Xiaomi’s latest offering, the Redmi 12 5G, has created waves in the budget smartphone market with its cutting-edge Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 chipset. But can this be considered the best budget smartphone under ₹15,000 Indian rupees? Let’s get into our review and find out!

Table of Contents:

Redmi 12 5G Design

The design of Redmi 12 5G boasts a premium look thanks to the glass back, flat edges with metallic paint finish, and minimalistic camera setup. The handset feels comfortable in your hands despite its broad dimensions due to curved corners and ergonomic grip. IP53 certification adds an extra layer of protection from water splashes and dust.

Redmi 12 5G Display

The 6.71-inch LCD display delivers a respectable viewing experience with decent colors, brightness levels (up to 550 nits), and a 90Hz refresh rate. However, the handset’s thick bezels might be a letdown for some users in this age of nearly borderless screens.

Redmi 12 5G Cameras Quality

The primary camera setup includes a 50MP sensor that captures detail-rich images with good exposure balance and punchy colors under daylight conditions. The dedicated mode to capture full resolution photos adds slight improvements but introduces graininess. Portrait mode could use some work as it struggles to separate the background from the subjects, leading to noticeable warping around them. Low-light performance is satisfactory when using Night Mode; otherwise, you might end up with grainy images and light flares across frames. The 8MP selfie camera leaves room for improvement in terms of facial detail and accurate skin tones under bright sunlight conditions.

Redmi 12 5G Performance

Powered by the new Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 chipset, Redmi 12 5G delivers impressive performance with smooth multitasking capabilities even when running several apps simultaneously. The device offers a significant improvement over its predecessor in benchmark scores (AnTuTu: 4,45,286 points and Geekbench multi-core test score exceeded 2,100 points). Gaming enthusiasts will appreciate the phone’s ability to handle demanding games without any noticeable lag. However, it gets warm during extended gaming sessions but remains manageable. Overall, Redmi 12 5G caters to those seeking powerful performance and immersive gaming experiences within a budget. This device boasts upgradable storage of up to 8GB (in addition to the built-in 8GB RAM) and an expandable storage capacity of up to 256GB, ensuring ample room for your multimedia or games.

Software running inside Redmi 12 5G

Running on Android 13-based MIUI 14 software, Redmi 12 5G offers a user-friendly interface with essential features like customization options and call recording functionalities. The phone comes preloaded with some apps leading to a somewhat bloated experience, which might annoy potential buyers.

Redmi 12 5G Battery Life & Charging

Redmi 12 5G houses a typical 5,000mAh battery that offers an impressive endurance of nearly 16 hours on PCMark’s Battery test. The phone also supports fast charging, but the provided 22.5W charger is compatible with only an 18W charging solution (which can take over two hours for a full charge

You might also like to read about: OPPO Reno11 5G Smartphone Review

Is Redmi 12 5G worth your money?

The smartphone at the moment is going for a starting price of ₹11,999. Based on the price, Redmi 12 5G offers excellent performance, premium design elements, and respectable battery life at an affordable price point. However, some areas like camera portrait mode and slow fast-charging might need improvement to compete with other offerings in the same segment. For those prioritizing gaming capabilities or demanding multimedia usage, this phone is definitely worth considering!


Reasons for Buying:
Premium design elements with a glass back and ergonomic grip.
Impressive performance that caters to power users and gamers.
Decent battery life (nearly 16 hours on PCMark’s Battery test)

Reasons Not to Buy:
Mediocre portrait mode for the camera setup.
Slow fast-charging speeds despite having a powerful chipset.

Nested Bits Rating: 8/10