Reports suggest the Xiaomi Mi 18 Ultra has been cut: three 200MP cameras and a 1mm-thickness, four-sided flat screen.

Fast Technology reported that digital blogger “Digital Chat Station” revealed a flagship phone that has not yet entered mass production.

Based on its announced specifications and online discussions, this device is indeed the previously rumored Xiaomi 18 Ultra.

According to leaks,
this phone was originally planned to feature a 1mm-thickness four-sided flat screen, be equipped with a high-end flagship chip, and achieve a benchmark score of over 5 million.

In terms of imaging, the equipment is particularly aggressive, with the original plan to equip it with three 200-megapixel cameras, including a 1/1.12-inch LOFIC main camera, a 1/1.56-inch ultra-wide-angle camera, and a 1/1.28-inch LOFIC continuous optical zoom periscope telephoto camera.

In addition, the camera is also planned to feature a multispectral lens, a magnetic external lens, a 0916 motor, and symmetrical dual speakers.

The blogger later revealed that the model had been cancelled, with internal sources believing that the excessively high price might negatively impact market performance.

In fact, there were reports in August this year that Xiaomi would streamline the Xiaomi 18 series product lineup from four cups to three cups, ultimately retaining only the Xiaomi 18, Xiaomi 18 Pro and Xiaomi 18 Pro Max, with the Xiaomi 18 Ultra absent from this generation of product line.

However, this does not mean that Xiaomi has completely abandoned the Ultra series. According to previous leaks, the Xiaomi 19 Ultra will still be launched as scheduled.

In comparison, the Xiaomi 17 Ultra features a 1/1.4-inch periscope telephoto lens, while the Xiaomi 18 Ultra was originally planned to be upgraded to a 1/1.28-inch large sensor and introduce LOFIC technology and continuous optical zoom, improving both sensor size and zoom capabilities.

The term LOFIC stands for Lateral Overflow Integrating Capacitor Technology.

Simply put, it involves adding a high-density capacitor next to the photodiode in the image sensor to receive photoelectrons exceeding the capacity of the photodiode itself.

When traditional sensors encounter bright scenes, problems such as overexposure of highlights and loss of detail can easily occur once the number of photoelectrons exceeds the limit that a pixel can handle.

LOFIC can temporarily store these excess photoelectrons in the adjacent capacitor, thereby improving the sensor’s ability to record information in high-brightness environments and retaining more highlight details.

This technology is particularly valuable for high-contrast scenes such as backlighting, nighttime light displays, and sunsets, as it can further expand the dynamic range of mobile phone images, resulting in richer tonal gradations in the final image.