Xiaomi will present the 12S series on July 4, and today has confirmed the phones it will show. We expect a Xiaomi 12S, the flagship Xiaomi 12S Pro and the “beast” of photography Xiaomi 12S Ultra.
The company has revealed that the latter will have a completely new 1″ camera sensor from Sony, called IMX989. However, rumors suggest that the global market will not see them, as Xiaomi intends the 12S line to be exclusive to China.
Xiaomi indicates in an image that the new IMX989 is 1″ from one corner to another, but it is misleading information.
When talking about a “1-inch sensor”, this measurement does not correspond to the diagonal but is a shorthand way of saying «1 inch type sensor» or, being more precise, ‘sensor ‘equivalent to a one-inch video camera tube’.
Sensor size descriptors are the equivalent size of the video camera tube, not the actual size of the sensor. For example, a 1″ sensor has a diagonal of 16 mm (0.63″).
Also, we do not know if Xiaomi will use the entire surface of the sensor. The Xperia PRO-I, for example, had an optical system that only used the center of its 1-inch sensor. This makes the lens not protrude as much from the phone, but technically, the sensor is not fully used.
On the other hand, the specifications of the Xiaomi 12S They suggest a small 6.28″ AMOLED screen with a refresh rate of 120 Hz. It will have two RAM and two storage options: 8/12 GB and 128/256 GB, respectively.
The rear camera set will be 50 MP main + 13 MP ultra wide angle + 5 MP macro, while the front camera is 32 MP.
All of these specs appear to be the same as the Xiaomi 12 – the difference will be the new Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset while the cameras will get the Leica treatment.
