Oh Xiaomi, why do you play with our emotions like this? This is the Xiaomi 12S Ultra and it could very well be the best phone in the world right now. But Xiaomi won’t sell it to anyone outside of China, which is a shame.
The 12S Ultra lives up to Xiaomi’s usual retail standard – you get a 67W charger, USB cable, and case.
The Xiaomi 12S Ultra is a smartphone with the first camera. This is immediately evident after a single glance. The front is the usual premium for all displays. The back, however, is what you get by modeling a phone with a retro camera – a huge glass element atop a raised camera island surrounded by leather. A bit like a Leica M6.
The faux leather makes gripping the 12S Ultra much easier than the slippery ceramic of its predecessor. The cameras on the back of the Xiaomi 12S Ultra are all at the pinnacle of smartphone imaging. The main imager is the largest on a 1-inch phone. It combines 50.3MP in a 4 to 1 pixel binning to produce 12.5MP images, has multidirectional phase detection autofocus, a laser aid for that AF system, optical stabilization, and a large 23mm lens with f / 1.9 opening.
Curiosity, the 1-inch sensor is not the one in the center of the camera module: it is the ultra-wide one. The main camera is the one on the top of the module (pictured below).
But Xiaomi 12S Ultra isn’t just about camera hardware. Xiaomi has joined forces with imaging giant Leica to fine-tune the 12S Ultra’s cameras. There are many levels to this partnership, which we will go into detail on in our full review, but by opening the camera interface you will have to choose between two types of cameras: Leica Vivid or Leica Authentic. The former is more in line with modern smartphone cameras: punchy and contrasted, while the latter offers a more realistic and realistic look.
Xiaomi 12S Ultra shares a lot of DNA with Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra. The front is nearly identical (the selfie camera is now centered), while the back has a different layout, but mostly features the same cameras: wide with huge sensor, ultrawide with autofocus, and 5x telephoto periscope.
Inside the 12S Ultra it is predictably better than its predecessor. The display is a bit smaller but brighter and smarter at its refreshing, the chipset is the latest Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 and the battery is slightly smaller, but it has a dedicated charging chip. There is another smart battery management chip, which should help the 12S Ultra make better use of its milliamps.
The Xiaomi 12S Ultra next to its predecessor
There is a lot to go into in this review, so we’ll take our time to do our due diligence. Be patient and stay tuned!
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