After spending months on the rumor mill, the latest Xiaomi Ultra flagship device – Xiaomi 12S Ultra, is now official. The predecessor, Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra, was one of the best Android phones that debuted last year, which is why the Android community has been waiting for a successor. Xiaomi has now unveiled the device, but as part of the Xiaomi 12S series in partnership with Leica.
Xiaomi 12S Ultra debuted alongside Xiaomi 12S and 12 Pro, with the duo recording only minor upgrades to the Xiaomi 12 and 12 Pro. There’s a substantial upgrade between the Mi 11 Ultra and the just-announced 12S Ultra. Aside from featuring the best Qualcomm SoC yet, it houses the newly released 1-inch Sony IMX989 sensor, and coupled with the Leica expertise, the device is definitely going to compete with the best Android phones in the market.
In designing the Xiaomi 12S Ultra, the company used Gorilla Glass Victus, eco-leather (back), and aluminum (frame). At the front panel is a 6.73-inch E5 AMOLED display supplied by Samsung. It is an LTPO panel and supports a 1-120Hz adaptive refresh rate, 1500 nits peak brightness, and 10-bit color depth. The 3200 x 1440p display features 100% DCI-P3 coverage, HDR 10+, Dolby Vision, and 1B colors.
The device is powered by the recently released Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 Octa-core SoC. The processor promises 10% improved CPU performance and over 20% power efficiency. We anticipate a substantial improvement over the Mi 11 Ultra that uses Snapdragon 888. Also to improve performance, Xiaomi has equipped the 12S Ultra with a 3D cooling system, improving heat dissipation as well.
In partnership with Leica and coupled with Sony’s IMX989 sensor, the Xiaomi 12S Ultra is expected to reign supreme in smartphone photography. The primary 50.3 MP 1-inch sensor is the largest on any smartphone currently and uses 4-in-1 pixel binning. There is an 8P lens to compact issues like a flare, chromatic aberration, and ghosting.
Accompanying the primary camera is a 48MP Ultra wide-angle lens and a 48MP telephoto lens with 120x periscope zoom and HyperOIS. New software features – Leica Authentic look and Leica Vibrant Look – have been introduced to optimize the camera performance.
Power is drawn from a beefy 4860mAh battery. It supports 67W wired charging, 50W wireless charging and 10W reversed charging. And outside of the box, the device runs Android 12 on top of MIUI 13, meaning it will receive Android 13 and 14 at least.
Other features of the device include dual 5G connectivity, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, and multi-functional NFC. The device is IP68 rated, meaning its dust and water-resistant. It supports an in-display fingerprint sensor, X-axis linear motor, stereo speakers tuned by Harman, and a USB-C port.
Xiaomi 12S Ultra price and availability
Xiaomi 12S Ultra starts at CNY 5,999 ($896) for the base 8/256GB version. The 12GB RAM variant with 256GB storage goes for CNY 6,499 ($970) while the 12/512GB models starts at CNY 6,999 ($1045). The device will go on sale in China on July 8 in colors Classic Black and Verdant Green with a Leather-rear finish. Unfortunately, the device will not be available outside of China.
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