Six months after its previous flagship launch,Xiaomi announced a trio of familiar looking phones to mark the beginning of its partnership with Leica. The flagship of the new 12S Series is the 12S Ultra, which is powered by the more efficient Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 flagship processor, and has a huge 50.3-inch Sony IMX 988 main sensor. This equates to a generous size of 1.6um, which is doubled to 3.2um by binning for a supposedly boosted color accuracy and low light performance. TheXiaomi 12S Ultra uses the entire portion of its 1-inch sensor.

The cost of the Sony IMX989 was split between the two companies according to the CEO. After the launch of the 12S Ultra, the sensor will be made available to his local competitors in order to promote the advancement of mobile images.

A close-up of Xiaomi 12S Ultra's rear camera module, co-engineered with Leica.
Xiaomi 12S Ultra

You get a "Leica Summicron 1:1.9-4.1 / 13-120ASPH camera system" covering all three rear cameras, along with a 50.3-megapixel main camera. The Sony IMX586 sensor is used in both cameras. The circular camera island benefits from coating magic to mitigate lens glare and improve image consistency. There is also a 23K gold rim here.

Users will be able to change between two photographic styles: "Leica Authentic Look" for natural-looking shots with stronger three-dimensional depth, and "Leica Vibrant Look" which addsXiaomi's input on vibrancy while preserving authenticity. The watermark banner at the bottom of your photos can be changed to add a red logo, phone model and timestamp to the right.

A sample shot taken with the Xiaomi 12S Ultra, featuring a cyclist on a river bank in the early morning before sunrise.

There is a selfie camera on the other side of the phone. The first device to sport these features is the 12S Ultra, since most of these cameras are capable of recording up to 4K at 60 frames per second. The motor-based "HyperOIS" is used by some. For still shots, the entire 12S Series supports 10-bit RAW format, with color correction Metadata embedded in the files for easier post-production with the likes of Adobe Lightroom.

The Surge P1 fast-charging chip and Surge G1 battery management chip are included in the 12S Ultra. Support for 67W wired fast charging, 50W wireless fast charging and 10W reverse charging is provided by these. It's a good thing that the Surge P1 can handle an output current of up to 16A here because some fast-charging solutions use a dual cell battery instead. The 12S Ultra has adaptive charging, which is said to increase the number of charge cycles by 25%.

It's important to keep the phone cool in order to maintain a healthy battery. TheXiaomi 12S Ultra has a cooling pump that uses a capillary mechanism similar to that on leaves. Compared to conventional cooling modules, this appears to improve thermal Conductivity.

Xiaomi 12S Ultra

The rest of the device is a standard flagship. The display has a peak brightness of up to 1,500 nits, a 1-120Hz adaptivesync pro refresh rate, native 10-bit color depth and support for P As you can see from the camera features, the screen can handle a number of audio and video formats, and it will work well with the Kardon speakers. It should survive accidental dives into sinks and pools. There is a remote port at the top of the house.

The options include up to 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM, up to 512GB of UFS 3.1 storage, and a self-developed FBO storage refresh tech, which supposedly maintains the same read/ write performance for at least four years. There is a choice between a "Classic Black" and a "Verdant Green".

A close-up of the Xiaomi 12S Pro's Leica Vario-Summicron 1:1.9-2.4/14-50 ASPH camera system, with all three cameras featuring a 50-megapixel sensor.
Xiaomi 12S Pro

The 12S Pro has the same 6.73-inch display and Surge P1 fast charging chipset as the 12S Ultra but lacks reverse charging. The Sony IMX707 main sensor is a variant of the IMX700 that was found on the HUAWEIMATE 40 Pro series. This still has the same resolution of its ultra-wide camera (14mm) and telephoto camera (50mm) as well as a good size of 1.22um.

The 12S has the same camera and fast-charging features as the 12S Pro, but with a smaller battery and a more palm-friendly body. There is still a lot of demand for small flagship phones.

Pre-ordering theXiaomi 12S Series in China is now open. The price of the 12S Ultra is from 5,999 to 6,999. The 12S Pro is less expensive, asking for 4,699 yuan (8GB RAM, 128GB storage, around $700) to 5,999 yuan (12GB RAM, 512GB storage, around $890). The cheapest option here is the 12S, which starts at 3,999 yuan and ends at 5,199 yuan. We will be keeping an eye out for international availability later.