Samsung Galaxy M12 Review

Samsung’s Galaxy M series deserves a lot of credit for re-establishing the South Korean giant in the top spot after a brief dip in market share in 2018. The strategy of populating retail shelves with one after another M series phones targeting millennials has worked well so far. Continuing with the same plan, the Samsung Galaxy M12 was recently introduced in the Indian market. (Samsung Galaxy M12 Review हिंदी में पढ़िए)

Samsung has priced the Galaxy M12 base variant with 4GB RAM + 64GB storage at Rs 10,999 while its higher specced version featuring 6GB RAM+128GB version retails for Rs 13,499. At these price tags, it will have to compete with strong contenders from Xiaomi, Motorola, and Realme. Will the Galaxy M12 be able to take on the competition head-on? Well, that requires a thorough assessment. Let’s detail our experience in our Samsung Galaxy M12 review.

Samsung Galaxy M12 price in India and specification

Samsung Galaxy M12 Unboxing

The moment you cut through the side tapes and open up the box you will be greeted by the phone itself. As you take the phone out of the box you will find charging brick and cable inside. Apart from these, the box also includes a SIM ejector tool, quick start guide, user manual, and warranty card. Unlike many Chinese counterparts, Samsung has stopped shipping the phone with a pre-applied screen protector and a TPU case.

Samsung Galaxy M12 review: Design and Build Quality

Let’s talk about the Galaxy M12 aesthetics first. Like most Samsung phones, the Galaxy M12 has an appealing design. It has a smudge-resistant, dual-tone finish on the back panel. The major portion is covered in fine vertical lines followed by a plain matte finish with Samsung logo etched on it.

Samsung has predominantly used plastic for the back panel. The entire approach is not exactly in tune with current trends, but Samsung scores well on implementation as it manages to ensure distinctive looks and excellent in-hand feel. The phone has a square-shaped enclosure at the back that features a quad rear camera that protrudes slightly and merges with the overall design of the phone effortlessly.

There’s a fingerprint sensor embedded in the power button which is responsive and quickly unlocks the phone. The volume rocker offers good tactile feedback but you will need to adjust your grip to reach it.

On the front, there are wide bezels surrounding the screen and a waterdrop notch. The overall footprint of the M12 is quite large and thanks to a massive battery inside, it weighs about 221 grams. However, Samsung did well with weight distribution as the phone still feels comfortable to hold and operate.

Samsung Galaxy M12 review: Display

One of the Galaxy M12 highlights includes a high refresh rate screen. The budget phone from Samsung comes with a 6.5-inch HD+ (720 x 1,600) PLS IPS panel that has a 90Hz adaptive refresh rate. While it may not have the FHD+ resolution like Redmi’s or Realme’s it will appeal to customers who wish to experience a 90Hz screen on a budget. Since it’s an adaptive panel it will adjust the refresh rate based on the screen content.

During our review testing, it worked more or less as advertised barring a few occasional jitters while switching between apps or switching to home screen from an app. In certain segments, Samsung has locked refresh rate to 60Hz.

Apart from that, the M12 display has no legibility concerns. it gets bright enough but images lack that sharpness you’d get from an FHD+ panel. If you have used Samsung’s AMOLED screen in the past, then you may find the M12 color bit muted but if you are upgrading from another TFT or LCD screen phone, in that case, you will be quite content with color reproduction on the M12 considering its price tag of Rs 10,999.

Samsung Galaxy M12 camera review

The Galaxy M12 follows the prevailing trend of stacking a quad-camera at the back. It’s a 48MP primary sensor led module coupled with a 5MP secondary ultra-wide lens (123-degree field of view), and two 2MP sensors for macro and depth.

The budget phone primary rear camera captures a decent amount of details in daylight and under artificial. It’s the low-light scenario where you will be forced to look for missing night mode. The shutter isn’t the snappiest of them all. Samsung engineers have tuned the cameras to deliver slightly warmer tones.

Largely, the photos will not leave you disappointed but I did crave for slightly faster focusing speeds. The 8MP ultra-wide sensor delivers basic results so does the other two 2MP sensors. You will notice edge bending in ultrawide images while macro shots will lack details. Portrait shots turn out well for the price. Here are some camera samples taken with Galaxy M12 cameras:

Samsung Galaxy M12 review performance and software

If performance to price is really a thing then Samsung Galaxy M12 more or less justifies its price. The latest M series phone comes with Exynos 850 SoC – a new 8nm chipset from Samsung. It is paired with 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM and 64GB of internal storage along with a microSD card slot that extends it to 1TB. The set ensures the Galaxy M12 performs like a budget phone. In day-to-day usage, its performance was sufficient but one will encounter occasional lag and stutter while switching between apps. Baring that, it ran smoothly.

Gaming is an area where you will only able to get a smooth experience in lower settings. As for benchmarks, we ran Geekbench 5 test on M12 where it scores 171 and 1,004 on single-core and multi-core tests.

The Galaxy M12 comes running on Android 11 based One UI Core 3.1 out-of-the-box. Samsung has optimized its software according to M12’s hardware. That’s why some of the key elements of OneUI will be missing here. There’s no Always On Display, no built-in screen recorder, no Samsung Pay are missing on the M12. Having said that, you can still change themes, use gestures, and Quick Share for file sharing.

Samsung Galaxy M12 review: Battery

The combination of a massive 6,000 mAh battery, Exynos 850 chipset, and HD+ screen ensures that don’t have to worry about battery throughout the day. It is difficult to drain in a day even after heavy usage. Unlike some Samsung flagships, the Galaxy M12 comes with a 15W wall charger which fully refills the monstrous battery in a little over two hours and thirty minutes.

Samsung Galaxy M12 review: Should you buy it?

The Galaxy M12 has four major highlights – Samsung branding, a 90Hz refresh screen, stable Android 11 software and a massive 6,000mAh battery. If these are the features that you value and prioritize, the Galaxy M12 makes a sensible budget option. The Exynos chipset is developed for low-end devices and it delivers decent performance compared to other options in the same price segment. The primary rear sensor is the only dependable camera in the quad setup.

Pros:

• Marvelous battery life
• Apealing design
• Clean software

Cons

• HD+ resolution
• No carrier aggregation or dual-band Wi-Fi

Samsung Galaxy M12 FAQ