Like a bolt from the blue, Xiaomi presented the 13 Ultra two days ago , the most complete cameraphone there is and which we would hardly have expected at the beginning of the year. Although in fact there were already some rumors about its probable exit, I personally thought there would have been just the integration of a periscope and a small design change; instead Xiaomi has improved practically every aspect of the camera, the display and introduced the Type-C 3.2 going to fill practically the only defect we had found in the Xiaomi 13 Pro review.
But is this Xiaomi 13 Ultra really revolutionary? What has been improved? Why present it so late compared to Xiaomi 13 and 13 Pro? Today I try to give you an explanation and an answer to all these and other questions, #let’s talk about it!
INDEX
- THE PRESENTATION AND MARKETING
- THE FIRST CHANGE : THE DISPLAY
- THE SECOND CHANGE: THE TYPE C
- THE THIRD CHANGE: THE CAMERAS
- CONCLUSIONS
PRESENTATION AND MARKETING
Although the presentation was global, with all Xiaomi’s international channels broadcasting and following the event, unfortunately, at least in the initial phase, the sale will be limited only to China and then expand to some international markets. Not all, however, probably based on interest and sales potential. If Xiaomi 13 Pro already seemed too expensive to you with a list price of 1399 euros, watch out because Xiaomi 13 Ultra costing 200 yuan more in China, could reach 1499 euros or more likely 1599 euros in the 12 version alone /512GB.
PRICES
Xiaomi 13 Ultra is available in China in three different memory sizes, fortunately the 128GB ones have been excluded which would have been inappropriate on a smartphone of this level. Compared to the prices you find below, I’ll tell you that on generic import sites at the moment the prices are obviously higher: 1077, 1177, 1277 in order of the memory sizes you find below.
- 5999 yuan (about 795 euros) for the 12GB + 256GB version
- 6499 yuan (about 861 euros) for the 16GB + 512GB version
- 7299 yuan (about 967 euros) for the 16GB + 1TB version
THE TIMING
Xiaomi changes strategy with respect to the 12S Ultra and decides to launch its flagship model during the first months of the year, not at the end. It may seem like a trivial fact but in reality, launching a top of the range at the end of the year is always a gamble for a Chinese brand, at least in Europe. Who among you would buy a phone for 1000, 1300, 1500 euros with rumors that the new top model is about to come out in 1-3 months, with updated SOCs and all the innovations that the new generation competitors bring with them?
I think none, but I’m curious to know yours in the comments. I sincerely hope that, if Xiaomi 13 Ultra will eventually arrive in Italy, it will do so by May or early June to avoid coming out too late and losing a large slice of the public who have shown interest but which in this period of time could head towards other shores, such as the evergreen Galaxy S23 Ultra.
DOES IT KILL THE 13 PRO?
Although we will return in the conclusions to talk about Xiaomi 13 Pro and why in my opinion it will continue to make sense even after the marketing of Xiaomi 13 Ultra, the risk is there. The biggest risk is actually that those few people who have trusted Xiaomi and have spent more than 1300 euros for a Xiaomi 13 Pro, see a 13 Ultra appear out of nowhere which, at a small price difference, seems to offer a lot more. with the risk that these people may feel cheated and possibly move away from the brand in the future. A launch together with 13 and 13 Pro probably would have been more correct and welcome even though I understand that it would not have created all this media resonance and would have completely obscured 13 Pro.
FIRST CHANGE: THE DISPLAY
I know you would like to talk about the cameras and the new periscope right away, but first I want to underline two new features that perhaps tell us even more about the upgrade of the cam sector. The display used by Xiaomi for this 13 Ultra is a 6.7-inch AMOLED C7 LTPO with 2K resolution , variable refresh rate from 1Hz to 120Hz adaptive, HDR10+ support and Dolby Pro Vision. Protection is entrusted to Gorilla Glass Victus glass. Citing again high-sounding technical specifications we can say that there is a CIE2015 color curve calibration and that we can reach a peak brightness of 2600 nits ,1300 in manual mode, a technical datum that taken individually is scary but – as I always tell you – the displays must then be tested, because the data on the nits tell us little about the actual quality of a panel.
Why then did I put the display as the first big change if in the end the 13 Pro was already excellent with its reliable 1900 nits, a 2K resolution with 1-120Hz refresh and the same supports as the 13 Ultra? Well there’s one thing we’re taking for granted but it’s not: who made the display. The panel of the 13 Ultra is designed by Xiaomi and developed in collaboration with TCL, a step that makes Xiaomi even more independent from one of its direct rivals, Samsung, which supplied the display of the 13, 13 Pro and 13 Lite. Getting to have one of the best smartphone-side panels while moving away from the company that produces the best smartphone displays by name and fame is a statement full of meaning and which could spur the market with a little competition that never hurts !
SECOND CHANGE: TYPE C 3.2
Ok, maybe you are thinking that it is exaggerated to even dedicate a paragraph to the Type-C, a change that we could describe in two lines of text and liquidate it all with a ” they could have integrated it for two generations already, it is nothing new ” but c ‘is so much more to say.
Everyone and I mean everyone complained in the 13 series about the absence of a Type-C 3 port, not so much because maybe it brings real benefits, just think that I never transfer files with the cable and I never use the desktop mode of smartphones like DeX on Samsung, however I understand that for some it is a necessity or habit and that in any case when you arrive on the market with a 1500 euro smartphone, spending a little more to have complete connectivity is the minimum, especially considering the price difference between a type c port 2.x from a 3.x. The USB 3.2 Gen 1 port with DisplayPort video output in 4K at 60Hz supports a transfer rate of 5Gbps.
THIRD CHANGE: THE CAMERAS
Here we are at the third change that we will examine today: the camera sector. As I said at the beginning, my expectations were low, I certainly expected the integration of the periscope which had been so much requested and desired, even if I personally use it little, but nothing more. I didn’t expect further improvements for a simple fact: Xiaomi 13 Pro already rivals and wins in many cases with the top cameraphones thanks to the best sensor on the main camera available at the moment, the Sony IMX989, thanks to a telemacro with floating lenses unique in the smartphone panorama and a collaboration with Leica that does not stop at the mere “logo” on the phone and in the photos but at an effective co-engineering as I explained in the review of the 13 Pro.
With these premises, you understand that improving what we already saw on the Xiaomi 13 Pro two months ago is competing against yourself, considering that on the technical side you are already one step ahead of everyone. Yet Xiaomi did not stop at the homework of integrating only a new 5X zoom sensor but went on to improve practically every aspect of all the cameras already available in the smartest way possible , practically taking the best the competition had to offer: now I’ll explain Better.
MAIN CAMERA
As for the main camera, Xiaomi could not precisely improve the sensor, being the best 1 “already on the market, and therefore went to integrate that mechanism that allows you to have a variable diaphragm on two stops from an aperture of ฦ /1.9 to ฦ/4.0, the same technology that we have seen on some Oppo and Samsung in the past and recently on the Huawei Mate 50 Pro. Those who benefit most from this new function are certainly those who shoot a lot of street shots, many panoramas and still shoot often in favorable light conditions being able to take advantage of all the advantages of a focal aperture of f / 4.0.Personally for the type of photography that I prefer it doesn’t change much for me but I have seen that it is well integrated in the graphic interface and if it works well in the videos it can be a nice plus.
PERISCOPIC CAMERA
The biggest news is definitely the periscope camera that offers a 5X zoom, a focal length of 120mm basically. The focal aperture stops at f/3 but is equipped with optical image stabilization. The sensor at the base of everything is the Sony IMX858 which we have never seen in action yet but which we will often see in this 2023 on the top of the range, even on the Huawei P60 Pro, in fact it seems that the secondary sensors will take advantage of this new sensor. During the presentation we got to see some photos from this new focal length and the results look excellent, but we are waiting to be able to try it firsthand to see if it can rival the S23U.
TELEMACRO CAMERA
Even the 75mm focal length telemacro is updated with a new focal aperture of f/1.8 compared to the previous f/2.0 of the 13 Pro and also here as on the periscope and ultrawide we always find the IMX858 instead of the Samsung JN1 improving what it was already an amazing camera. If today every time I finish trying a phone I run to remove the SIM to put it in the Xiaomi 13 Pro it is precisely for this sensor that once understood it completely changes the conception of taking photos with such a strong focal length and which allows you to get excellent macros and portraits without having to use Bokeh software.
ULTRAWIDE CAMERA
Yes, even the ultrawide has been updated with the Sony IMX858 although it remains the only camera without optical stabilization but fortunately the focus remains for those who prefer to obtain a macro effect thanks to the ultrawide angle camera. Personally it’s the camera I use the least and they too lost very little time in the presentation phase, it’s a situational camera in the end.
As a reference, considering that the main sensor has remained the same, the similar telemacro and in general the photographic sector of the 13 Pro has several points in common, we leave you below some shots taken with the latter to allow you to get an initial idea.
CONCLUSIONS
In conclusion, I don’t mention the RAW 14Bit, the LOG 10Bit, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 which obviously remained like all the connectivity and microphones and everything that was already good on Xiaomi 13 Pro, but I certainly want to talk to you about the battery because , even if the amperage remains practically the same, we have lost that super fast 120W recharge which offers us a 0-100% in 19 minutes for a still excellent wired 90W, which allows us to have a 0-100% in about 34 minutes . As for wireless charging, fortunately it remained and always at 50W as well as reverse charging at 15W.
Taking the weight off the technical sheet, I want to dedicate these last lines to those who have had the courage to read everything up to here talking about aesthetics and first impressions because I don’t know about you but from the renderings it seemed to me a phone with a great impact while from the first videos unboxing and hands It didn’t seem decidedly awkward to me, thick and squat with a curved edge that perhaps clashes with a smartphone like this and there is something that doesn’t convince me in terms of design. Maybe the leather that doesn’t cover the whole back cover making the phone seem wider, the thickness, the step in the camera area or the more pronounced frame of the display… or maybe a little of all of this together. Did you happen to have the same impression as me? While waiting to try it firsthand, I tell you that if you don’t need a periscope, perhaps Xiaomi 13 Pro is still the one to buy , considering that it is falling a lot in price and with this 13 Ultra on your shoulders it will drop even more. And you, what do you think? #Let’s talk about it below in the comments!
VIDEO
- Xiaomi 13 Pro is available online from eBay for 1,169 euros .
- Xiaomi 13 is available online from eBay for 683 euros . The value for money is good . There are 12 best models.
