EITHER Xiaomi 12S ultra it is the smartphone with the most daring cameras of the Chinese manufacturer. Its results were impressive after the first analyses, and it is the brand’s first team as a result of the alliance with Leica, from which it uses lenses.
It has a 1-inch 50 MP main sensor. This is accompanied by a 48MP ultra-wide and a 48MP 120mm-equivalent telephoto lens. However, it wasn’t enough to shake DxOMark’s smartphone camera lead.
Xiaomi 12S Ultra reaches 136 points in the DxOMark photography ranking
The Xiaomi 12S Ultra achieved a respectable score of 136 points. However, it lags behind the older “brother” Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra (141 points), and far from the leadership of the Honor Magic4 Ultimate (147 points).
Strengths of the Xiaomi 12S Ultra camera
- Good exposure for landscapes, cityscapes, and portraits, from bright to very low light conditions
- Very wide dynamic range in photo and video
- Precise photographic autofocus in all light conditions
- Excellent compromise between texture retention and image noise
- Interesting color reproduction of photos; the two Leica modes provide different color representations for photos, but are generally similar in terms of image quality
- Good image quality at long range zoom
Weaknesses of the Xiaomi 12S Ultra camera
- Some noticeable exposure and HDR rendering instabilities in various scenes
- Zero shutter lag in HDR or low light, with systematic lag measured at over 0.3 seconds
- Focus and exposure instability when using the telephoto camera
- Visible noise in high contrast scenes, even in good lighting conditions
- Occasional low contrast and halo effects in backlit scenes, especially with deep or olive skin tones
- There is no HDR on the preview image, which does not match the captured image
The smartphone achieved a respectable score in this ranking. But as DxOMark says, it is less reliable in image quality compared to some competitors, such as the iPhone 13 Pro. But the most noticeable detail is that it ends up falling behind the Mi 11 Ultra, launched by the brand in 2021.