Source: Xiaomi
When Xiaomi developed its camera-centric Xiaomi 12S Ultra phone, it was also exploring the idea of making it an even more powerful camera smartphone. And we got a peek at it recently through the Xiaomi 12S Ultra Concept Phone. It shares the appearance of its namesake but adds an additional 1-inch 50.3-megapixel sensor to its main one. This new sensor occupies the middle of the camera island, and it's built to work with an interchangeable Leica M lens. Yes, you can attach a camera lens to this concept phone.
This 1-inch Sony IMX989 sensor is kept underneath a large, circular piece of durable sapphire glass instead of cutting out an opening like you'd see in traditional interchangeable lens cameras. With this design, the 48-megapixel ultra-wide camera gets repositioned to the side, taking up the space where a 48-megapixel periscopic telephoto camera was placed.
As Xiaomi has shared in a video talking about this concept phone, you can attach an interchangeable lens by unscrewing the protection ring around the rear camera, screwing in an adapter, then attaching the Leica M lens of choice.
Xiaomi hasn't shared its thoughts on where the 12S Ultra Concept Phone will get mass produced. Given that it took around 300,000 yuan (around CA$56,529) to make one unit, we're not holding our breath for an immediate release.