Xiaomi announced its association with the German camera maker Leica on Monday. It was speculated that the Xiaomi 12 Ultra would be the first imaging flagship jointly developed by Xiaomi and Leica, expected to be officially unveiled in July this year. However, a new picture said to belong to the upcoming Xiaomi 12S, has been leaked online with the Leica branding on its camera module. The image hints that the Xiaomi 12S series could be the first smartphones from the Chinese manufacturer to get the Leica camera technology.

A tipster seems to have leaked an image on Weibo, which shows the alleged Xiaomi 12S bearing the Leica branding on its camera module, as mentioned above. Moreover, Leica previously partnered with Huawei, Panasonic and Sharp. Recently, Xiaomi had announced its long-term strategic cooperation with Leica to co-develop camera technologies for the company’s upcoming flagship smartphones.

Xiaomi 12S could be the company’s first phone to come with Leica optics
Photo Credit: Weibo

Xiaomi 12S series is said to consist of two models: the Xiaomi 12S and 12S Pro. The smartphones are reportedly under development and are said to hit the markets with smaller displays than other models in the Xiaomi 12 series.

Xiaomi 12S series specifications (expected)

The Xiaomi 12S and 12S Pro are tipped to feature a full-HD+ flexible curved display with a centred single hole along with a 120Hz refresh rate. The phones in the series are also expected to feature a 50-megapixel main camera. The camera is said to come with a new hardware-level algorithm, which could be from the Leica partnership. The Xiaomi 12S series is said to have the SM8475 processor, which is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1+ SoC.

The upcoming Xiaomi 12S series were spotted on the IMEI database last month. The listing did not reveal many details about these smartphones. However, the Xiaomi 12S models are expected to have slightly upgraded features than the standard models. The Xiaomi 12S and Xiaomi 12S Pro were seen carrying the model number 2206123SC and shortened model number L3S, and 2206122SC and shortened model number L2S, respectively. The phones were also speculated to have the codenames “diting” for Xiaomi 12S and “unicorn” for Xiaomi 12S Pro.