Xiaomi 12S and 12S Pro unveiled: Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, Leica cameras

The Xiaomi 12S comes with a 6.28" display while the 12S Pro has a larger 6.73" screen, both of which support refresh rates between 1 and 120Hz, similarly to the Xiaomi 12 Pro.Under the hood, both are powered by the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset, some 21% more compact, 10% faster, and seemingly 30% more efficient. This not only improves efficiency, but also has the potential to fix the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1's thermal throttling issues. 

We can't wait to test it out ourselves and see if these claims hold true. In our review, the Xiaomi 12 Pro exhibited some overheating issues during gaming, but was perfectly capable thermals-wise during normal workloads.

Hardware-wise, we've also got the all-new Xiaomi Surge P1 chips on deck. Those are responsible for the fast-charging and additionally introduce great improvements to the battery management of the devices. Speaking of batteries, we have a 4,60mAh on the 12S Pro ad a 4,500mAh one on the Xiaomi 12S. In terms of charging, probably hardly anyone will be disappointed with the 120W and 67W wired charging solutions on the 12S Pro and the 12S, respectively, with both devices supporting 50W wireless charging as well. 

The Xiaomi 12S and 12S Pro share the same camera hardware, with the Sony IMX707 with a large 1/1.28" sensor and 2.44μm pixels after binning responsible for the main camera.  Xiaomi is seemingly quite proud with its AI solutions namely AI Image Solution and Xiaomi ProFocus that deliver super-fast startup, zero-lag image capture, and burst mode shooting. In fact, Xiaomi prides its two new phones in "industry-leading" 30fps super-fast burst photo mode, as well as significantly improved low-light imaging capabilities. 

It's important to mention that the phones continue the fruitful cooperation between Xiaomi and Leica, so the Xiaomi 12S and the 12S Pro proudly carry the "co-engineered with Leica" adjective, and enjoy some unique camera goodies. The most notable ones are the two new photographic styles, Leica Authentic Look which closely mimics the unique look and feel of Leica images, and the Leica Vibrant Look, which is a more vivid and vibrant fruit of the collaboration between Leica and Xiaomi.

On top of it all, 10-bit RAW image format calibrated by none other than Adobe itself and with embedded metadata color correction is part of the Xiaomi 12S and 12S Pro feature list. Neat stuff, mobile photographers!

The Xiaomi 12S and 12S Pro will be available in China for the time being, with the pre-orders kicking off July 6. The prices are as follows: