Xiaomi 12T Pro vs Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.67-inch Xiaomi 12T Pro (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1) that was released on October 4, 2022, against the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G, which is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 and came out 9 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 12T Pro
- 2.1x better performance in AnTuTu Benchmark (1298K versus 625K)
- Supports higher wattage charging (120W versus 25W)
- Shows 22% longer battery life (32:24 vs 26:34 hours)
- Better camera quality (According to DxOMark rating)
- Newer Bluetooth version (v5.2)
- Comes with 500 mAh larger battery capacity: 5000 vs 4500 mAh
- Delivers 15% higher peak brightness (917 against 797 nits)
- Slow-motion recording at 1920FPS
- 11% higher pixel density (446 vs 401 PPI)
- Ready for eSIM technology
- Has a built-in infrared port
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G
- The rear camera has a 3x optical zoom
- Handles wireless charging up to 15W
- Waterproof body (IP68 classification)
- Reverse charging feature
- Weighs 28 grams less
- The front-facing camera can record video at 4K
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
Value for money
Tests and specifications
Comparison table of technical specifications and testsDisplay
| Type | AMOLED | Dynamic AMOLED |
| Size | 6.67 inches | 6.4 inches |
| Resolution | 1220 x 2712 pixels | 1080 x 2340 pixels |
| Aspect ratio | 20:9 | 20:9 |
| PPI | 446 ppi | 401 ppi |
| Refresh rate | 120 Hz | 120 Hz |
| Adaptive refresh rate | No | No |
| Max rated brightness | 500 nits | 420 nits |
| Max rated brightness in HDR | 900 nits | 1200 nits |
| HDR support | Yes, Dolby Vision | Yes, HDR10+ |
| Screen protection | Corning Gorilla Glass 5 | Gorilla Glass Victus |
| Screen-to-body ratio | 86.7% | 89.6% |
| Display features |
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display - DC Dimming |
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display |
| RGB color space | 98.2% | 97% |
| PWM | 120 Hz | 247 Hz |
| Response time | 1 ms | 6 ms |
| Contrast | ∞ Infinity | ∞ Infinity |
Peak brightness test (auto)
Design and build
| Height | 163.1 mm (6.42 inches) | 155.7 mm (6.13 inches) |
| Width | 75.9 mm (2.99 inches) | 74.5 mm (2.93 inches) |
| Thickness | 8.6 mm (0.34 inches) | 7.9 mm (0.31 inches) |
| Weight | 205 g (7.23 oz) | 177 g (6.24 oz) |
| Waterproof | IP53 | IP68 |
| Rear material | Glass | Plastic |
| Frame material | Plastic | Metal |
| Colors | Black, Silver, Blue | White, Gray, Green, Purple |
| Fingerprint scanner | Yes, in-display | Yes, in-display |
Screen-to-body ratio
Performance
| Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 |
| Max clock | 3190 MHz | 2840 MHz |
| CPU cores | 8 (1 + 3 + 4) | 8 (1 + 3 + 4) |
| Architecture |
- 4 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A510
- 3 cores at 2.75 GHz: Cortex-A710 - 1 core at 3.2 GHz: Cortex-X2 |
- 4 cores at 1.8 GHz: Kryo 680 Silver (Cortex-A55)
- 3 cores at 2.42 GHz: Kryo 680 Gold (Cortex-A78) - 1 core at 2.84 GHz: Kryo 680 Prime (Cortex-X1) |
| L3 cache | 6 MB | 4 MB |
| Lithography process | 4 nanometers | 5 nanometers |
| Graphics | Adreno 730 | Adreno 660 |
| GPU shading units | 1536 | 1024 |
| GPU clock | 900 MHz | 792 MHz |
| FLOPS | ~2764.8 GFLOPS | ~1622 GFLOPS |
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
AnTuTu Benchmark 10
| CPU | 358421 | 140597 |
| GPU | 474848 | 209723 |
| Memory | 214129 | 134992 |
| UX | 247384 | 139479 |
| Total score | 1298320 | 625671 |
3DMark Wild Life Performance
| Max surface temperature | 35.5 °C | 39.1 °C |
| Stability | - | 69% |
| Graphics test | - | 34 FPS |
| Graphics score | - | 5703 |
PCMark 3.0
| Web score | - | 10889 |
| Video editing | - | 7079 |
| Photo editing | - | 28541 |
| Data manipulation | - | 10075 |
| Writing score | - | 14461 |
Memory
| RAM size | 8, 12 GB | 6, 8 GB |
| Memory type | LPDDR5 | LPDDR5 |
| Memory clock | - | 2750 MHz |
| Channels | 4 | 2 |
| Storage size | 128, 256 GB | 128, 256 GB |
| Storage type | UFS 3.1 | UFS 3.1 |
| Memory card | No | No |
Software
| Operating system | Android 12 (Can be upgraded to Android 13) | Android 12 (Can be upgraded to Android 13) |
| ROM | MIUI 14 | One UI 5.0 |
| OS size | 33 GB | 17.5 GB |
Battery
| Capacity | 5000 mAh | 4500 mAh |
| Max charge power | 120 W | 25 W |
| Battery type | Li-Po | Li-Ion |
| Replaceable | No | No |
| Wireless charging | No | Yes (15 W) |
| Reverse charging | No | Yes, (wireless) |
| Fast charging | Yes (50% in 7 min) | Yes (51% in 30 min) |
| Full charging time | 0:23 hr | 1:15 hr |
| Web browsing | 12:04 hr | 07:42 hr |
| Watching video | 15:07 hr | 13:05 hr |
| Gaming | 05:32 hr | 05:29 hr |
| Standby | 93 hr | 91 hr |
General battery life
Camera
| Matrix | 200 megapixels | 12 megapixels |
| Image resolution | - | 4032 x 3024 |
| Zoom | Digital | Optical, 3x |
| Flash | Dual LED | 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) | 960 FPS (720p) |
| Angle of widest lens | 120° | 123° |
| Lenses | 3 (200 MP + 8 MP + 2 MP) | 3 (12 MP + 8 MP + 12 MP) |
| Wide (main) lens |
- 200 MP
- Aperture: f/1.7 - Focal length: 23 mm - Pixel size: 0.64 micron - Sensor: 1/1.22", Samsung HP1 (ISOCELL Plus CMOS) - Phase autofocus - Optical stabilization |
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/1.8 - Focal length: 26 mm - Pixel size: 1.8 micron - Sensor: 1/1.76", Sony IMX555 (Exmor-RS CMOS) - Phase autofocus (Dual Pixel) - Optical stabilization |
| Telephoto lens | - |
- 8 MP
- Aperture: f/2.4 - Focal length: 76 mm - Pixel size: 1 micron - Sensor: 1/4.5", Hynix Hi847 (CMOS) - Phase autofocus - Optical stabilization |
| Ultra-wide lens |
- 8 MP
- Aperture: f/2.2 - Pixel size: 1.12 micron - Sensor: 1/4", Samsung S5K4H7 (ISOCELL CMOS) |
- 12 MP
- Aperture: f/2.2 - Focal length: 13 mm - Pixel size: 1.12 micron - Sensor: 1/3.0", Sony IMX258 (Exmor-RS CMOS) |
| Macro lens |
- 2 MP
- Aperture: f/2.4 |
- |
| Camera features |
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode - RAW support |
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode - RAW support |
| Samples | Photo samples of Xiaomi 12T Pro from DxOMark | Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S21 FE 5G from DxOMark |
| Megapixels | 20 megapixels | 32 megapixels |
| Image resolution | - | 6464 x 4864 |
| Aperture | f/2.2 | f/2.2 |
| Focal length | - | 26 mm |
| Pixel size | 0.8 microns | 0.8 microns |
| Sensor type | Exmor-RS CMOS | Exmor-RS CMOS |
| Sensor size | 1/3.47" | 1/2.74" |
| 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 6 (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 |
| USB type | USB Type-C | USB Type-C |
| USB version | 2 | 3.2 |
| USB features |
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode - OTG |
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode - OTG |
| GPS | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo |
| NFC * | Yes | Yes |
| Infrared port | Yes | No |
| Number of SIM * | 2 | 2 |
| Type of SIM card | Nano | Nano |
| Multi SIM mode | Standby | Standby |
| eSIM support * | Yes | No |
| Hybrid slot | No | No |
| LTE Cat * | 20 | 19 |
| 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 | October 2022 | January 2022 |
| Release date | October 2022 | January 2022 |
| SAR (head) | 1 W/kg | 0.95 W/kg |
| SAR (body) | 1 W/kg | 1.48 W/kg |
| Sensors |
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
- Hall-effect sensor
- Barometer - Proximity sensor - Gyroscope - Accelerometer - Ambient light sensor - Compass - Fingerprint |
| Bundled charger | Yes, 120 W | Not included |
*
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 12T Pro is definitely a better buy.