. The curved display with an AMOLED panel and 120 Hz refresh rate is protected by Corning Gorilla Glas 6, while the back is made of matte glass that feels slightly rough and hardly shows any traces of fingerprints. The available case colors include blue, gray, and purple.

The Xiaomi 12 offers 8 GB of LPDDR5 RAM and comes with either 128 or 256 GB of UFS 3.1 storage. Since there is no microSD slot, you cannot expand the storage. However, those who decide for the larger storage version won't have to pay too much of a premium compared to the smaller version. For example, with 8/128 GB, the Xiaomi 12 costs around $664 from importers such as TradingShenzhen and around $723 with 256 GB.

Wireless charging at up to 50 watts

In addition to dual SIM with 5G, WiFi 6E, and a triple camera with the Sony IMX766 50-MP sensor, the Xiaomi 12 also scores with its battery: first, because the 4500-mAh can be charged quickly using the included 67-Watt charger; and second, because the compact smartphone also supports wireless charging at up to 50 watts and is able to charge other devices wirelessly at up to 10 watts via reverse wireless charging.

You can find out about the full test of the Xiaomi 12 here.