We live in an era where content-making is anyone’s game, where more people have access to taking good photographs and videos, and where we connect with our friends and families—and even strangers miles away from us—through the reels we create and the posts we share.
All of these opportunities can be unlocked with just a smartphone.
To equip content creators of this generation, Xiaomi has released its newest midrange phone: the Xiaomi 12 Lite. We got to spend some time with the new phone and we’re sharing with you why you should take your shot, your style with the Xiaomi 12 Lite.
Gorgeous and slim build
When we say gorgeous, we mean this-phone-deserves-a-spot-in-your-gram gorgeous. The phone is available in three color variants—Lite Pink, Lite Green, and Black—to match your style and taste. The technicolor back cover of our Lite Pink unit dances when hit by light, unlocking a slew of mesmerizing gradients that will take your OOTDs to a whole new level.
The Xiaomi 12 Lite is also a technological marvel with its 7.29mm-thin design and weighing a mere 173g. It is slim and featherlight on the hand, providing a nice grip even without casing. The glass-sandwiched body is very sleek, classy, and sophisticated as you look closer and run your fingertips at every edge and every curvature.
My Style, My Shot: Shoot and edit to your heart’s content
If you like making content for yourself, your friends, or your personal brand, you’ll find a good companion in the Xiaomi 12 Lite. It’s equipped with three “studio-level” cameras at the back: a 108MP main camera, an 8MP ultrawide-angle camera, and a 2MP macro camera. There are a lot of shooting modes so you can choose the right conditions for the perfect shot: Night mode for lowlight, Long Exposure, Panorama, Pro for those who like to tweak with aperture and shutter speed, and Portrait for smart bokeh.
We took photos to test the reliability of the phone’s camera and we were very pleased with the results. The camera performed really well in outdoor and indoor conditions, giving us gorgeous photographs that put our old handheld cameras to shame.
We were also surprised with the Xiaomi 12 Lite’s superb performance in low-light situations using the regular Photo and Night modes.
For taking photos in touristy spots (read: lots of photobombers) like the Petronas Towers, you’d be ecstatic to know that the Xiaomi 12 Lite comes with a Magic cutout professional editor. What this does is use AI to identify and erase people and animals that are in your shot to make your photograph as Instagram-worthy as possible. We tried the editor in one of our photos, and while it’s no Photoshop-substitute, it’s a nice little add-on to clean up your shots.
The Xiaomi 12 Lite also exceeds expectations with its video capabilities. There are 19 vlog templates to help you shoot memorable videos to share online, and a native Video Editor for easy collaging of videos for TikTok or Instagram Reels. We played around with the Video Editor and we found it super easy to use for beginners and comprehensive enough for those who would rather not spend extra for video editing apps.
While the back camera performed like a superstar, the front camera on the Xiaomi 12 Lite is just as strong. Complemented by the Xiaomi Selfie Glow—two soft LEDs sitting on the front with the camera—you can take selfies with exceptional detail in various light conditions. We also like the smart auto-focus and multiple eye-tracking so everyone in the shot is crisp when taking group-fies.
Play hard and work hard
Powered by a Snapdragon 778G, Qualcomm’s latest 6nm midrange chip, the Xiaomi 12 Lite is able to keep up with your work- and play-intensive day. In fact, the phone ships with Genshin Impact pre-installed, which tells the user that this phone is equipped to handle GPU-hungry apps. Although the game is set to Low settings by default, we experienced smooth gameplay even in Medium and High settings. Pretty good for a mid-range unit.
The unit is also fitted with a multi-tier cooling system that ensures efficient heat dissipation. We have noticed, however, that the phone will stop performing certain tasks when its temperature rises to prevent it from overheating. This happened during intensive video editing using the phone’s native Video Editor and a third-party app.
For a mid-range, its GPU performance is pretty standard, but what levels up the Xiaomi 12 Lite is its beautiful and vibrant 6.55-in FHD+ display. The punchy AMOLED colors and improved 120Hz refresh rate (which is an upgrade from 90Hz in the Mi 11 Lite) makes for a beautiful screen to watch and play in.
With everything that the Xiaomi 12 Lite can do, it’s good to know that the 4,300-mAh battery will give you a full-day of uninterrupted usage. And if every you run low on juice, it’s easy to recharge the phone since the 67W turbo charger can power up to 50% of the battery in just as little as 13 minutes.
Pricing and pre-order details
Speed was invited to the Xiaomi 12 Lite launch in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on August 18, where we were able to see, hear, and feel first-hand what the Xiaomi 12 Lite has to offer. It’s interesting to note that in Malaysia, Xiaomi is currently the Top 1 smartphone vendor. In the Philippines, Xiaomi is currently leading in e-commerce platforms such as Lazada and Shopee.
The Xiaomi 12 Lite retails at P20,999 for the 6GB+128GB variant and P21,999 for the 8GB+128GB variant.
Pre-order the Xiaomi 12 Lite until August 26 from the official Lazada store here or in a Xiaomi authorized store near you to get free limited-edition premium gifts worth P3,500.
Speed says
Overall, the Xiaomi 12 Lite is a welcome upgrade from its predecessor and a gorgeous addition to your tech arsenal. It’s classy and sophisticated for a midranger, with a camera that will perform superbly for all your content needs.
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