The new Xiaomi Ultra flagship has finally arrived. Xiaomi 12S Ultra offers a vastly improved camera with the help of Leica and the latest Snapdragon power.
Xiaomi 12S Ultra
Auxiliary camera parameters are similar to the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra with a pair of half-inch sensors for ultrawide focus and periscope zoom cameras. But the main camera is new and easily claims to be the most impressive smartphone camera in the world.
The 23mm 50.3MP wide-angle camera pioneers Sony’s flagship 1-inch IMX989 sensor. This is the largest imager on any smartphone and takes the largest single pixels to 3.2 µm in its 12.5 MP 4-in-1 mode.
Leica is bringing its imaging expertise to the Xiaomi 12S Ultra in terms of both lens design and imaging software. The lens in front of the 1-inch sensor is an 8P element lens, which solves problems such as glare, chromatic aberration and ghosting. In addition, there is the lens edge ink coating as well as the cyclic olefin copolymer material and an infrared light filter with spin coating technology. Leica decorated the entire rear camera module with its iconic Summicron label.
From a software perspective there are two photographic styles: “Leica Authentic Look” and “Leica Vibrant Look”. The authentic look aims at a natural image, focusing on the contrast of light and shadow, adding depth to photos. The vibrant appearance harnesses Xiaomi’s computational photography intelligence with Leica’s aesthetics. In addition, there are Leica filters: Leica Vivid, Leica Natural, Leica BW Natural and Leica BW High Contrast.
The other two cameras on the rear of the Xiaomi 12S Ultra carry the trusty 1 / 2.0-inch 48MP Sony IMX586 sensor, used in the Mi 11 Ultra. The ultrawide is a 13mm f / 2.2 with autofocus and macro capabilities. The telephoto lens has a 120mm f / 4.1 periscope. Both capture 12MP stills with 1.6µm pixels after binning.
Xiaomi 12S Ultra can capture 8-bit high-efficiency JPEG or HEIF files, as well as 10-bit RAW DNG files with a built-in profile for Adobe’s Lightroom.
As for videos, Xiaomi 12S Ultra is the first Android phone to support Dolby Vision HDR recording. H.265 10-bit videos are captured in HLG with Rec. 2020 color space in both 4K and FullHD. In 4K, you get 30 fps and 60 fps up to 80 Mbps, while at 1080p you get 60 fps at 55 Mbps and 30 fps at 35 Mbps.
Now for the smartphone bits of the Xiaomi 12S Ultra. Up front, there is a 6.73-inch Super AMOLED E5 with 3,200 x 1,440 pixel resolution with AdaptiveSync Pro support, which can variably upgrade from 1Hz to 120Hz. The 4,860mAh battery supports 67W wired charging and a 50W wireless (10W reverse wireless charging).
Xiaomi has two custom Surge chips for battery management: the Xiaomi Surge P1 charging chip protects the battery from overcharging and extends its life, while Xiaomi Surge G1 manages battery usage, extending its life.
Powering the Xiaomi 12S Ultra is the new Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 with 8 GB or 12 GB of RAM and 256 GB or 512 GB of UFS 3.1 memory. The new Snapdragon claims a 10% improvement in GPU and CPU performance and a 30% improvement in power efficiency compared to 8 Gen 1.
Xiaomi boasts that the 12S Ultra is equipped with an innovative 3D liquid cooling mechanism, which uses a capillary network to pump condensed coolant to the opposite side of the hot area.
Like the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra, the 12S Ultra carries stereo speakers tuned by Harman Kardon, with support for Dolby Atmos. The software at the helm is MIUI 13 on Android 12.
Xiaomi 12S Ultra weighs 225g and is IP68 water and dust resistant. It is available in Classic Black and Verdant Green with a leather-like back finish. Unfortunately, Xiaomi has confirmed that it will not be available outside of China, where the phone costs 5,999 CNY for 8/256 GB, 6,499 CNY for 12/256 GB and 6999 CNY for 12/512 GB.
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