Xiaomi might be planning to release an updated version of its Xiaomi 12 Pro smartphone featuring the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus and called the Xiaomi 12S Pro.

In recent years it has become common that some manufacturers update their devices with a new iteration when new hardware is released. We saw that from the likes of OnePlus, issuing a T model - and we're now seeing that from other manufacturers too.

The update would see the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 Plus in Xiaomi's flagship smartphone (although there's also rumours of a Xiaomi 12 Ultra) - while there's also rumours that this unreleased Qualcomm hardware will be announced on 20 May.

That's a lot of uncertainty in this particular report - although the source, so called Digital Chat Station on Weibo, has a good track record of leaking such information.

It looks as though that might be the only update that the Xiaomi 12S Pro offers, sticking to the display and other features the phone already offers.

It does raise a question, however, of how sustainable this process is. Over the past few years we've seen a number of brands move from an understandable range of devices, to a fragmented mess, where one device has only been on the market for 6 months before it's replaced.

In some cases - especially where a device launches first in China - it might only just be available in other regions (like Europe) when a new replacement is announced.

It makes for a smartphone market that's increasingly complicated to navigate. Taking each market in isolation is fine, but living in a globalised market, where everyone can see what is launched elsewhere and sometimes buy imported devices online easily, means that customers never really know where their device sits or how long it might be the best phone for them.

With phones being highly competitive, however, this ramping up doesn't seem to have any end: offering better specs on paper currently seems more important than investing in long-term user experience.

As we said, in this particular report there's a lot of uncertainty, but with the aggressive launching of devices from Xiaomi, we wouldn't be surprised if it was true.