Meet Redmi 12 - Much needed facelift

We share our thoughts and experiences with the upcoming Redmi 12 after two weeks of use as the daily driver.

Redmi 12 in Black

Meet Redmi 12!

The Redmi 12 was spotted briefly online back in June 2023. A few months later we were able to use it for an extended period.

It comes with a Gorilla Glass 3 protected 6.79-inch LCD with a 90Hz refresh rate, a 12nm MediaTek Helio G88 octa-core processor, LPDDR4X RAM, eMMC 5.1 storage, a 50MP main camera, 8MP ultra-wide, and a 5,000mAh battery with 18W charging.

Redmi 12 box

Let's unbox it first.

It comes in a new white packaging with a render of the phone in front. Around the box are the Redmi branding, key specs and features, and regulatory information.

Box inclusions

Inside the box are the phone, SIM ejector tool, USB-A to USB-C cable, 18W wall charger, bumper case, and documentation.

At first glance, the Redmi 12 is eye-catching. Upon closer inspection, it is apparent that the phone is made of a combination of a glass front, a polycarbonate frame, and a glass back. This combination allows for a solid and premium-looking phone while being slim and lightweight.

Redmi 12's screen

As mentioned above, the 6.79-inch IPS screen has a resolution of 2400 x 1080, a 90Hz refresh rate, and a 240Hz touch sampling rate. It is Gorilla Glass 3 protected.

Around the panel are the slim bezels that are nearly symmetrical. Only the chin bezel is thicker than the rest. There is a punch hole in the upper part of the panel. On the slim top bezel is the slim earpiece.

Images produced by the panel are what we expect from a modern IPS Panel with crisp text with bright and vibrant colors. There is a small yet noticeable loss of color accuracy when viewing the phone from an off angle.

Redmi 12's SIM tray with rubber gasket

There is no mention of an IP rating but the phone's SIM card has a rubber gasket that indicates a form of water and dust resistance.

Top and bottom

On top of the phone is a flat surface with a 3.5mm audio jack and the IR blaster while at the bottom are the single speaker grill, USB-C port, and microphone port.

Left and right side

On the left side is the SIM tray while on the right are the polycarbonate volume rocker and the power button that doubles as the fingerprint scanner.

Rear camera module

At the back are the 50MP f/1.8 main camera, the 8MP f/2.2 120-degree ultra-wide-angle camera, and a 2MP f/2.4 macro with an LED Flash.

The stock camera app includes the following modes: Photo, Video, Portrait, Night, 50MP, and Time-lapse.

There is no Pro mode.

Rear Camera Samples

Redmi 12's rear camera daylight 1x

Redmi 12's rear camera daylight 5x

Redmi 12's rear camera daylight ultra wide

In daylight, the rear 1x and ultra-wide cameras produced images with decent sharpness but the ultra-wide's exposure tended to be darker which resulted in the color losing its pop when compared to the 1x. The 5x is a crop of the main camera and it shows with its softness and washed out image.

 Redmi 12's rear camera indoor 1x

 Redmi 12's rear camera indoor 5x

 Redmi 12's rear camera indoor ultra-wide

Indoors, the 1x and ultra-wide cameras took decent images but the noise has affected the sharpness of the photo and the sensor is prone to overexposure from light sources. When cropped to 5x, the image is mush because of the noise reduction.

Redmi 12 rear camera 1x low light

Redmi 12 rear camera ultra-wide low light

In low light, the images have decent sharpness despite the increased amount of noise however the scene remains dark.

Redmi 12 rear camera night mode

The Night mode improves the brightness of the image but retains the noise while seeing no improvement in detail and sharpness.

Overall, the rear cameras' images produced are not the best we've seen. Noise and noise reduction are consistent in images even in daylight images. 

Selfie camera

The 8MP f/2.1 front-facing camera features the following modes: Photo, Video, and Portrait. It does not have a night mode for selfies.

Selfie Camera Samples

Daylight selfie

Daylight selfie portrait

In daylight conditions, the front-facing cameras took some of the best photos from the Redmi 12. Images are sharp and detailed with decent color and contrast. The skin tone is warmer than we would like.

The portrait mode's edge detection is decent but could need some minor tweaking.

Indoor selfie

The same can be said with the indoor selfie. Although the skin tone is still warmer than we would like.

In low light, the selfie performed decently. Even though there was some loss of sharpness, the subject's skin tone is correct while the contrast is deep enough. There is some visible noise in the highlights and in the shadows.

Low light selfie

In low light, the selfie image dramatically loses its sharpness as the noise and noise reduction soften the image while ruining the color accuracy of the image.

There is no Night selfie mode.

Performance

AnTuTu and Geekbench results

Inside are the 12nm MediaTek Helio G88 octa-core processor, Mali-G52 MC2 GPU, LPPDR4X RAM, and eMMC 5.1 storage.

We ran some benchmarks including Antutu where we got a score of 289,966. While on Geekbench we got 422 points on the single-core and 1,340 on the multi-core tests.

3DMark and CPDT benchmark results

In 3DMark Wild Life Extreme the phone managed to score 738 overall with an average of 4.42 fps. While si CPDT scored 181.44 in sequential read speeds and it scored 171.76 MB/s in sequential write speeds.

When navigating through the OS, it runs smoothly, but when opening certain intensive apps, it takes its sweet time. We found it acceptable for basic tasks like texting, social media and the like but heavier tasks will take its toll.

Genshin Impact graphics settings

The phone unlocked the lowest graphics as the default for Genshin Impact. It can open and run genshin impact but as soon as your character enters combat, the phone chugs with a lot of frame skipping.

PCMark battery benchmark results

The 5,000mAh battery managed to last for 11 hours and 22 minutes in our usual PCMark Battery benchmark. 

In daily usage, the phone yields at least 5 hours of on-screen time after a long work day where the phone is constantly connected to WiFi and LTE. After that long 10-hour work day, the phone managed to retain 28 percent of its battery left.

The 18W wall charger charges the phone from 0 to 100 percent in under 120 minutes while maintaining low temperatures.

The single bottom-firing speakers have a decent maximum volume however we recommend lowering the volume to 90 percent to have the best sound quality as at max volume, the sound becomes distorted.

The side-mounted fingerprint reader and Face Unlock are easy and quick to set up. Once set up, both detect our face and our fingerprint immediately unlock the phone. The camera struggles when the environment is dark or when we are wearing a mask. The screen brightens up to compensate for dark situations. 

For connectivity, VoLTE, WiFi, Bluetooth, and NFC work consistently and as expected.

Redmi 12's MIUI

It is using a custom skin on top of Android 13-based MIUI 14. It features minor visual improvements over the previous generation while adding features from Android 13. If you didn't like MIUI 14 then, the odds are you won't like this one either.

Redmi 12 Specs

Display: 6.79-inch Gorilla Glass 3 protected LCD (IPS) screen w/ 90Hz refresh rate, 240Hz touch sampling rate, FHD+ 2400 x 1080 resolution at 388 ppi

CPU: 2.0GHz 12nm MediaTek Helio G88  octa-core processor

GPU: Mali-G52 MC2 (1,000MHz)

RAM: 4GB/8GB LPDDR4X

ROM: 128GB/256GB eMMC 5.1 expandable storage via microSD card up to 1TB

Back Camera: 50MP f/1.8 + 8MP f/2.2 120-degree ultra-wide-angle, 2MP f/2.4 macro + LED flash

Selfie Camera: 8MP f/2.1

Battery: 5,000mAh w/ 18W fast charging

OS: Android 13 w/ MIUI 14

Connectivity: WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (2.4GHz/5GHz), 5G, 4G LTE, Bluetooth 5.0, OTG, NFC, GPS, A-GPS, GLONASS, BeiDou, Galileo, dual SIM (hybrid)

Sensors: Accelerometer, magnetic

Others: Side-mounted fingerprint sensor, face unlock, IP53 water splash resistance, IR Blaster, 1217 loudspeaker, USB-C, Colors: Colors: Midnight Black, Sky Blue

Dimensions: 168.60 x 76.28 x 8.17 mm

Weight: 198.5 g

Price: PHP 7,999 (8GB/128GB), PHP 8,999 (8GB/256GB)

Quick thoughts

The Redmi 12 offers an eye-catching design with an IP53 water and dust resistance range and a glass front and back panel.

The Helio G88 is decent for now but may show its age sooner rather than later.

What continues to surprise us is the bright screen with crisp text and vibrant color.

Web surfing on the Redmi 12

The rear cameras will struggle indoors and in low light so it may not be as versatile as we would like. In contrast, the selfie cameras are surprisingly some of the better images from this phone.

But do not get us wrong, the phone may struggle with its camera and gaming performance, but it is more than good enough for people who want a phone that is good at the basics like web surfing, calling, texting and non-intensive social media.

The competition has gotten tougher, especially at this price range.

Do you agree with us? What do you guys think?