The recent confirmation of the Xiaomi 12S Ultra has raised the inevitable question: what happened to the Xiaomi 12 Ultra? Was it ever in line for a launch or did Xiaomi always have the Xiaomi 12S Ultra in mind for its next flagship? It turns out that the simple 12 Ultra was, at one point, in active development. Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun was recently asked about the device by fans in the comments to a post on Weibo and responded appropriately as follows (via IT Home and translation software): “The Xiaomi 12 Ultra is equipped with Snapdragon 8, which was originally scheduled to be released in March and April, but was canceled. Seeking a better experience: we upgraded Snapdragon 8+, Qualcomm and Leica for several months. This experience was very good. “ As the comments make clear, Xiaomi planned to release a 12 Ultra in March or April, followed shortly by the Xiaomi 12 and Xiaomi 12 Pro. However, it later opted to cancel the device and move on to an even later release with the Xiaomi 12S Ultra, which could then take advantage of the new and improved Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip. We recently learned that the aforementioned Xiaomi 12S Pro will be unveiled at a presentation event on July 4 along with two other S devices, the Xiaomi 12S and the Xiaomi 12S Pro. All three will bear fruit in the brand’s recent partnership with Leica, proposing an improved camera setting alongside enhanced performance.
