We've got more unconfirmed information about the Xiaomi 12 Ultra – that's the higher-end upgrade of the Xiaomi 12 that we've already seen. There had been doubts that an Ultra model would appear, but now it seems on track for July or August.
The latest tips come courtesy of Xiaomiui and Digital Chat Station (via Notebookcheck): the Xiaomi 12 Ultra has apparently been spotted in Xiaomi's own internal database, under the model number 2206122SC and the internal codename L2S.
Both sources point to Q3 2022 as the potential launch window for the Xiaomi 12 Ultra, which would be July, August or September. The Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra made its debut in March, so it would seem this year's schedule won't match exactly.
Xiaomi by the numbers
At one point it was thought that the Xiaomi 12 Ultra might not appear at all – some sources had suggested that it would appear as the Xiaomi Mix 5 Pro, a follow-up to the Xiaomi Mi Mix 4 that we saw last year.
It can be difficult to keep track of Xiaomi's various handsets, in part because not all of them make it outside of China. The Xiaomi 12 and Xiaomi 12 Pro were originally unveiled in December, though we're still waiting for them to appear on the international market.
The international launch of the Xiaomi 12 could be as soon as February or March, according to some tipsters, so it looks as though it'll be a few more months before the Xiaomi 12 Ultra variant sees the light of day.
Analysis: what we know so far
With the Xiaomi 12 already having been announced, we've got a pretty good idea of the foundation that the Xiaomi 12 Ultra is going to be built on. It should offer even more in terms of specs and premium quality materials.
In terms of the rumors so far, there's been a lot of talk about the cameras that are getting fitted to the rear module: apparently there might be as many as seven lenses, so you would expect the phone to be capable of capturing some impressive photos and videos.
Based on what we've seen so far, that's also going to mean a rather huge camera bump as well, so we'll see how well Xiaomi styles it out. As with the other phones we've already seen in this series, the Ultra model should be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset from Qualcomm.
All of this power and performance is going to come at a price though: the early indications are that the Xiaomi 12 Ultra will cost in the region of £1,199 / AU$1,799 (that’s roughly $1,630, though it's not expected to make an appearance in the US).
