The Xiaomi 12 Pro, which came out four months ago, was a very good Android flagship for 2022 that received a good reception on almost every tech site, including this one. But still, if you read my review carefully, you might have noticed that I was more critical than others and maybe even sounded a little disappointed. The reason is that I knew that the Xiaomi 12 Pro was not Xiaomi’s best offering, that eventually there would be an Ultra device that would be the true alpha dog phone of Xiaomi. It took a little longer than expected, but it’s finally here: it’s the Xiaomi 12S Ultra.
I’ve only had about eleven hours with the phone at the time of writing this, so this is by no means a complete review. But on paper, this phone is a beast with the over-the-top hardware we’ve come to expect from the last two Xiaomi Ultra phones, and from my tests so far, it lives up to that cheesy spec sheet.
Xiaomi 12S Ultra: Specifications
Specification Xiaomi 12S Ultra Build
- IP68 dust and water resistance
- Colors:
- Classic black
- Green green
Dimensions and weight
- 163.17 x 74.92 x 9.06 mm
- 225 gr
Display
- 6.73-inch Samsung E5 AMOLED
- Dolby Vision TrueColor display
- Resolution 3200 x 1440, 522PPI
- 1-120Hz adaptive refresh rate
- 1500 nits peak brightness
- 360 degree ambient light sensor
- Native 10-bit color depth
- 100% DCI-P3 coverage
- HDR10+, HDR10, HLG
SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 RAM and storage
- 8 GB LPDDR5 RAM + 256 GB UFS 3.1 memory
- 12GB + 256GB
- 12GB + 512GB
The battery is charging
- 4860 mAh
- Support 67W wired fast charging
- Support 50W wireless fast charging
- Support 10W reverse wireless charging
- Xiaomi Surge P1 charging chip
- Xiaomi Surge G1 battery management chip
Security In-display fingerprint scanner Rear camera(s)
- Primary: 50.3MP IMX989, f/1.9, 8P aspherical lens, octa-PD autofocus
- Ultrawide: 48MP IMX586, f/2.2, Leica Summicron 1:1.9-4.1 / 13-120 aspherical lens, dual PD autofocus, macro mode support
- Telephoto: 48MP IMX586, f/4.1, 120x periscope zoom, HyperOIS
- Leica Authentic Look and Leica Vibrant look photography styles
- Leica Vivid, Natural, BW Natural, BW High Contrast filters
Front Camera(s) 32MP RGBW Image Sensor Port(s) USB Type-C Audio
- Balanced stereo speakers
- Tuned by Harman Kardon
- Dolby Atmos certification
Connectivity
- Dual 5G
- 4G LTE
- Wi-Fi 6
- Bluetooth 5.2
- BLE Audio support
- Snapdragon sound support
- AAC/LDAC/LHDC/aptX Adaptive
- Multi-functional NFC
MIUI 13 software based on Android 12 Other features
- X-axis linear vibration motor
- 3D cooling system
About it in practice: Xiaomi sent me the Xiaomi 12S Ultra for testing. Xiaomi has no contribution to this article.
Xiaomi 12S Ultra: Prices and Availability
First, the elephant in the room and some bad news for some readers: the Xiaomi 12S Ultra is currently only slated for release in China, although an international release may follow later. The Xiaomi 12S Ultra is available in three configurations:
- 8GB+256GB: 5999 CNY (~$896)
- 12GB+256GB: CNY 6,499 (~$970)
- 12GB+512GB: CNY 6999 (~$1045)
Xiaomi has not yet shared details about the availability of the device. We will update this section as more information is revealed.
Xiaomi 12s Ultra design and hardware: It’s like a camera with a phone attached
Smartphone camera modules have been getting bigger and bigger over the years, but the Xiaomi 12S Ultra really takes the cake. I mean, look at this thing. It also sticks out quite a bit from the back, so if you lay this phone down on a table, it rests at an angle as if you were propping up a keyboard.
As if that camera module isn’t eye-catching enough, there’s also a 24k gold ring that wraps around the module. However, despite the heavy design, the phone can still stand on its own thanks to its flat bottom and top.
However, this means that the Xiaomi 12S Ultra’s screen loses that quad-curved design seen on the Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra and Mi 11 Ultra (there’s no Mi branding on this year’s phone, by the way).
We’ll get back to those cameras soon, let’s look at the other hardware. Up front is a 6.73-inch OLED display, which Xiaomi is officially calling a ‘Dolby Vision TrueColor Display’. It’s an LTPO made by Samsung with a resolution of 3200 x 1440 and a refresh rate that can vary between 1Hz to 120Hz. It gets very bright at a maximum brightness of 1500 nits, supports 10-bit color depth, and content looks great on it.
Powering the phone is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1, the brand new 4nm chip from Qualcomm which is said to bring a 10% CPU and GPU improvement over the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 and more importantly, if true, a 30% increase in energy efficiency. This will be necessary because the 12S Ultra actually has a smaller battery than last year’s Mi 11 Ultra, at 4,860 mAh.
I’ve already run some benchmarks and the new chip scores high. On Geekbench in particular, the numbers are quite a bit better than what my Snapdragon 8 Gen 1-powered Galaxy S22 Ultra did. In fact, the 12S Ultra’s Geekbench numbers come close to Apple’s A15 Bionic.
Xiaomi 12S Ultra (left); Galaxy S22 Ultra (medium); iPhone 13 Pro Max (right).
More importantly, the Xiaomi 12S Ultra successfully completed the 20-minute “Wild Life Extreme Stress Test” in the 3D Mark app, which the Xiaomi 12 Pro failed to do when I tested it months ago due to overheating. So we know that the Xiaomi 12S Ultra at least has better thermal performance (but more importantly a processor that doesn’t heat up as much).
Everywhere else the phone rocks the symmetrical stereo speaker system seen on Xiaomi’s last few flagships, but the 12S Ultra also comes wrapped in a vegan leather finish, which I really like.
All the other flagships you’re used to can be found here: IP68 water and dust resistance, wireless charging (up to 50 W speeds) and wired fast charging (67 W, the charger is included in the package). And there are two proprietary chips inside the phone — Surge P1 and Surge G1 — that Xiaomi says will handle charging and battery management separately. Ok, let’s get back to the main selling point of this phone, the optics.
Xiaomi 12S Ultra Cameras: Big Sensor Magic
The Xiaomi 12S Ultra’s main camera consists of three cameras, headed by a new 50MP Sony IMX989 camera with a 1-inch sensor with a Leica lens. Xiaomi says the 1-inch Sony IMX sensor is custom-made by Sony for Xiaomi, and the optical lens covering the camera is co-designed by Leica and Xiaomi. The camera also uses pixel binning technology to produce a 3.2μm micropixel. Those numbers are insane.
The 48MP ultra-wide camera and Periscope zoom camera are also 1/2-inch Sony sensors, and they also use combining technology to produce 12MP photos. The Periscope zoom lens still offers a 5X optical zoom range, but from early tests it looks much improved over last year’s Mi 11 Ultra zoom lens.
Note that I haven’t had enough time to push the cameras yet, but these samples should give an early idea of how the Xiaomi 12S cameras perform. We can see from the samples that the 5x zoom lens produces very clear images, the ultra-wide doesn’t lose too much detail, and the colors stay pretty much consistent with the other lenses.
But really, most readers are interested in what this 1-inch main camera can do – so let’s dig in. Yes, the 1-inch sensor creates a very shallow depth of field, resulting in natural bokeh in still photos and videos.
And when compared to the Galaxy S22 Ultra and the iPhone 13 Pro Max, we can see that the Xiaomi photo also has noticeably stronger bokeh.
One concern I had with such a large sensor was that the camera would constantly blow out lights, which Samsung and Apple flagships tend to do from time to time (and those sensors are tiny compared to the 12S Ultra’s). Whether it’s Leica’s optical lenses or Xiaomi’s software algorithms, the images maintain a good balance. The bottom set of samples was taken when it was getting dark (19:20) but it wasn’t yet dark enough for these phones to turn on night mode, and we can see that the Xiaomi image clearly attracts the most light (bottom third of shot). The 12S Ultra is also the only camera that properly exposes my computer screens, while Samsung and Apple blew them away.
Note that Xiaomi’s colors are slightly more exaggerated. It’s part of Leica’s new image fine-tuning, which seems to do a similar job to what the Vivo X flagships have done recently, adding a little extra contrast for more punch. There’s an option to switch between this mode, called “Leica Vibrant,” and more natural colors, “Leica Authentic.”
If we move on to proper low-light shots, like below in a park at night, we can see the superiority of the Xiaomi photo: less noise, sharper details and better lighting all around. And here’s the kicker—the 12S Ultra didn’t need Night Mode for this shot, while the Apple and Samsung phones needed a two-second Night Mode.
I’ll definitely be putting this camera to more tests in the coming days as I work towards a full review, including against our current camera king, the Vivo X80 Pro, plus portrait photography.
Xiaomi 12S Ultra: Early thoughts
There’s a lot more to the Xiaomi 12S Ultra that I haven’t covered, including video recording, Leica’s portrait shooting modes, battery life (and whether the two proprietary chips help performance), as well as gaming and other general use of the phone. But for now, the Xiaomi 12S Ultra looks like it’s easily a contender for phone of the year so far. And while the lack of an international release date is still a bummer, China’s relatively low starting price of around $900 means consumers in the West can bring the device in and, even after factoring in the markup, won’t be paying an absurd amount. In case you’re wondering — Google apps don’t come with the phone, but they can be easily installed. Xiaomi’s own app…
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