Lin didn't share much else, other than the fact that this phone will be launched in January, and that he has apparently "used it for a few weeks, not bad!" If all goes well, Xiaomi could very well end up having the world's first smartphone with a 48-megapixel camera, and chances are it'll feature either Sony's IMX586 or Samsung's ISOCELL Bright GM1 (or both).

While both sensors have a tiny 0.8 micron pixel pitch, they can leverage pixel binning algorithms to merge four pixels into one, in order to simulate the better light sensitivity of 1.6 micron pixels in dark environments (meanwhile, many flagship phones use 1.55 micron sensors). When there's plenty of light, the 48-megapixel resolution offers smooth digital zoom with minimal loss in detail -- you can do a 4x zoom and still get a native 12-megapixel crop, for instance. Likewise for electronic stabilization for video shooting.

Still, at the end of the day, it's all about how well the smartphone brands tune their cameras, and frankly, this has not been Xiaomi's strong point. Hopefully the company can surprise us all with this mysterious phone come January.

Video

Presenter: Cherlynn Low

Script: Cherlynn Low

Script Editor: Terrence O'Brien

Camera: Taylor Ligay

Editor: Chris Schodt

Producer: Michael Morris