Renders of Xiaomi’s upcoming 12 Ultra have leaked online, showcasing the flagship’s overly large camera bump. The images, shared by Steve Hemmerstoffer (aka OnLeaks), also demonstrate one of the first phones to result from the company’s partnership with Leica.
The leak showcases a typical Xiaomi design: A glass and metal sandwich with a full-screen display only broken up by a camera cutout. In the case of the Ultra, the phone sets itself apart with its enormous camera system on the rear. Offset against a black glass panel, a circular camera bump is expected to house four high-resolution cameras. These include a 50-megapixel main camera, a 48MP ultrawide lens, and a 48MP periscope lens with an unknown fourth one.
Xiaomi’s 12 Ultra isn’t just a camera phone, though. It’s expected to arrive with top-end specs, including a Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chipset, a 6.6-inch 1440p display with a 120Hz refresh rate, and a relatively solid-feeling body at 234 grams. The iPhone 13 Pro Max, by comparison, weighs 240 grams. In terms of materials, yes, there is lots of glass and metal as we’ve mentioned, but the rear is supposedly ceramic to set it apart from other phones.
Xiaomi’s 11 Ultra was one of the best camera phones of last year, albeit with severely untapped potential caused by focusing issues. But Xiaomi has been pushing forward. The 12 Pro has revived critical acclaim, and the 12 Ultra will surely follow along those lines. The recent partnership with Leica is something that could bear similar fruit, as was the case with Zeiss and Vivo, as well as Hasselblad and OnePlus.
“We are convinced that the first jointly developed imaging flagship smartphone makes the pioneering progress of both companies visible. We will provide consumers in the field of mobile photography exceptional image quality, classic Leica aesthetics, unrestricted creativity, and will open a new era of mobile imaging,” Matthias Harsch, CEO of Leica Camera AG said last month.
Xiaomi has had pretty good cameras for the last couple of years, but the 12 Ultra is one of its most promising yet. The company has yet to make any announcements about it, but the new phone is expected to debut in the summer. When it does, the camera bump will surely make it difficult to miss.
