Xiaomi announced its partnership with camera brand Leica earlier this year, with the Xiaomi 12S series being the first phones to be part of the deal. unfortunately, the Chinese brand will not offer these devices in global markets.
“Xiaomi today officially introduced its new Xiaomi 12S series “co-designed with Leica”, only available in China”states the company in its press release.
However, the company confirmed Android Authority that the partnership will eventually bear fruit outside China as well.
“Our strategic imaging technology partnership will have long-term impact beyond the scope of this series, in Xiaomi’s international markets,” the company continued.
In other words, anyone who wants Xiaomi’s first Leica-branded phones will have to import the phone. However, it seems that the company is working on other Leica-branded phones for global markets.
Xiaomi also has a habit of renaming devices for global markets, so theoretically we could see the Xiaomi 12S series phones with minor changes and a new name in other regions.
The Xiaomi 12S Ultra, in particular, is one of the most impressive camera phones we’ve seen so far. The device has a one-inch 50MP main camera and a pair of 48MP secondary cameras for ultra-wide shots and ~5.2x periscopic zoom.