Launched in Malaysia on Monday—a day after their global reveal at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) and a full two months after they went on sale in China—the Xiaomi 13 and 13 Pro are the latest flagships to come from the world’s third largest smartphone maker. These are by far the company’s most confident models yet, with a full list of high-end features at highly competitive prices. Watch the video below to find out everything you need to know.
The Xiaomi 13 lineup closely mirrors the Samsung Galaxy S23 series, albeit without a midrange “Plus” model. The base variant is priced at RM3,499, undercutting the regular S23 by RM400 while offering more RAM (12GB) and double the storage (256GB). The 13 Pro, on the other hand, matches the S23 Ultra’s RAM and storage like-for-like, but is more than RM1,000 cheaper at RM4,599. Another RM400 buys you 512GB of storage at RM4,999.
There are three main differences between the 13 and 13 Pro. The first is the displays—the Xiaomi 13 has a flat 6.36-inch 1080p AMOLED display with slightly curved bezels which, when paired with the flat sides, gives the phone a slightly iPhone-like look. The 13 Pro more closely resembles a conventional Android flagship with a curved 6.73-inch 1440p panel matched to an equally curved back.
Both displays offer a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate (the 13 Pro’s LTPO display goes all the way down to 1Hz), a 240Hz touch sampling rate, up to 1200 nits of brightness and a peak brightness of 1,900 nits. They also support HDR10+ and Dolby Vision and cover the full DCI-P3 colour gamut.
The second difference concern the cameras. Both devices carry the Leica branding, but the base 13 has a conventional triple-camera setup. You have a 50MP main camera with a 1/1.49-inch sensor and f/1.8 aperture, along with a 12MP ultra-wide (1/3.06-inch sensor, f/2.2 aperture) and a 10MP telephoto shooter (1/3.76-inch sensor, f/2.0 aperture).
But it’s the Pro model that gets the big guns. That’s right—Malaysians are finally getting the 1-inch Sony IMX989 sensor that made its debut in the 12S Ultra, paired with an f/1.9 aperture, matched with 50MP ultra-wide and telephoto shooters. Both devices receive a 32MP selfie camera with an f/2.0 aperture.
Moving on to the batteries, the Xiaomi 13 has a 4,500mAh battery with support for up to 67W fast charging, fully charging the phone in 38 minutes. The 13 Pro bumps it up to a 4,820mAh battery and features 120W HyperCharge fast charging, the latter providing a full charge in 24 minutes (19 minutes in Boost mode). Both models incorporate 50W wireless charging and 10W reverse charging.
The rest of the devices are very similar. Both are powered by the vanilla Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, along with 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 256GB of UFS 4.0 storage; as mentioned, the Pro has the option of 512GB of storage.
Xiaomi has also finally realised that flagship phone customers might want their devices to survive a drop in a sink, so both phones now have IP68 dust and water resistance, which is very good to see. However, only the 13 Pro has a Gorilla Glass Victus screen, so you should probably still get a case for the base 13.
Otherwise, it’s the usual 2023 flagship stuff, with 5G connectivity, support for WiFi 7, NFC and Bluetooth 5.3. The two phones also come with Xiaomi’s trademark IR blaster, letting users control appliances like TVs and air conditioners. In terms of colours, both models are available in either black or white, with a ceramic finish for the 13 Pro. The regular 13 is also offered in Flora Green.
Both phones go on sale on March 8, and those who pre-order the Xiaomi 13 on their official store on Lazada and Shopee will be able to redeem a RM699 voucher for smart home appliances; if you order the 13 Pro, that voucher grows to RM799. Pre-orders from the Xiaomi Store will instead net you a 43-inch Xiaomi TV P1 worth RM1,799 (Xiaomi 13) or a 58-inch Xiaomi TV A2 58″ worth RM2,799 (Xiaomi 13 Pro). Those who purchase the phones after March 8 will receive a pair of Redmi Buds 4 for a limited time.
As for those who purchase the 512GB version of the Xiaomi 13 Pro, the device will be offered as part of a Limited Edition package, costing RM5,999. This includes a free Xiaomi Watch S1 Pro, Xiaomi Buds 4 Pro and a Xiaomi 33W 10,000mAh PowerBank Pocket Edition Pro. Xiaomi says the entire package is worth up to RM7,469.
