After presenting the new super flagship Redmi K60 Ultra a few days ago, today the sub brand of Xiaomi return to be talked about with the new Redmi 12 5G, which is proposed as an economic version of the Redmi Note 12 5G. The newly unveiled device in China comes with some interesting features, such as the 90Hz AMOLED display, Snapdragon 4 Gen2 processor and 50MP main camera, but it also has some compromises; let's find out more.
Official Redmi 12 5G: 90 Hz AMOLED display, Snapdragon 4 Gen2 and 50 MP camera
The Redmi 12 5G has a similar design to the Redmi Note 12 5G, with a glass body and a narrow side border. The device is available in two colours: ice porcelain white and stella rock grey. The thickness of the body is 8,17 mm and the weight is 189 grams, making it quite handy for a smartphone with a screen from 6,79 inches.
The screen is one of the strong points of the Redmi 12 5G, as it is a AMOLED panel with a resolution of FHD+ (1080 x 2400 pixels) and a refresh rate of 90 Hz. The screen also supports DC dimming, reading mode and eye protection. The pixel density is around 395 ppi, which ensures a good level of detail.
Il processor that powers the Redmi 12 5G is the Snapdragon 4 Gen2, a mid-range chip based on the 6nm manufacturing process. The processor has an octa-core CPU with a maximum frequency of 2 GHz and an Adreno 619 GPU. The processor is quite recent, but not very powerful as it is a scaled down version of the Snapdragon 695. The AnTuTu V10 score of the Redmi 12 5G is around 456.000, which places it in the medium-low range of the market.
The new entry-level offers several memory and storage options: you can choose between 4GB, 6GB or 8GB LPDDR4X RAM and between 128GB or 256GB UFS 2.2 internal storage. The internal memory is expandable via a hybrid microSD slot up to 1TB.
La battery Device has a capacity of 5000mAh, which ensures excellent autonomy. According to Xiaomi, the device can last up to 14 hours with Douyin (the Chinese equivalent of TikTok) and up to 21 hours with shopping on Taobao (a Chinese e-commerce platform). However, the fast charging is limited to just 18W, which means that it takes about two hours to fully recharge the battery. Also, the supplied charger is 22,5W, which seems like a waste.
The rear camera of the Redmi 12 5G consists of two sensors: one 50 MP main camera with an aperture of f/1.8 and a 2MP macro camera with f/2.4 aperture. The main camera uses the sensors Samsung JN1, which has a pixel size of just 0,64 microns. This means that the quality of the photos depends a lot on the light conditions and on the pixel binning mode (which combines four pixels into one to increase brightness). The macro camera is only for taking close-up pictures of small objects, but it doesn't offer good resolution or a large field of view. However, it lacks an ultra-wide-angle camera.
La front camera of the Redmi 12 5G is 13 MP with f/2.45 aperture and is located in a hole in the center of the screen.
The smartphone supports 5G connectivity on different bands as well as 4G, 3G and 2G. The device also has the Bluetooth 5.1, Wi-Fi 6, GPS, NFC, infrared remote control and 3,5mm headphone jack. The fingerprint sensor is integrated into the power button on the right side of the body. Facial unlock is supported via the front camera.
The operating system of the Redmi 12 5G is MIUI 14 based on Android 13.
The price of the Redmi 12 5G in China is 999 yuan (about 130 euros) for the 6GB + 128GB version, 1099 yuan (about 140 euros) for the 8GB + 128GB version and 1299 yuan (about 170 euros) for the 8GB + 256GB version.
