Just six months after Before flagship launch, today Xiaomi announced a trio of familiar-looking smartphones to mark its beginnings cooperation with Leica. The new 12S series has MIUI 13 based on Android 12 and it runs on Qualcomm which is said to be more efficient Snapdragon 8+ 1st Generation” top processor, with title 12S Ultra packs a 1-inch, 50.3-megapixel Sony IMX989 main sensor. This means a generous pixel size of 1.6um, then doubled to 3.2um via pixel binning for supposedly increased color accuracy and low-light performance. And not like Sony Xperia Pro-IXiaomi 12S Ultra seems to use its entire 1-inch sensor section.
According to CEO Lei Jun, Xiaomi was involved in the development of the Sony IMX989 and the cost of $15 million was also split equally between the two companies. Interestingly, the sensor will not be exclusive to Xiaomi; Lei added that it will be made available to his local competitors after the launch of the 12S Ultra, to “together drive the advancement of mobile imaging.”
Xiaomi
For Leica’s part on the Xiaomi 12S Ultra, you get a “Leica Summicron 1:1.9-4.1 / 13-120 ASPH camera system” that includes all three rear cameras: a 50.3-megapixel main camera (23mm, f/ 1.9), along with a 48-megapixel ultra-wide camera (13mm, f/2.2) and a 48-megapixel lens camera (120mm, f/4.1). Both 48-megapixel cameras use a 1/2-inch Sony IMX586 sensor. The entire circular camera island – now co-branded “Leica” – benefits from some coating magic to reduce lens glare and improve image consistency across each lens. Oh, and there’s a 23K gold bezel here too.
In addition to a number of Leica filters, users will be able to switch between two photography styles: “Leica Authentic Look” for natural-looking photos with stronger three-dimensional depth, and “Leica Vibrant Look” which adds additional information Xiaomi’s input on vibrancy while preserving realism (somehow). You can also toggle the watermark banner at the bottom of the photo, which will add Leica’s iconic red logo, photo metadata and location coordinates to the right, along with a phone model and marker. time on the left.
Xiaomi
On the other side of the phone, there is a 32-megapixel selfie camera assisted by an unknown RGBW sensor. Most of these cameras are capable of Dolby Vision HDR video recording (up to 4K @ 60fps) and playback, so the 12S Ultra becomes the first Android device with these features. Some also use motor-based “HyperOIS” for more stable footage. For stills, the entire 12S Series supports the 10-bit RAW format calibrated by Adobe Labs, with color correction metadata embedded in the file for easier post-production with Adobe Lightroom.
The 12S Ultra also features two exclusive Xiaomi Surge chips: a Surge P1 fast charging chipset and a Surge G1 battery management chipset. They offer support for 67W wired fast charging, 50W wireless fast charging, and 10W reverse charging for a single 4,860mAh silicon oxygen anode battery. Note that some fast charging solutions use dual batteries instead to split the current load, that’s why Surge P1 can handle output currents up to 16A here and obviously with high transfer efficiency. change 96.8%. Like recent handsets from Oppo and ASUS, the 12S Ultra also offers adaptive charging, which is said to increase the number of charge cycles by 25%.
Keeping your phone cool is also key to a stronger battery, not to mention more consistent performance when gaming. Xiaomi 12S Ultra is equipped with a “three-way cooling pump” that moves cooling liquid through warm surfaces using a capillary mechanism similar to that on leaves. This seems to improve thermal conductivity significantly, compared to conventional vapor-cooled modules.
Xiaomi
The rest of the Xiaomi 12S Ultra is top standard. As for the display, you get a 6.73-inch Samsung E5 AMOLED panel (3,200 x 1,440, 522ppi; LTPO 2.0), with peak brightness up to 1,500 nits, a refresh rate of 1-120Hz AdaptiveSync Pro, Natural 10-bit color depth and P3 color gamut support. As you can tell from the camera’s features, the display can handle Dolby Vision, as well as HDR10+, HDR10 and HLG; these will work well with Harman Kardon speakers that also support Dolby Atmos audio. The device is IP68 rated, which means it will survive accidental dives into sinks and pools. You’ll also find an infrared remote at the top for controlling home appliances.
Options include up to 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM, up to 512GB of UFS 3.1 storage – featuring Xiaomi’s self-developed FBO (File-Based Optimization) storage refresh technology, which is said to maintain the same performance read/write for at least four years (and Lei added that FBO was written into the next generation UFS 4.0 storage specification). Buyers can choose between “Classic Black” and “Green”, both upholstered in vegan leather.
Xiaomi
Xiaomi is less 12S Pro shares the same 6.73-inch screen and Surge P1 fast-charging chipset as the 12S Ultra, although it does support a whopping 120W wired charging for the smaller 4,600mAh battery, but lacks 10W reverse charging. It has the more conventional (but still seemingly expensive) 50-megapixel Sony IMX707 main sensor, which is a variant of the IMX700 previously found on Huawei Mate 40 Pro series. This still offers a good pixel size of 1.22um (or 2.44um after pixel binning) and it matches the resolutions of ultra-wide (14mm) and telephoto (50mm) cameras – all of which fine-tuned by Leica, of course.
For Xiaomi “basic” 12S, it has the same main camera as the 12S Pro and the same fast charging as the 12S Ultra, but packs a smaller 4,500mAh battery in a more palm-friendly body under the 6.28-inch 120Hz display. According to Lei, there is clearly still a big demand for small flagship phones.
The Xiaomi 12S series is now available for pre-order in China ahead of its retail launch on July 6. The 12S Ultra is priced from 5,999 yuan (8GB RAM, 256GB storage; around $900) to 6,999 cores. yuan (12GB RAM, 512GB storage; about $1,000). The 12S Pro is cheaper, asking for 4,699 yuan (8GB RAM, 128GB storage; about $700) to 5,899 yuan (12GB RAM, 512GB storage; about $880). The 12S is the most affordable option here, starting at 3,999 yuan (8GB RAM, 128GB storage; about $600) and capped at 5,199 yuan (12GB RAM, 512GB storage; about $780) . We will monitor international availability later.
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