Redmi 12 5G review
Xiaomi’s Redmi 12 5G is the brand’s recent 5G budget offering after it launched the 4G variant in India. The smartphone starts at a price of Rs. 11,999 for 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. While looking at the specifications, do keep in mind that this phone is aimed at consumers who are looking for 5G on a budget. I have been using the top-end variant with 8GB of RAM with 256GB of storage, which is priced at Rs. 15,499. Does Xiaomi manage to deliver the claimed experience? Let’s find out in this review.
Redmi 12 5G: Price in India
The Redmi 12 5G comes in two more variants — 4GB RAM with 128GB storage for Rs. 11,999, and 6GB RAM with 128GB storage for a price of Rs. 13,499. It comes in three colour options — Moon-stone Silver, Jade Black, and Pastel Blue. It’s good to see a 256GB storage option on a budget smartphone but this also puts it close to the Redmi Note 12 5G, which has a Super AMOLED display, 120Hz refresh rate, and faster charging speeds.
The Redmi 12 5G has a 6.79-inch display with a resolution of 1080 x 2460 pixels
Redmi 12 5G: design
The Redmi 12 5G features a polycarbonate chassis with a glass back, which is quite a bonus at this price point. The chrome rings around the camera lenses also look nice. It comes with a USB Type-C port for charging and the phone retains the 3.5mm headphone jack. The smartphone uses a hybrid slot for either dual-5G nano SIM cards or a single SIM card and a microSD card.
The matte sides don’t catch fingerprints, but the back panel can easily get smudged with fingerprints and smudges if you use it without a case. The Redmi 12 5G feels well-balanced despite its large display. It weighs 199 grams and is 8.17mm thick, which is quite thin for a smartphone with a 5,000mAh battery. The smartphone feels a little uncomfortable to hold for long periods of time due to the flat sides.
Redmi 12 5G: Display
The Redmi 12 5G has a large 6.79-inch Full-HD+ LCD display with a 90Hz refresh rate. It’s smooth enough to use for basic tasks like scrolling through social media or simply browsing the UI, but as soon as you start viewing content on it, you’ll miss the AMOLED display. The display does what it’s supposed to do; it’s bright enough to use indoors with a peak brightness of up to 550 nits, and viewing content on it is decent, but as soon as you step outside the screen becomes unreadable.
Redmi 12 5G: Cameras
The phone has a dual camera setup on the back, the primary one being 50MP. It performs reasonably well when there is enough light, but as soon as you start shooting in low light, the camera doesn’t perform well. To my surprise, the images weren’t sharpened too much.
Redmi 12 5G daylight (left), low-light (right) primary camera samples (tap to see full size)
In addition to this primary camera, it also uses a 2-megapixel depth camera and there is no ultra-wide angle, which is a shame. For selfies, the smartphone has an 8-megapixel camera that captures quite detailed images in daylight.
Redmi 12 5G selfie camera samples (tap to see full size)
Redmi 12 5G can record videos up to 1080p 30fps, which has good detail. The front camera can also record videos up to 1080p 30fps, but captures slightly softer videos.
Redmi 12 5G: Battery and Charging
This is one of the strongest points of this smartphone. The 5000mAh battery is quite good for all daily tasks and even for consuming content. In our rigorous battery test, the smartphone performed well. If battery life is the most important to you, this might be a good option. The 18W charging feels slow and you will have to wait a while for it to charge to 100 percent. The phone ran for 17 hours and 49 minutes in our battery loop test, which is a good time.
Redmi 12 5G supports up to 18W fast charging
Redmi 12 5G: Performance
The Redmi 12 5G uses Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 SoC which can run most apps fairly well without any lags, but competitive gaming isn’t one of its strong suits. I edited a 30-second 1080p video on VN using this phone and it handled that fine. When I tried playing games on it, Subway Surfers ran fine, but other games like BGMI and Call of Duty suffered from lag and failed to deliver a pleasant gaming experience.
The smartphone delivered average scores in benchmark tests. The 5G performance was pretty good, with me achieving decent download speeds with a Jio connection in Delhi. The Redmi 12 5G comes with MIUI 14, which is based on Android 13 and still has a few pre-installed apps that can be uninstalled for the most part. This might be annoying for some people, but the user experience was surprisingly smooth.
Pronunciation
The Redmi 12 5G is a decent budget offering from the brand that ticks most of the basic boxes including a big battery, 5G connectivity, a decent display, and a conventional design. Remember, this smartphone is priced starting at Rs. 11,999, and it gets the job done. Those looking for an entry-level 5G smartphone can go for this model but if display and cameras are really important to you, the Redmi Note 12 5G would make a lot more sense for a little more money.
