Xiaomi 12 will be the first Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 phone

Qualcomm officially unveiled its next-generation flagship chipset yesterday - the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. This new silicon will power a slate of top-tier devices, including the new Samsung Galaxy S22 series (or at least some of the models).

The first phone with the new processor, however, will be Xiaomi’s next flagship - the Xiaomi 12. The Chinese company announced on Twitter that its Xiaomi 12 series is “coming soon”, and boasted about the series being “the world's first smartphones powered by the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 mobile platform!”

You can also check out the small teaser video that Xiaomi has posted, showing the manufacturing process and the mounting of the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 onto Xiaomi 12’s motherboard.

 

Take a sneak peek of the most potent @Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset that will power our upcoming #Xiaomi12Series! #InnovationForEveryonepic.twitter.com/YrNqM8beMN

— Xiaomi (@Xiaomi) December 1, 2021

 
The official launch of the Xiaomi 12 remains a mystery but some sources think that a Chinese launch is imminent and will happen sometime in December. The global release date is believed to be set sometime in Q1 2022.

In typical Xiaomi fashion, there will be a slate of models, including the vanilla Xiaomi 12, a Pro version, a Xiaomi 12 Ultra top-of-the-line model, as well as a Lite offering for the budget-oriented customers.

There are two additional models that might be China-only - the Xiaomi 12X and Xiaomi 12X Pro but there’s not much information at the moment.

Xiaomi 12 leaks and rumors

There are a ton of rumors about the upcoming Xiaomi flagship, and they’ve been multiplying in the past couple of weeks. Back in September, a leak coming from Digital Chat Station suggested that the Xiaomi 12 might get a 200MP sensor for its main camera. Furthermore, it’s believed that the sensor in question is Samsung’s recently announced ISOCELL HP1 with the innovative ChameleonCell technology.

There were numerous leaks hinting that the Xiaomi 12 will be powered by the flagship Snapdragon 898 chipset (and now we know that these were partially true). The Xiaomi 12 should be able to charge with up to 100 Watts of power wirelessly, and wired at 120 Watts, making it one of the fastest charging phones on the market.

There’s also a year-old patent detailing the design of the Xiaomi 12, and last but not least, the display of the Xiaomi Mi 12 might feature the latest trend in the tech industry - an LTPO panel with a variable refresh rate between 1 and 120Hz.

Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 specs at a glance:

• Up to 3GHz Kryo CPU with Cortex-X2 cores.
• 30% faster Adreno GPU with 25% lower power consumption.
• The world’s first X65 5G modem to reach 10 Gigabit download speeds.
• First 18-bit image signal processor for mobile.
• First 8K HDR10+ video capture for mobile.
• Mega low-light capture snaps 30 images and merges the best parts into one shot.
• Always-On ISP for fast face unlocking and locking.
• 7th Gen Qualcomm AI Engine for voice analysis and Leica Leitz Look bokeh filters.
• Bluetooth Low Energy audio features like broadcasting, stereo recording, and voice back-channel for gaming.
• First platform with Android Ready Secure Element support, the new standard for digital car keys or drivers’ licenses.