Xiaomi 12S Ultra Review: If you are looking for an affordable ULTRA smartphone for 2022, the Xiaomi 12S Ultra is probably the best option for you. This is because this phone has one of the best features in an ultra phone but is also affordable. But the question is, does the Xiaomi 12S Ultra has what it takes to be named the best 2022 Ultra phone?
In this Xiaomi 12S Ultra Review, I’ll be showing you the features that make the smartphone a good ULTRA phone to buy. I’ll talk about its design, durability, performance, software, and battery.
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Xiaomi 12S Ultra Review
Xiaomi 12S Ultra Review: Display, Design, and Build
The Xiaomi 12S Ultra has a 6.73-inch LTPO AMOLED display with a display resolution of 1440 x 3200 pixels. The display has support for a 120Hz refresh rate, Dolby Vision, HDR10+, and has a peak brightness of 1500 nit. The display is not just fast and smooth but also auto-refresh between 1Hz and 120Hz to save battery when the phone is idle.
The display is very colorful and is protected by Gorilla Glass Victus. On the front, the phone has a punch hole design and curved screens on both sides. While on the back, the phone has a big circular camera module.
Xiaomi 12S Ultra is made of Glass front (Gorilla Glass Victus), eco-leather back, and aluminum frame. It is water and dustproof which makes it a very durable device. The rear panel has this matte finish that retains very little fingerprint and feels very comfortable to hold.
The Xiaomi 12S Ultra has a very beautiful design, fast and smooth display, and is made of durable materials. It is arguably one of the best-looking phones of 2022. But, more impressive is the performance of the phone and that’s what I’ll be focusing on next in this Xiaomi 12S Ultra review.
See Also: Xiaomi 12S Ultra vs Apple iPhone 13 Pro Max: which should you buy
Xiaomi 12S Ultra Review: Chipset and Performance
The chipset inside the Xiaomi 12s Ultra is the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1. This new chipset is built on TSMC’s new 4nm process technology. The chipset has four power cores and four efficiency cores. The Cortex-X2 core has a speed of 3.19GHz and the four Cortex-A510 efficiency cores have a speed of 1.80GHz.
The Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip is not just fast but also has good heat management. That is why the Xiaomi 12S Ultra has optimal performance for a long period of time. The phone does not get HOT under heavy use and the performance is consistent for a very long time.
According to Xiaomi, the CPU performance of the Xiaomi 12S Ultra is about 10% better than those of phones using the previous Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip. While the GPU performance of the Xiaomi 12S Ultra is about 20% better than those of the competition.
To be fair, the difference in performance is not that much but the Xiaomi 12S Ultra is really good when it comes to heat management. When playing games, it does not drop frame rates very often and it can run consistently for a long time.
See Also: Xiaomi 12S Ultra vs Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra: Which is better
Xiaomi 12S Ultra Review: Camera
Photography and video are important parts of owning a smartphone and the Xiaomi 12S Ultra is no doubt a camera phone. Xiaomi partnered with LEICA to enhance the photo and video quality of the Xiaomi 12S Ultra.
The camera setup of the Xiaomi 12S Ultra is 50.3MP primary camera that has multi-directional PDAF, Laser AF, and OIS features. This camera is supported by a 48MP periscope lens that has PDAF, and OIS features, and can do 5x optical zoom. Then there is a 48MP ultra-wide camera and a TOF 3D camera for depth sensors to complete the quad rear cameras. On the front, it has a 32MP front camera for selfies.
The front camera can only shoot videos in 1080p resolution but the rear camera can shoot videos in 8K resolution. The photo and video features available include Leica lenses, Dual-LED flash, HDR, panorama, gyro-EIS, and Dolby Vision HDR 10-bit rec. (4K, 1080p). One impressive camera feature in this phone is the MultiCam mode which allows you to see 6 different camera views at once.
For those who don’t know, the Xiaomi 12S Ultra is one of the very few phones that uses the 1-inch type camera sensor and is also the first phone to feature the new Sony IMX989 camera sensor. The photo and video quality on the Xiaomi 12S Ultra are great and even cropping in on images also retains details.
The Xiaomi 12S Ultra also features a HyperOIS feature which gives it insane stability when shooting videos. When taking night shots, you also get clear and colorful images and videos. As an ULTRA phone, the Xiaomi 12S Ultra really has a complete camera setup for users.
See Also: Xiaomi 12S Ultra Price in UK and Availability
RAM, Storage, and Software
The Xiaomi 12S Ultra comes with 8GB RAM or 12GB of RAM and 256GB or 512GB of internal storage. But it has no space for storage expansion via a microSD card slot and has no 3.5mm headphone jack port.
As per software, Xiaomi 12S Ultra boots MIUI 13 based on Android 12 out of the box. Xiaomi has promised three years of major software updates and four years of security patches. You can download and install software from the Google Play Store on the Xiaomi 12S Ultra.
Xiaomi 12S Ultra Review: Battery and Charging
Xiaomi 12S Ultra is powered by a 4,800mAh battery with support for a 67W wired and wireless fast charge, 50W wireless fast charge, and 10W reverse wireless charge. When fully charged, the Xiaomi1 2S Ultra can last you for 7 hours under heavy use and 24 hours for light users.
With the fast charging, you can also top up the battery in no time. You can charge the phone from 0 to 50% in about 18 minutes and 0 to 100% in about 40 minutes using the 67W wired fast charge.
See Also: Xiaomi 12S Pro Price in UK and Availability
Xiaomi 12S Ultra Review: Price
The starting price of the Xiaomi 12S Ultra is $1,199 for the base model with 8GB RAM + 256GB storage. The models with 12GB RAM + 256GB and 12GB RAM + 512GB are priced at $1,299 and $1,399 respectively.
Buy Xiaomi 12S Ultra
| Xiaomi 12S Ultra | Price |
| Buy on Giztop | $1,199 |
Xiaomi 12S Ultra Review: Conclusion
So, is the Xiaomi 12S Ultra the best 2022 ULTRA phone? Well, I’ll rank it ahead of the ZTE Axon 40 Ultra but it still trails behind the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra.
Some of the good things about the Xiaomi 12S Ultra are its impressive cameras, sharp, colorful, and smooth display, incredible performance, very power efficiency, long battery life, lots of charging features, very beautiful design, is also very durable and is quite affordable. However, some people might not like the rear camera module, its curved display, and the fact that it has no room for a microSD card slot and a 3.5mm headphone jack.
If for some reason after reading this Xiaomi 12S Ultra Review you need an alternative phone to buy, you can check the list of Xiaomi 12S Ultra alternatives below:
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