Xiaomi 12S Ultra goes official: the next era of smartphone cameras

So, the Xiaomi 12S Ultra clearly aims to change the world of smartphone photography, but it is also a proper powerhouse of a flagship. It’s equipped with the top-of-the-line Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen1 chip, the fastest RAM memory and storage, and of course, it also has a big and beautiful 6.7-inch OLED screen.

But first things first, let’s start with a look at the…

Xiaomi 12S Ultra Camera

Triple camera system with a massive 1-inch sensor used for the main shooter

The Xiaomi 12S Ultra camera system is a giant circle on the back of the phone, which houses the three rear cameras. In the center is the new main shooter and you can see that it looks much larger than the rest. To the left is an ultra-wide camera, and below the main snapper is a 5X zoom periscope cam.

The secret ingredient to the camera magic sauce that Xiaomi has cooked up is the Sony IMX989 1″ sensor.

Such a large sensor means bigger individual pixel sizes that reach 1.6μm, and after pixel binning, this goes up to 3.2μm, a big increase compared to the competition. This helps you get photos with less noise, extending dynamic range, and more light captured.

On top of the sensor sits a new 8P aspheric lens that further helps with common photography issues like flare, ghosting, and chromatic aberration. In fact, the whole camera module of the Xiaomi 12S Ultra has anti-glare lens coating, lens edge ink coating, cyclic olefin copolymer material, and infrared light filter with spin coating technology… okay, half of these words don’t mean much to us either but the gist is you get clearer overall picture across the lens.

Leica partnership:

– “Leica Authentic Look” delivers a natural imagery for which Leica is known. It retains light and shadow contrast.

– “Leica Vibrant Look” is a combination of Xiaomi computation magic and Leica image know-how.

Raw Photo support

The entire Xiaomi 12S series also has 10-bit RAW support with color correction metadata embedded in the files. This means that once you import the RAW files in Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Camera RAW will automatically optimize the photos and give you a great starting point for your edits.

Video

First Android device to support Dolby Vision HDR

The 12S Ultra is also the first Android device to bring Dolby Vision HDR videos for both video recording and playback. This high dynamic range standard is a joy to look at.

A key element of great video is solid stabilization and you get the new HyperOIS taking care of that too. This new technology uses the gap between two frames to drive the OIS motor to its original position, for a full range of stabilization and steadier shots.

Display and Size

6.7″ screen size and a beautiful leather-like finish

The Xiaomi 12S Ultra comes with a 6.73” AMOLED color display. Peak brightness reaches the impressive 1500 nits, while resolution is sharp at 1440p and you get a variable 1-120Hz refresh rate for smooth scrolling.

You also get IP68 dust and water resistance, just as you’d expect from a modern flagship.

Performance

Latest Snapdragon chip inside

Under the hood, the Xiaomi 12S Ultra is powered by the latest Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 process.

Xiaomi claims that compared to the 8 Gen 1 (used on Galaxy S22 family for once), the plus version is 21% smaller, and both CPU and GPU get a 10% performance boost, and a 30% energy efficiency improvement.

The company has also developed a new heat dissipation system, similar to the veins of a leaf that better absorbs the heat. A 3D cooling pump uses a series of channels like a capillary network bring hot air opposite of warm areas, greatly improving efficiency.

You also get two new proprietary Xiaomi Surge chips, Xiaomi Surge P1 fast-charging chipset and Xiaomi Surge G1 battery management chipset, offering big improvements in battery management and overall user experience.

Battery and Charging

New battery management chips ensure your battery will remain in its best shape for years

Speaking of battery, the Xiaomi 12S Ultra has a 4,860mAh single-cell silicon-oxygen anode battery.

The Surge G1 battery management chip monitors the discharge load and accurately predicts the available battery life of the device, while adaptive charging prevents the battery from overcharging and thus increases the number of total charge cycles by 25%.

Charging speeds are not the fastest Xiaomi has, but still better than your Galaxies and iPhones: you get 67W wired fast charging, 50W wireless fast charging and 10W reverse wireless charging.

Specs Overview

And here is a quick specs overview of the Xiaomi 12S Ultra:

Plenty of firepower, don’t you think?

Xiaomi 12S Ultra prices in China: