Xiaomi 12 versus Xiaomi 12 Pro, Xiaomi 12X: Every difference that you wanted to know

Xiaomi has launched the “Xiaomi 12 series” in China. There are three models, the Xiaomi 12, Xiaomi 12 Pro, and Xiaomi 12X. The 12 Pro is expectedly the most powerful phone in the line-up. The 12 and 12X are mostly the same phones with a couple of differences. The Xiaomi 12 series is exclusive to China for now, with no word on global availability at the time of writing.

Xiaomi 12, Xiaomi 12 Pro, and Xiaomi 12X prices

The 12 Pro starts at CNY 4,699 (roughly Rs 55,000) for a version with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage. It will also come in 8GB/256GB and 12GB/256GB for CNY 4,999 (roughly Rs 58,700) and CNY 5,399 (roughly Rs 63,300).

The Xiaomi 12 starts at CNY 3,699 (roughly Rs 43,400) for a version with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage. It will also come in 8GB/256GB and 12GB/256GB for CNY 3,999 (roughly Rs 46,900) and CNY 4,399 (roughly Rs 51,600).

The 12X starts at CNY 3,199 (roughly Rs 37,500) for a version with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage. It will also come in 12GB/256GB for CNY 3,799 (roughly Rs 44,600).

Xiaomi 12, Xiaomi 12 Pro, and Xiaomi 12X | Every difference that you wanted to know

— All the three phones have the same core design and come in black, blue, and pink colourways. The 12 and 12 Pro, additionally, come in special green vegan leather.

— The Xiaomi 12 Pro has a 6.73-inch 2K (1440p) LTPO E5 AMOLED display with a fast 120Hz refresh rate (480Hz touch sampling) and 1500nits peak brightness. The 12 and 12X have the same 6.28-inch 1080p AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate (480Hz touch sampling) and 1100nits peak brightness. All the three phones support HDR10+ and Dolby Vision playback. Their screens are protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus and there is a tiny hole punch cut-out at the centre. Biometrics are handled by an in-display fingerprint reader.

— Under the hood, the 12 and 12 Pro have a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip. The 12X has a watered-down Snapdragon 870. All the three phones will be the first to get Xiaomi’s MIUI 13 software.  

— The 12 Pro has a 4,600mAh battery with 120W fast wired and 50W wireless charging. There is support for 10W reverse wireless charging, as well. Xiaomi has added a custom Surge P1 chip in the 12 Pro for more efficient power management. The 12 has a smaller 4,500mAh battery and fast wired charging tops out at 67W (though there is support for 50W wireless and 10W reverse wireless charging). The 12X has the same battery and fast wired charging support as the 12. It does not support wireless or reverse wireless charging, though.

— The 12 Pro has three cameras on the back – a 50MP main (Sony IMX 707) sensor behind an f/1.9 aperture lens with OIS, a 50MP ultrawide-angle with 115-degree field-of-view, and another 50 MP portrait sensor behind an f/1.9 lens. The 12 and 12X have the same triple cameras – a 50MP main (Sony IMX 766) sensor behind an f/1.88 aperture lens with OIS, a 13MP ultrawide-angle with 123-degree field-of-view, and another 50 MP tele-macro sensor. All the three phones have a 32MP front camera.

— Rounding off the package are vapour chamber cooling, Wi-Fi 6, and dual speakers tuned by Harmon Kardon in all the phones.