Having already launched in China, it was merely a matter of time before the Xiaomi 13 and the Xiaomi 13 Pro were to make their way onto the global stage. Indeed, Xiaomi has now confirmed that the Xiaomi 13 series will be launching online on 26 February, 11pm local time. Incidentally, that’s just a day before the start of MWC Barcelona 2023, meaning that the Xiaomi 13 lineup will likely be on display on the show floor too.
To recap, the Xiaomi 13 series is headlined by the Xiaomi 13 Pro, a flagship smartphone that seemingly has just about feature you could want on an Android device. For starters, there’s a 6.73-inch, QHD+ OLED display that’s able to push a 120Hz refresh rate, along with a peak brightness of 1900nits with support for HDR10+, Dolby Vision and is even colour calibrated out of the factory. And there’s a good reason for that great display too, as the Xiaomi 13 Pro packs a 50MP, f/1.9 main camera using the 1-inch Sony IMX989 sensor that they co-developed with Leica, which sits alongside a 50MP, f/2.0 telephoto offering a 3x optical zoom and another 50MP, f/2.2 ultrawide camera.
Under the hood meanwhile is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, mated to up to 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB of UFS4.0 storage. There’s a 4,820mAh battery here too with support for 120W fast charging and 50W wireless charging, along with 10W of reverse wireless charging support too. You’re even getting an IP68 dust and water resistance rating, stereo speakers and even Xiaomi’s classic IR blaster. All of that gets packed into a device with either your choice of a ceramic back or a ‘nano skin’ that looks similar to a vegan leather material.
Meanwhile, there’s also the Xiaomi 13 itself, which might actually end up becoming rather popular with those of you who want a smaller, more compact Android flagship. It has a much more tame 6.36-inch, FHD+ OLED 120Hz display that is flat, rather than having the curved edges of the Xiaomi 13 Pro. As such, the Xiaomi 13 ends up looking quite like an iPhone actually, with flat sides all around as well as the square camera bump look that Xiaomi is going for with this generation of devices. It’s certainly helped by the slim and almost uniform bezel all around the display.
Just like the iPhone 14 series though, the Xiaomi 13 gets a major downgrade in the camera department compared to its Pro sibling. It loses out on that 1-inch sensor, instead getting a 50MP, f/1.8 main camera using a 1/1.49-inch sensor instead, alongside a 12MP, f/2.2 ultrawide camera and a 10MP, f/2.0 telephoto shooter offering a 3x optical zoom. Under the hood meanwhile is a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 with up to 12GB of RAM and up to 512GB of storage. Keeping the lights on is a 4,500mAh battery with 67W fast charging, 50W wireless charging and 10W reverse wireless charging, along with an IP68 dust and water resistance rating, stereo speakers and the IR blaster too.
One thing’s for sure though, that Xiaomi 13 Pro will not come cheap. It starts at CNY4,999 (~RM3,170.62) in China, topping out at CNY6,299 (~RM3,994.66) for the model with 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. The Xiaomi 13 meanwhile is much more reasonable, starting at just CNY3,999 (~RM2,536.37) with the most expensive option coming in at CNY4,999 (~RM3,170.62).
