Arguably the most anticipated Xiaomi phones are finally here. Xiaomi announced the12S series phones with Leica branded cameras earlier today, 4th of July. The series includes three models namely, the Xiaomi 12S, Xiaomi 12S Pro and the ultra model the Xiaomi 12S Ultra. In this post, lets have a look at the top end 12S Ultra model from the series.
Design
The Xiaomi 12S features a cow skin texture on the rear. The back also houses a large rectangular module that houses the circular module for the image sensors. The rectangular module also houses the Leica branding, signifying the new partnership between Xiaomi and Leica. There’s also a 23K gold ring around the circular camera module.
The cow skin texture found just below the camera housing is eco friendly and is based on silicon. The leather is also dirt and wear resistant, meaning it won’t turn yellow overtime. The front of the 12S Ultra features very minimal bezels and chin. At the top of the display you’ll find a small punch hole that houses the 32 MP selfie camera. The handset also comes with IP68 water and dust resistance rating.
Xiaomi also placed emphasis on its cooling system technology, with thermal management using a design inspired by veins on a leaf. The 12S is set to come in two colors, black and green.
Specifications
Being Xiaomi’s top end handset, it features the latest Qualcomm and greatest Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC, which is based on the 4nm process. The SoC is paired with either 8GB or 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM and up to 512GB of UFS 3.1 internal storage. On the front side of things, the handset features a 6.73 inch LTPO 2.0 AMOLED display that has a 2K resolution and 120Hz refresh rate.
The display also gets pretty bright, peaking at 1500 nits. The screen also supports Dolby Vision and HDR10+ and has a pixel density of 521 ppi. Notably, the screen also houses an optical under display fingerprint scanner.
The handset will also come with Android 12 OS based MIUI 13 skin out of the box. Under the hood, the 12S Ultra is powered by a generously large 4,860mAh battery that supports 67W fast wired charging. It also supports 50W wireless fast charging and 10W reverse charging. The 67W fast wired charging juices the phone’s battery from 0 to 50 percent in just 15 minutes, while wireless charging can boost it to 40 percent in 15 minutes.
Cameras
The 12S ultra features a Leica Summicron lens system at the back thanks to new collaboration between Xiaomi and Leica. The handset features a triple camera setup on the back which consists of the primary camera, the Sony IMX989 sensor which is one-inch in size, making it one of the biggest among smartphones.
The primary shooter also comes equipped with HperOIS and is able to record 8K videos. It is also paired with a 48MP ultra wide angle lens that has a 128 degree field of view. There’s also another 48MP telephoto lens that supports OIS and offers up to 120x magnification.
Pricing and Availability
The Xiaomi 12S Ultra will be available in two colors, black and green. There are also multiple storage configurations, with the 8GB + 256GB model starting from 5,999 Yuan ( roughly $896 or Ksh105,719 ). The 12GB + 256GB costs 6,499 Yuan ( roughly $971 or Ksh114,531 ) and the 12GB + 512GB model costs 6,999 Yuan ( roughly $1,045 or Ksh123,342 ).
