Xiaomi 12s Ultra review: hey big sensor

Xiaomi's collaboration with Leica begins with a camera champion exclusive to China.

The best smartphone camera ever made, and it's not even available in the UK. The Xiaomi 12s Ultra has arrived. Nothing beats Xiaomi's new, China-only flagship in terms of camera hardware, thanks to some world-first sensor technology.

Picking up where the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra left off and significantly refining the mix, the 12s Ultra is also the first to benefit from Xiaomi's partnership with Leica, which was previously Huawei's bedfellow. That co-branding effort propelled Huawei from photography obscurity to camera phone dominance, and Xiaomi now wants a piece of that magic for itself.

Acquiring photographic heritage is one thing, but the 12s Ultra backs it up with best-in-class camera hardware, courtesy of a new 1 sensor developed in collaboration with Sony. It also has the most recent processor, a stunning screen, a large battery, and fast wired and wireless charging. If you look at the specs, it appears to be a world-class smartphone - assuming it actually launches around the world. If you want to purchase one but do not live in China, you must import it.

So why bother reviewing it at all? For three reasons. The first is the Xiaomi 12s Ultra, a game-changing camera phone. Second, it is relatively simple to import. Finally, it's relatively simple to get the phone to run Google services, giving it a more modern look and feel like a Western phone.

Screen and design: Ring-a-ding-ding

The Xiaomi 12s Ultra is the only phone that feels backward. The protruding camera ring commands more attention than the screen, thanks to its gold trimming and stepped design. Xiaomi hasn't attempted to replicate the look of a traditional camera, but the bold, circular design summons the spirits of the Nokia Lumia 1020 and Huawei Mate 30 Pro and boldly follows them.

A sandblasted, beveled metal squircle surrounds the camera ring, which sits atop a leather-like material. It is available in black and green, but our green unit leans more towards grey. It's surrounded by a blush gold matte metal frame. The color scheme is eye-catching while remaining subtle, and the curved body contrasts nicely with the flat top and bottom.

At 225g, the Xiaomi 12s Ultra is heavier than its predecessor and the 240g iPhone 13 Pro Max. Despite being a chunk, it retains elegance, and the iP68 dust and water resistance suggests it's also relatively hardy. However, this phone is undeniably thick. It's 9.1mm thick for the most part, but when you add the camera bump, it's 13mm thick - all to accommodate that massive 1Sony IMX 989 camera sensor.

The screen, on the other hand, is a box-ticking exercise in the 2022 flagship display tech. Is it an AMOLED screen? Check. Second-generation LTPO with adaptive 120Hz smoothness and low power consumption? Check. High brightness of up to 1500 units for easy viewing outside? Another test.How about color reproduction and viewing angles that are second to none? You guessed it: the Xiaomi 12s Ultra is a full-fledged beast.

The 12s Ultra's display is also large without being Galaxy S22 Ultra-sized, measuring 6.73in, and with a resolution of 1440 x 3200, it also packs 522 pixels into every inch of screen, making it one of the crispest available.

Camera: A lot to Leica

You could argue that the Xiaomi 12s Ultra isn't the first phone with a 1 camera we've tested. After all, we had a good time with the Sony Xperia Pro-I back in January. If you look past Sony's marketing, you'll notice that the Xperia Pro-I crops its sensor rather than using the full 1in. It's still a formidable camera, but the telephoto and ultrawide lenses that came with it were only ever adequate.

Xiaomi has been far less reserved. The main sensor is a true 1-in sensor, the telephoto periscope camera performs well, and the ultrawide lens is also impressive.

Xiaomi's new Leica partnership means that when you first turn on the phone, you'll be presented with two options: Leica Vivid and Leica Natural. Leica Vivid produces photos that are rich and unctuous, with pleasing contrast and saturation without being overly zingy. Leica Natural adds mood and atmosphere to photos by darkening shadows and cooling them down slightly. When shooting in Leica Natural, we got 1890s London, Jack the Ripper vibes, so we tended to stick with Vivid.

Naturally, the Sony IMX 989 1-in sensor comes with all the bells and whistles you could want, including optical image stabilization (OIS) and dual-pixel phase detection autofocus (PDAF). The lens has an f/1.9 aperture and a focal length of 23mm, making it one of the wider primary cameras we've tested, allowing you to fit more in a frame.

Normally, phone photos have very little background blur for subjects more than arm's length away, but the Xiaomi 12s Ultra can achieve natural-looking bokeh at much greater distances. This instantly makes photos look richer and more dramatic, making this a fantastic portrait camera.

However, an extremely shallow depth of field with lots of soft focus isn't always useful. Take a photo of your passport or driver's license for online verification, and chances are the sides won't be sharp. For close-ups, it automatically switches to the 48MP ultrawide camera's'macro' mode and does a respectable job - even if it lacks the main camera's dynamic range and subtlety elsewhere.

Even before you get to night modes or long-exposure pro mode, low-light photography is the best in class. Simply point and shoot in low-light situations, and the phone does an excellent job of reducing noise. With night mode enabled, it competes with the best from Apple and Google, delivering a satisfying amount of detail and depth.

The ultrawide lens relies more on computational photography than the main camera to get a good shot in low-light situations, but it is very competitive. The 48MP, 5x zoom telephoto camera is also impressive, with OIS capturing a lot of crisp detail.

Neither secondary camera can match the nuanced shots of the main sensor, creating a disconnect when shooting across them all - but individually, they still perform well against the competition. The Galaxy S22 Ultra's 10x optical zoom and the Oppo Find X5 Pro's large, 50MP ultrawide camera are both put to the test.

The video captured on the 12s Ultra looks great up to 8K resolution, and it handles noise better than almost any phone we've used. The 32MP resolution selfie camera also takes clear, flattering, and detailed photos.

Software and performance: Google it

When you turn on the Xiaomi 12s Ultra, you're greeted by Chinese apps. However, after a few uninstalls and a virtual keyboard swap, everything begins to feel less foreign to us in the UK.

Dive into Xiaomi's app store and get Google Play Services for AR to install the Google Play Store, Chrome, YouTube, and all of your favorite apps, including Google Wallet. Because getting UK credit cards to work didn't require any hacking, there's no reason why the Xiaomi 12s Ultra can't become your primary phone.

There are still some minor annoyances, such as having to manually grant permissions for notifications on apps like WhatsApp. Avoid taking on an import phone if you don't know your way around Android - but anyone comfortable with a little jiggery-pokery might want to look into reliable importers.

After being appropriately Googlified, the 12s Ultra became another phone running Xiaomi's MIUI - a fairly heavy skin built on top of Android 12. That means a slew of iOS-inspired features, such as a Control Center for quick toggles and a universal search with a swipe down on your home screen. There are also numerous Xiaomi pre-installed apps, but for the most part, the experience is stable and smooth.

With a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor and either 8GB or 12GB RAM, the 12s Ultra flies through all of the games we tested it on, including Genshin Impact and Tower of Fantasy. It comes with 128GB of storage as standard, but you may want to upgrade to a higher capacity configuration (256GB or 512GB) because the phone lacks microSD expansion and shoots sizeable 8K video.

Battery life and charging: Shooting for a day

Even if you do a lot of happy snapping on a daily basis, the Xiaomi 12s Ultra will last a day between charges. The 4860mAh battery is slightly smaller than the competition's 5000mAh battery, but the phone is well-optimized and that CPU isn't as power-hungry as previous-generation chips.

The battery life isn't far behind that of the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra, easily lasting a full day with moderate use and needing a charge by the early evening if you're really hammering it.

The Xiaomi 12s Ultra can be charged in about 45 minutes thanks to fast 67W wired charging and a charger included in the box. If you have a quick Xiaomi wireless charging pad, you can enjoy impressive 50W wireless speeds.

Xiaomi 12S Ultra Conclusion

Bigger is better when it comes to camera sensors. The Xiaomi 12s Ultra is unrivaled in terms of shallow depth of field and best-in-class low-light photos and videos.

It does, however, have more quirks and isn't always as user-friendly as an iPhone or a Google Pixel, with less consistency across the primary, wide, and ultrawide cameras. The extremely shallow depth of field can also cause practical issues.

Regardless, photographers will most likely adore the 12s Ultra. It's a much more refined update than its predecessor, with a rich design, plenty of power, a great screen, and plenty of fast charging options. Apart from the phone's lack of availability outside of China, it's difficult to find serious flaws.

Importing Xiaomi's benchmark camera phone is possible if you're familiar with Android OS and don't mind some features not working, such as Google's Nearby Share. Most people, however, regard this as one of those coveted out-of-reach smartphones that reveal more about a brand than our next purchase.

This phone, in particular, indicates that Xiaomi is serious about becoming the best camera phone manufacturer in the world.

TechliciousOfficialsays...

World-first technology and a partnership with Leica push Xiaomi closer to camera phone dominance, but the 12s Ultra's limited availability in China makes it an unlikely option for most.

• Good Stuff

+ Outstanding camera hardware

+ Excellent screen and high-end design

+ Wireless and wired charging are both quick.

+ Outstanding performance, storage, and RAM

• Bad Stuff

− There is no global availability.

− China software is difficult to use.

− A sophisticated camera is not for everyone.

Tech specs

Screen: 6.73in, 1440 x 3200 LTPO 2 AMOLED

CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 octa-core

Memory: 8/12GB RAM

Cameras: 50 MP, f/1.9 main camera with Laser AF, PDAF, and OIS + 48MP, f/4.1, 5x zoom telephoto with OIS, PDAF + 48MP, f/2.2 ultrawide with PDAF + 48MP, f/2.4 front camera with PDAF

Storage: 128/256GB onboard

Operating system: Android 12 w/ MIUI

Battery: Non-removable battery 4860mAh, 67W wired charging, 50W wireless charging

Dimensions: 163x75x9.1mm (13.5mm thick around the camera bump), 225g