Xiaomi has never been a company to shy away from outlandish specs, and a new report claims its next Ultra phone just might stay in that lane. The company is said to be considering a 200-megapixel camera (MP) for the next Xiaomi Ultra phone, according to Chinese leaker Digital Chat Station on Weibo. The current Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra has a massive 50MP camera. While more pixels don’t necessarily equate to better photos, the company has proven its photography chops enough to earn the benefit of the doubt.
With summer coming to a close, it’s time for leaks of 2022’s flagship phones to begin to emerge. We’ve already gotten a taste of the Samsung Galaxy S22. With Xiaomi’s phones coming first, there have been reports that the company will continue to push the limits of its ultra-premium handsets. According to Digital Chat Station, Xiaomi’s 12 series will come in three models, as the previous series did. They’ll all be powered by the Snapdragon 898, but the company’s most impressive feature will be the camera.
Xiaomi is said to be using a 200MP main camera. This will be the largest camera sensor on smartphones so far, and an impressive technical achievement by the company. The other members of the Xiaomi 12 family are reportedly coming with “high-quality 5x periscope ultra-telephoto and high-quality ultrawide angle,” reminiscent of the Mi 11 Ultra. If true, you probably won’t be taking 200MP shots. Rather, the company will make use of pixel binning to combine the information from the 200MP sensor into a more palatable 16MP image, albeit with the option to capture a highly detailed 200MP shot if you’d like.
Though Xiaomi’s recent Mi 11 Ultra did draw some praise from us, with Digital Trends noting that it “takes excellent photos most of the time,” we found out that it fell victim to weird focusing problems. If Xiaomi can tackle those little problems in time for the Xiaomi 12 series, then it may just have the most stacked flagship line of 2022 in terms of cameras.
In other Xiaomi news, the company has confirmed it would be dropping the “Mi” brand from its future products. This means that the Xiaomi Mi 11 and all derivatives will be the last Mi-branded Xiaomi flagships. Going forward, buyer can expect to find phones dubbed the Xiaomi 12, Xiaomi 12 Pro, and so on.
“With the introduction of the new brand identity, two distinct product series will sit beneath the parent brand. Xiaomi products represent the pinnacle of technology and offer a premium experience. Redmi products bring big innovation at a more accessible price point and are aimed at younger audiences. This differentiation is also reflected in our updated logos, with both the Xiaomi and Redmi logotypes under the parent brand logo,” a company spokesperson told XDA Developers.
