6.Xiaomi 12S Ultra
The Xiaomi 12S Ultra is the company’s most powerful phone right now, but it’s not the one we recommend for most people.
Some of this is purely practical: the phone has only officially been released in China, so potential buyers will have to import the phone and fight through a few extra hassles to get the software set up properly for global tastes (it doesn’t). does not include any Google software, including the Play Store, for example).
If you’re willing to put up with that, this is a powerful device. The Leica-branded camera is the main draw, with a 1-inch main sensor – the largest ever – producing detailed shots, excellent low-light performance and beautiful natural bokeh.
The Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip delivers strong performance and excellent battery life, while the display is hard to fault either.
The inconvenients ? Besides the Chinese exclusive, there’s the divisive design and the fact that for all its size, the camera arguably isn’t quite the best on the market – the Vivo X80 Pro still wins in mode night, while the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra remains the king zoom periscope.
