Xiaomi 12 vs Apple iPhone 13
Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.28-inch Xiaomi 12 (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1) that was released on December 28, 2021, against the Apple iPhone 13, which is powered by Apple A15 Bionic and came out 4 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.
Key differences
Reasons to consider the Xiaomi 12
- Higher display refresh rate – 120 Hz
- Comes with 1273 mAh larger battery capacity: 4500 vs 3227 mAh
- Newer Bluetooth version (v5.2)
- Slow-motion recording at 1920FPS
- Fingerprint scanner
- Uses a faster type of memory: LPDDR5 3200 MHz
- 19% better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (960K versus 809K)
- Delivers 8% higher peak brightness (901 against 831 nits)
- Has 2 SIM card slots
- Has a built-in infrared port
Reasons to consider the Apple iPhone 13
- Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
- Shows 42% longer battery life (36:13 vs 25:34 hours)
- Apple releases software updates and supports their phones a few years longer than Xiaomi
- 10% higher pixel density (460 vs 419 PPI)
- 39% faster in single-core GeekBench 5 test: 1740 and 1250 points
- The front-facing camera can record video at 4K
- Ready for eSIM technology
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Review
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Performance
CPU/GPU performance in apps and games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
NanoReview score
Final comparison evaluation
Value for money
You can enter your local price of these phones (in USD or any other currency) and click on the "Calculate" button to see which one has a better value for money.
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | AMOLED | OLED |
| Size | 6.28 inches | 6.1 inches |
| Resolution | 1080 x 2400 pixels | 1170 x 2532 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 20:9 | 19.5:9 |
| PPI | 419 ppi | 460 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 60 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | No | No |
| Max rated brightness | 500 nits | 800 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | 1100 nits | 1200 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, HDR10+ | Yes, Dolby Vision |
| Screen protection | Gorilla Glass Victus | Ceramic Shield |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 89.2% | 86% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display - DC Dimming |
- DCI-P3 |
| RGB color space | - | 129% |
| PWM | - | 609 Hz |
| Response time | - | 7.5 ms |
| Contrast | - | ∞ Infinity |
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 152.7 mm (6.01 inches) | 146.7 mm (5.78 inches) |
| Width | 69.9 mm (2.75 inches) | 71.5 mm (2.81 inches) |
| Thickness | 8.16 mm (0.32 inches) | 7.65 mm (0.3 inches) |
| Weight | 180 g (6.35 oz) | 174 g (6.14 oz) |
| Waterproof | No | IP68 |
| Rear material | Glass | Glass |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | Black, Blue, Pink | White, Black, Blue, Green, Red, Pink |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | No |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 | Apple A15 Bionic |
| Max clock | 3000 MHz | 3230 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (1 + 3 + 4) | 6 (2 + 4) |
| Architecture | - 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Cortex-A510 - 3 cores at 2.5 GHz: Cortex-A710 - 1 core at 3 GHz: Cortex-X2 |
- 4 cores at 2.02 GHz: Blizzard - 2 cores at 3.24 GHz: Avalanche |
| L3 cache | 6 MB | - |
| Lithography process | 4 nanometers | 5 nanometers |
| Graphics | Adreno 730 | Apple GPU |
| GPU clock | 818 MHz | 1200 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~2236 GFLOPS | - |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 5 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 5 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 9
| CPU | 218182 | 210809 |
| GPU | 399246 | 324750 |
| Memory | 171958 | 134620 |
| UX | 170121 | 133782 |
| Total score | 960668 | 809642 |
3DMark Wild Life Performance
| Max surface temperature | - | 45.7 °C |
| Stability | 57% | 79% |
| Graphics test | 53 FPS | 52 FPS |
| Graphics score | 8920 | 8729 |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | 11399 | - |
| Video editing | 7608 | - |
| Photo editing | 29844 | - |
| Data manipulation | 9635 | - |
| Writing score | 14400 | - |
Memory
| RAM size | 8, 12 GB | 4 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5 | LPDDR4X |
| Memory clock | 3200 MHz | 2133 MHz |
| Channels | 4 | 2 |
| Storage size | 128, 256 GB | 128, 256, 512 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 3.1 | NVMe |
| Memory card | No | No |
Software
| Operating system | Android 12 (Can be upgraded to Android 13) | iOS 15 (Can be upgraded to iOS 16.4) |
| ROM | MIUI 14 | - |
| OS size | - | 18 GB |
Battery
| Capacity | 4500 mAh | 3227 mAh |
| Charge power | 67 W | 20 W |
| Battery type | Li-Po | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes (50 W) | Yes (7.5 W) |
| Reverse charging | Yes, (wireless) | No |
| Fast charging | Yes (87% in 30 min) | Yes (54% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 0:46 hr | 1:46 hr |
| Web browsing | 09:04 hr | 13:11 hr |
| Watching video | 13:03 hr | 14:33 hr |
| Gaming | 04:49 hr | 05:31 hr |
| Standby | 70 hr | 123 hr |
General battery life
Camera
| Matrix | 50 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 8192 x 6144 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Zoom | Digital | Digital |
| Flash | Dual LED | Dual LED |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| 8K video recording | Up to 24FPS | No |
| 4K video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| Slow motion | 1920 FPS (720p) | 240 FPS (1080p) |
| Angle of widest lens | 123° | 120° |
| Lenses | 3 (50 MP + 13 MP + 5 MP) | 2 (12 MP + 12 MP) |
| Wide (main) lens | - 50 MP - Aperture: f/1.9 - Focal length: 26 mm - Pixel size: 1 micron - Sensor: 1/1.56", Sony IMX766 (Exmor-RS CMOS) - Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) - Optical stabilization |
- 12 MP - Aperture: f/1.6 - Focal length: 26 mm - Pixel size: 1.7 micron - Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) - Optical stabilization |
| Ultra-wide lens | - 13 MP - Aperture: f/2.4 - Pixel size: 1.12 micron - Sensor: 1/3.06", OmniVision OV13B10 (CMOS) |
- 12 MP - Aperture: f/2.4 - Focal length: 14 mm - Sensor: 1/3.4", Sony IMX372 (Exmor-RS CMOS) |
| Macro lens | - 5 MP - Aperture: f/2.4 - Focal length: 50 mm - Phase autofocus - Optical stabilization |
- |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode |
| Samples | Photo samples of Xiaomi 12 from DxOMark | Photo samples of Apple iPhone 13 from DxOMark |
| Megapixels | 32 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 6528 x 4896 | 4032 x 3024 |
| Aperture | f/2.4 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 26 mm | 23 mm |
| Pixel size | 0.7 microns | - |
| Sensor type | CMOS | Exmor-RS CMOS |
| Sensor size | - | 1/3.6" |
| Video resolution | 1080p (Full HD) at 60 FPS | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS |
DxOMark camera tests
Photo quality
Video quality
Generic camera score
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 6E (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) | Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax) |
| Wi-Fi features | - Dual Band - Wi-Fi MiMO - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
- Dual Band - Wi-Fi MiMO - Wi-Fi Direct - Wi-Fi Hotspot - Wi-Fi Display |
| Bluetooth version | 5.2 | 5 |
| Bluetooth features | LE | LE, A2DP |
| USB type | USB Type-C | - |
| USB version | 2 | 2 |
| USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
- Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, NAVIC | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | Yes | No |
| Number of SIM* | 2 | 1 |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | Nano |
| Multi SIM mode | Standby | - |
| eSIM support* | No | Yes |
| Hybrid slot | No | No |
| LTE Cat* | 20 | 18 |
| 5G support | Yes | Yes |
Sound
| Speakers | Stereo | Stereo |
| Headphone audio jack | No | No |
| FM radio | No | No |
| Dolby Atmos | Yes | Yes |
Speakers test
Max loudness
Other
| Category | Flagship | Flagship |
| Announced | December 2021 | September 2021 |
| Release date | December 2021 | September 2021 |
| SAR (head) | - | 0.99 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | - | 0.98 W/kg |
| Sensors | - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
- Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Face recognition sensor |
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.
Conclusion
If the software, battery life, camera, and design are more important to you, then choose the Apple iPhone 13. But if the display and connectivity are more of a priority – go for the Xiaomi 12.
Cast your vote
Total votes: 526