XIAOMI X LEICA – The Partnership In Imaging Technology Starts From XIAOMI 12S Series

Xiaomi has officially announced the new Xiaomi 12S Series but with a twist – the device is “co-engineered with Leica”! Marking the first-ever Strategic Partnership in Imaging Technology between Xiaomi and Leica. The entire series is jammed-packed with various imaging systems jointly developed by both Xiaomi and Leica, consisting of Leica Summicron lenses, and supports Leica imaging profiles, all of which aim to enable creative expression for creators while maintaining the distinctive look of Leica photography.

Authentic Leica imagery, Leica imaging profiles

The Xiaomi 12S Series offers unmatched smartphone image quality and colours that closely resemble Leica’s distinctive look and feel thanks to a combination of Leica’s in-depth understanding of optics, image processing, and image quality and Xiaomi’s extensive experience in smartphone computing photography. Through this, Xiaomi and Leica have established a new standard for smartphone photography in this new era of mobile photography.

In order to achieve ultra-high resolution, ultra-high light sensitivity, reduced dispersion, and reduced flare, Xiaomi 12S Ultra, as the top model, makes use of Leica’s top-notch optical design talents in its lens system. It also complies with its rigorous optical quality testing standards.

The primary camera of the Xiaomi 12S Ultra uses an 8P aspheric lens, and the camera module also includes anti-glare lens coating, lens edge ink coating, cyclic olefin copolymer material, and an infrared light filter with spin coating technology to address common photography issues like flare, ghosting, and chromatic aberration. Together, these attributes provide a more consistently clearer overall image.

The Xiaomi 12S Series not only features a superior optical design but also Leica imaging profiles that inherit Leica’s century-old image aesthetic and accurately reproduce it using cutting-edge algorithms. This gives the user access to two photographic looks: the “Leica Authentic Look” and the “Leica Vibrant Look,” both of which provide the photographer with more creative freedom.

• The “Leica Authentic Look” aims to capture the kind of authentic imagery for which Leica is renowned for. By maintaining the contrast between light and shadow, it offers images a sense of three-dimensional depth while maintaining the distinctive excellence of Leica’s light and shadow aesthetics.
• Leica and Xiaomi both contributed to the “Leica Vibrant Look.” Photographers can attempt to capture the emotion of the moment by fusing Xiaomi’s expertise in smartphone photography with Leica’s leading aesthetic, signifying Leica’s research in the smartphone photography space.

Professional wide-angle camera with a super-large 1“ sensor

The Sony IMX989 1″ sensor used by the Xiaomi 12S Ultra implements a Quad-Bayer pixel array with individual pixel sizes up to 1.6 m. This reaches 3.2 m after pixel binning, which improves low-light imagery by enhancing light capture, expanding dynamic range, and reducing noise. This establishes a new standard for smartphone cameras by matching the hardware requirements of traditional cameras.

Xiaomi 12S Series is the first Android device to enable Dolby Vision HDR video recording and playback. Dolby Vision gives your videos more realistic and refined visual quality by enhancing them with bright colours, a better contrast ratio, and richer details. HyperOIS is used by the Xiaomi 12S Ultra to provide ultra-stable performance and continuous movement-compensation during video recording. Each frame has a complete effective range of stabilisation thanks to HyperOIS, which makes use of the gap between two frames to move the OIS motor back to its initial position.

The primary sensor for the Xiaomi 12S and Xiaomi 12S Pro is Sony’s IMX707, which has big pixels (1/1.28″ after pixel binning) and large sensor size (2 and 2.44μm). These sensors are able to quickly startup, capture, and capture in continuous mode with the assistance of Xiaomi AI Image Solution and Xiaomi ProFocus. These devices have outstanding low-light photography abilities and an industry-leading 30fps ultra-fast burst mode. Additionally, they provide All-scene snapshot in their cameras, which makes it simpler to capture the key moment.

Moreover, the Xiaomi 12S Series was also created to be more photographer-friendly in post-production. All of the series’ 10-bit RAW files are supported, and the files’ color-correction metadata is embedded in each one. Adobe Camera RAW software automatically optimises photos based on metadata when Adobe Lightroom is used to view photos taken on Xiaomi 12S Series, giving professional photographers an excellent starting point for post-production.

One smartphone, two Xiaomi Surge chips

The Xiaomi 12S Series is the first flagship model to come with two of its own proprietary Surge chips: the Surge P1 fast-charging chip and the Surge G1 battery management chip. These chipsets significantly enhance battery management and the user experience as a whole.

Xiaomi 12S Ultra support 67W wired fast charging, 50W wireless fast charging, and 10W reverse wireless charging. The 4,860mAh single-cell silicon-oxygen anode battery and Xiaomi Surge P1 fast-charging processor, which also supports up to a 16A output current with 96.8% conversion efficiency, are the two main components of the Xiaomi Surge Battery Management System.

Additionally, the Xiaomi Surge G1 battery management chipset offers a wide range of battery management algorithms, embedding self-developed battery management algorithms to safeguard the battery’s operational safety and keep track of the device’s discharge load in order to accurately predict its remaining battery life.

Xiaomi 12S Ultra also supports adaptive charging, which raises the number of charge cycles by 25% and stops the battery from overcharging.

While the Xiaomi 12S delivers 67W wired charging, 50W wireless charging, and a 4,500mAh battery, the Xiaomi 12S Pro has a 4,600mAh single-cell battery, a Xiaomi Surge P1 fast-charging chipset, 120W wired charging, and 50W wireless charging.

Flagship Performance, Flagship Display

As Xiaomi’s latest flagship, Xiaomi 12S Series is powered by the all-new Snapdragon® 8+ Gen 1 Mobile Platform, built on the TSMC 4nm process. Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 has a core area that is 21% smaller than Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, with a 10% performance increase and a 30% energy efficiency increase for the CPU and GPU, respectively. This not only provides for decreased heat emission and power consumption under high-load computing scenarios, but also dramatically reduces the standby power consumption of the Xiaomi 12S Series.

The Xiaomi 12S Ultra has a brand-new heat-dissipation technology that works similarly to how a plant’s leaves may absorb water in nature. Comparatively to traditional VC heat dissipation systems, this three-dimensional cooling pump is cleverly constructed with a series of channels that use a capillary network to actively pump cooling liquid condensed at the side opposite of warm areas. This increases efficiency significantly and increases the thermal conductivity of a single unit by 100%.

In addition to a 6.73″ AMOLED colour display with E5 luminescent material, a peak brightness of 1500 nits, 2K resolution, P3 colour gamut, and 1-120Hz AdaptiveSync Pro, the Xiaomi 12S Ultra and Xiaomi 12S Pro provide a professional level of clarity, brightness, and colour performance. At just 6.28″, the Xiaomi 12S is a little more compact and supports the P3 colour gamut display, HDR10+, and 120Hz AdaptiveSync.

Xiaomi 12S Ultra Quick Specs

In addition to Xiaomi 12S Series “co-engineered with Leica”, Xiaomi also announced Xiaomi 12 Pro Dimensity Edition, Xiaomi Book Pro 16, Xiaomi Book Pro 14, Xiaomi Smart Band 7 Pro, and Xiaomi Home WiFi.