Xiaomi 13 series with a variety of Christmas colours and Leica cameras, now available.


It runs MIUI 14 which will be discussed in a separate article.

Not even a year since the 12 series came and here we are with another Xiaomi flagship. It retained the Leica cameras once again and the phone now comes in pretty colours that match up Christmas lights!

Looks Googly to me

Their main feature, aside from the obvious Leica cameras, is the chipset inside, a 2nd-generation 4nm TSMC Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset. They also flaunt a new design. For now, they are only available in China but a global release is expected next year.

Xiaomi 13 Pro

In terms of its display, the Xiaomi 13 Pro is identical to its predecessor, namely the curved LTPO2 AMOLED screen with 120Hz refresh rate. it retained the same 2K resolution as well (1440x3200px). However, the screen of the 13 Pro is definitely brighter, at 1200 nits versus 1000 on the company’s previous flagship.

By the way, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2’s biggest change is the support for LPDDR5X RAM and UFS 4.0 storage, so read and write is significantly faster than its predecessor. The phone comes with 8 or 12GB RAM and up to 512GB internal storage.

Three cameras, once again, as a flagship, all have uses, unlike the crappy auxiliary cameras we get on lower-end phones. Three 50MP cameras take center stage and they all have different purposes. The first 50MP is a Sony IMX989 famously seen on the Xiaomi 12S Ultra. This 1in. sensor gets a fancy new upgrade as it’s sprayed with a Leica name all over it. It also comes with Hyper OIS, or Xiaomi’s way of telling a ToF-based OIS.

The 50MP telephoto remains and is the second sensor available. This time, it can reach 3x more distances and comes with a Leica Floating Lens element, although the aperture is slightly smaller at f/2.0. Finally, the third lens is the good ol’ 50MP ultrawide, never changed, from the 12 Pro.

The battery is 4,820mAh and Xiaomi has injected this with a Surge G1 battery management chip to further prolong battery life and maintain its health. 120W fast wired charging, 50W fast wireless charging. You know, typical flagship things. Also, a 10W reverse charging. Nothing new here.

The phone of course, retained the IR Blaster, because it couldn’t be a Xiaomi without it (ahem, Xiaomi Mi8 series). Obviously it would have an IP68 water/dust resistance rating in addition to Dolby Atmos-tuned stereo speakers. It should be obvious by now that you shouldn’t be finding the headphone jack anywhere on a flagship.

It comes in four dull colour options. Black, Grass Green, White, and a Light Blue option which is made of leather instead of ceramic unlike the others.

Price starts at CNY 4,999 (~Php 40K) for the 8/128 variant and the 12/512 is priced at CNY 5,799 (~Php 46.4K). As they years go by, Xiaomi’s flagships become more and more expensive, yet more affordable than most Galaxy S phones and iPhones. Go figure!

Xiaomi 13

The Xiaomi 13 is a direct upgrade over the Xiaomi 12 and it resembles that of the 13 Pro, but with slightly weaker features. In comparison to the Xiaomi 12, the display here is slightly larger, 6.36in. but retained the same type of display as before. That is, the FHD+ (2400x1080px) AMOLED screen (not LTPO) with 120Hz refresh rate, Dolby Vision, HDR10+, and HLG support. The display is as bright as the 13 Pro, at 1200nits.

The chipset used here is the same as with the 13 Pro, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. This means it retains the access to UFS 4.0 internal storage and LPDDR5X RAM.

All cameras now get the Leica treatment. The main upgrade is the inclusion of a proper telephoto camera, in which the 12 lacked. The main unit is a 50MP Sony IMX800 f/1.8, 23mm sensor with Hyper OIS, making it the second phone to use such a sensor (the other being the Honor 70). The telephoto camera is a 10MP sensor also with OIS, and finally, there’s your 12MP ultrawide with an f/2.2 aperture. The front camera is the same, 32MP located centrally on top of the OLED screen.

Xiaomi decided to retain the same battery capacity and charging rate. 4500mAh and 67W fast charging respectively, alongside a 50MP wireless + 10W reverse.

Like the 13 Pro, the phone features an IR Blaster and Dolby Atmos stereo speakers which definitely costed the headphone jack. The phone is made of glass instead of ceramic which is frankly more affordable to manufacture but helps retain the flagship feel. Just that, it’s now glossy. Aside from its boring colours retained from the 13 Pro, it also comes with four colours that strikingly resembles that of the same colours Google uses. Probably a coincidence. This colourway and pattern do remind us of iPhones.

Once again, the Light Blue colour is made of leather. Everything else is made of glass.

Price starts at CNY 3,999 (~Php 32K) for the 8/128 version and goes all the way to CNY 4,999 (~Php 40K) for the 12/512 variant. As mentioned earlier, both phones are currently only available in China but a global version is expected.

Source: GSMArena