Not Xiaomi 12 Ultra, this Xiaomi phone may be first to use Leica branded cameras
India Today
The Xiaomi 12S is said to arrive sometime in June, which is in line with Xiaomi’s announcement for the Leica co-branded phone.
Xiaomi confirmed a long-running rumour that it is working with German camera brand Leica for a flagship camera phone that will come in July. However, the Chinese company did not reveal the phone’s name, leading to people speculating that it could be the Xiaomi 12 Ultra that may arrive later this year. Now, a new image has been leaked showing what looks like an unannounced Xiaomi phone with Leica branding on its rear cameras. Rumours suggest this phone is called Xiaomi 12S and if this image is anything to go by, it could be the company’s first Leica branded phone.
A tipster shared the said image on Weibo, China’s popular social media platform. Dubbed the Xiaomi 12S, this upcoming phone shows at least three camera sensors on the back, one of which is situated inside a bigger cutout than those of the rest of the sensors. Next to the vertically-stacked sensors is the Leica branding. This branding, however, does not tell anything about how different the camera on the Xiaomi 12S will be. The partnership between Xiaomi and Leica could either result in an eponymous camera filter or a dedicated algorithm for image processing, depending on how deep this integration could be.
The leak also suggests that the Xiaomi 12S will arrive sometime in June, which is in line with Xiaomi’s announcement for the Leica co-branded phone. The specifications of the Xiaomi 12S and the Xiaomi 12S Pro have also been leaked.
According to the tipster, the Xiaomi 12S will come with a FullHD curved display with a refresh rate of up to 120Hz and a punch-hole in the centre. The size of the display is not clear, but you can expect it to be on par with the display size of the Xiaomi 12 Pro. The rear camera system is expected to feature a 50-megapixel primary sensor alongside others. Powering the Xiaomi 12S could be a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 processor. The Xiaomi 12S Pro, on the other hand, is said to come with a 2K display, but its processor may come with options between Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 and MediaTek Dimensity 9000.
Xiaomi is the latest brand to have onboarded Leica as its camera partner. This is the first time Xiaomi has been working with a camera brand, but this is not Leica’s first rodeo. If you are not familiar, let me tell you that Leica has been in partnership with Huawei for a long time, giving enhancements to the Chinese company’s flagship phones. Leica recently confirmed that its camera partnership with Huawei has ended, but it has been successful. Leica also worked with other brands such as Panasonic and Sharp. Xiaomi will take on OnePlus, which has Hasselblad, and Vivo, which works with ZEISS, with this partnership.
