Winners and losers 2022: Xiaomi

Xiaomi is one of the top three players in the smartphone market, and while it had a turbulent 2022 financially, it also saw some stellar products from the company. It has also invested heavily in its electric vehicle business, which will hopefully pay off in the future.

In the world of smartphones, we’ve seen over a dozen Redmi Note 11 phones, a few highly competitive Poco phones, and some exciting beasts from the Xiaomi 12 series. Here’s a list of Xiaomi’s ups and downs from the last year as we saw them – Series 13 is not included as it is too new to judge yet.

Winner: Xiaomi 12S Ultra

This smartphone stole our hearts instantly when it arrived for a review. The main camera features a 50MP 1” type sensor alongside two other shooters that are among the most capable in their fields. It’s clearly the cameraphone to have, even if some of the shooters on the back don’t live up to the high standards set by the main camera.

The 12S Ultra also has the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset, an excellent 1440p display and an IP68 rating, which, while nothing new, is a big step up for Xiaomi. A nice package no matter how you look at it.

Loser: Xiaomi 12S Ultra

Unless you’re looking to buy one, you can’t. Xiaomi has limited the 12S Ultra to China, meaning international markets haven’t seen an Ultra phone for eighteen months.

Xiaomi Ultras (from left to right): Mi 10 Ultra • 12S Ultra • Mi 11 Ultra

We are extremely sad that this phone did not escape the domestic market, and whatever problems prevented Xiaomi from releasing it to the world, it cost them dearly.

Winner: Xiaomi 12T Pro

In a year without Ultra phones, Xiaomi’s next best thing is the Pro variants. While the Xiaomi 12 Pro was the company’s international flagship, we loved the more affordable Xiaomi 12T Pro, announced in the second half of 2022. It features a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset and a 200MP camera – features that no other Xiaomi device has in the international arena.

What we also liked about the 12T Pro was its amazing display, solid battery with 120W fast charging, and great audio output. There is also a limited edition by Daniel Arsham, which makes the phone look like a work of art. It is clearly one of the successful products for Xiaomi.

Loser: Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 series of 18 people

The Redmi Note family is the best-selling in Xiaomi’s portfolio. These are capable midrangers, placed in multiple price slots thanks to a host of different builds. However, Xiaomi apparently went too far this time and ended up confusing journalists and enthusiasts.

Major markets like India and China have the same phone names but with different specs. Some of them were 5G, and some weren’t. It would take a decent amount of research to find out which phones are actually available to you and how they rank. More so if you want to make sure you’re getting the best value for money, which is normally essential for mid-rangers.

In the end, the company saw 60 million Redmi Note units shipped globally, hitting the impressive milestone of 300 million, which isn’t a disaster, but even it admitted it needed to streamline its lineup. in the future.

Winner: Poco F4 GT

The Poco F4 GT is a flagship chip phone that ticks all the right boxes for a large group of smartphone gamers. It has pop-up triggers, RGB LEDs on the back that actually work instead of being there for aesthetics, and a 120Hz display as befits any self-respecting gaming device.

It also has polished software and a very aggressive price, which made it an obvious choice for many people.

Loser: Xiaomi Mix Fold 2

Xiaomi’s second-generation foldable, Mix Fold 2, followed in the footsteps of the first. That is, it never reached international markets. Worse still, the phone felt rather crude for a second-gen product.

Xiaomi Mix Fold 2

The Mix Fold 2 was with us for a test, and we loved how slim it was. However, the fact that the custom MIUI offers limited multitasking capabilities takes away much of the utility from the large internal display.

Then there’s the overheated graphics unit, unimpressive camera performance, and relatively high price compared to other foldables. We hope that the third time around will be lucky and that Mix Fold 3 will look more like a high-end device and less like a hastily assembled prototype.