Xiaomi 12T and 12T Pro to receive three major Android updates but will still ship with Android 12

Yesterday, Xiaomi presented the Xiaomi 12T and Xiaomi 12T Pro, a pair of smartphones that arrive just days before the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro. Seemingly pitched for approximately as much as Google's next flagship smartphones, the Xiaomi 12T series offers 120 Hz AMOLED displays, 120 W fast charging and the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chipset in the case of the Xiaomi 12T Pro. Additionally, Xiaomi promises three Android OS updates, a commitment that matches Google's.

While Samsung offers even longer software support for its smartphones, three OS updates has fast become the industry standard among Android OEMs. Unfortunately, Xiaomi continues to play games with how it achieves this commitment. Like its predecessors, the Xiaomi 12T series ships with an older version of Android, with Android 12 pre-loaded instead of Android 13. Thus, the promise of three Android OS updates brings the Xiaomi 12T series to Android 15, two versions on from the OS that the Pixel 7 series will ship with from later this month.

Effectively, Xiaomi is providing two years of feature updates, plus four years of security updates. Although the latter is commendable, it too falls short of Xiaomi's competitors. For context, Samsung has now promised five years of security patches for the likes of the Galaxy S22 series, matching Google with the Pixel 6 series. Still, neither can match Apple and its six-year software lifecycle for its smartphones. Ultimately, while Xiaomi boasts of excellent software support, it has a way to go before matching the best in the smartphone industry.

Purchase the Xiaomi 12 on Amazon