In partnership with Leica, Xiaomi first introduced the Xiaomi 12S Ultra which was equipped with Leica professional optical lens in July last year. This year, continuing the two company’s long-term collaborations, Xiaomi introduced the Xiaomi 13 and Xiaomi 13 Pro smartphones. Both smartphones are co-engineered by both Xiaomi and Leica and feature professional optical lenses on top of premium hardware components and features.
While most of the spotlight was on the flagship Xiaomi 13 Pro with its no-compromise feature set, we knew that we had to give the Xiaomi 13 a shot as well to find out if it’s just as good.
Xiaomi 13
| Xiaomi 13 Pro | Xiaomi 13 | |
| Design | ● Dimensions: 162.9mm x 74.6mm x 8.38mm ● Weight: 229g ● 3D bio-ceramic back ● Corning® Gorilla® Glass Victus® Front ● IP68 ● Colors: Ceramic Black, Ceramic White |
● Dimensions: 152.8mm x 71.5mm x 7.98mm ● Weight: 189g ● Corning® Gorilla® Glass 5 front ● 2.5D glass back ● IP68 ● Colors: Black, White, Flora Green |
| Imaging System | ● LEICA VARIO-SUMMICRON 1:1.9-2.2/14-75 ASPH. ● 23mm f/1.9 Leica main camera – 50MP wide angle camera – IMX989, 1″ sensor size – 1.6μm pixel size, 3.2μm 4-in-1 Super Pixel size – f/1.9, 8P lens, HyperOIS – Xiaomi ProFocus – Portrait Night mode – 8K video recording – Create in Dolby Vision® up to 4K 60fps – Ultra Night Video – One-click AI cinema ● 75mm f/2.0 Leica floating telephoto camera – 50MP telephoto camera – f/2.0, OIS – Focal Shift technology – Floating telephoto lens – Xiaomi ProFocus – Portrait Night mode ● 14mm f/2.2 Leica ultra-wide camera – 50MP ultra-wide angle camera – f/2.2, 6P lens, 115° FOV ● Two photographic styles: Leica Authentic Look & Leica Vibrant Look ● Master-lens system: 35mm Black and white lens, 50mm Swirly bokeh lens, 90mm Soft focus lens, and 75mm Portrait lens ● 32MP in-display selfie camera – 1.4μm 4-in-1 Super Pixel size – f/2.0, 5P lens, 89.6° FOV – Dynamic Framing (0.8x, 1x) – Night mode – Portrait mode – HDR |
● LEICA VARIO-SUMMICRON 1:1.8-2.2/15-75 ASPH. ● 23mm f/1.8 Leica main camera ● 54/50MP(total/effective) wide angle camera – IMX800 – 1/1.49″/1/1.56″ (total/effective) sensor size – 1.0μm pixel size, 2.0μm 4-in-1 Super Pixel size – f/1.8, 7P lens, HyperOIS – Xiaomi ProFocus – Portrait Night mode – 8K video recording – Create in Dolby Vision® up to 4K 60fps – Ultra Night Video – One-click AI cinema ● 75mm f/2.0 Leica telephoto camera – 10MP6 telephoto camera – f/2.0, 5P lens ● 15mm f/2.2 Leica ultra-wide camera – 12MP ultra-wide angle camera – f/2.2, 120° FOV ● Two photographic styles: Leica Authentic Look & Leica Vibrant Look ● Master-lens system: 35mm Black and white lens, 50mm Swirly bokeh lens, 90mm Soft focus lens, and 75mm Portrait lens ● 32MP in-display selfie camera – 1.4μm 4-in-1 Super Pixel size – f/2.0, 5P lens, 89.6° FOV – Dynamic Framing (0.8x, 1x) – Night mode – Portrait mode – HDR |
| Display | ● 120Hz WQHD+ 6.73” AMOLED display – E6 OLED materials – 20:9, 3200 x 1440, 522 ppi– 1-120Hz AdaptiveSync Pro, up to 240Hz touch– sampling rate– Brightness: HBM 1200 nits (typ), 1900 nits (peak)– P3 color gamut– TrueColor display, JNCD≈0.21, Delta E≈0.28– Over 1 billion colors● Pro HDR display● Dolby Vision®, HDR10+, HDR10, HLG● 1920 PWM dimming● Adaptive reading mode● Sunlight mode● SGS Eye Care Display certification |
● 120Hz FHD+ 6.36” AMOLED display – 20:9, 2400 x 1080, 413 ppi – 120Hz AdaptiveSync– Up to 240Hz touch sampling rate – E6 OLED materials – Brightness: HBM 1200 nits (typ), 1900 nits (peak) – P3 color gamut – TrueColor display, JNCD≈0.32, Delta E≈0.36 ● Pro HDR display ● Dolby Vision®, HDR10+, HDR10, HLG ● Adaptive reading mode ● Sunlight mode |
| Performance | Snapdragon® 8 Gen 2 – 4nm power-efficient manufacturing process – Qualcomm® AdrenoTM GPU – Snapdragon® X70 5G Modern-RF System ● LPDDR5X + UFS 4.0 Storage – 12GB+256GB, 12GB+512GB ● MIUI 14 based on Android 13 |
Snapdragon® 8 Gen 2 – 4nm power-efficient manufacturing process – Qualcomm® AdrenoTM GPU – Snapdragon® X70 5G Modern-RF System ● LPDDR5X + UFS 4.0 Storage – 8GB+256GB, 12GB+256GB ● MIUI 14 based on Android 13 |
| Battery & Charging | ●4,820mAh (typ) battery ● Xiaomi AdaptiveCharge ● Xiaomi 120W HyperCharge ● 50W wireless turbo charging ● 10W reverse wireless charging |
● 4,500mAh (typ) battery ● Xiaomi AdaptiveCharge ● 67W wired turbo charging ● 50W wireless turbo charging ● 10W reverse wireless charging |
| Audio | ● Dual speakers ● Dolby Atmos® |
● Dual speakers ● Dolby Atmos® |
Even though the Xiaomi 13 is placed a level below the Xiaomi 13 Pro, it should never be considered a bad product. The difference mainly comes in the phone’s camera components (it still is equipped with a Leica lens and technology), display size, and charging speed. Equipped with the same high-end chipset and components, no doubt, the Xiaomi 13 is still an extremely powerful smartphone.
Being a more affordable option, the Xiaomi 13 should also be considered a more sensible and logical purchase, as compared to the Xiaomi 13 Pro.
Design and Aesthetics
The Xiaomi 13 features a 6.36″ display. I prefer smartphones of this size, anything smaller would affect its usability of it, and anything larger would result in it being less portable.
The Xiaomi 13 also features a pin-hole front-facing camera design, which is quite common for smartphones of today. The display’s corners are also curved, reminding us of the styles found on Apple smartphones. The sides’ metallic finish also complements well with the phone’s back and finish. Unfortunately, some may find such a design too similar to what Apple offers.
There is also a significant camera bump, which protrudes the main camera system out of the body. Therefore, we do recommend adding a phone cover to the Xiaomi 13 to better protect the camera from damage.
Xiaomi 13 comes in three different colors – White, Black, and Flora Green, which each exudes its character. The Flora Green option gives an alternative to users who are bored of the typical black and white colors. Even though it’s green, the color intensity is subtle and still allows the phone to keep its minimal and simple look.
Photo Quality
I have to admit that I do not have the particular skills or a knack for photography. All I do as a casual shooter is to point and shoot in auto settings. I would believe that most smartphone users are like me these days. Our expectations of a smartphone of good quality are not just the capabilities of a camera system, but rather how simple it is to get a nice-looking photo out of the smartphone.
To make things easy, Xiaomi has included two styles of photo capture options from the Xiaomi 13. By working with Leica, they developed the Leica Authentic and Leica Vibrant modes. The focus of Leica Authentic mode is on the creation of an aesthetically pleasing and natural color-reproduced photo with well-drawn shadows, realistic local contrasts, and excellent reproduction of fine details. On the other hand, the Leica Vibrant look aims to bring out the emotion of the moment in a vivid yet realistic color world.
Here are some of the shots we’ve taken on the Xiaomi 13. What I loved about the phone, is that we just need to take care of the composition of the phone, and the camera system will take care of the rest and do its best to bring out the best colors for your photos.
Usage Experience
I have spent close to a month with the Xiaomi 13, replacing it with Xiaomi 11 Lite NE 5G, which is considered a mid-tier level phone. While most of my usage pattern does not change, there is indeed a difference felt while using a flagship Xiaomi 13 smartphone device as compared to a mainstream mid-tier device.
The Xiaomi 11 Lite NE 5G is good, as it fits my requirements as my daily runner. However, the Xiaomi 13 is a lot better in many other aspects. Sometimes, it’s the small details that Xiaomi has focused on with the Xiaomi 13 that truly sets the phone apart from any of the phones they are offering.
Good size, weight, and battery life
First off, the Xiaomi 13’s size is just about right. It is nice to hold onto, without feeling too big in my hands which results in me being too clumsy handling it. Weighing 189g, it is considered one of the lighter flagship smartphones in the market. Without compromises due to weight and size, Xiaomi still managed to add in a 4500mAh battery in the Xiaomi 13, and based on our test, was able to achieve 14h 58min of use time on a single charge, as tested with the PCMark Work 3.0 battery test. Moreover, the Xiaomi 13 also supported 67W wired turbocharging, which can bring the phone to 100% in 38mins. Honestly, there are no concerns when it comes to battery life, as the Xiaomi 13 hits the right balance between battery life and charging speed.
Great for watching movies
Secondly, when it comes to media and entertainment consumption, the Xiaomi 13 works great. It is equipped with an AMOLED display, which made the colors from movies stand out. The blacks are genuinely black, and the contrast between the colors of a movie is apparently, bringing a whole new viewing experience (in comparison with a non-AMOLED display). The smartphone also supports Dolby Vision and HDR10+, which makes supported content look even better, showing the true intentions of what the filmmakers want you to see. Additionally, the Xiaomi 13 also features Dolby Atmos, which enables a kind of surround sound system for the smartphone. This is great for enjoying movies, but we realized that it did impact the sound quality of usual songs played through the speakers, where the sounds seem a lot more muffled and lack clarity across the mids and lows. The speakers have a generally bright profile and could cause some discomfort to the listeners. Thankfully, Dolby Atmos can be turned off, which helps when it comes to audio listening.
Performs Snappily
Thirdly, the Xiaomi 13, with its Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform, makes the phone extremely responsive and snappy. To be honest, I’ve never experienced a smartphone that is this responsive before. Apps are downloaded and installed in an instant, even without you noticing it. Coupled with its super-fast WiFi capabilities, we’ve got to say that the Xiaomi 13 performs very fast. Together with the smartphone’s 120Hz display, you wouldn’t experience any sort of lag at all, as things just load.
Small things that matters
Responsive In-Screen Fingerprint sensor that leaves an impression
One of the largest improvements over smartphones that I have tested was that the Xiaomi 13’s in-screen fingerprint sensor works perfectly. I had many past experiences of poor performance of in-screen fingerprint sensors being less responsive and slow in recognizing fingerprints. The Xiaomi 13 had none of these issues. It was able to unlock the smartphone in a split second. The change was very obvious, and it left me with an impression.
Accurate GPS sensor that’s a cut above the rest
I was on a flight from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur on a budget carrier. Like most budget carriers, there is no in-flight entertainment and there is practically no way for you to know the current progress of your flight, or where you are on the globe. Being curious and having the need to be informed, I will always try to turn on my GPS on my smartphone, while the phone is in flight-safe mode.
With the Xiaomi 13, I was able to know where my location was, as the GPS on the phone was able to provide me with that information on the maps app within seconds of using it. On my other smartphones, namely the Pixel 6a and the Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G, there was no GPS signal, and maps just failed to work.
That’s when I realized that having a premium smartphone does have its benefits – things just work.
Infrared – It’s still there!
What I liked about most Xiaomi smartphones is that they are equipped with a nifty little component called the IR blaster. With the IR blaster, the Xiaomi smartphone can be used as a universal remote controller, being able to control any electrical appliances at home that are supported. Imagine being in your blanket with the AirConditioner turned on, you wouldn’t want to feel cold and move to the aircon controller that’s a few meters away. With your smartphone just next to you, you can simply point your smartphone at the Air Conditioner and press a button to turn it off.
You wouldn’t get this feature in most flagship smartphones in the market today.
Performance
Conclusion
No doubt, the Xiaomi 13 is worthy of being called a flagship device, and we don’t have many complaints about it. Things just work, and they work extremely well. It’s a fuss-free phone that brings out the best of its latest hardware and components, bringing you the experience that matters. However, we would like the speaker system on the Xiaomi 13 could be improved to provide a more balanced sound stage – then it would be perfect (in my opinion).
Ultimately, is the Xiaomi 13 worth S$1,199? We would say that if you want a premium smartphone with all the premium features for a no-compromise experience, then the Xiaomi 13, or perhaps the Xiaomi 13 Pro are choices that you can consider. On the other hand, if you can live without those premium features, there will be cheaper alternatives that can suit your needs too.
