Xiaomi first unveiled its Redmi Note 12 series phones in China last October, but now you can finally get them in Europe.
After the official launch in Paris at the end of March, four phones are now available: Redmi Note 12, 12 5G, 12 Pro and 12 Pro+.
Although the names are very similar, there are some key differences between the two, which are reflected in the price differences. The Redmi Note 12 series includes budget smartphones, great mid-range smartphones and more. Here's everything you need to know.
When will the Redmi Note 12 be released in Europe?
Xiaomi announced the first four Redmi Note 12 series phones in China on October 27: Redmi Note 12, 12 Pro, 12 Pro+ and 12 Explorer Edition. The Note 12 Speed Edition came out at the end of December.
Then, on January 5th, Xiaomi expanded its rollout to India. However, Redmi Note 12, 12 Pro and 12 Pro+ have already arrived in Indonesia.
We will then have to wait until March 23 for the European launch. Again, the Explorer and Speed versions and the three phones above are only paired with the 4G version of a regular phone. The latter started in India on March 30th.
The 12, 12 5G and 12 Pro+ were released on March 24th, but we'll have to wait until April 4th for the 12 Pro. All four are available now and the UK retailers are listed below:
・Redmi Note 12 – Xiaomi, Argos, Very, Amazon
・Redmi Note 12 5G – Xiaomi, Argos
・Redmi Note 12 Pro is also Xiaomi
・Redmi Note 12 Pro + also Xiaomi
As usual, no devices will come to North America.
However, Xiaomi is not implemented there. The seventh phone, the Redmi Note 12 Turbo, was launched in China on March 28th. It goes on sale on March 31st.
How much does the Redmi Note 12 cost?
Now that the phone is available in Europe, we've reduced the prices of all five models in their territories. Note that some devices have the possibility of a more expensive configuration:
・Redmi Note 12: from £219 / €249 / €15,499 / 1199 yen
・Redmi Note 12 5G: Starting at £279 / €299 (approx. $350 / 2,400 yen / $28,500)
・Redmi Note 12 Pro: from £339 / €399 / €24,999 / 1699 yen
・Redmi Note 12 Pro+: from £449 / €499, £25,999 / £2199
・Redmi Note 12 Explorer Edition: from 2,399 yen (approx. $330 / £285 / €330 / AU$27,500)
・Redmi Note 12 Speed Edition: Since 1699 (approx. $230 / £200 / €230 / AU$19,500)
・Redmi Note 12 Turbo Edition: Since 1999 (approx. $290 / £230 / €265 / AU$23,900)
For context, here are the prices of last year's phones:
・Redmi Note 11 – £199 / €199
・Redmi Note 11S – 249 euros
・Redmi Note 11 Pro – £269 / €329
・Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G – £319 / €369
・Redmi Note 11 Pro + 5G – £369 / €449
The significant price increase compared to Pro+ reflects the addition of several new premium features.
What are the specifications and features of the Redmi Note 12?
In total, the Redmi Note 12 series includes seven different phones, so it's worth examining each one in more detail:
Note Redmi 12
The Note 12 is a pretty basic budget phone, but it doesn't look bad at all. It's also the least similar to the other phones in the series and it's the only model where there are differences between the Chinese and European/Indian models, although those differences are mostly limited to the cameras.
© Technical Advisorredmi
It has an entry-level Snapdragon 4 Gen 1 chip with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage in China and Europe, although it's limited to 6+128GB in India.
As with all phones in this series, you can enjoy a 6.67-inch OLED display with a resolution of 2400 x 1080 pixels (FHD+), a refresh rate of 120 Hz, a touch sampling rate of 240 Hz and support for HDR10+, HDR10 and Expect Dolby Vision.
Despite the OLED display, it still has a side-mounted fingerprint sensor, but a bonus is that you still get a 3.5mm headphone jack.
Despite the 5,000mAh battery, it's paired with a somewhat sluggish 33W wired charger.
As for the cameras, only a 2-megapixel depth sensor is supported by the 48-megapixel main camera on the Chinese model. The Indian and European models have an additional 8MP ultra wide-angle camera on the back.
There are also differences on the front, China has an 8-megapixel main selfie camera, while the Indian and European variants have a 13-megapixel sensor.
Like all phones in this series, Android 13 runs MIUI 14. It is updated from MIUI 13 which was initially released with the phone.
・Qualcomm Snapdragon 4 Gen 1
・4/6/8GB RAM
・ Storage Capacity 128/256GB
・6.67" 120Hz OLED display
・5000mAh battery
・33W wired charging
Camera:
・8/13 MP selfie camera (China/India and Europe)
・ 5G (4G variant only)
・ WiFi 6
・3.5mm headphone jack
・IP53
・Android 13 with MIUI 14
The 4G only version of the Redmi Note 12 is also available in Europe. While you lose 5G support, you get a more powerful Snapdragon 695 chipset and a 50MP main camera instead of 48MP.
Redmi Note 12 Pro mobile phone
The Pro is the second flagship of this series and the most basic of the Pro options.
© Technical Advisorredmi
Like all other Pro models, it features a MediaTek Dimensity 1080 chip, paired with 6, 8 or 12GB of RAM and 128 or 256GB of storage. It contains the same presentation as the application form.
The 5,000mAh battery should offer decent runtime, as does the 67W wired charging, but that's one of the main trade-offs compared to the 120W Pro+.
Another big difference is the camera, the Pro uses a 50Mp Sony IMX766 sensor for the main camera with f/1.9 aperture and OIS. The rest of the lenses are identical across the range, with an 8-megapixel ultra-wide camera and a 2-megapixel macro camera and a 16-megapixel selfie camera on the other side.
・MediaTek 1080 size
・6/8/12GB RAM
・ Storage Capacity 128/256GB
・6.67" 120Hz OLED display
・5000mAh battery
・67W wired charging
Camera:
・5G
・ WiFi 6
・3.5mm headphone jack
・IP53
・Android 13 with MIUI 14
Redmi Note 12 Pro+
Pro+ doesn't change the formula much. Performance is the same except there's only 8GB or 12GB of RAM with 256GB of storage.
The battery is the same as the Pro but charges faster at 120W.
The cameras have also been extensively upgraded, with the main sensor here being a 200-megapixel Samsung ISOCELL HPX with a much larger f/1.65 aperture. The 200-megapixel camera sensor is still new, so it remains to be seen how good this camera will be, but with the ability to combine 16 pixels into one, it should be a significant improvement over Pro cameras.
・MediaTek 1080 size
・8/12GB RAM
・ 256GB of memory
・6.67" 120Hz OLED display
・5000mAh battery
・120W wired charging
Camera:
・5G
・ WiFi 6
・3.5mm headphone jack
・IP53
・Android 13 with MIUI 14
Redmi Note 12 Explorer Edition
The China-only version of Explorer is almost identical to the Pro+ version, but with two key changes.
First, it has a smaller 4300mAh battery, so it doesn't last as long.
But it comes with support for blazing-fast 210W wired charging, one of the fastest you'll find on any phone.
It also only comes in an 8GB RAM and 256GB storage configuration.
・MediaTek 1080 size
・8GB memory
・ 256GB of memory
・6.67" 120Hz OLED display
・4300mAh battery
・210W wired charging
Camera:
・5G
・ WiFi 6
・3.5mm headphone jack
・IP53
・Android 13 with MIUI 14
Redmi Note 12 Speed Edition
The Speed Edition has yet to go on sale in China, and while the name suggests fast charging, it's not really the fastest in the range.
Basically, it's very similar to the regular Pro model, but with changes to the chipset and camera. For example, it runs on the Snapdragon 778G rather than the MediaTek chip.
The camera has switched to the 108MP main camera, unfortunately without OIS, although it is accompanied by similar 8MP and 2MP macro modules.
It was also the first phone in the series to ship with Android 13 and MIUI 14 at launch in China.
・Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G
・6/8/12GB RAM
・ Storage Capacity 128/256GB
・6.67" 120Hz OLED display
・5000mAh battery
・67W wired charging
Camera:
・5G
・ WiFi 6
・3.5mm headphone jack
・IP53
・Android 13 with MIUI 14
Redmi Note 12 Turbo Edition
The Turbo version is the latest phone to be released and will likely remain exclusive to China. This will probably be the last phone in the Redmi Note 12 series.
Many of the key specs are mediocre here, such as: B. a 6.67-inch 120 Hz OLED display, a 5,000 mAh battery with 67 W charging and a 64 MP main camera. Like all other Redmi Note 12 phones, Android 13 runs on the Xiaomi MIUI 14 skin.
But what's really interesting here is that it's powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2 processor, a chip the phone announced a few days ago. This is a 5G SoC that is said to offer similar performance to 2022's flagship Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, although it's aimed at mid-range phones.
・Qualcomm Snapdragon 7+ Gen 2
・8/12/16GB RAM
・ 256GB / 512GB / 1TB storage capacity
・6.67" 120Hz OLED display
・5000mAh battery
・67W wired charging
Camera:
・5G
・ WiFi 6E
・3.5mm headphone jack
・Android 13 with MIUI 14
We will update this article as more details become available. In the meantime, you can also check out our roundup of the best budget phones and the best mid-range phones to see what the Redmi Note 12 phones struggle with.
