Xiaomi has officially confirmed its partnership with Leica with the launch of the new Xiaomi 12S Series “co-engineered with Leica”. The entire series features different imaging systems jointly developed by Xiaomi and Leica, containing Leica Summicron lenses, and supports Leica imaging profiles, all of which aim to empower individual creators to express their creativity, while retaining the authentic style of Leica imagery.
The Xiaomi 12S Series will be spearheaded with Xiaomi 12S Ultra, which utilizes Leica’s world-class optical design capabilities in its lens system while adhering to their stringent optical quality testing standards and implementing Xiaomi’s expertise in miniaturizing components to ensure ultra-high resolution, ultra-high light sensitivity, reduced dispersion, and lower flare.
Xiaomi 12S Ultra main camera uses an 8P aspheric lens, in order to address common photography issues such as flare, ghosting, and chromatic aberration, the camera module of Xiaomi 12S Ultra also adds anti-glare lens coating, lens edge ink coating, cyclic olefin copolymer material, and infrared light filter with spin coating technology. Together, these features offer a clearer overall picture that is consistent across the lens.
Xiaomi 12S Series will also get Leica imaging profiles, which provides two photographic styles: The “Leica Authentic Look” and “Leica Vibrant Look”, both offering enhanced creative freedom to the photographer.
- The “Leica Authentic Look” pursues a natural imagery for which Leica is known. By retaining light and shadow contrast, it adds a sense of three-dimensional depth to photos, with the characteristic excellence of Leica’s time-proven light and shadow aesthetics.
- The “Leica Vibrant Look” features input by both Xiaomi and Leica. Combining Xiaomi’s experience in smartphone photography with Leica’s leading aesthetic, photographers can strive to capture the emotion of the moment, symbolizing Leica’s exploration in the smartphone photography space.
Xiaomi 12S Ultra is packing Sony’s IMX989 1″ sensor for the main camera. It has Quad-Bayer pixel array which helps reducing noise, extending dynamic range, increasing light captured, and achieving overall better imagery in low-light conditions.
Xiaomi 12S Ultra is the first Android device to support Dolby Vision HDR video recording and playback. Xiaomi 12S Ultra uses HyperOIS for ultra-stable performance, offering continuous compensation for movement during video recording. HyperOIS utilizes the gap between two frames to drive the OIS motor to its original position, giving each frame a full effective range of stabilization.
As for the Xiaomi 12S and Xiaomi 12S Pro, both models will spots Sony’s IMX707 as their primary sensor. Together with support of Xiaomi AI Image Solution and Xiaomi ProFocus, these sensors achieve fast startup, capture, and continuous capturing. These devices also can shoot up to 30fps ultra-fast burst mode while delivering exceptional low-light photography capabilities. Further, they also implement All-scene snapshot in their cameras, making it easier to capture the decisive moment.
Xiaomi 12S Series will supports 10-bit RAW format calibrated by Adobe Labs, with color correction metadata embedded in the files. When using Adobe Lightroom to open photos shot on Xiaomi 12S Series, Adobe Camera RAW software will automatically optimize photos based on metadata, providing professional photographers with a good starting point for post-production.
The Ultra model will be the first flagship model to be equipped with two proprietary Xiaomi Surge chips, Xiaomi Surge P1 fast-charging chipset and Xiaomi Surge G1 battery management chipset, offering great improvements in battery management and overall user experience.
Xiaomi 12S Ultra packs a 4,860mAh single-cell silicon-oxygen anode battery and supports 67W wired fast charging, 50W wireless fast charging and 10W reverse wireless charging. Xiaomi 12S Pro features Xiaomi Surge P1 fast-charging chipset, 120W wired charging, 50W wireless charging, and a 4,600mAh single-cell battery, while the Xiaomi 12S offers 67W wired charging, 50W wireless charging, and a 4,500mAh battery.
For performance, the Xiaomi 12S Series is powered Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 Mobile Platform, built on the TSMC 4nm process. Xiaomi 12S Ultra will employed a whole new heat dissipation system, similar to the biological mechanism leaves on a plant may use to absorb water. This three-dimensional cooling pump is ingeniously designed with a series of channels, which use a capillary network to actively pump cooling liquid condensed at the side opposite of warm areas, greatly improving efficiency and increasing the thermal conductivity of a single unit by 100%, compared with traditional VC heat dissipation systems.
As for the display, Xiaomi 12S Ultra and Xiaomi 12S Pro usesa 6.73″ AMOLED color display with E5 luminescent material that deliver a professional level of detail, brightness and color performance, in addition to a peak brightness of 1500 nits, 2K resolution, P3 color gamut, and 1-120Hz AdaptiveSync Pro. Xiaomi 12S is slightly more compact at just 6.28”, and also supports P3 color gamut display, HDR10+, and 120Hz AdaptiveSync.
Also announced were Xiaomi 12 Pro Dimensity Edition, Xiaomi Book Pro 16, Xiaomi Book Pro 14, Xiaomi Smart Band 7 Pro, and Xiaomi Home WiFi.
You can check out the full specifications of the Xiaomi 12S Ultra at below.
Xiaomi 12S Ultra Quick Specs
| Design | 163.17 x 74.92 x 9.06mm 225g IP68 dust and water resistance Leather-like rear Classic Black, Verdant Green |
| Imaging System | Leica Summicron 1:1.9-4.1 / 13-120 ASPH. camera system Ultra-wide angle: 13mm f/2.2 1/2″ sensor (SONY’s IMX586) 48MP Quad-Bayer pixel array Pixel Binning: 12MP, 1.6µm 4-in-1 Super Pixel Dual-PD Auto-focus Supports macro mode Wide angle: 23mm f/1.9 8P Aspheric Lens 1″ sensor (SONY’s IMX989) 50.3MP Quad-Bayer pixel array Pixel Binning: 12.5MP, 3.2µm 4-in-1 Super Pixel Octa-PD Auto-focus Lens edge ink coating Multi-layer ALD ultra-low reflectance coating Telephoto: 120mm f/4.1 Periscope 1/2″ sensor (SONY’s IMX586) 48MP Quad-Bayer pixel array Pixel Binning: 12MP, 1.6µm 4-in-1 Super Pixel Dual-PD Auto-focus Two photographic styles: Leica Authentic Look, Leica Vibrant Look Leica filters: Leica Vivid, Leica Natural, Leica BW Natural, Leica BW High Contrast Master-lens System HyperOIS Front camera: 32MP RGBW Image Sensor |
| Image Format | JPEG / HEIF 4096 x 3072 (default) 8192 x 6144 (50MP mode) 8-bit sRGB DNG 4096 x 3072 10-bit Adobe RGB Adobe Camera RAW |
| Video Format | Default (H.264 / H.265) 7680 x 4320 24FPS 3840 x 2160 60FPS 3840 x 2160 30FPS 1920 x 1080 60FPS 1920 x 1080 30FPS 1280 x 720p 30FPS Dolby Vision (10-bit Rec.2020 HLG H.265) 3840 x 2160 60FPS 80Mbps VBR 3840 x 2160 30FPS 80Mbps VBR 1920 x 1080 60FPS 55Mbps VBR 1920 x 1080 30FPS 35Mbps VBR Slow Motion (H.264 / H.265) 1920 x 1080 480FPS 1920 x 1080 240FPS 1920 x 1080 120FPS 1280 x 720 3840FPS (95ms capture speed, supports motion detection, upscale to output 12s slow-mo video) 1280 x 720 960FPS (max. 30s capture) 1280 x 720 480FPS 1280 x 720 240FPS 1280 x 720 120FPS |
| Performance | Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 Mobile Platform All-new 3D cooling system 8GB / 12GB LPDDR5 (6400Mbps) 256GB / 512GB UFS 3.1 FBO storage refresh |
| Charging System | Xiaomi Surge Battery Management System Xiaomi Surge G1 Battery Management Chip Xiaomi Surge P1 Charging Chip 4,860mAh (typical) 67W wired turbo charging 50W wireless turbo charging 10W reverse wireless charging |
| Display | 6.73″ Dolby Vision TrueColor Display Samsung AMOLED LTPO, E5 material 3,200 x 1,440, 522ppi 1,500nits peak brightness, HBM 1,000nits (typ) 360° ambient light sensor 1-120Hz AdaptiveSync Pro Native 10-bit color depth, P3 color gamut Supports Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR10, HLG |
| Audio | Symmetrical Stereo Speakers SOUND BY Harman Kardon Support Dolby Atmos X-axis linear motor |
| Connectivity | Dual 5G Release 16 4×4 MIMO Wi-Fi 6 4K QAM 160MHz Channel 2×2 MIMO Supports 8×8 Sounding MU-MIMO Bluetooth 5.2 Supports AAC / LDAC / LHDC / aptX Adaptive Supports BLE Audio Supports Snapdragon Sound Multi-functional NFC |
| Operating System | MIUI 13 based on Android 12 |
| Variants | 8GB+256GB 12GB+256GB 12GB+512GB |