It has been confirmed that the Xiaomi 12 Ultra was once developed, but was later canceled in favor of the Xiaomi 12S Ultra.
The recent confirmation of the Xiaomi 12S Ultra has raised the inevitable question: what happened to the Xiaomi 12 Ultra? Ever been in line for the launch, or did Xiaomi always keep in mind the Xiaomi 12S Ultra for its next flagship?
It turns out that the 12 Ultra plan was, at one point, in active development. Fans recently asked Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun about the device in comments on a Weibo post, and he responded accordingly (using IT Home and translation software):
“Xiaomi 12 Ultra is equipped with Snapdragon 8, which was initially scheduled to launch in March and April, but was canceled. Looking for a better experience: We’ve updated Snapdragon 8+, Qualcomm and Leica for several months “That experience was very good.”
As the comments make clear, Xiaomi had planned to launch an Ultra 12 in March or April, following a little later the Xiaomi 12 and Xiaomi 12 Pro. However, he then opted to cancel the device and move on to an even later launch with the Xiaomi 12S Ultra, which could 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 launch event on July 4th along with two other S devices, the Xiaomi 12S and the Xiaomi 12S Pro.
All three will bear fruit from the brand’s recent partnership with Leica, suggesting an improved camera setup along with enhanced performance.