Xiaomi 12S Ultra review

Android 12 and MIUI 13, but with a Chinese twist

The Xiaomi 12S Ultra runs Android 12 with MIUI 13 on top, a fairly popular combination for recent high-end Xiaomis. There's more to it on this particular Xiaomi, at least from our perspective, in that it's on the Chinese branch of MIUI 13, so it's not quite the same as the global versions we usually encounter.

For starters, there are differences in the software package - there's a lot of pre-installed Chinese apps. Thankfully, you can remove pretty much all of them.

There's also no Google suite when you power up the 12S Ultra, but a trip to the Xiaomi app store will get you the Google Play Store, and from there, you can have it all.

The default keyboard has the usual Chinese input capabilities and is somewhat difficult to operate from a Western user's standpoint, but Gboard is right there in the Play Store. So in a way, you could minimize the 12S Ultra's Chinese flavor if you were to import one and use it outside of its intended habitat.

Still, there will be remains of Chinese elements here or there in the UI or in the system apps. Plus, we can't be certain if one or another software peculiarity wouldn't become an issue in the long run for more niche use cases. There's the Netflix SD cap, for one.

Chinese apps • GetApps • Some sort of Search feature • Xiaomi Browser • Keyboard • Play Store

Then there's the fact that some things in the UI and feature set are just different and that we find odd. That is to say, we knew the two branches take separate paths here or there since our first encounter with MIUI 13 earlier this year; it's just that now's the first time we experience the other way in person.

For example, in some system apps (like the Clock) where the global MIUI builds use icons for different tabs, the Chinese build has simple text labels. The File Manager has that difference too, plus a different look of the Recent tab.

There are other things as well. The 12S Ultra's Chinese MIUI has a new and improved widget interface, with better-defined categories, tons of widgets and a search feature. Admittedly, a lot of the widgets we're getting are in Chinese, and we did remove nearly all of the pre-installed apps, yet there are still so many of them, but the new interface is still better.

Clock • File Manager • File Manager • Widgets

Next up, the Privacy non-Dashboard. Google released this privacy hub with Android 12, and different makers have been implementing it in their own ways, and Xiaomi itself has done it in two different ways depending on localization. And, weirdly enough, on the 12S Ultra's build, the permissions are designated with icons, as opposed to the text labels in the global builds. Still, you get essentially the same functionality for keeping track of what app has used what permission when - it's just organized in a different way.

It doesn't end there, naturally. We found no way to revert to a classic notification shade with quick toggles as the norm on most Androids - the 12S Ultra only has the two-pane option with notifications on the left and control center on the right. Similarly, you don't get to choose the UI of the Recent apps - it's just the MIUI standard two-cards-per-row interface.

Privacy • Privacy • Privacy • Notifications • Control Center • Recent apps

None of these differences really take away from the MIUI experience and depending on how you like your Xiaomi to behave, you might not even notice that certain things are different or missing.

Always-on display functionality is there with all the customizability you can ask for. The homescreens are business as usual - they are populated with shortcuts, folders, and widgets. You can choose whether to have an app drawer or not - that option has not been taken away. The leftmost pane is reserved for widgets only - it's not the Google Discover.

AoD • Lockscreen • Homescreen • Folder view • App drawer • Widget pane

You unlock the screen via the optical fingerprint scanner embedded in the display. It's fast and reliable, no complaints there.

There's this feature where if you press and hold on the fingerprint reader, shortcuts appear after unlocking, which is a handy way of accessing stuff almost immediately from the lockscreen. However, the shortcuts here are to AliPay and WeChat with no obvious way of changing them, so we see little practical value in that feature outside of China.

Aside from the fingerprint reader, you can unlock the phone using 2D Face Unlock, but it is far less secure than the fingerprint option.

Biometric security • Fingerprint settings • Fingerprint shortcuts • Animation style • Face unlock

Themes have always been a huge part of MIUI, and they are available on this flavor of MIUI 13, too. You can download new ones from the Themes store, and they can change wallpapers, ringtones, system icons, and even the always-on display style.

Themes

MIUI comes with its proprietary multimedia apps - there's Gallery, and Music and Mi Video. And, of course, a Mi Remote app that uses the integrated IR blaster.

Then there's the Security app. It can scan your phone for malware, manage your blacklist, manage or restrict your data usage, configure battery behavior, and free up some RAM. It can also manage the permissions of your installed apps, define the battery behavior of selected apps, and apply restrictions only to certain apps.

Gallery • Music • Video • Mi Remote • Security

We'll reiterate that the division in design and functionality between Chinese and global MIUI builds perplexes us, but there could be some regional and cultural nuances that Xiaomi gets and we don't. You could seemingly use the 12S Ultra just fine outside of China, though you'll never be able to completely remove all references to Chinese apps and services, and some specific things may not work at all.

Performance and benchmarks

The 12S Ultra gets the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, the 'plus' in there signifying it's the mid-life cycle refresh of Qualcomm's high-end SoC. We went into more detail on the new chip in a dedicated article testing an engineering device a while back, so head over there for a more in-depth look.

The gist of it is improved efficiency across the board thanks to a switch from Samsung to TSMC for the manufacturing (still at 4nm, technically) and slightly higher CPU and GPU clocks.

In our benchmark runs on the Xiaomi 12S Ultra, it posted very similar results to the Qualcomm engineering device in most tests. The exception was on-screen graphics benchmarks, where Xiaomi's native 1440p resolution meant a lot more pixels to render than the 1080p test bench - the parity was there in off-screen tests that are run at the same resolution on all devices.

We've included that non-commercial unit in the charts to serve as a reference, and we've also added average values for the 'vanilla' SD 8 Gen 1 - to show how much better the Xiaomi is, compared to the 'normies'. We also already saw the 8+ Gen 1 in a production device, the ROG Phone 6 Pro, so we have a real-world data point as well, though the ROG's gaming inclination and multitude of modes make for some skewed comparisons.

The 12S Ultra exists in three memory configurations - the 8GB/256GB base model, the 12GB/256GB middle option, and the 12GB/512GB top version, which our review unit happens to be.

Starting with GeekBench as usual, we're seeing the first example of Xiaomi's reference-level performance. The latest ROG Phone does match them in single-core but is a notch below them under multi-threaded load in its highest-performing mode. The 12S Ultra's scores are higher than the SD 8 Gen 1 by 18% in the single-core test and by 21% in multi-core.

GeekBench 5 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro (X Mode+)
  1329
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  1324
• Asus SD 8 Gen 1+ test platform (1080p)
  1316
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro (X Mode)
  1300
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 7 Pro
  1251
• Poco F4 GT
  1244
• ZTE Axon 40 Ultra
  1207
• vivo X80 Pro
  1184
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  1180
• Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro
  1176
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  1169
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  1160
• Honor Magic4 Pro
  1127
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
  1126
• Average SD 8 Gen1 (1440p)
  1123
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro
  1110
• Oppo Find X5 Pro
  1002
• OnePlus 10 Pro
  975

GeekBench 5 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  4300
• Asus SD 8 Gen 1+ test platform (1080p)
  4199
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro (X Mode+)
  3980
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro (X Mode)
  3889
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 7 Pro
  3845
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  3682
• Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro
  3665
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  3657
• Poco F4 GT
  3637
• Average SD 8 Gen1 (1440p)
  3554
• Honor Magic4 Pro
  3512
• vivo X80 Pro
  3505
• OnePlus 10 Pro
  3447
• Oppo Find X5 Pro
  3433
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  3403
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
  3191
• ZTE Axon 40 Ultra
  3189
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro
  2659

The Qualcomm engineering device sets the benchmark in Antutu followed by the ROG. Here, the 12S Ultra is a notch below, though still above the million points.

AnTuTu 9

Higher is better

• Asus SD 8 Gen 1+ test platform (1080p)
  1120235
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro (X Mode+)
  1103188
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro (X Mode)
  1094300
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 7 Pro
  1056511
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  1039412
• Oppo Find X5 Pro
  1012896
• Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro
  1007133
• vivo X80 Pro
  1002570
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  985226
• Honor Magic4 Pro
  980755
• Average SD 8 Gen1 (1440p)
  969714
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  968359
• Poco F4 GT
  952124
• OnePlus 10 Pro
  886248
• ZTE Axon 40 Ultra
  884923
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  838832
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
  794016
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro
  762090

In GFXBench, the 12S Ultra aced the off-screen tests, again matching the Qualcomm reference device - a clear indication of top-level raw performance capability. In the on-screen tests, the high-resolution display on the Xiaomi means less impressive fps numbers than the 1080p ROG Phone 6 Pro. But the performance potential is there, and you could choose to run the Xiaomi in 1080p mode to get higher frame rates out of your games (and benchmarks, if you're into that).

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Asus SD 8 Gen 1+ test platform (1080p)
  63
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro (X Mode+)
  61
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro (X Mode)
  61
• Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro
  61
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro
  58
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 7 Pro
  58
• ZTE Axon 40 Ultra
  46
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  43
• Honor Magic4 Pro
  40
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  38
• OnePlus 10 Pro
  37
• Average SD 8 Gen1 (1440p)
  36
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  36
• Oppo Find X5 Pro
  35
• vivo X80 Pro
  34
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  30
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
  23

GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  46
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro (X Mode+)
  46
• Asus SD 8 Gen 1+ test platform (1080p)
  46
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 7 Pro
  43
• OnePlus 10 Pro
  43
• Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro
  41
• Average SD 8 Gen1 (1440p)
  41
• vivo X80 Pro
  41
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  41
• Honor Magic4 Pro
  40
• Oppo Find X5 Pro
  40
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro (X Mode)
  37
• ZTE Axon 40 Ultra
  35
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro
  33
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  31
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
  27
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  26

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Asus SD 8 Gen 1+ test platform (1080p)
  65
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 7 Pro
  64
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro (X Mode+)
  63
• Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro
  61
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro (X Mode)
  45
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro
  45
• ZTE Axon 40 Ultra
  45
• Honor Magic4 Pro
  45
• OnePlus 10 Pro
  41
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  39
• Average SD 8 Gen1 (1440p)
  38
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  37
• Oppo Find X5 Pro
  36
• vivo X80 Pro
  34
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  31
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  29
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
  25

GFX Aztek Vulkan High (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  51
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro (X Mode+)
  51
• Asus SD 8 Gen 1+ test platform (1080p)
  51
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 7 Pro
  48
• OnePlus 10 Pro
  48
• Average SD 8 Gen1 (1440p)
  45
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  45
• Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro
  44
• Oppo Find X5 Pro
  44
• ZTE Axon 40 Ultra
  42
• vivo X80 Pro
  37
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro (X Mode)
  36
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro
  36
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  35
• Honor Magic4 Pro
  32
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
  29
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  26

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Asus SD 8 Gen 1+ test platform (1080p)
  83
• Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro
  82
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro (X Mode+)
  79
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro (X Mode)
  79
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro
  79
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 7 Pro
  77
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  74
• Honor Magic4 Pro
  59
• ZTE Axon 40 Ultra
  58
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  51
• OnePlus 10 Pro
  48
• Average SD 8 Gen1 (1440p)
  46
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  46
• vivo X80 Pro
  44
• Oppo Find X5 Pro
  44
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  37
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
  34

GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  104
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro
  103
• Asus SD 8 Gen 1+ test platform (1080p)
  103
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro (X Mode+)
  102
• Asus ROG Phone 6 Pro (X Mode)
  101
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 7 Pro
  97
• OnePlus 10 Pro
  97
• Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro
  96
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  96
• Average SD 8 Gen1 (1440p)
  95
• Oppo Find X5 Pro
  94
• vivo X80 Pro
  90
• ZTE Axon 40 Ultra
  80
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  79
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  76
• Honor Magic4 Pro
  72
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
  69

3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)

Higher is better

• Asus SD 8 Gen 1+ test platform (1080p)
  10534
• Xiaomi 12S Ultra
  10533
• Honor Magic4 Pro
  10183
• ZTE nubia Red Magic 7 Pro
  10112
• Xiaomi Black Shark 5 Pro
  10008
• Sony Xperia 1 IV
  9794
• vivo X80 Pro
  9778
• Oppo Find X5 Pro
  9758
• Xiaomi 12 Pro
  9664
• Average SD 8 Gen1 (1440p)
  9638
• OnePlus 10 Pro
  9610
• ZTE Axon 40 Ultra
  8670
• Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra (1440p)
  7437
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
  5676

The 12S Ultra's stability results are two-fold. In the 3DMark Wild Life stress test, the phone's result dropped to 54% of its initial value, which is one of the biggest drops we've observed. On the other hand, in the CPU throttling test, we saw steadier results, and the phone got an 81% score. It did pop up an overheating warning 48 minutes into the one-hour test but completed it after all.

3DMark Wildlife stress test • CPU throttling test