The Xiaomi 13 Ultra has been officially unveiled in its home country China after weeks and months of rumors. But unlike the previous years, this presentation is for a Global launch. The “premium flagship for the professional camera experience” will also be available for customers throughout Asia and Europe (sorry USA). Keep reading to learn how much will the Android flagship will cost and what you get for it.
Big camera chops
Xiaomi has just finished its launch event in its home country China. But unlike the years before, the Xiaomi 13 Ultra is also aimed at Global markets. Because the “ultimate” of smartphone photography will also be available in Europe in the colors black and olive green. The white variant is exclusively reserved for Chinese customers until further notice. But I would almost put my hand in the fire that it will also find its way to us sooner or later.
You get a 6.73-inch AMOLED display with a maximum resolution of 3,200 x 1,440 px (WQHD+). Of course, Xiaomi supplies an adaptive panel that supports a variable refresh rate of 1 to 120 Hz and a touch sampling rate of 240 Hz. Xiaomi also sets new standards for maximum brightness with the 13 Ultra: 1,300 nits under normal circumstances (HBM) and a whopping 2,600 nits in direct sunlight. NextPit’s Stefan will provide a first hands-on soon and might also be able to say something about the brightness of the Dolby Vision and HDR10+ capable screen.
Of course, a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 manufactured in 4 nm process technology is under the hood—the fastest mobile processor Qualcomm currently has to offer and graphically supported by an Adreno 740 GPU (Graphics Processing Unit). The Snapdragon X70 modem, which supports 5G and Sub-6 as well as mmWave networks, ensures a fast data connection. At least in China, we were presented with 12/256 GB, 16/512 GB, and 16 GB LPPDR5X RAM and 1 TB of internal and non-expandable UFS 4.0 program memory. The in-house user interface MIUI 14 based on Android 13 is available ex-factory as the operating system.
The Xiaomi 13 Ultra with optically-oriented Leica M camera system.
Let’s probably move on to the most important hardware elements of the Xiaomi 13 Ultra: the total of five built-in cameras. Xiaomi touts its strategic collaboration with German camera expert Leica, resulting in the Summicron lens upgrade, from which the “coming-of-age ceremony in mobile imaging” fructifies.
The main sensor is a previously rumored 1-inch IMX989 image sensor from Sony with a variable two-stop aperture (f/1.9 & f/4.0) and 50-MP resolution. There are also three other 50-MP IMX858 image sensors for a telephoto zoom, a periscope, and a macro camera. Details like on the “Fast Shot mode”, the Leica optical lenses for equivalent focal lengths of 12 mm (ultra-wide angle), 23 mm (wide angle), 75 mm (telephoto) up to the new 120 mm (super telephoto) as well as the additional lengths of 46 mm and 240 mm due to the in-sensor zoom, Stefan gives you in his hands-on today.
The 163.18 x 74.64 x 9 mm large and 227 g heavy Xiaomi 13 Ultra have a 5,000 mAh strong battery installed, which can be charged with 90 W wired and 50 W wirelessly. Of course, the IP68-certified Xiaomi 13 Ultra also has built-in stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos sound.
What do you think of Xiaomi’s new flagship camera smartphone? Is it a go or a no go? Write us your opinion in the comments.
Updating as Xiaomi reveals more information on price and sales dates.
