The Xiaomi 12 and 12 Pro have huge 50-megapixel main cameras

Xiaomi is at it again — putting another fantastically huge camera on a flagship phone. This time, it’s the with a 50-megapixel main sensor and f/1.9 standard wide lens. It’s not the very biggest sensor Xiaomi has used in a phone, but the combination of a wide aperture lens and sizable imaging chip makes it… well, just look at the thing.

On the technical side, it’s a Sony IMX707 chip, which Xiaomi says it’s the first to use in a mobile device. Gizmochina points out that the 707 appears to be a very light refresh of the IMX700, which makes that claim a little less exciting. Either way, it’s a large 1/1.28-inch type sensor. Sony combines its 1.22μm pixels, which are already fairly large for a mobile camera sensor, to create even larger 2.44μm “4-in-1” pixels for better low-light photos.

Image: Xiaomi

The 12 Pro includes two more 50-megapixel rear camera sensors: an ultrawide and a telephoto. The Xiaomi 12 features a slightly smaller 1/1.56-inch type sensor, a 13-megapixel ultrawide, and a 5-megapixel “telemacro.” In addition to impressive hardware, the 12 and 12 Pro include camera software improvements like reduced shutter lag, burst shooting improvements, and subject tracking for human and animal faces.

On the non-camera side, the 12 Pro and its 12 sibling have all the trimmings of a modern flagship with Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipsets and 120Hz OLED panels. The Xiaomi 12 offers a 6.28-inch screen and a 4,500mAh battery; the 12 Pro includes a 6.73-inch screen with 1,500 nit peak brightness and a 4,600mAh battery with 120W fast charging.

If you’d like to become the proud owner of a really, really big smartphone camera, both go on sale in China on December 31st. The 12 Pro starts at RMB 4,699 (about $737) for 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, and the Xiaomi 12 starts at RMB 3,699 (about $580) for the same 8GB / 128GB configuration.