The Redmi Note series has long been where Xiaomi has packed the most value for your money, and the latest Note 12 series adds several eye-catching new features, including the headlining 200MP main camera, optical image stabilisation and 120W of fast charging. Here’s a quick rundown on what’s new.
In Malaysia, the Redmi Note 12 series consists of three models—the base variant, the Note 12 5G and the Note 12 Pro+. Prices are as follows:
- Redmi Note 12 6GB RAM, 128GB storage – RM699 (discounted to RM659 until April 14)
- Redmi Note 12, 8GB RAM, 128GB storage – RM799
- Redmi Note 12 5G, 8GB RAM, 128GB storage – RM1,099
- Redmi Note 12 Pro+, 8GB RAM, 128GB storage – RM1,599
All three come with a 6.67-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display with a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate. On the regular 4G and 5G models, the screens have up to 700 nits of brightness and a peak brightness of 1,200 nits. The Pro+ has a flow AMOLED display for slimmer bezels, but its peak brightness is only 900 nits. Despite this, it’s the only one of the trio to support Dolby Vision; it’s also covered in Gorilla Glass 5 instead of Gorilla Glass 3 on the other models.
The chipsets, on the other hand, are wildly different between these phones. The base model gets a Qualcomm Snapdragon 685, while the 5G variant switches to the Snapdragon 4 Gen 1. The Pro+ is powered by a MediaTek Dimensity 1080, the same one found in the recently-launched Samsung Galaxy A54.
As for the cameras, the 4G and 5G models get a 50MP and 48MP main camera with an f/1.8 aperture, along with an 8MP ultra-wide and a 2MP macro shooter. But it’s the Pro+ that gets the headline 200MP Samsung Isocell IPX 1/1.4-inch sensor for its main camera, coming with optical image stabilisation and an f/1.65 aperture.
Juicing all three phones is a 5,000mAh battery, which can be fast charged at up to 33W on the base 4G and 5G models. The Pro+, meanwhile, features 120W HyperCharge technology—the same one found in the Xiaomi 13 Pro—that can fully charge the battery in just 19 minutes.
The Note 12 series ships with Android 13, skinned with the MIUI 14 interface; you can expect just two years of major Android updates and three years of security patches at most. The phones also come with WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.1 connectivity, NFC, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a side fingerprint sensor, facial recognition and Xiaomi’s customary IR blaster. The Pro+ is the only one to feature WiFi 6, Bluetooth 5.2 and stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos support.
