I must say that Xiaomi 12S Pro has the least number of changes in the 12S series. If I were to review every part as I have done in the past, it would be almost the same as the Xiaomi 12 Pro review, and that would be pointless. So, for this review, we will only look at the two biggest changes to the 12S Pro: the processor and Leica color profile.
The 12S Pro has an important upgrade: the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1. It’s already proven in our Xiaomi 12S Ultra review how powerful the 8+ Gen 1 is with the TSMC 4nm process. But even with the same processor, performance can vary from this model to the other, and the Xiaomi 12S Pro and Ultra are good examples of this. The 12S Pro seems to be more aggressively tuned, as seen in the BenchMark results. And even without the new cooling system, the CPU Throttling Test scores were excellent.
Looking at the Genshin Impact, it is true that the 12S Pro has a higher average FPS. But you can also see from the line graph that it has a more fluctuating frame rate and you can feel the lag in the game. But compared to the 12 Pro’s performance, the average frame rate is higher, and lagging issues have been fixed. So if you were to ask me if the 12S Pro is good for gaming, my answer would be yes. Other than some gaming phones, it’ll be hard to find a regular phone with better performance than this one.
All three camera sensors remain the same, but the 12S Pro has Leica color science! Although we discussed Leica’s color science in the 12S Ultra review, the Pro’s Leica colors don’t seem the same as the Ultra version. Especially in the Leica Authentic mode, although the contrast is also improved, the change is not obvious in most scenes compared to Leica Vibrant mode. We tried to find out why and comparing to the 12S Ultra sample, we could easily find that the Vignetting was not as obvious as the 12S Ultra. So the Pro version does not look as “Leica” as the Ultra.
You can check out the full-sized samples here.
So compared to the Xiaomi 12 Pro, Leica Color Science should have a clear advantage, right? But the fact is that in most scenes in Leica Vibrant mode, the difference between them is slight. They are almost identical except for the 12S Pro white balance, which is slightly bluish, probably due to the Leica style. When it comes to scenes with complex light sources, if not looking at the watermark, I can’t tell which one is 12 Pro and which one is 12S Pro. Let’s put it this way, I guess Leica didn’t interfere too much with this mode, it’s entirely Xiaomi’s original color style.
The 12S Pro sample in Leica Authentic mode does have more contrast than the 12 Pro, but it’s not like something produced by AI algorithm as the 12S Ultra, it’s more like a filter. Because I used Photoshop to add a little contrast and Vignetting and the results are pretty much the same thing. So after many sample comparisons, I found that the 12S Pro doesn’t do Leica color as well as the 12S Ultra, or at least it doesn’t improve much compared to the 12 Pro. If you want to see the review other than color, you can go to our Xiaomi 12 Pro review, the 12S Pro is almost the same. We’ve already talked a lot about the details of the three lenses in that video, so we won’t go into it again.
The Leica watermark can now be added in the albums APP, and there are quite a few styles. It seems that Leica is still very strict about adding its own watermark. If the photo is not taken by 12S Pro, the watermark can’t be added in the album APP.
The video capability is unchanged from the previous generation because there is no help from Leica, just like the 12S Ultra. The footage is very stable, the main camera supports 8K 24fps, ultra-wide, and telephoto cameras support 4k 60fps. The front camera supports up to 1080P 60fps, but it seems that the front camera performance in the current system is not very stable, the exposure will be high or low sometimes, and the performance is not as good as 12 Pro.
Although it can’t take pictures as well as the 12S Ultra, it is not as light and compact as the 12S. But on the other hand, it takes better pictures than the 12S, it’s lighter than the 12S Ultra, and looks more like a phone than a camera.
So the reason to buy the 12S Pro is: It’s the balanced version among the 12S series. Everything about it is average, with no amazing parts, but with no shortcomings. Even the price is just right. It doesn’t change much compared to the Xiaomi 12 Pro, but the experience has been significantly leveled up by the 8+ processor. I’m sure it will be one of the best phones for most people this year.
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