In recent years, Xiaomi has launched a number of flagship mobile phones that on paper seemed to offer exceptional performance and features. While a few of these devices have been released in India, the majority of Xiaomi’s flagship phones have not been made available in the Indian market. Are you curious about which devices have yet to make their way to India? Let us delve deeper into the matter.
Xiaomi 13 Ultra
Unveiled back in April of this year, the Xiaomi 13 Ultra came with a camera that had thinned boundaries between professional cameras and smartphone cameras. It housed a quad sensor setup inside the device, including a 50MP 1-inch IMX989 main sensor with a variable Aperture between f/1.9 and f/4.0.
There were three more 50MP sensors, including the Sony IMX858 f/1.8 ultrawide sensor with a 122-degree FOV, alongside a pair of Sony IMX858 telephoto sensors. The first sensor, a periscope telephoto sensor, has a 75mm focal length, a 2.5x zoom, and an f/3.0 maximum aperture. The second telephoto sensor has a longer focal length of 120mm, providing a 5x zoom and also an f/3.0 maximum aperture.
It has a 6.7-inch C7 LTPO 3.0 120Hz AMOLED Display which not only supports Dolby Vision and HDR10+ but also has a peak brightness of 2600 nits, which beats the iPhone 14 Pro display panel that has a 2000 nits peak brightness. It has a Resolution of 1440 x 3200 (2K) pixels, Gorilla Glass Victusprotection and 522 ppi. China Star and Xiaomi have jointly developed the panel.
Under the hood, the device packs the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, paired with up to 16GB of LPDDR5x RAM and up to 1TB of UFS 4.0 storage. It runs on Android 13-based MIUI 14. There’s a 32MP front-facing camera for selfies. You get stereo speakers and an IP68 rated build.
The device packs a 5000mAh battery with 90W wired charging, 50W wireless charging and 10W reverse wireless charging support. For connectivity, the device gets Wi-Fi 6E, 5G, Bluetooth 5.3, NFC, GPS, and a USB-C 3.2 port. There’s an in-display optical fingerprint sensor for biometrics.
These specifications made it one of the best flagship offerings out there for camera enthusiasts and those who just wanted a premium experience. While the Xiaomi 13 Pro did arrive in India, the Xiaomi 13 Ultra didn’t.
Xiaomi Mi Mix Fold
Back when foldable phones had just started to pick up pace, Xiaomi came with the Mi Mix Fold, whose external display was 6.52 inches and was an AMOLED panel with the Resolution of 840 x 2,520 pixels, an aspect ratio of 27:9, along with 90 Hz refresh rate, 180 Hz touch sampling rate and support for HDR10+ and Dolby Vision. The internal display was an 8.01-inch OLED panel with QHD+ resolution and an aspect ratio of 4:3. It had a peak brightness value of 900 nits and also supports HDR10+ and Dolby Vision along with DCI-P3 colour space.
The Xiaomi Mi Mix Fold is powered by the Snapdragon 888 Chipset paired with up to 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM Band 512GB of UFS 3.1 Storage. For the optics, the smartphone has a triple camera setup on the back, including a 108MP Samsung HM2 primary sensor, a 13MP ultra-wide sensor with 123-degree FoV, and an 8MP telephoto sensor that also serves as an 8MP macro camera. On the front, there’s a 20MP sensor.Â
The phone is equipped with a 5,020 mAh battery that is split into two 2,460 mAh cells. It supports 67W wired charging, which completes a full charge in 37 minutes. Other additional features include a quad-speaker setup tuned by Harman Kardon, 5G, a dedicated image processing chip developed by Xiaomi called Surge S1, and more.
These were some of most top-end specifications which foldable phones could offer at that time, but unfortunately, Xiaomi didn’t think of India as a suitable market for the device and never launched the device in the country, despite Manu Kumar Jain asking the fans in India if they wanted the device to arrive here in the region.
Xiaomi 12T series
The Xiaomi 12 series phones that came out last year, both in China and India, were followed by the Xiaomi 12T series later in the year in the former region. Unfortunately, India was once again left behind and even though reports stated that Xiaomi 12T was slated to launch in India, the brand abandoned the plan.
The Xiaomi 12T could have been a value-for-money upper mid-range smartphone in India. It comes with a 6.67-inch OLED screen bearing a 2712 x 1220 pixels resolution, up to 480Hz touch sampling rate, HDR10+ support, 900 nits peak brightness, Dolby Vision, Gorilla Glass 5 protection, DCI-P3 colour gamut and a 120Hz refresh rate.
The Dimensity 8100-Ultra SoC powers the Xiaomi 12T. The device gets up to 8GB LPDDR5 RAM and up to 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage.
As for cameras, the Xiaomi 12T gets a triple rear camera setup, including a 108MP f/1.7 primary sensor, an 8MP f/2.2 ultra-wide lens, and a 2MP f/2.4 macro camera. The device also has OIS support and a 20MP f/2.24 in-display selfie camera.
The Xiaomi 12T packs a 5000mAh battery with support for 120W HyperCharge technology. The device runs on MIUI 13, based on Android 12. Connectivity options include Dual-SIM 5G, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, GPS and a USB-C port for charging. It also comes with Dolby Atmos-backed Stereo speakers (with Harman Kardon sound on 12T Pro) and an X-axis Linear Vibration motor.
Xiaomi 12S series
The Xiaomi 12S series was also launched last year in China, with the devices being limited to China. It had the Xiaomi 12S Ultra, which was followed by Xiaomi 13 Ultra earlier this year, where both the phones didn’t arrive here in India.
The most high-end smartphone in the lineup, the Xiaomi 12S Ultra, sports a 6.73-inch 2K (1,440×3,200 pixels) AMOLED micro-curved display with up to 120Hz refresh rate, LTPO 2.0 technology, up to 240Hz touch sampling rate, and a maximum of 1,500 nits of brightness. The display has Dolby Vision and HDR10+ support and has a DCI-P3 colour gamut.
Xiaomi 12S Ultra is powered by the octa-core Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 SoC, paired with up to 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM and up to 512GB of UFS 3.1 storage. The phone comes with a triple rear camera setup that includes a 50-megapixel 1-inch Sony IMX989 primary sensor with an f/1.9 lens and OIS support, a 48-megapixel telephoto camera sensor, and a 48-megapixel ultra-wide shooter. There’s also a laser Autofocus sensor, which is paired with an LED flash module. It has a 32-megapixel front-facing camera.
Connectivity options on the Xiaomi 12S Ultra include 5G, 4G LTE, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth v5.2, GPS/ A-GPS, NFC, and a USB Type-C port. The phone also comes with an in-display fingerprint sensor that doubles as a heart-rate sensor and has an IR blaster.
The Xiaomi 12S Ultra is backed by a 4,860mAh battery that supports 67W wired and 50W wireless charging. The phone also has 10W reverse wireless charging support. It comes in an IP68-rated build.