Xiaomi has broken the 200MP barrier with its newest smartphone, the Xiaomi 12T Pro. Xiaomi also announced the 12T smartphone with a 108MP image sensor. That more affordable phone is outlined at the end of this article.
Xiaomi 12T Pro
While the 12T Pro isn’t the first 200MP smartphone – Motorola’s X30 Pro came out this summer – the 12T Pro’s resolution is still unusual in the smartphone space. The Xiaomi 12T Pro is built around the Samsung ISOCELL HP1, the larger of Samsung’s two 200MP ISOCELL image sensors.
The Samsung ISOCELL HP1 is a Type 1/1.22 (10.5 x 7.8mm) sensor with 0.64µm pixel size. The HP1 includes various pixel binning modes, including a 4-to-1 binning mode that delivers an equivalent pixel size of 1.28µm when recording 8K video. For low-light photography, there’s also a 16-to-1 pixel binning mode which increases the effective pixel size to 2.56µm. The sensor also incorporates Samsung’s Smart ISO technology, a dual-gain mode for getting the best image quality possible, whether you’re shooting day or night.
The Xiaomi 12T Pro doesn’t include an onboard telephoto lens. However, thanks to the 200MP image sensor, there’s a 2x lossless digital zoom. The phone also includes Xiaomi ProCut, a new feature that can crop your image into five distinct ‘ProCuts.’ Given the ISOCELL HP1’s capabilities and resolution, it’s no surprise that the phone supports 8K video recording and can record HDR10+ footage. The camera includes Optical Image Stabilization (OIS). The 12T Pro includes advanced autofocus features such as eye-tracking and motion-tracking.
The 200MP main camera is the highlight, but the camera includes three other camera modules. It has an 8MP ultrawide camera with a 120° field of view F2.2 lens, a 2MP macro camera and a 20MP front-facing selfie camera. The front display also includes an in-panel fingerprint reader.
The 12T Pro’s display is a 6.67″ AMOLED panel with 1,220 x 2,712 resolution. That works out to a 21:9 panel with 446ppi. The display tops out at 120Hz refresh rate, although it can also switch to 30, 60 and 90Hz rates. The panel supports HDR10+ and Dolby Vision. The peak brightness is 900 nits.
While little else is shared between the Xiaomi 12T Pro and the 12S Series, the phones all use a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset. Compared to the 11T Pro, the new 12T Pro includes a 65% larger vapor chamber and 125% more thermal material, so the new phone should run cooler. The phone can come with either 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage or 12GB of RAM and 256GB storage.
Xiaomi 12T Pro
The Xiaomi 12T Pro uses a 5,000mAh battery and supports 120W fast charging. The battery can fully charge in about 20 minutes. The phone includes Wi-Fi 6 (ax), Bluetooth 5.2 and NFC. The phone supports 5G connectivity.
The Xiaomi 12T Pro will be available starting on October 13 in Asia and parts of Europe, and starts at around $750.
Xiaomi 12T
Xiaomi has also announced the standard 12T smartphone. The phone doesn’t include a 200MP camera, but its ISOCELL HM6 is no slouch at 108MP. The sensor is a Type 1/1.67 (7.7 x 5.8mm) sensor with 0.64µm pixel size, the same pixel size as the larger 200MP sensor in the 12T Pro. The camera includes OIS and sports an F1.7 lens. However, it lacks 8K video recording and doesn’t offer eye-tracking AF. The other three cameras are identical to the 12T Pro.
The 12T also sports the same display and overall design as the 12T Pro, albeit without Dolby Vision support. The phone also includes stereo speakers like the 12T Pro, although without Harman Kardon technology.
Xiaomi 12T
Another difference is the chipset. The 12T uses a Dimensity 8100-Ultra which can be paired with 128GB or 256GB storage. In both cases, the phone has 8GB of RAM. The phone uses the same battery and despite the different chips, each phone promises up to 13.5 hours of screen time and includes 120W fast charging.
The Xiaomi 12T will also launch on October 13 in Asia and parts of Europe. It will start at around $600.