Today in front of us we have the Xiaomi 12 Pro – a flagship that has about the same price and specs
as the OnePlus 10 Pro (may it rest in peace). While the OnePlus 10 Pro
might not have survived my durability test, today we're going to find out if the 12 Pro from Xiaomi
is worth your hard earned money. Speaking of money, I've met several people throughout my
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Now it's time to cross our fingers and hope that the Xiaomi
12 Pro is a little more structurally sound than the OnePlus 10 Pro. Let's get started.
[Intro]
Xiaomi has again released several variations of this phone, but left the name the same.
In this case we have the Xiaomi 12X, then the 12 from the 12 Pro, which is this one. And
finally the 4th Xiaomi 12 device called the Ultra that comes out in the next few months. It does
get confusing. The Ultra might look a little different, but at least the other three 12's
are visibly and structurally the same, so this durability test could count for the whole lineup.
Inside the box we get a transparent rubber case, which is nice. Any protection is good
protection. A huge perk of this phone is that it also comes with a 120 watt charger
inside the box. This is massive amounts of power for a cellphone and can theoretically charge from
0-100% in just 18 minutes. If you forget to plug your phone in at night you could still
wake up in the morning and get a full charge by the time you're done eating breakfast.
I thought the charging animation would be a bit cooler, but maybe we just have to wait for it
to turn on. Other than the charging thing though I think this is a pretty normal everyday rectangular
smartphone. Let's start with the scratch test. I have a set of Mohs mineral picks that can find the
difference between different materials, and since this smartphone is in the $900 realm,
we would expect it to not be made of plastic.
The included screen protector, however, is indeed allowed to be.
With that gone we can continue up the scale
until we see scratches at a level 6, with deeper grooves at a level 7.
The Xiaomi 12 Pro is using Gorilla Glass Victus.
This same Victus Glass is also protecting the front facing camera as well, which is
32 megapixels and capable of filming in 1080p. We also have a tiny ear slit up here at the top.
This is just for the earpiece as the upper stereo loudspeaker has a much larger vent out the top.
The sides of the phone are made from aluminum. We have dual antenna lines placed in the upper
and lower thirds of the phone. Antenna lines have been known to cause structural issues in the past.
The power and volume rocker are both made from metal and are not popping out like
we see on the Samsung devices. The top of the phone has some Harman Kardon branding,
along with the microphone hole,
IR blaster, and the vent for the upper loudspeaker that we talked about earlier.
The left side of the phone is pretty uneventful. Down at the bottom, however,
we do have the lower loudspeaker vent, the 121 USB-C charging port, along with the SIM card tray
that does not have storage. And while this tray does have a rubber ring for water-resistance,
the phone itself does not come with an IP rating. The back glass of the Xiaomi 12 Pro is frosted,
meaning that it has more of a satin feel instead of the smooth glass that we normally
see on smartphones. And due to this microscopic texturing, the level 6 glass is acting like
sandpaper to my level 5 razor blades. The 12 Pro has three cameras in the top corner, all of
them are 50 megapixels. The large sensor is the one up top, and then a telephoto in the center,
a dual toned flash, and then a wide angle camera down at the bottom - the Trifecta of perspectives.
The lenses are covered with glass, but the hump itself is made from metal.
The Xiaomi logo down at the bottom is just a blend of the etched and smooth glass texturing.
It's actually kind of interesting how they make the etching on this glass.
You can actually buy off the shelf glass etching cream at hobby shops or on Amazon for like $20.
It's a type of sulfuric acid and sodium bifluoride combo that resembles toothpaste,
except that if you brush your teeth with it you'll die. It can, however, create the type of frosted
surface by eating away at the glass layer before it gets cleaned off. Let me know if you think we
should buy some and try it on a phone sometime. A little hobby project with Jerry, if you will.
As far as the flame goes on the 6.7 inch 1440p 120hertz display, the pixels lasted
about 30 seconds before turning white and then remaining permanently damaged. The 12 Pro also
does that thing where it can reduce the refresh rate down to 1 hertz to conserve battery life.
And of course, now that the phone is on we can get a good look at what the charging animation
is like when it's plugged in, and to be honest this 120 watts is pretty mind blowing.
Visibly being able to see the battery percentage tick up is a
pretty phenomenal advance from where battery technology used to be just a few years ago.
Finally, we have the underscreen fingerprint scanner. I'll set my fingerprint real quick
to make sure it's all readable. Then we can score the surface of the glass with excessive
level 7 deeper grooves, more than the phone would ever see during its natural existence...unless,
of course, it was owned by Edward Sisssorhands. But good news for
Edward though is that the fingerprint scanner works just fine, even with the extra scratches.
Now for the bend test. This is the structural assessment that every major phone has had to
pass through for the last 7 years. Bending from the front we do see some minor flex in the frame
and the back panel, but luckily none of the stress or flex is focused on the antenna lines
that are off to either end. Smart placement by Xiaomi. Flipping the 12 Pro over, there
is a loud popping sounds which scared me for a second, but the phone appears to still be working
and in one piece. The repeatable popping sound is something coming from inside, moving out of
position I assume. But then the phone locks out preventing any physical damage to the device.
It'll be interesting to find out where that popping sound is coming from during the teardown.
It is scary sounding, yes, but it is also still in one piece, so not too shabby. Nice work,
Xiaomi. Your phones haven't always made it, but this 12 Pro has indeed survived.
Let me know what phone you want to see tested next down in the comments. Come hang out with
me on Instagram and Elon's Twitter. And thanks a ton for watching, I'll see you around.