Xiaomi surprised everyone with a new flagship lineup: the Xiaomi 12S series. It is composed of three different variants: the vanilla Xiaomi 12S, the Xiaomi 12S Pro, and the Xiaomi 12S Ultra, and each of them is a flagship. They bring to the market the most powerful Qualcomm chipset ever released and they are also the first phones from the beginning of the cooperation between Xiaomi and the photography giant Leica. But which are the elements differentiating these phones from each other? This is a comparison between the specifications of the Xiaomi 12S, the Xiaomi 12S Pro, and the Xiaomi 12S Ultra which will let you find out in an easy way.

Xiaomi 12S vs Xiaomi 12S Pro vs Xiaomi 12S Ultra

Xiaomi 12S Xiaomi 12S Pro Xiaomi 12S Ultra
DIMENSIONS AND WEIGHT 152.7 x 69.9 x 8.2 mm, 179 grams 163.6 x 74.6 x 8.2 mm, 203 grams 163.2 x 75 x 9.1 mm, 225 g
DISPLAY  6.28 inches, 1080 x 2400p (Full HD+), AMOLED  6.73 inches, 1440 x 3200p (Quad HD+), AMOLED  6.73 inches, 1440 x 3200p (Quad HD+), AMOLED
PROCESSOR Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, octa-core 3.19 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, octa-core 3.19 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, octa-core 3.19 GHz
MEMORY  8 GB RAM, 128 GB – 8 GB RAM, 256 GB – 12 GB RAM, 256 GB – 12 GB RAM, 512 GB  8 GB RAM, 128 GB – 8 GB RAM, 256 GB – 12 GB RAM, 256 GB – 12 GB RAM, 512 GB 8 GB RAM, 256 GB – 12 GB RAM, 256 GB – 12 GB RAM, 512 GB
SOFTWARE  Android 12, MIUI  Android 12, MIUI  Android 12, MIUI
CONNECTIVITY  Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6e, Bluetooth 5.2, GPS  Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6e, Bluetooth 5.2, GPS  Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/6e, Bluetooth 5.2, GPS
CAMERA Triple 50 + 13 + 50 MP, f/1.9 + f/2.4 + f/2.4
32 MP f/2.5 front camera		 Triple 50 + 50 + 50 MP, f/1.9 + f/1.9 + f/2.2
32 MP f/2.5 front camera		 Quad 50.3 + 48 + 48 MP + TOF 3D, f/1.9 + f/4.1 + f/2.2
32 MP f/2.5 front camera
BATTERY 4500 mAh, fast charging 67W, fast wireless charging 50W 4600 mAh, fast charging 120W, fast wireless charging 50W  4860 mAh, fast charging 67W, fast wireless charging 50W
ADDITIONAL FEATURES Dual SIM slot, 5G Dual SIM slot, 5G, mechanical pop-up triggers Dual SIM slot, 5G, waterproof IP68

Design

The vanilla Xiaomi 12S and the Pro variant come with the same design with the exception of the dimensions: the former is a compact phone, while the latter is a standard device with a wide display. The Xiaomi 12S Ultra is totally different and, with its rear side made of leather and its huge camera module, it looks like a Leica camera. Among these phones, the Ultra variant is the only one with the IP68 certification making its design waterproof and dustproof. The dimensions are more or less the same as the Pro variant and the front glass is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus on each of these phones. There is no curved display, but the screen to body ratios are very high.

 

Display

The Xiaomi 12S Pro and the Xiaomi 12S Ultra have exactly the same display. It is an LTPO2 AMOLED panel with one billion colors, a diagonal of 6.73 inches, a Quad HD+ resolution of 1440 x 3200 pixels, a 120 Hz refresh rate, the HDR10+ certification, Dolby Vision, and a peak brightness of 1,500 nits, as well as a great in-display fingerprint reader. It is one of the best displays you can find in the whole smartphone market. The original Xiaomi 12S has a different and inferior panel: an AMOLED display with a small 6.28-inch diagonal, 68 billion colors, a Full HD+ resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels, the HDR10+ certification, Dolby Vision, an in-display fingerprint reader, and a peak brightness of 1,100 nits.

 

Specs & Software

All of these phones, as mentioned above, are powered by the best Qualcomm chipset to date: the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1. It is a mobile platform built at 4 nm with a max frequency of 3.19 GHz and an octa-core architecture composed of one Cortex-X2 CPU, two Cortex-A710 CPUs, 4 Cortex-A510 CPUs, and an Adreno 730 GPU. The most advanced memory configuration sports 12 GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 512 GB of UFS 3.1 internal storage, but there are lower-end versions available at more affordable prices. All of these phones run Android 12 out of the box, customized by MIUI 13, and they will be among the Xiaomi phones with the longest software support because they are its latest flagships.

 

Camera

Each of these phones can be considered a great camera phone, but the best and the most interesting is the Xiaomi 12S Ultra. It sports a 50.3 MP main camera with OIS and Leica Lens, a 48 MP periscope sensor with 5x optical zoom, a 48 MP ultrawide camera, and a TOF 3D sensor for depth calculation. Right after, we got the Xiaomi 12S Pro with three 50 MP sensors including a telephoto lens and an ultrawide camera. The Xiaomi 12S is the most disappointing one due to its midrange-class secondary sensors, but it has a great 50 MP main camera co-engineered with Leica.

 

 

Battery

The longest battery life is provided by the Xiaomi 12S Ultra simply because it has a bigger battery, with a capacity of 4860 mAh. But if you need the fastest charging speeds, then you should go for the Pro variant because it is the only one to feature 120W fast charging, while the others come with 67W fast charging.

 

Price

The starting price of the vanilla Xiaomi 12S in China roughly translates to €570/$580, the Pro variant starts from about €670/$682, and the Ultra is priced at €950/$967 in its base configuration with 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of native storage. Now that you know the differences, which one would you pick?

 

Xiaomi 12S vs Xiaomi 12S Pro vs Xiaomi 12S Ultra: PRO and CONS

Xiaomi 12S

PRO

  • More compact
  • More affordable
  • Same chipset as the other variants

CONS

  • Inferior display

 

Xiaomi 12S Pro

PRO

  • Balanced quality price ratio
  • 120W fast charging
  • Triple 50 MP camera
  • Great Quad HD+ display

CONS

  • Nothing particular

 

Xiaomi 12S Ultra

PRO

  • Best cameras
  • Great Quad HD+ display
  • Bigger battery
  • Waterproof
  • Periscope

CONS

  • Price

 

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