Xiaomi 12 Lite Review – A mid tier fashion phone

Xiaomi has been quite active releasing a ton of IOT products and also ranges of smartphones recently. As some may recalled, Xiaomi unveiled the flagship Xiaomi 12 which marks a phone with fashion elements and top tier processor, but of course they did not forget the mid range segment users as well.

Today we will be looking at Xiaomi 12 Lite, as the name implies, the Xiaomi 12 Lite is a smartphone that is much cater towards the middle tier pricing segment with some features inherited from the top tier Xiaomi 12.

Unboxing

The Xiaomi 12 Lite comes with the following

• Xiaomi 12 Lite Phone
• USB A to C cable
• 67w Fast Charging Adaptor
• SIM ejector
• Translucent casing
• User Manual/QSG

Do take note that no audio jack converter and no earphones are provided

Design

The Xiaomi 12 Lite holds very much similar to the Xiaomi 12 in terms of the form factor, but flatter at the back making construction process easier, which goes back to the much classic outlook, blocky style but the matte finish gives it somehow a premium look to it and shines under bright sunlight and no worries over fingerprint smudges. It is weighted at 173 grams, which is at the lightweight category considering the hardware that is packed inside with slimness at 7.29mm

Continuing on the rest of the phone, on the right hand side, there is a volume up and down button and a power button, while the top houses an IR blaster for remote control, a top speaker, noise cancelling microphone and DUAL SIM Slot, while the bottom portion has a speaker, mic and a USB C port. All of the phone side frame are made of aluminum. Over to the camera design, the same color applies to the side of the phone and the bottom/top part as well with shining matte touch to it.

The Xiaomi 12 Lite comes in three colors, Black, Lite Blue and Lite Pink. All of which looks great to suit on any occasions.

Display & Audio

On the display, the Xiaomi 12 is powered by a 6.55 Inch FHD+ 120Hz AMOLED screen with Gorilla Glass 5 that supports HDR10+ and Dolby Vision. Display is vibrant on and viewing angle is fairly good with colors that is represented correctly with dynamic refresh rate down to 60Hz depending on battery life and applications being used. Other features include a 240Hz touch sampling rate which is an advantage when it comes to the accuracy and sensitivity over the touchscreen when gaming or scrolling with the phone. On top of that with the density of 402PPI, you will enjoy the best of display with accurate colors when streaming your favorite movies or even scrolling over web pages. As usual you also get FullHD with Netflix and other certified streaming apps and a brightness that peaked up to 950 nits.

Audio wise, Xiaomi 12 Lite has a pair of speakers located on the top and bottom of the phone, giving it a balance sound hearing experience which is kinda loud and enjoying with Dolby Audio optimization.

Camera

When it comes to the camera portion, the Xiaomi 12 Lite rear camera consists an upgraded 108MP wide PDAF camera, one 8MP ultra-wide camera and a 2MP telephoto macro lens, followed by a dual LED flash. During the day, it just works well pretty over any automatic shots and zoom shots that comes with fairly decent details. Night shots were ok as well with adequate level of clarity with some noise present, and sometimes need to be focus properly to get a good shot. The selfie image are bright and good during day time as well which is powered by a 32MP wide angle lens with 2 LED lights which can help a lot in brighten up your selfies in dark environments.

A few shots were taken as above over various mixed and automatic modes with zooms, selfie.

On video recording, it supports up to 4K at 30FPS, stutters are visible while recording but with details that is clear with good color representation. If you wish to get a stable recording, reducing it to 1080P at 60FPS will give a much better recording experience with Gyro EIS support. Dual video mode is also supported which you can capture both front and rear recording at the same time. Such feature is great for VLoggers that be able to take the advantage with added more styles over your recording such as Magic Zoom, Time Lapse and many more.

Performance

Under the hood, the Xiaomi 12 Lite is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G 5G Octa-Core Processor, 128/256GB of internal storage and 8GB RAM. While the SD 778G SOC has been a while in the market, it is still proven to be a standing mid tier choice for most brands today as a reliable processor for medium level tasking abilities. Android 12 with the improved MIUI 13 brings in better optimization, fixes, overlay, and a host of performance related features in keeping the UI and hardware runs the best, even for a mid tier device. The phone does come with 5G connectivity support if you are looking for a 5G phone, WiFi 6/AX router compatibility, Bluetooth 5 and NFC.

Gaming wise, basically this phone will perform well on games such as Mobile Legends and Genshin Impact with low mix medium settings applied running between 30FPS to 60FPS. With such light weight, gaming is quite fun holding on the phone.

Above is the Benchmark performance, which delivers close to very good within it’s segment scores on each of the test between its graphics, and processor performance. The Xiaomi 12 Lite is suitable for those seeking for a Mid Tier range performing phones.

Battery performance wise, you will get around 11 hours of it, a mix of calls, surfing, email, streaming, and a few Call Of Duty matches. Turning on the battery saving mode under 20% will get you around extra 3 hours of conservative usage. The Xiaomi 12 Lite comes with a 67W fast charger, which will charge up the phone to 100% from 10% in around 45min average. 

Specifications

Verdict & Conclusion 

The Xiaomi 12 Lite is a phone that still deliver a few key elements, a device that shows fashion, lightness, modern social features, a still relevant processor that brings in more vibrant phone colors and multi-tasking ability that meets affordability in it’s right that is still one of Xiaomi’s aspect in taking on most of the consumer’s interest on a trend and good pricing point.

Pros

• 120Hz Refresh Rate Display
• Lightweight Phone
• Good AMOLED display

Cons

• No 3.5mm headphone jack
• No MicroSD expansion slot

Pricing and availability

Starting from now, the Xiaomi 12 Lite will be available in two variants at RM 1,599 for the 8GB+128GB variant and RM 1,799 for the 8GB+256GB variant, and can be purchased from Shopee.