The Redmi 12C is priced at ₹8,999 onwards in India. For this price, the smartphone offers a pretty complete package. The software remains the same as other Xiaomi smartphones with MIUI, but if you can get over that, the Redmi 12C is one of the good devices you can buy at this price.
Redmi 12C has been launched in India as the first sub-₹10,000 offering from Xiaomi in 2023. With the Redmi 12C, Xiaomi is updating its entry-level segment in the country, which essentially established the brand’s foothold in the Indian market.
The Redmi 12C has been launched with an interesting design and slightly updated specifications. The smartphone has been launched in competition with devices like the Infinix Note 12i, the Poco C51, and more. We have tested the Redmi 12C at Digit’s Test Lab here in Delhi, and here’s what we think about the Redmi 12C:
The design of the Redmi 12C is pleasant to look at. In terms of how it looks, the phone has quite a bit going on for it. We get a plastic back panel, with a pattern on the back with several strips running diagonally across the back panel. I quite like this back pattern, since it is a refreshing change from the basic matte or gloss finish back panels we are used to seeing in smartphones in this range.
There is a dual-tone camera module on the top left corner of the back panel, which holds the dual camera setup. The camera module also has the fingerprint sensor placed within, which is a bit of a weird placement for the sensor. A good thing about the design of the Redmi 12C is that the smartphone is very lightweight, but in this case, it comes at the cost of the quality of materials. The build quality doesn’t feel sturdy while holding the Redmi 12C.
Up front, things are simple. We get a plain water drop-notch display with bezels that seem slightly thick by today’s standards. Further, we also get a 3.5mm headphone jack, and the power button, with the volume rockers is placed at the right side of the frame.
Coming to display, this is a good HD+ LCD panel on the Redmi 12C. We get a 6.71-inch IPS LCD panel with an HD+ resolution. We don't get a high refresh rate and the Redmi 12C offers only a 60Hz refresh rate.
The Redmi 12C’s display is just about average. We only get an HD+ resolution, so the display doesn’t feel very sharp. The colours also feel a bit dull, and this display isn’t very vibrant, but watching videos is still a decent experience. Of course, the HD+ LCD panel has its limitations in terms of quality and detail, but comparing it to other similarly-priced devices, it’s not all that bad.
The brightness of this display is also good for the budget. We tested the brightness of the display on a plain white screen using a Lux Meter, and the smartphone showed a maximum brightness of 383 nits and a minimum brightness of 4 nits.
Coming to performance, the Redmi 12C comes with an octa-core MediaTek Helio G85 SoC paired with up to 6GB of RAM and up to 128GB of internal storage. The performance of this smartphone, according to benchmark numbers, is great. The Redmi 12C gave us an AnTuTu score of 235,049, which is slightly higher than other MediaTek Helio G85-powered devices that we have tested in the past. The Geekbench score of the Redmi 12C Is also pretty good. The smartphone gave us a single-core score of 405, and a multi-core score of 1,154. This, again, is similar to other MediaTek Helio G85-powered devices that we have tested.
In day-to-day usage, the smartphone feels slightly slow if you’re coming from a mid-range or a flagship device. However, comparing it to similarly-priced smartphones, the Redmi 12C feels pretty smooth. The app launch times are right up there with competing devices, and the gaming experience was also pretty good. The smartphone easily ran heavy games like Call of Duty: Mobile or Battlegrounds Mobile India, so that is a good point. Of course, we don’t get a high frame rate or super high resolution, but the graphics still feel pretty good for this price point.
The battery backup on the Redmi 12C is good. The smartphone constantly gave me about 1.5 days of complete backup throughout my brief usage of the Redmi 12C as the only device. The device doesn’t even drain the battery in high-power tasks like gaming or GPS navigation. During a 15-minute gaming session of Call of Duty: Mobile, the Redmi 12C only dropped 5 per cent of its battery. While watching a YouTube video on the highest-possible resolution at 50% brightness, the smartphone dropped 7 per cent battery.
The charging, however, is slow at just 10W. It took the Redmi 12C 157 minutes, which is 7 minutes more than 2.5 hours for the smartphone. This is not the slowest, but having to wait more than 2.5 hours for your phone isn’t something anyone wants.
Coming to the cameras, the Redmi 12C comes with a dual rear camera setup that includes a 50-megapixel primary shooter and a VGA depth sensor. The images out of the primary 50MP camera are really good in ideal light. The images look straight out of a mid-range smartphone’s camera, if not better.
The images in 50MP, especially, are sharp, crisp, and full of detail in good lighting conditions like a studio or in sunlight. It is in low light, where this camera struggles. Although the photos from it are passable and good enough for social media usage, it is not a smartphone where you can show off your low-light photography skills. Getting a good shot is still manageable, but you have to work hard for that. In the 50MP mode, the low-light images are much better but still isn’t enough for us to call it very good.
So the Redmi 12C is evidently an entry-level offering. The smartphone comes with a striking, yet flimsy design. We get a pretty average display, but good-enough performance. We get a very good battery backup, but the charging is super slow. Overall, the smartphone is good for the price you will pay for it. There are smartphones that will offer you a better experience in all these aspects within the same budget, but the Redmi 12C comes with Xiaomi’s solid track record in this segment.
The Redmi 12C is priced at ₹8,999 onwards in India. For this price, the smartphone offers a pretty complete package. The software remains the same as other Xiaomi smartphones with MIUI, but if you can get over that, the Redmi 12C is one of the good devices you can buy at this price.