Just six months after the launch of the previous flagship, Xiaomi today announced a trio of familiar-looking smartphones to mark the start of its partnership with Leica. The new 12S series features MIUI 13 based on Android 12 and runs on Qualcomm’s supposedly more efficient Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 flagship processor, with the flagship 12S Ultra sporting a massive 1-inch, 50.3-megapixel Sony IMX989 main sensor . That means a generous 1.6um pixel size, which is then doubled to 3.2um by pixel binning for supposedly increased color accuracy and low-light performance. And unlike the Sony Xperia Pro-I, the Xiaomi 12S Ultra clearly uses the full portion of its 1-inch sensor.
According to CEO Lei Jun, Xiaomi participated in the development of Sony IMX989, and the price of 15 million dollars was also divided equally between the two companies. Interestingly, the sensor will not be exclusive to Xiaomi; Ley added that it will be made available to its local competitors after the 12S Ultra’s launch to “together promote the advancement of mobile imaging.”
Xiaomi 12S Ultra
Xiaomi
As for Leica’s involvement in the Xiaomi 12S Ultra, you get a “Leica Summicron 1:1.9-4.1 / 13-120 ASPH camera system” covering all three rear cameras: the aforementioned 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 periscope 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 a certain magic coating to soften lens flare and improve image consistency in each lens. Oh, and there’s a 23K gold rim here, too.
In addition to some 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 Xiaomi’s contribution to vibrancy while preserves authenticity (somehow). You can also toggle the watermark banner at the bottom of your photos, which will add the iconic red Leica logo, photo metadata and location coordinates on the right, along with the phone model and timestamp on the left.
Xiaomi
On the other side of the phone is a 32-megapixel selfie camera powered by an unknown RGBW sensor. Most of these cameras are capable of Dolby Vision HDR video recording (up to 4K@60fps) and playback, making the 12S Ultra the first Android device with these features. Some also use motor-based “HyperOIS” for more stable shots. As for stills, the entire 12S series supports Adobe Labs-calibrated 10-bit RAW format, with color correction metadata built into the files for easier post-production with the likes of Adobe Lightroom.
The 12S Ultra also carries two proprietary Xiaomi Surge chips: the Surge P1 fast charging chipset and the Surge G1 battery management chipset. They provide support for 67W wired fast charging, 50W wireless fast charging and 10W reverse charging for the 4860mAh single cell silicon oxygen anode battery. Note that some fast charging solutions use a dual-cell battery instead to split the current load, so it’s good that the Surge P1 can handle up to 16A output current here, and apparently with 96.8% conversion efficiency. Like recent phones from Oppo and ASUS, the 12S Ultra also offers adaptive charging, which it claims increases the number of charge cycles by 25 percent.
Keeping the phone cool is also key to a healthier battery, not to mention more stable gaming performance. The Xiaomi 12S Ultra is equipped with a “three-dimensional cooling pump” that moves coolant through warm surfaces using a capillary mechanism similar to that on leaves. This obviously significantly improves thermal conductivity compared to conventional vapor cooling modules.
Xiaomi
The rest of the Xiaomi 12S Ultra is a standard flagship. For the display, you get a 6.73-inch Samsung E5 AMOLED panel (3200 x 1440, 522ppi; LTPO 2.0), with peak brightness of up to 1500 nits, 1-120Hz AdaptiveSync Pro refresh rate, native 10-bit color depth, and P3 support range of colors. As you can tell from the camera specs, the screen can support Dolby Vision as well as HDR10+, HDR10 and HLG; these will go well with the Harman Kardon speakers, which also support Dolby Atmos audio. The device is IP68 rated, meaning it should survive occasional dips in sinks and pools. You’ll also find an infrared remote port on the top for controlling home appliances.
Options include up to 12GB LPDDR5 RAM, up to 512GB UFS 3.1 storage — featuring Xiaomi’s proprietary FBO (File-Based Optimization) storage refresh technology, which is supposed to maintain the same read/write performance for at least four years (and Lei added that FBO is already written into the next-generation UFS 4.0 storage specification). Buyers can choose between Classic Black and Green Green, both wrapped in vegan leather.
Xiaomi 12S Pro
Xiaomi
The smaller Xiaomi 12S Pro shares the same 6.73-inch display and Surge P1 fast-charging chipset as the 12S Ultra, though it supports a whopping 120W wired charging for its smaller 4,600mAh battery, but lacks 10W reverse charging. It features a more basic (but obviously still expensive) 1/1.28-inch, 50-megapixel Sony IMX707 main sensor, which is a variant of the IMX700 previously found in Huawei’s Mate 40 Pro series. This still offers a good pixel size of 1.22um (or 2.44um after pixel binning) and matches the resolution of its ultra-wide camera (14mm) and telephoto camera (50mm) — all also fine-tuned by Leica, on course.
As for the “basic” Xiaomi 12S, it has the same main camera as the 12S Pro and the same fast charging features as the 12S Ultra, but with a smaller 4500 mAh battery in a more palm-friendly body under the 6.28-inch 120Hz display. Clearly, there is still significant demand for small flagship phones, according to Lay.
The Xiaomi 12S series is now available for pre-order in China ahead of the July 6 retail launch. The 12S Ultra is priced from 5,999 yuan (8GB RAM, 256GB storage; about $900) to 6,999 yuan (12GB RAM, 512GB storage; about $1,000). The 12S Pro is cheaper, asking from 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 going up to 5,199 yuan (12GB RAM, 512GB storage; about $780). We’ll keep an eye out for international availability later.
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