Xiaomi 12S, 12S Pro official with Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, Leica cameras

Xiaomi 12S Pro Price in Nepal Specifications Features Availability
Honor X9b Ad
Honor X9b Ad

Today, Xiaomi held an online event in China, where the company announced the latest 12S flagship series. The series is home to three new devices, including the vanilla 12S, 12S Pro and 12S Ultra. We have already covered the 12S Ultra in our other post, and here we will be looking at the Xiaomi 12S and 12 Pro, including their specs, features, expected price, and availability in Nepal.

Xiaomi 12S, 12S Pro Overview:

Xiaomi 12 and 12S Pro are a mid-year refresh of the vanilla 12 and 12 Pro. Thus, the two bring some mild upgrades over the Xiaomi 12 series launched in December.

Performance and Memory

The biggest difference between the Xiaomi 12S phones and their non-S counterparts is in the chipset. Xiaomi 12 and Xiaomi 12 Pro were among the first phones to launch with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset. Likewise, the Xiaomi 12S and 12S Pro, along with the Ultra model, are the first to feature the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chipset.

This new chip is based on TSMC’s 4nm process, unlike the regular Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, built on Samsung’s process. Likewise, the chip features an overclocked Cortex X2 Prime core and boasts a 10% better CPU, 10% faster GPU, and 20% greater AI performance. So, expect Xiaomi 12S and 12S Pro to have better all-round performance than their non-S siblings.

Camera

Moving on, the Xiaomi 12S duo is also among the first products to be part of the company’s new partnership with Leica. As a result, you can notice the Leica branding just below the LED flash in the camera bump.

Coming to the camera hardware, both Xiaomi 12S and 12S Pro come with a triple camera setup, led by the 50MP IMX707 sensor from Sony. It is the same sensor used in the Xiaomi 12 Pro. As a result, there is no change in the camera hardware going from Xiaomi 12 Pro to 12S Pro hardware.

On the software side, however, Xiaomi has introduced AI Image Solution 2.0 which utilizes both hardware and software for improved cameras.

Xiaomi 12S Pro Cameras

On the other hand, IMX707 on the Xiaomi 12S means it now has a bigger sensor than the regular Xiaomi 12.

Apart from the primary sensor, Xiaomi has included two other 50MP sensors for ultrawide and telephoto on the 12S Pro, whereas we only get a 13MP ultrawide and a 5MP tele-macro sensor on the 12S.

Over on the front, both phones feature a 32MP selfie shooter enclosed inside the center-aligned punch-hole cutout.

Design and Display

The Xiaomi 12S duo has nothing new to offer on the design side. The two sport the same glass sandwich design as their non-S counterpart. The only thing that sets them apart is the Leica branding on the camera bump at the back.

Upfront, Xiaomi 12S and 12S Pro sport curved AMOLED screens of 6.28” and 6.73” sizes, respectively. Both are 10-bit panels with support for 120Hz refresh rate and Dolby Vision. They even sport Gorilla Glass Victus protection and an optical in-display fingerprint scanner.

That being said, you will have a more premium experience with the 12S Pro as it has QHD+ resolution, LTPO 2.0 technology, and a peak brightness of 1500 nits, all of which are missing on the regular 12S.

Rest of the Specs

Xiaomi 12S and 12S Pro come with different-sized batteries as well. The former packs a 4,500mAh battery, while the latter brings a slightly larger 4,600mAh battery. Likewise, the 12S Pro supports 120W fast charging against 12S’s 67W solution. Furthermore, both phones are capable of 50W wireless charging and 10W reverse wireless charging.

Xiaomi 12S Series ships with MIUI 13 based on Android 12 out of the box. On the connectivity front, Xiaomi has included support for 5G, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2, and NFC. They also feature stereo speakers tuned by Harman Kardon.

Xiaomi 12S, 12S Pro Specifications:

  • Display:
    • 12S: 6.28″ FHD+ AMOLED, 120Hz refresh rate, 480Hz touch sampling rate, Gorilla Glass Victus
    • 12S Pro: 6.73″ WQHD+ LTPO 2.0 AMOLED panel, 120Hz refresh rate, Up to 480Hz touch sample, Dolby Vision, HDR10+, 1500 nits brightness
  • Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 (4nm)
  • Memory: 8/12GB LPDDR5 RAM, 128/256GB UFS 3.1 storage (fixed)
  • Software & UI: Android 12 with Xiaomi’s MIUI 13 on top
  • Rear Camera:
    • 12S: 50MP Sony IMX707 (OIS) + 13MP ultrawide + 5MP tele-macro
    • 12S Pro: 50MP Sony IMX707 (OIS) + 50MP ultrawide + 50MP telephoto
  • Front Camera: 32MP sensor (punch-hole cutout)
  • Audio: Stereo speakers, tuned by Harmon Kardon, No headphone jack
  • Security: In-display fingerprint sensor, Face unlock
  • Sensors: Accelerometer, Ambient Light, Gyroscope, Proximity, Electronic Compass, Linear Motor, IR Blaster
  • Connectivity: Dual-SIM (Nano), WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax (Dual-band), Bluetooth 5.1, GPS / AGPS / Glonass / Beidou / NavIC / GLONASS / QZSS, NFC, 5G, USB Type-C
  • Battery:
    • 12S: 4500mAh, 67W fast charging, 50W wireless, 10W reverse wireless
    • 12S Pro: 4600mAh, 120W wired charging, 50W wireless, 10W reverse wireless

Xiaomi 12S, 12S Pro Price in Nepal and Availability

The Xiaomi 12S series is currently exclusive to China where the price starts at CNY 3,999 and CNY 4,699 for the 12S and 12S Pro, respectively. We expect the price of Xiaomi 12S and 12S Pro to start at NPR 85,000 and NPR 100,000, respectively, if and when they launch in Nepal.

Xiaomi 12S Series  Price in China (Official)  Price in Nepal (Expected) 
Xiaomi 12S 8/128GB CNY 3,999 NPR 85,000
8/256GB CNY 4,299  NPR 90,000
12/256GB CNY 4,699 NPR 100,000
12/512GB CNY 5,199 NPR 110,000
Xiaomi 12S Pro  8/128GB CNY 4,699 NPR 100,000
8/256GB CNY 4,999 NPR 105,000
12/256GB CNY 5,399 NPR 115,000 
12/512GB CNY 5,899 NPR 120,000
  • Meanwhile, check out our review of the Xiaomi 12 Pro.