Xiaomi is about to launch three new high-end smartphones, the Xiaomi 13, 13 Pro and 13 Ultra. All will be powered by Qualcomm’s powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. Here’s everything you need to know about these smartphones that promise to shake up the competition.
Like every year, the Xiaomi 13, 13 Pro and 13 Ultra should rank among the most popular high-end Android smartphones on the market thanks to their Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor or their attractive price-quality ratio. However, not all models should arrive at the same time.
📅 When is the Xiaomi 13 coming out?
Xiaomi had launched its Xiaomi 12 and 12 Pro on December 28, 2021 in China, the same date as the Xiaomi Mi 11 in 2020. However, everything suggests that Xiaomi will launch its smartphones earlier this year, since Qualcomm plans to unveil its new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor on November 15. The Xiaomi 13 and 13 Pro could therefore arrive at the end of November in China.
However, it will likely be necessary wait a little longer before seeing the Ultra model arrive, which should not arrive until the beginning of the year 2023. Moreover, Lei Jun, the CEO of Xiaomi, has already confirmed that unlike the Xiaomi 12S Ultra which was not released with us, the Xiaomi 13 Ultra will arrive well in France next year.
It will be necessary to wait several months before seeing the Xiaomi 13 arrive in France. The Xiaomi 12X, 12 and 12 Pro were launched at the end of March in France. We can therefore expect the Xiaomi 13 to be presented at the end of February with us, probably at the MWC 2023 show in Barcelona on February 27.
💰 What is the price of the Xiaomi 13?
As has been the case with several other manufacturers, the prices of the Xiaomi 13 and 13 Pro could well increase with us given the inflation. However, we imagine that Xiaomi will try to limit these increases or trim its margins to remain competitive in the market.
As a reminder, here are the prices of all the Xiaomi 12 in France:
- Xiaomi 12X 8+256GB : 799 €
- Xiaomi 12 8+128GB : 869 €
- Xiaomi 12 8+256GB : 899 €
- Xiaomi 12 Pro 12+256GB : 1099 €
📱 What does the Xiaomi 13 look like?
After having used a similar design for several generations on the front panel, Xiaomi should finally standardize the edges of the screen of its Xiaomi 13. Smartphones should therefore finally use equal sized borders all around the screen. For this, the Xiaomi 13 will use a flexible screen that will be folded backwards at its base, as other manufacturers such as Apple already do on their iPhones, or Nothing on their Phone (1). Rather than a curved screen, Xiaomi would use a flat screen on at least one modelthe smallest.
On the back, the Xiaomi 13s are still expected to use three cameras, but the photo module would change shape again. While all the sensors were placed vertically on the Xiaomi 12, those of the Xiaomi 13 should form a “P”. Different renderings made by fans already give us a glimpse of what smartphones could look like.
The Xiaomi 13 Ultra should once again be the only model to be IP68 certified for water and dust resistance. It should keep a design quite similar to the previous generation with its circular photo module.
🛠 What is the technical sheet of the Xiaomi 13?
Once all the technical characteristics are official, we will provide you with a summary table here.
🔲 WHICH SCREEN FOR THE XIAOMI 13?
As we saw above, the Xiaomi 13 should be equipped with a 2.5D flat screen, but it would not be the only novelty. While the Xiaomi 13’s screen measured just 6.28 inches, that of the Xiaomi 13 should have a larger diagonal of 6.36 inches. It should use the new 1.5K resolution (2712 x 1220 pixels) inaugurated on the recent Xiaomi 12T and 12T Pro.
On their side, the Xiaomi 13 Pro and 13 Ultra should benefit from the same QHD + screen with a diagonal of 6.73 inches. The entire series will enjoy a refresh rate of 120Hzbut the Xiaomi 13 Pro and 13 Ultra will use a LTPO 2.0 slab allowing them to dynamically vary the frequency from 1 to 120 Hz depending on the content displayed to improve autonomy. We will also be entitled to Samsung E6 AMOLED displays even more energy efficient as well as Gorilla Glass Victus glass.
🚀 What performance for the Xiaomi 13?
The Xiaomi 12 was one of the first smartphones to use Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip, and the Xiaomi 13 is also expected to be among the first devices to feature the next one. Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, which will be presented on November 15, 2022 at the Snapdragon Summit.
This year, Qualcomm would opt for a arrangement of hearts 1+2+2+3composed ofa Cortex-X3 Prime core clocked at 3.2 GHzof two Cortex-A715 cores clocked at 2.8 GHzof two Cortex-A710 cores clocked at 2.8 GHz and of three Cortex-A510 cores clocked at 2.0 GHz. The chip will take advantage of the TSMC’s advanced 4nm etchingrather than that of Samsung which had caused autonomy problems on smartphones at the start of 2022.
Before the launch, we already know what to expect in terms of chip performance. According to Ice Universe, energy efficiency will be honored with a 15% increase over Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1. The artificial intelligence has been improved by 50%, and the ISP (photo processing) will also see “a lot” of improvements.
In terms of connectivity, we can expect a new Snapdragon X70 modem. This modem can, like its predecessor, reach downlink speeds (theoretical) of the order of 10 Gb/s and uplink speeds of 3.5 Gb/s. However, the third-generation 5G PowerSave technology will allow reduce chip consumption by up to 60%.
The smartphone will also be compatible with LPDDR5X RAM as well as’a new storage standard, UFS 4.0. The latter can reach read speeds of up to 4200MB/s and Sequential write speeds of up to 2800MB/s. That’s way more than UFS 3.1 and its 2100MB/s and 1200MB/s, respectively. Besides the massive speed improvement, UFS 4.0 is also very power efficient, with a increased efficiency by 46%.
🔋 Battery, autonomy and charging of the Xiaomi 13
Thanks to the new screen with reduced consumption or the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 which promises to be more energy efficient, the next Xiaomi 3 promise to be more autonomous than ever.
As the Galaxy S23 are likely to benefit from batteries with slightly higher capacities this year, it is possible that this is also the case with Xiaomi. As a reminder, the Xiaomi 12 used a 4500 mAh battery, while the Xiaomi 12 Pro could count on 4600 mAh. The Xiaomi 12S Ultra was the most enduring, with a 4860 mAh battery. It is not impossible that the battery will increase to 5000 mAh on this generation.
Although the exact capacity of the batteries is currently unknown, we already know thanks to the 3C certification body that the Xiaomi 13 will benefit from ever faster wired fast charging. The Xiaomi 13 Pro should again be compatible with 120W power, while the Xiaomi 13 could still be limited to 67W given its small form factor. However, it is possible that Xiaomi decides to switch to a power of 200 W on the Pro version. The Xiaomi 13 Ultra should finally reach 120 W. Wireless fast charging is expected to be 50W on all models, and reverse fast charging will also be on the way.
📸 Xiaomi 13 camera
Since the release of the Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra in 2020, Xiaomi has really focused on the photo on its high-end smartphones. The Chinese manufacturer recently came to surround itself with the German expert Leica with the release of its Xiaomi 12S, 12S Pro and 12S Ultra, and the next Xiaomi 13 will also all benefit from this partnership.
The classic Xiaomi 13 should use a main sensor of 50 MP, and the latter would always be accompanied by an ultra wide-angle sensor and a macro sensor. For its part, the Pro should rely on the 50 MP IMX989 of the Xiaomi 12S Ultra, a 50 MP ultra-wide-angle sensor and a 50 MP telephoto lens.
Finally, the Xiaomi 13 Ultra promises like every year to be the most interesting in photos. We will always find the Giant one-inch 50 MP Sony IMX989 sensor, the largest on the market. This year, Xiaomi should finally modify the other two sensors for more powerful cameras. We could find a 50 MP IMX890 ultra-wide-angle sensor, as well as a 50 MP IMX758 periscope sensor offering 5X optical zoom. To note that the ultra wide-angle sensor will be able to capture macro shots.
All sensors benefit from the two famous Leica image profiles, the “Leica Authentic Look” and “Leica Vibrant Look”which are essentially filters that will modify the colors of your shots.
The Xiaomi 13 will be launched with MIUI 14
The Xiaomi 13 should be launched with Android 13 based on the new overlay of the Chinese manufacturer, MIUI 14. For now, it is not clear what changes Xiaomi will bring to this new version.
