Xiaomi 12T Pro long-term review

Conclusion

The Xiaomi 12T Pro is a very solid smartphone that does a lot of things well. It's not outstandingly great at anything (aside from how fast it charges), but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Earth-shattering 'this changes everything' features come with risks, while the 12T Pro's formula is more about packing a lot of things that are proven to work into a product that's cheaper than all-out flagships while still coming with a lot of things people expect from a high-end offering.

The 200 MP camera was meant to be the standout feature, and in sheer resolution it does stand out, and stands proud next to the Galaxy S23 Ultra's these days. But if you're reading this review, you're probably versed enough in the mobile world to know that those cameras are not the same, even if the identical resolution implies that they could be. The Xiaomi 12T Pro outputs perfectly competent images, but it's not at the same level as devices like the S23 Ultra that cost twice as much. And that's fine (although we wish it had a better ultrawide).

This doesn't have to give you exactly the same stuff for half the price in order to be good, and it doesn't even have to give you exactly the same stuff for half the price in order to be good value. Which, by the way, it is. It's just not so insanely well priced that you'd want to go and sit in a line for it for a weekend.

The main problem this device has is that it's not exciting in a lot of ways, but that's a good problem to have - it's the mark of a mature product, which is part of a mature product line. It ticks the important boxes, and then it doesn't necessarily tick all of those which were deemed less important. And for most people, those who aren't obsessed with having something that is the best at everything, this formula should work very well.

Speaking of exciting - Xiaomi's marketing touts the 200 MP main camera as the best thing about this phone, but we'd clearly pick the charging speed over that, since it makes much more of an impact in day-to-day use. And that, you could say, is why we're not in marketing. Anyway, it's still incredible to experience this speed to this day, because it pretty much makes any battery longevity worries moot. Not that the 12T Pro has bad battery life - on the contrary, in fact. But, provided you can take the bundled charger and cable with you everywhere you go, battery life becomes irrelevant since you can just go from zero to full in 23 minutes.

Performance is great, and smoothness is outstanding too, even if not chart-topping in our subjective book. But it's so close to the top that you'd need to handle a few devices at the same time to notice any differences. And even then, you may only notice if you're unnaturally sensitive to smoothness, which we found most people are not. We are, which is why we make it a point to mention this, but don't misunderstand - all of the smoothest phones are buttery; you don't have to get the best of the best in order to feel that.

Software-wise, things can definitely be improved - there are some bugs here and there, updates are few and far between, and MIUI's looks are getting more and more stale. It's still a very competent and feature-rich Android skin, though, despite all of that, and as for the looks, that point is only valid if you've come across the same ones for years as we have. If this is your first MIUI device, everything will look incredibly fresh to you. And yet you may still crave more updates than Xiaomi is currently providing, and better quality control for those that do make it through.

All of those are fair and reasonable points, we think, and things to take into account if you're looking into buying this device. The Xiaomi formula at the low-end, mid-range, and even in the so-called 'flagship killer' realm where this phone lives has, for the past few years, been something like this: outspec the competition for the same price, but offer sub-par software support (at least compared to Google and Samsung). And that's not something we can ignore.

All that aside, the Xiaomi 12T Pro is, in the end, a good product that we assume struggles to really stand out in a sea of decent competitors. We hope this long-term review has made you aware of all its quirks, its high points and low points, and can thus help aid a purchasing decision if you have one to make. This one is definitely easy to recommend, but only if you love its understatedness and can live with its downsides - there aren't very many, but they're still there.