Here it is, the device that claimed that it will be the first to rock the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Mobile Platform but instead, had the honor swiped from its hands by Motorola Edge X30. We are, of course, talking about the Xiaomi 12 series.
Not surprisingly, the Co-founder/CEO of Xiaomi is eager to let you know that its latest flagship device with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip had an AnTuTu score of over a million. If you ask me, that doesn’t matter if heat management is not good. Just saying…
That said, Xiaomi said the heat dissipation on this new device is taken care of by 2600-2900 mm square vapor cooling structure.
All told, there are three models in the new 12 series, namely, Xiaomi 12 Pro, Xiaomi 12, and Xiaomi 12X. However, only the Xiaomi 12 Pro and Xiaomi 12 are outfitted with the newest Qualcomm chip.
The Xiaomi 12X, which is the entry-level of the 12 series, is powered by. Snapdragon 870.
Memory types are identical across the three devices. They are all bolstered by LPDDR5 RAM and UFS 3.1. I guess those are the fastest memories there are today.
Another highlight of the launch is a new UI, MIUI 13 which now promised stability.
Interestingly, the Pro also touts the Xiaomi-developed battery management chip, Peng Pai P1, that supports 120 W charging. This chip is said to enable the phone to charge to full in just 18 minutes. Bonkers.
In addition, the chip offers 50 W wireless charging and 10 W reverse wireless charging too.
On a side note… not sure if you guys are seeing this trend of Chinese handset makers getting into making their own chips. Previously, the Chinese handset makers thought they could depend on U.S. suppliers for chips and therefore never bothered with developing their own.
But the trust was broken after the unholy maneuver by the Trump administration on Huawei a few years ago and it served as a wake-up call for China.
Xiaomi is not alone. Oppo has revealed its own imaging chip recently too. The duo won’t be the last.
While these chips are not SoC and it is possible that China companies are far from putting out their own System on Chips but the sanction against Huawei is a warning to all Chinese companies that they can’t go on relying on U.S. companies. In other words, they have to be self-sufficient.
The sanction is the catalyst that fuels China’s development of processors. In short, that move has profound repercussions for the world’s trade moving forward but that’s a story for another day.
As for the pricing, Xiaomi 12X has a start at 3,199 yuan (or roughly US$502) while the Xiaomi 12 and Xiaomi 12 Pro starts at 3,699 yuan and 4,699 yuan (about US$581 and US$737), respectively.
All images courtesy of Xiaomi [CH].
