Xiaomi recently unveiled the 12S Ultra, their most potent flagship device, focused on photography. Although the 12S Ultra is a premium smartphone with top-notch hardware, including Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 CPU, its new 1-inch Sony IMX989 primary camera sensor steals the show. Thanks to Xiaomi’s recently announced relationship with the renowned German optics company, the cameras on this phone are also receiving the “Leica treatment.”

They packed three cameras inside a somewhat sizable circular module on the rear of the 12S Ultra. New 1-inch Sony IMX989 main sensor with a 50.3MP resolution and individual pixels measuring 3.2mm in its 4-in-1 binned 12.5MP mode.

Leica specifically calibrated the optical image stabilisation on this sensor, which is mounted behind an 8P lens, to reduce chromatic aberration, flare, and ghosting while taking pictures. Similar to the Mi 11 Ultra, the secondary and tertiary cameras have two 48MP sensors, an f/2.2 UltraWide-angle lens with a 128-degree field of vision, and a telephoto lens with a periscope design for a 120x zoom (5x optical).

The 12S Ultra has a 6.73-inch E5 AMOLED display with a 1440p resolution and a refresh rate of up to 120Hz as for the rest of the components. You receive a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor inside, along with up to 12GB of RAM and up to 512GB of storage. The MIUI 13 software runs on Android 12. A 4,860mAh battery that supports 50W wireless charging and 67W wired charging powers the phone. The phone also supports 10W wireless reverse charging. 

However, Xiaomi has no plans to release the 12S Ultra outside of China, unlike the Mi 11 Ultra (review). In China, the Xiaomi 12S Ultra will cost CNY 5,999 (about Rs 70,800) for an 8GB RAM/256GB storage model and CNY 6,999 (approximately Rs 82,600) for a 12GB/512GB model and a version with 12GB/256GB will be available for CNY 6,499 (roughly Rs 76,700).

Xiaomi 12S Ultra Specifications

• 6.73-inch (3200 x 1440 pixels) Quad HD+ AMOLED 20:9 HDR10 + display, 1-120Hz refresh rate, 480Hz touch sampling rate, up to 1500 nits brightness, 8,000,000:1 (Min) contrast ratio, HDR10+, Dolby Vision, Corning Gorilla Glass Victus protection
• Up to 3.2GHz Octa-Core Snapdragon 8 Gen+ 1 4nm Mobile Platform with Adreno next-gen GPU
• 8GB / 12GB LPPDDR5 6400Mbps RAM with 256GB (UFS 3.1) storage / 12GB LPPDDR5 6400Mbps RAM with 512GB UFS 3.1 storage
• Dual SIM (nano + nano)
• MIUI 13 based on Android 12
• 50MP rear camera with 1″ Sony IMX989 sensor, f/1.9 aperture, 23mm focal length, OIS, LED flash, 48MP 1/2″ Sony IMX586 128° ultra-wide-angle lens with f/2.2 aperture, 48MP 1/2″ Sony IMX586 periscope telephoto camera with f/4.1 aperture, 120mm equivalent focal length, OIS, 5x optical zoom, up to 120x digital zoom, Leica Summicron optics, Dolby Vision HDR video recording, 8K video recording
• 32MP RGBW front-facing camera
• In-display fingerprint sensor, Infrared sensor
• USB Type-C audio, Hi-Res audio, Dual speakers, Harman Kardon tuning, Dolby Atmos
• Dust and water-resistant (IP68)
• Dimensions: 163.17×74.97×9.06mm; Weight: 225g
• 5G SA/NSA, Dual 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 6E 802.11 ax, Bluetooth 5.2, GPS (L1 + L5), NavIC, USB Type-C, NFC
• 4860mAh (Typical) battery with 67W wired fast charging, 50W wireless second charge / 10W Wireless rechargeable