The Xiaomi 12S and 12S Pro have 1/1.28” sensors in their main cameras, which could have been considered large if not for the 12S Ultra model, which was also unveiled today. This is the same IMX707 sensor as on the 12 and 12 Pro, however, all three S-series models were “co-engineered with Leica”.
For starters, the
three phones have Leica Summicron lenses and support for Leica imaging
profiles. Users can choose between the Leica Authentic Look and Leica Vibrant
Look presets. The former recreates the natural look that Leica is known for,
the latter was tuned by both Leica and Xiaomi and is a blend of the styles of
the two companies.
Additionally, the phones support 10-bit
RAW image capture, which was calibrated by Adobe Labs. The phone will embed
color correction metadata in the files, so that Adobe Lightroom can
automatically optimize the images, giving photographers a good starting point
for post-processing their shots.
A quick look back at the IMX707 – it’s a
50MP sensor (1/1.28”) with 1.22µm native pixels (2.44µm after binning). The
phones support 30fps burst modes as well as Xiaomi’s AI Image Solution and
ProFocus for fast start-up, capture and continuous capture. The Pro model has
two other 50MP cameras – one with a 50mm lens (2x optical magnification) and
one with an ultra wide 14mm lens (115° FoV). The vanilla 12S gets a 13MP ultra
wide and a 5MP telemacro instead.
The Xiaomi 12S and 12S Pro also switch to
the new Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset, which offers a 10% boost in performance
and reduces power usage by 30%. The S-phones will have longer battery lives and
run cooler under load.
Camera and chipset upgrades aside, the two
phones follow the formula of the 12 and 12 Pro. The Xiaomi 12S Pro has a 6.73”
LTPO AMOLED display (E5, 1-120Hz, FHD+), which is also used on the 12S Ultra.
The vanilla 12S is smaller with a 6.28” panel with 120Hz refresh rate (it’s not
an LTPO panel, however).
As before, the 12S Pro supports fast
charging – 120W wired and 50W wireless – thanks to the in-house Xiaomi Surge P1
chipset and comes with a 4,600mAh battery. Using a 120W power brick, the Pro
can do 0-100% in 19 minutes or in 25 minutes in low temperature mode The Xiaomi
12S charges its 4,500mAh battery at 67W over a wire or at 50W wirelessly.
The Xiaomi 12S and 12S Pro will soon be
available in mainland China. The Xiaomi 12S Pro starts at CNY 4,700 for the
8/128GB model (US$ 700/€ 670/₹ 55,000). There is also an 8/256GB for CNY 5,000,
12/256GB for CNY 5,400 and 12/512GB for CNY 5,900.
The Xiaomi 12S starts at CNY 4,000
(US$ 600/€ 570/₹ 47,000) for the base 8/128GB model. The same memory configurations
are available: 8/256GB for CNY 4,300, 12/256GB for CNY 4,700 and 12/512GB for
CNY 5,200. For comparison, the Xiaomi 12 Pro launched at CNY 4,700 in China,
the base price for the Xiaomi 12 was CNY 3,700. There was also a more
affordable 12X model, but there is no “Xiaomi 12SX” now.
