Xiaomi has just launched a trio of Xiaomi 12S series in China with high-end specs and a Leica camera. But bad news for Mi Fans around the world because Xiaomi 12S series will only be sold in China.
The limited availability of the Xiaomi 12S, 12S Pro, and 12S Ultra only for the Chinese market was revealed by Engadget journalist Richard Lai. In a tweet on Twitter, Lai uploaded a confirmation from a Xiaomi spokesperson who said that the Xiaomi 12S series will be sold exclusively in China.
"Xiaomi will offer the Xiaomi 12S Series exclusively in Mainland China," Lai wrote in his tweet, as quoted from Phone Arena, Thursday (7/7/2022).
"Our Strategic Partnership in the field of Imaging Technology will have a long-term impact beyond the scope of this series, towards Xiaomi's international market."
"Xiaomi will offer Xiaomi 12S Series exclusively in Mainland China. Our Strategic Partnership in Imaging Technology will have long-term impacts beyond the scope of this series, into Xiaomi's international markets."
So we will have to wait until Xiaomi 13 for Leica goodies.
— Richard Lai (@richardlai) July 4, 2022
From the confirmation, it can be concluded that Leica camera technology will be present in other Xiaomi phones in the future. It is not impossible that the Xiaomi 13, which is predicted to launch at the end of this year, will carry Leica technology.
This kind of exclusivity is also nothing new for Xiaomi. So far, Xiaomi phones that have brought new breakthroughs such as the Xiaomi Mix line are only available in China and not brought to the global market.
The Xiaomi 12S series itself consists of the Xiaomi 12S, the Xiaomi 12S Pro, and the Xiaomi 12S Ultra. All three are equipped with a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset and a Leica camera.
The hero of this line is the Xiaomi 12 Ultra which is equipped with a giant Sony IMX899 sensor measuring 1 inch. Thanks to pixel binning, the pixel size can reach 3.2μm which is claimed to reduce noise, expand dynamic range, increase the captured light so as to produce better low light images.
In his tweet, Lai revealed that Xiaomi and Sony developed this sensor together. But Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun confirmed this sensor will not be exclusive to Xiaomi and will be available to other phone vendors.