Xiaomi reveals 12S Ultra, its stunning mega-camera flagship

At long last, Xiaomi has unveiled its latest 'Ultra' branded phone, and the first ultra-premium flagship of its Leica-partnership era: The Xiaomi 12S Ultra. 

It's clear that with the 12S Ultra, Xiaomi is attempting to make a statement, just as it has done in the past with other 'Ultra' models. Everything from design, through to internal power, and its camera capabilities, places this phone right at the very top of its product lineup. 

Xiaomi talked a lot about its partnership with Leica which started this year, and involves a collaboration on the quality of the results from the camera hardware. 

From the back, the phone makes a big show of the cameras, placing them in a huge, round glass protrusion which dominates the top third of the phone's rear.

It's reminiscent of a design used by Nokia in its flagship Lumia phones a good few years ago, but rather than just be a functional part of the phone, it's a key part of its design too. However, it does come with a leather-like finish and features IP68 certification for water and dust resistance. 

As for camera specs, it's a pretty impressive array of sensors lead by the 1-inch Sony IMX989 50.3-megapixel sensor. It's among the largest sensors to ever appear on a smartphone, and joined by a 48-megapixel ultrawide and 48-megapixel periscope telephoto zoom. 

The Xiaomi 12S series models use the flagship Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 platform. With its 4nm processing architecture, it's the latest high performance chipset from Qualcomm's mobile division. 

This is paired with either 8GB or 12GB RAM and 256GB or 512GB storage, plus a large 4860mAh battery with 67W fast wired charging and 50W wireless charging. 

Other details include a 6.73-inch AMOLED display, with 3200 x 1440 resolution, 1500 nits peak brightness and 120hz adaptive refresh rates which can reach as low as 1Hz when required. 

It's Dolby Vision capable and features 10-bit support for over 1 billion colours, as well as support for HDR10+, HLG and HDR10 standards. It also runs Android 12, but with Xiaomi's MIUI 13 skin on top. 

The phone will initially go on sale in China, with a wider global launch expected later on, and it'll ship in Classic Black and Verdant Green. 

Source : https://www.pocket-lint.com/phones/news/xiaomi/161721-xiaomi-12s-ultra-price-specs-detail