Xiaomi has made a surprise as well when they announced their collaboration with Leica. In a recent announcement, they confirmed the presence of Leica cameras on the Xiaomi 12S series - hinting it is not limited to just one device. Xiaomi 12S Ultra is their most premium variation with a 1-inch Sony IMX989 sensor as well as powered by two Xiaomi Surge chips namely Surge P1 and Surge G1.
Xiaomi 12S Pro
Xiaomi 12S Pro comes with a 6.73-inch AMOLED E5 screen with 2K resolution, supports high refresh rate of 120Hz AdaptiveSync Pro, as well as brightness reaching 1500 nits. The device is powered by a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processing chip with memory reaching 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM as well as internal storage of up to 256GB UFS 3.1.
For the camera, Xiaomi uses the 50MP Sony IMX707 sensor as the main sensor with support for Xiaomi AI Image and Xiaomi Pro Focus. It is also matched with two other similar 50MP sensors used on the Xiaomi 12 Pro which was launched in Malaysia a few months ago. The selfie camera is also the same, which is 32MP.
The battery loaded on this device is 4600mAh with 120W fast charging support, 50W wireless. Just like the previous model, the Xiaomi Surge P1 chip is also retained to monitor the fast charging process on this device.
Xiaomi 12S
The same goes for the Xiaomi 12S, which is the starting model in this new series. It’s an update to the Xiaomi 12 that I’ve reviewed before. The device uses a smaller 6.28-inch screen, supports 120Hz AdaptiveSync Pro as well as HDR10+. The device is also powered by a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip with the same memory options as the previous Xiaomi 12 which is up to 12/256 GB.
The camera is 50+13+5 Megapixels, with a 32MP selfie camera. The camera on this device has also been tuned by Leica to support a variety of new features and an improved recording experience. The battery is 4500mAh with fast charging 67W wired and 50W wireless.
All Xiaomi 12S devices support photos with 10-bit RAW format tuned by Adobe Labs. This allows each device to use Adobe Lightroom software for more detailed and professional editing.
Indirectly, the Xiaomi 12S Pro and Xiaomi 12S are the same devices as before. Only the camera has been tuned with Leica, the camera app has new Leica features and the chip is upgraded to Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1.
Just like the Ultra model, this 12S series is exclusive to the Chinese market only. The selling price for the Xiaomi 12S starts at RMB3999, which is around RM2636. While the Xiaomi 12S Pro is sold at a starting price of RMB4699 which is around RM3098.