Xiaomi 18 Pro Max vs 12 Pro
94
out of 100
VS
62
out of 100
Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.9-inch Xiaomi 18 Pro Max (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6) that was released on September 23, 2026, against the Xiaomi 12 Pro, which is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and came out 4 years and 10 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.
Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Key differences
Reasons to consider the Xiaomi 18 Pro Max
- Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
- 3.7x better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (5001K versus 1349K)
- Comes with 3900 mAh larger battery capacity: 8500 vs 4600 mAh
- Newer Bluetooth version (v6.0)
- The rear camera has a 3.2x optical zoom
- Has 50% more RAM: 12GB versus 8GB
- The phone is 4 years and 10 months newer
- More recent OS version: Android 17 versus 15
- Compatible with Wi-Fi 7 wireless networks
Reasons to consider the Xiaomi 12 Pro
- 24% higher pixel density (521 vs 419 PPI)
- Supports higher wattage charging (120W versus 100W)
- Weighs 31 grams less
Review
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
Scores with a red asterisk (*) are approximate and may change in the future as we gather more data.
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate NanoReview Score
Value for money (Beta)
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | AMOLED | AMOLED |
| Size | 6.9 inches | 6.73 inches |
| Resolution | 1208 x 2624 pixels | 1440 x 3200 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 19.5:9 | 20:9 |
| PPI | 419 ppi | 521 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 120 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | Yes (1-120 Hz) | Yes (60-120 Hz) |
| Max rated brightness | 1200 nits | 970 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | 4000 nits | 1500 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, Dolby Vision | Yes, Dolby Vision |
| Touch sampling rate | 300 Hz | 480 Hz |
| Screen protection | Dragon Crystal Glass 3 | Gorilla Glass Victus |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 92.1% | 89.5% |
| Display features | - DCI-P3 - Always-On Display - DC Dimming |
- DCI-P3 - Always-On Display - DC Dimming |
| RGB color space | - | 99.8% |
| PWM | - | 367 Hz |
| Response time | - | 5 ms |
| Contrast | - | ∞ Infinity |
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 163.39 mm (6.43 inches) | 163.6 mm (6.44 inches) |
| Width | 77.6 mm (3.06 inches) | 74.6 mm (2.94 inches) |
| Thickness | 8.39 mm (0.33 inches) | 8.66 mm (0.34 inches) |
| Weight | 235 g (8.29 oz) | 204 g (7.2 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP68 | No |
| Advanced cooling | Vapor chamber | Vapor chamber |
| Rear material | Plastic | Glass |
| Frame material | Metal | Metal |
| Colors | White, Black, Blue, Red, Pink | Black, Blue, Green, Pink |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | Yes, in-display |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 |
| Max clock | 5010 MHz | 3000 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (2 + 3 + 3) | 8 (1 + 3 + 4) |
| Architecture | - 3 cores at 3.74 GHz: - 3 cores at 4.03 GHz: - 2 cores at 5.01 GHz: |
- 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Cortex-A510 - 3 cores at 2.5 GHz: Cortex-A710 - 1 core at 3 GHz: Cortex-X2 |
| L3 cache | - | 6 MB |
| Manufacturing | TSMC | Samsung |
| Lithography process | 2 nanometers | 4 nanometers |
| Neural processor (NPU) | Hexagon | Hexagon |
| Graphics | Adreno 850 | Adreno 730 |
| GPU shading units | 1536 | 1024 |
| GPU clock | 1450 MHz | 818 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~4454.4 GFLOPS | ~1675.3 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Compute Score (GPU)
| Compute Score (GPU) | 29825 | 3743 |
| Single-core score | 3762 | 968 |
| Multi-core score | 11459 | 3605 |
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
| CPU | 1431500 | 500024 |
| GPU | 1947800 | 223043 |
| Memory | 500900 | 243998 |
| UX | 1121034 | 382743 |
| Total score | 5001234 | 1349808 |
| Samples | Less than 3 | [6 tests] |
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
| Stability | - | 88% |
| Graphics test | - | 14 FPS |
| Graphics score | - | 2479 |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | - | 8304 |
| Video editing | - | 6949 |
| Photo editing | - | 25400 |
| Data manipulation | - | 9541 |
| Writing score | - | 13100 |
AnTuTu 11 Ranking List (#6th place)
Recent User Tests
Xiaomi 18 Pro Max
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-10-22 (Josh Burton) | AnTuTu 12 | 4589508 |
Xiaomi 12 Pro
| Date | Benchmark | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 📘 2026-10-23 (Kün) | Geekbench 7 CPU | 868 / 3663 |
| 📘 2026-10-23 (Kün) | Geekbench 7 CPU | 658 / 2154 |
| 📘 2026-09-27 (Tema) | CPU Throttle | 86% |
| 📘 2026-06-07 (Tema) | AnTuTu 11 | 1603387 |
| 📘 2026-04-15 (Max) | AnTuTu 11 | 1349808 |
Memory
| RAM size | 12 GB | 8 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5X | LPDDR5 |
| Memory clock | - | 3200 MHz |
| Channels | 4 | 2 |
| Storage size | 256 GB | 128 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 4.1 | UFS 3.1 |
| Memory card | No | No |
Software
| Operating system | Android 17 | Android 12 (Can be upgraded to Android 15) |
| ROM | HyperOS 4 | HyperOS 3 |
| OS size | - | 26.5 GB |
| OS updates | 6 years | - |
| Security updates | 6 years | - |
Battery
| Capacity | 8500 mAh | 4600 mAh |
| Max charge power | 100 W | 120 W |
| Battery type | Silicon-Carbon (Si/C) | Li-Po |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | Yes (50 W) | Yes (50 W) |
| Reverse charging | Yes, (wireless) | Yes, (wireless) |
| Bypass charging | Yes | - |
| Fast charging | Yes | Yes (50% in 8 min) |
| Full charging time | - | 0:21 hr |
| Web browsing | - | 06:40 hr |
| Watching video | - | 10:08 hr |
| Gaming | - | 04:44 hr |
| Standby | - | 81 hr |
General battery life
Main camera
| Matrix | 200 megapixels | 50 megapixels |
| Image resolution | - | 8700 x 5800 |
| Zoom | Optical, 3.2x | Optical, 2x |
| Flash | Dual LED | Dual LED |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| 8K video recording | Up to 30FPS | Up to 24FPS |
| 4K video recording | Up to 120FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| 1080p video recording | Up to 60FPS | Up to 60FPS |
| Slow motion | 1920 FPS (720p) | 1920 FPS (720p) |
| Angle of widest lens | 102° | 115° |
| Lenses | 1) Standard: 200 MP 2) Telephoto: 200 MP 3) Ultrawide: 50 MP |
1) Standard: 50 MP 2) Telephoto: 50 MP 3) Ultrawide: 50 MP |
| Camera features | - Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
- Bokeh mode - Pro mode - RAW support |
| Image resolution | 200 MP | 50 MP |
| Aperture | f/1.7 | f/1.9 |
| Focal length | 23 mm | 24 mm |
| Sensor | Smartsens SCC90XS 960 LightHunter | Sony IMX707 |
| Sensor size | 1/1.28" (≈ 0.78 inch) | 1/1.28" (≈ 0.78 inch) |
| Pixel size | 0.61 micron | 1.22 micron |
| Autofocus | Laser autofocus | Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) |
| Stabilization | Optical | Optical |
| Image resolution | 200 MP | 50 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.4 | f/1.9 |
| Focal length | 75 mm | 48 mm |
| Sensor | Samsung ISOCELL HP5 | Samsung JN1 |
| Sensor size | 1/1.56" (≈ 0.64 inch) | 1/2.76" (≈ 0.36 inch) |
| Pixel size | 0.8 micron | 0.64 micron |
| Stabilization | Optical | Digital |
| Image resolution | 50 MP | 50 MP |
| Aperture | f/2.4 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | 17 mm | 14 mm |
| Sensor | Omnivision OV51D | Samsung JN1 |
| Sensor size | 1/2.88" (≈ 0.35 inch) | 1/2.76" (≈ 0.36 inch) |
| Pixel size | 0.61 micron | 0.64 micron |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
DxOMark main camera tests
Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
| Bokeh | - | 70 |
| Preview | - | 70 |
| Zoom | - | 102 |
| Samples | - | Photo samples of Xiaomi 12 Pro from DxOMark |
Selfie camera
| Megapixels | 50 megapixels | 32 megapixels |
| Image resolution | 8192 x 6144 | 6528 x 4896 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.5 |
| Focal length | 21 mm | 26 mm |
| Sensor | Omnivision OV51D | OmniVision OV32b40 |
| Sensor size | 1/2.88" (≈ 0.35 inch) | 1/3.14" (≈ 0.32 inch) |
| Pixel size | 0.61 micron | 0.7 micron |
| Autofocus | Phase autofocus | No |
| Stabilization | Digital | Digital |
| Video resolution | 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS | 1080p (Full HD) at 60 FPS |
| Depth sensor (TOF 3D) | No | No |
Connectivity
| Wi-Fi standard | Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be) | Wi-Fi 6E (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 | 6.0 | 5.2 |
| Bluetooth features | LE | LE |
| USB type | USB Type-C | USB Type-C |
| USB version | 3.2 | 2 |
| USB features | - Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
- Charging - USB-Storage mode - OTG |
| DisplayPort | Yes | - |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC |
| NFC* | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | Yes | Yes |
| Number of SIM* | 2 | 2 |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | Nano |
| Multi SIM mode | Standby | Standby |
| eSIM support* | No | No |
| Hybrid slot | No | No |
| LTE Cat* | - | 20 |
| 5G support | Yes | Yes |
Sound
| Speakers | 2.1 | Stereo |
| Headphone audio jack | No | No |
| FM radio | No | No |
| Dolby Atmos | Yes | Yes |
Speakers test
Max loudness
Other
| Category | Flagship | Flagship |
| Announced | September 2026 | December 2021 |
| Release date | September 2026 | December 2021 |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $1299 | $999 |
| Successor | - | - Xiaomi 18 Pro Max |
| Sensors | - Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
- Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
| Bundled charger | Yes, 100 W | Yes, 120 W |
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.
Conclusion
After analyzing all the data, we think that the Xiaomi 18 Pro Max is definitely a better buy.
Cast your vote
Total votes: < 1