The Nothing Phone (1) goes up against the equally new Xiaomi 12 Lite in the premium mid-range smartphone category. Here’s how they both compare.
The Nothing Phone (1) and the Xiaomi 12 Lite have hit the market at the same time, but which of these is the better buy? Premium mid-range smartphones or upper mid-range smartphones as some call them are smartphones with mid-range specs combined with a few features that are available on flagships. This category of phones appeals to those who are not concerned about having the best specs available but want a device that doesn’t look cheap and can handle their day-to-day needs.
Xiaomi is not new to this segment, given that it’s been selling Lite versions of its flagships for a while. Nothing, on the other hand, has decided to dip its toes in the mid-range category with its first smartphone. When Nothing first announced that it was working on a phone, many assumed that the brand would launch a flagship, given co-founder Carl Pei’s history with OnePlus. However, Nothing has taken a different approach, likely to cater to a larger segment of buyers.
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There is an unmistakable difference between the design of the Nothing Phone (1) and Xiaomi 12 Lite. Unlike its more expensive siblings, the Xiaomi 12 Lite drops the curves. The display is flat and so are the frame and the back glass. However, it keeps the punch hole in the center of the display and sticks to a triple camera array just like the Xiaomi 12 Pro. The Nothing Phone also has a metallic flat frame but its front-facing camera is at the top left corner while the back is home to dual cameras. What makes it stand out from the Xiaomi 12 Lite and most other phones is its see-through back panel which houses several LEDs that act as a sort of notification system. The Nothing Phone (1) is available in white and black while the Xiaomi 12 Lite comes in Black, Lite Green, and Lite Pink.
Almost Evenly Matched On Specs
On the specs side, there are some similarities between both phones. Starting with the display, the Xiaomi 12 Lite and Nothing Phone (1) both have a 6.55-inch screen with a 120Hz refresh rate and Gorilla Glass 5. However, while Xiaomi uses a rigid AMOLED panel with a peak brightness of 950 nits and support for HDR10+ and Dolby Vision, Nothing uses a flexible OLED display with HDR10+ and a peak brightness of 1,200 nits. On the processor side, the Nothing Phone (1) is powered by the Snapdragon 778G+ and comes with 8GB or 12GB of RAM and up to 256GB of storage. In contrast, the Xiaomi 12 Lite uses the less powerful Snapdragon 778G, paired with 6GB or 8GB of RAM and up to 256GB of storage. Neither of the two phones has a microSD card slot.
For the cameras, Xiaomi has equipped its phone with a 108MP f/1.8 main camera, paired with an 8MP f/2.2 120-degree ultra-wide angle camera, and a 2MP macro camera. In addition to these is a 32MP front-facing camera with two soft LEDs for illumination. Nothing has kept things simple by adopting just two rear cameras. There’s a 50MP f/1.8 Sony IMX766 sensor, and unlike the Xiaomi 12 Lite’s main camera, this one has optical image stabilization and electronic image stabilization (EIS). The second camera is also a 50MP sensor with an f/2.2 aperture and a 114-degree field of view. The ultra-wide camera has EIS and is also capable of shooting 4cm macro images, which frankly, is a better implementation than a dedicated 2MP sensor. The front camera is a 16MP unit.
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The Nothing Phone (1) has a 4,500mAh battery that supports 33W fast charging and 15W wireless charging. On the other hand, the Xiaomi 12 Lite has a smaller 4,300mAh battery that charges much faster at 67W, and unlike Nothing, ships with a charger in the box. Both phones have an in-display fingerprint scanner, face unlock, NFC, dual-SIM support, stereo speakers, and Bluetooth 5.2, but only the Nothing Phone (1) has Wi-Fi 6. Neither of the phones has a headphone jack. The Xiaomi 12 Lite ships with MIUI 13 based on Android 12, and while Xiaomi doesn’t say how many updates it will get, its predecessor, the Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE will receive two OS upgrades and three years of security updates. It is safe to assume the same will apply to the Xiaomi 12 Lite. In contrast, the Nothing Phone (1), which also runs Android 12 with a custom launcher on top, will receive three years of Android updates and four years of security updates.
While the Nothing Phone (1) is the better device overall, more buyers may want to tilt towards Xiaomi since it is an established brand with years of experience making phones. With respect to pricing, the Nothing Phone (1) starts at €469 ($472) for the 8GB+128GB version, jumps to €499 ($503) for the 8GB+256GB version, and stops at €549 ($553) for the 12GB+256GB version. The Xiaomi 12 Lite is priced at $399 for the base model with 6GB RAM and 128GB of storage, $449 for the 8GB+128GB version, and $499 for the 8GB+256GB version. Despite having official USD pricing, the Xiaomi 12 Lite, just like the Nothing Phone (1), will not go on sale in the U.S., putting both phones out of reach for many users.
