Introduction
The Xiaomi 13 is the company's latest mainstream flagship. The phone isn't exactly new since it made a debut in China back in December last year. However, now it is moving on to a global release, and in the process, a unit came by the office for a full review.
The Xiaomi 13 brings about a few notable upgrades over its predecessor. Its display has gotten bigger at 6.36 inches while retaining last year's FullHD+ resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. The same goes for the Dolby Vision, HDR10, HDR10+ and HLG support, aided by an ambient color sensor. Unlike the 13 Pro, the panel on the vanilla model still lacks an LTPO substrate for fast and dynamic refresh rate switching. However, its brightness has been upgraded this year to match the Pro models at a whopping 1,900 nits peak.
Xiaomi 13 specs at a glance:
- Body: 152.8x71.5x8.0mm, 185g; Glass front, glass back or silicone polymer back, aluminum frame; IP68 dust/water resistant (up to 1.5m for 30 min).
- Display: 6.36" OLED, 120Hz, Dolby Vision, HDR10+, 1200 nits (HBM), 1900 nits (peak), 1080x2400px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, 414ppi.
- Chipset: Qualcomm SM8550-AB Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 (4 nm): Octa-core (1x3.2 GHz Cortex-X3 & 2x2.8 GHz Cortex-A715 & 2x2.8 GHz Cortex-A710 & 3x2.0 GHz Cortex-A510); Adreno 740.
- Memory: 256GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 12GB RAM; UFS 4.0.
- OS/Software: Android 13, MIUI 14.
- Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/1.8, 23mm, 1/1.49", 1.0µm, PDAF, OIS; Telephoto: 10 MP, f/2.0 75mm, 1/3.75", 1.0µm, PDAF, OIS, 3.2x optical zoom; Ultra wide angle: 12 MP, f/2.2, 15mm, 120-degree, 1/3.06", 1.12µm.
- Front camera: 32 MP, f/2.0, 22mm (wide), 0.7µm.
- Video capture: Rear camera: 8K@24fps (HDR), 4K@24/30/60fps (HDR10+, 10-bit Dolby Vision HDR, 10-bit LOG), 1080p@30/120/240/960fps, 1080p@1920fps, gyro-EIS; Front camera: 1080p@30fps.
- Battery: 4500mAh; 67W wired, PD3.0, QC4, 100% in 38 min (advertised), 50W wireless, 100% in 48 min (advertised), 10W reverse wireless.
- Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, optical); NFC; Infrared port; stereo speakers.
The battery and charging setups are the same as last year, with a 4,500 mAh pack, 67W wired, 50W wireless and 10W reverse wireless charging. Other features on the Xiaomi 13 include stereo speakers with Dolby Head tracking and an IP68 ingress protection rating. Speaking of built, the Xiaomi 13 has a glass back, a Gorilla Glass front, and a glossy and flat middle frame that gives off distinct iPhone vibes.
There is a new camera setup on the Xiaomi 13. Not quite as tricked-out as the one on the Xiaomi 13 Pro, but still one that addresses the main issue of the Xiaomi 12 - the lack of a telephoto cam. There is a 10MP, f/2.0, OIS-enabled, 3.2x optical zoom unit this year, as well as a 50MP main snapper and a 12MP ultrawide.
All things considered, the Xiaomi 13 represents a nice all-around generational upgrade. Before we dive into particulars, let's start with unboxing the phone.
Unboxing
The Xiaomi 13 ships in a standard white, two-piece box. It is made of thick cardboard and is very solid. On the inside - more cardboard to support the actual phone in a cradle. This omission of plastic is a nice eco detail.
Xiaomi includes some accessories in the box. First and foremost, there is the charger - a 67W unit rated for output between 5-20V and 6.2-3.25A. There is an accompanying USB Type-A to Type-C cable, which you need to hold on to along with the charger since both are proprietary. You also get a nice transparent TPU case in the box, which is a nice touch.
Design
As we already mentioned, the flat glossy sides of the Xiaomi 13 have a real iPhone vibe, which is definitely not bad. We personally think it's a great look. You won't be mistaking the Xiaomi 13 for an Apple product any time soon, though, since it has a distinctive rear camera island. It's on the bigger side of things in every dimension and sticks out quite a bit from the back. We kind of like the subtle lines separating the individual camera "quadrants," for lack of a better term. Also, while a bit big, the LEICA branding doesn't bother us that much.
The back panel on the Xiaomi 13 is slightly curved on the sides and into the middle frame. This makes for a nice and comfortable in-hand feel. Though, you'll still notice the sharper edges on the middle frame while holding the phone. The glass back is a real fingerprint magnet.
You can get the international model of the phone in Black, White, and Flora Green. All of these are quite subdued. Not exactly the full range of colors available on the Chinese model, but still plenty of selection.
The front side of the Xiaomi 13 is very minimalistic. The flat display is coupled with pretty minimal bezels (as slim as 1.61mm), which makes for a clean aesthetic. The camera punch hole is not too big either. In fact, the entire device is pretty compact, measuring just 152.8 x 71.5 x 7.98 mm and tipping the scale at 189 grams.
Build quality
The Xiaomi 13 is very well made. There is practically no flex or hollowness to the chassis whatsoever. The phone employs a standard "sandwich" construction. That includes a lightweight aluminum alloy middle frame with a grippy glossy finish sandwiched between a rear glass panel and a Gorilla Glass 5 sheet of glass on the front.
The international version of the Xiaomi 13 lacks the Light Blue colorway of the Chinese version, which comes with faux leather back instead of glass.
It is important to note that the Xiaomi 13 has IP68 ingress protection, meaning it should be dust and water-resistant (up to 1.5m for 30 min of immersion in fresh water).
Controls
The Xiaomi 13 has a pretty standard control layout. On the right-hand side, we find a volume rocker and power button. Both are well-positioned and offer plenty of tactile feedback.
The opposite side of the frame is empty and uninterrupted.
The top of the device is pretty busy, with two microphone holes and an IR blaster. The latter is kind of hard to come by on phones nowadays and is a welcome addition to many users.
The bottom side of the Xiaomi 13 has the primary bottom-firing speaker. It is one of two on the unit. The other one is positioned above the display and doubles as an earpiece. Also, the dual Nano-SIM slot and the USB Type-C port are on the bottom of the phone.
The Xiaomi 13 uses and under-display fingerprint reader. It is a standard optical sensor - pretty quick and reliable. We have no complaints about it.
There is no notification LED on the Xiaomi 13.
Connectivity
There is a full array of sensors on board, including an accelerometer and gyroscope combo (BOSCH bmi26x), a light sensor (Xiaomi TCS3720ALSPRX), a proximity sensor (Xiaomi) and a compass and magnetometer combo (AKM ak0991x). No barometer.
The Xiaomi 13 is equipped with a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset. The onboard network modem is an X70 5G. It has support for both SA and NSA networks.
For local connectivity, the phone has Wi-Fi 7, though it should be noted that it is still in its infancy and might not be available straight away in every region and be delivered later as an OTA where applicable. The Qualcomm FastConnect 7800 is the on-board Wi-FI chip, which, among other things, offers Dual Band Simultaneous (DBS) Multi-Link technology for theoretical network speeds of up to 3.6Gbps. NFC is subject to market availability, so you need to check with your preferred seller. Bluetooth is version 5.3.
The USB Type-C port naturally has Host mode. We also tested USB alt mode; unfortunately, the Xiaomi 13 cannot output video through its USB port.
A bright, flat, 6.36-inch, 120Hz OLED
The Xiaomi 13 has a gorgeous 6.36-inch AMOLED display at its helm. It is a bit bigger than the 6.29-inch panel on the Xiaomi 12, but not quite as bit as the 6.67-inch displays on the Xiaomi 12T and 12T Pro. It has a FullHD+ resolution of 1080 x 2400 pixels, which at this diagonal works out to a very crisp and sharp 414 ppi or so.
The panel looks great in person and is made from an E6 generation of material, which allows for superb brightness, among other things. Xiaomi advertises a high brightness mode of 1,200 nits and a peak brightness of 1,900 nits. We measured 507 nits of brightness by maxing out the slider and then a whopping 1254 nits in max auto mode in our standardized test. Needless to say, there is no shortage of brightness, and the Xiaomi 13 is a pleasure to use outdoors. Naturally, it has excellent contrast as well.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, |
White, |
||
| 0 | 1274 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 1254 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 1198 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 1065 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 974 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 954 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 913 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 912 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 896 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 876 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 831 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 830 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 818 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 809 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 786 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 760 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 728 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 663 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 636 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 633 | ∞ | |
| 0.53 | 619 | 1168:1 | |
| 0.496 | 600 | 1210:1 | |
| 0.47 | 590 | 1255:1 | |
| 0 | 517 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 513 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 512 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 510 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 509 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 507 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 505 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 494 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 491 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 484 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 479 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 476 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 466 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 460 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 456 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 449 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 439 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 427 | ∞ | |
The Xiaomi 13 is also quite good at color reproduction. It has quite a few color modes to choose from.
Color modes
Vivid is the default. It targets the DCI-P3 color space and does so decently well. This default color profile has a slight blue tint but nothing too outrageous. Vivid color mode retains said tint while also boosting the other primary color channels (red and green) for a more balanced but also more saturated look. Use this one if you are after that signature OLED "pop". As the name suggests, the original color mode is meant to provide great color accuracy. It targets the sRGB color space and nails it perfectly with extremely low deltaE values. This mode can definitely be considered color accurate.
Interestingly enough, the dedicated sRGB and DCI-P3 advanced color modes don't provide as accurate color reproduction. Avoid these unless you have a particular reason to use them.
The Xiaomi 13 also has excellent HDR support. The display offers support for all the major HDR standards - HDR10, HDR10+, HLG and Dolby Vision. The display definitely has enough brightness to deliver on those lofty HDR promises as well. The phone also reports support for decoding all four formats in software, which is great to see.
Pro HDR is an additional system working on the Xiaomi 13 to enhance the relationship between light and dark areas based on the content that is being played. It aims to deliver a visual experience as close to human vision as possible.
HDR support • Widevine • Netflix playback capabilities
We are also happy to report that the Xiaomi 13 has the highest possible Widevine L1 certification, allowing streaming apps like Netflix to saturate its FullHD resolution.
High refresh rate handling
The Xiaomi 13 has a 120Hz refresh rate display and a very smart and well-optimized system to manage its refresh rate dynamically. When we say dynamically, we still mean in fairly coarse steps.
It lacks LTPO tech and the really dynamic refresh rate switching that comes with it. Instead, the Xiaomi 13 can run its display at 120Hz, 90Hz and 60Hz.
Refresh rate options
In terms of settings, you can set the Xiaomi 13 to refresh at a fixed 120Hz, fixed 60Hz or leave its default automatic switching behavior. The latter is excellent in practice. For the phone UI and most apps, the system uses 120Hz while the user is interacting with the display or there is motion on screen, and then once it sees a static image for a couple of seconds, it drops the refresh rate down to 60Hz to save power.
Automatic refresh rate switching in the UI and most apps
The auto refresh rate mode is also smart enough to detect when there is a video playing on screen or a video playback app like YouTube has been launched and drop its refresh rate down appropriately to 60Hz to save power.
60Hz during video playback
As for games, we tried a few titles we know can render at above 60fps. Unfortunately, none of these managed to automatically trigger 120Hz mode. Once we manually set the phone to 120Hz, they made proper use of the available refresh rate headroom. So, not exactly the flawless automatic behavior we've seen with past Xiaomi devices like the 12T Pro, but still usable.
Gaming at 120Hz in 120Hz mode
Overall, the automatic refresh rate system works well but seems to have gotten worse on the Xiaomi 13 compared to some of the company's previous models. Perhaps it has something to do with the move to Android 13. We can't say for sure, but we hope an update restores the system back to its former glory. As things currently stand, you just need to remember to flip the phone over to 120Hz mode manually to make use of high refresh rate gaming. The rest of the time, there is no reason not to just leave the Xiaomi 13 in auto-refresh rate mode.
Battery life
The Xiaomi 13 has a decently-sized 4,500 mAh battery at its disposal. Battery endurance is one area in which the efficient Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset has managed to prove its worth. While not chart-topping, the Xiaomi 13 still managed a very good battery endurance of 108 hours. That's a nice uptick from the Xiaomi 12, and its 82 hours from a 4,500 mAh battery and even has the Xiaomi 12T Pro beat with its 91 hours on a 5,000 mAh battery. Color us pleasantly surprised.
The on-screen battery numbers are a bit on the lower end, but again nothing compared to previous generations of Xiaomi devices. Plus, the Xiaomi 13 makes up for that with excellent 3G talk time and network standby numbers. Overall, we can't complaint at all.
Our battery tests were automated thanks to SmartViser, using its viSerDevice app. The endurance rating denotes how long the battery charge will last you if you use the device for an hour of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. More details can be found here.
Video test carried out in 60Hz refresh rate mode. Web browsing test done at the display's highest refresh rate whenever possible. Refer to the respective reviews for specifics. To adjust the endurance rating formula to match your own usage patterns check out our all-time battery test results chart where you can also find all phones we've tested.
Charging
The Xiaomi 13 can charge at a rate of up to 67W using proprietary Xiaomi charging tech. It also features support for Power Delivery 3.0 and Quick Charge 4. Though, if you want to make use of its maximum charging speed, you need to hold on to both the provided charger and cable from the retail box.
We aren't quite sure why Xiaomi decided to stick to 67W charging for the vanilla Xiaomi 13, given that devices like the Xiaomi 12T Pro are already out with 120W wired charging. Perhaps it was a market segmentation decision since the Xiaomi 13 Pro does get 120W charging.
Xiaomi claims that a full charge on the Xiaomi 13 should take 38 minutes. We didn't quite manage said figure in our testing, but we definitely got close enough at 42 minutes. Despite rocking the older Xiaomi charging standard, the Xiaomi 13 is still quite a speedy charging device.
Plus, while it lacks 120W charging, the Xiaomi 13 still gets 50W wireless charging support and 10W reverse wireless charging to back up its status as a proper flagship.
Speakers
The Xiaomi 13 has a stereo speaker setup with a Dolby Atmos equalizer on top. One of the stereo channels is handled by a proper down-firing speaker, while the other is front-firing and doubles as the earpiece. A fairly-common hybrid setup. It is worth noting that other Xiaomi devices, like the Xiaomi 12 and the 12T Pro, have a second speaker grill on the top frame, which Xiaomi decided to omit on the 13 for some reason.
Interestingly enough, the top speaker/earpiece on the Xiaomi 13 doesn't just handle one of the channels but actually assists in both of them and is always outputting audio. An interesting system that works surprisingly well in practice, though at the expense of stereo separation.
Xiaomi worked together with Dolby on the audio of the 13. There are settings for Dolby Atmos available, as well as a full-featured equalizer.
Dolby Atmos settings and equalizer
The Xiaomi 13 gets quite loud and managed a VERY GOOD loudness score in our proprietary test. Its frequency response is also nice and tight, with a surprising amount of base and nice clean highs. Despite their location, the speakers aren't particularly easy to cover while holding the phone in landscape mode either.
Use the Playback controls to listen to the phone sample recordings (best use headphones). We measure the average loudness of the speakers in LUFS. A lower absolute value means a louder sound. A look at the frequency response chart will tell you how far off the ideal "0db" flat line is the reproduction of the bass, treble, and mid frequencies. You can add more phones to compare how they differ. The scores and ratings are not comparable with our older loudspeaker test. Learn more about how we test here.
MIUI 14 on top of Android 13
The Xiaomi 13 is running the company's latest MIUI 14 on top of Android 13. This new OS combo promises, among other things, major performance improvements and optimizations. This is all wrapped up in what Xiaomi calls "Project Razor". The team behind MIUI 14 updated the system architecture on the Android Kernel level with CPU, GPU and memory resource scheduling, lighter system firmware size and decreased memory usage. Apparently, the result is 60% smoother operation of MIUI 14 on the Xiaomi 12S Ultra compared to MIUI 13.
Let's quickly go over the new things we found in MIUI 14 running on our Xiaomi 13 unit. Only eight system apps cannot be uninstalled, which is a major leap from past MIUI releases. Other neat optimizations include automatic compression for apps that are not actively used and a toggle to turn off permanent notifications. These ones seem to stem from the Android 13 core rather than the MIUI shell. Privacy is also overhauled with end-to-end encryption and local on-device processing of user data.
Going over the list of expected new additions to MIUI 14 from its official release, we oddly found a lot is not yet present on out Xiaomi 13 unit. Perhaps some of the new features will be delivered later with updates. Our unit lacks the new animated character widgets, for one, but it does have the new style of enlarged folders.
Enlarged folders
We also didn't find the duplicate file merger, Xiaomi wireless accessory cross-device switching controls, or the new family account features. However, the improved text recognition and extraction from images in the gallery are present.
Text recognition from gallery
Other than these few changes, MIUI hasn't morphed in any major way, and users will feel right at home.
The split between a notification shade and Control Center is enabled by default this time, and that's probably a good thing. We found it to be quite convenient, and it's a way to educate users about MIUI's unique approach to the UI. And in case you are not a fan, you can always revert back to the standard notification shade with quick toggles in one place.
Home screen, notification shade, Control center
The home screen, recent apps and the general settings menu are business as usual. The app drawer is also enabled by default, and we like that Xiaomi has placed the search bar at the bottom of the screen for easier reach. There are custom and preset app categories for faster navigation.
Unlike the standard recent apps menu, the MIUI task switcher lists the apps vertically and provides several useful shortcuts. That's where you can open up apps in floating windows. However, you can have only one floating app open at a time. In case you want a faster shortcut to apps that support free-form windows, just enable the Sidebar.
Recent apps, app drawer
Notably, the Sidebar is different depending on the scenario. In games, the Sidebar provides a couple of gaming-related features, while in video apps, the Sidebar becomes a Video toolbox. It lets you launch video apps in pop-up windows, Screenshot, Record screen, Cast, and Play Video with the screen off, including on YouTube without a Premium subscription. The only caveat is that the apps where you want the feature enabled need to be whitelisted in advance.
Sidebar and Video toolbox
Customization is, as always, a big part of MIUI. The system lets you choose the style of the Always-on display or the theme of the UI. Aside from the ones pre-installed on the device, a theme store gives you a wide selection. The themes themselves change not only the general appearance but also ringtones and system icons.
Themes and Always-on display
Moving on to privacy and security, MIUI comes with a pre-installed system Security app. Aside from the additional malware protection layer it provides, the app holds many of the app settings and privacy features in one place. It can manage your blacklist, manage or restrict your data usage, configure battery behavior, and free up some RAM. It can also manage the permissions of your installed apps, define the battery behavior of selected apps, and apply restrictions only to certain apps.
Xiaomi Security app
Speaking of security, the fingerprint reader is fast and reliable. We had no issues even when outside on a bright sunny day. There's extended functionality for the fingerprint reader, allowing you to open up an app or initiate action as soon as you unlock the device - just keep your finger on the scanner when it unlocks. It's a lot like OnePlus' OxygenOS/Oppo's ColorOS/Realme's Realme UI feature, but this one doesn't allow customization. We didn't find a way to add shortcut apps, so you are stuck with the Search and QR Code scanner.
Fingerprint reader and shortcuts
There is also an experimental feature that lets you use the fingerprint reader to measure heart rate. It is a bit wonky, but still an interesting little addition.
Heart rate monitoring with the fingerprint reader
All in all, MIUI 14 changed a little over the 13th iteration. At least on our Xiaomi 13 unit, that is. It's just as snappy and customizable as ever. Xiaomi has paid special attention to the haptics on this unit, and we found the motor to be crisp, strong and accurate. There's even haptic feedback intensity adjustment if you find it obtrusive or not strong enough.
Synthetic benchmarks
The Xiaomi 13 packs the latest and greatest flagship chipset Qualcomm has to offer - the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. It has an octa-core CPU configuration with one primary Cortex-X3 core, clocked at up to 3.2 GHz, 2x2.8 GHz Cortex-A715, 2x2.8 GHz Cortex-A710 and 3x2.0 GHz Cortex-A510 cores. Its GPU is a very capable Adreno 740.
The Xiaomi 13 pair said chipset with up to 12GB od RAM and up to 512GB of non-expandable storage in the following configurations: 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM. Though international markets allegedly just get a choice between 8/256GB and 12/256GB. It is also worth noting that the 128GB variant of the Xiaomi 13 uses older and slower UFS 3.1 storage, while the 256GB and 512GB tiers have UFS 4.0 chips.
Xiaomi claims that the new CPU brings a 37% improvement in performance and 47% in efficiency compared to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. And the GPU is apparently 42% more powerful and 49% more efficient.
We can see that the Xiaomi 13 manages excellent results in the CPU department through GeekBench.
GeekBench 5 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- iPhone 14 Pro
5346 - Xiaomi 13
5129 - Samsung Galaxy S23
4950 - Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
4927 - OnePlus 11
4899 - iPhone 14
4761 - Xiaomi 12S Ultra
4300 - Xiaomi 12T Pro
4081 - Huawei Mate 50 Pro
3839 - Xiaomi 12T
3756 - Poco X4 GT
3719 - Redmi K50i
3707 - Xiaomi 12
3652 - Poco F4 GT
3637 - Oppo Reno8 Pro
3395 - Google Pixel 7
3288 - Poco F4
3190 - Nothing Phone (1)
3024 - Poco X5 Pro
2930 - Google Pixel 6a
2876 - OnePlus Nord 2T
2790 - Oppo Reno8
2694 - OnePlus Nord 2T 5G
2694 - Realme 10 Pro+
2371 - Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
2225 - Galaxy A53 5G
1891
GeekBench 5 (single-core)
Higher is better
- iPhone 14 Pro
1861 - iPhone 14
1738 - Samsung Galaxy S23
1550 - Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
1537 - Xiaomi 13
1492 - Xiaomi 12S Ultra
1324 - Huawei Mate 50 Pro
1277 - Poco F4 GT
1244 - Xiaomi 12T Pro
1238 - Xiaomi 12
1187 - OnePlus 11
1150 - Google Pixel 7
1051 - Google Pixel 6a
1047 - Poco F4
975 - Xiaomi 12T
925 - Poco X4 GT
917 - Redmi K50i
916 - Oppo Reno8 Pro
894 - Realme 10 Pro+
842 - Nothing Phone (1)
820 - Poco X5 Pro
781 - Galaxy A53 5G
743 - Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
736 - Oppo Reno8
493 - OnePlus Nord 2T 5G
493 - OnePlus Nord 2T
491
The same goes for the more compound testing on AnTuTu, which also includes graphical tests. The Xiaomi 13 is chart-topping and makes perfect use of the powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip it is equipped with and doesn't hold it back in any way.
AnTuTu 9
Higher is better
- Xiaomi 13
1248260 - Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
1241531 - Samsung Galaxy S23
1231075 - OnePlus 11
1140661 - Xiaomi 12S Ultra
1039412 - Xiaomi 12T Pro
1032185 - Xiaomi 12
985115 - Huawei Mate 50 Pro
979921 - iPhone 14 Pro
968412 - Poco F4 GT
952124 - iPhone 14
817125 - Google Pixel 7
813114 - Xiaomi 12T
780204 - Poco X4 GT
747871 - Oppo Reno8 Pro
718351 - Google Pixel 6a
712092 - Poco F4
698586 - Oppo Reno8
619610 - OnePlus Nord 2T 5G
619610 - OnePlus Nord 2T
604467 - Nothing Phone (1)
592789 - Poco X5 Pro
531398 - Realme 10 Pro+
522376 - Redmi Note 11 Pro+ 5G
437872 - Galaxy A53 5G
379313
The Adreno 740 GPU can really stretch its legs inside the Xiaomi 13 with its FullHD+ native resolution display. It expectedly tops the charts in off-screen tests as well, though.
GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Galaxy S23
90 - Galaxy S23+
89 - Galaxy S23 Ultra (1080p)
89 - iQOO 11 (1080p)
89 - Xiaomi 13
88 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 8 Pro
75 - Asus Zenfone 9
67 - Xiaomi 12
59 - Asus Zenfone 9 (Dynamic)
57 - Galaxy S23 Ultra
54 - iQOO 11
54 - Xiaomi 12T Pro
50 - OnePlus 11
49 - Sony Xperia 5 IV
48 - Google Pixel 6a
47 - Sony Xperia 1 IV
43 - Poco X4 GT
38 - Xiaomi 12 Pro
36 - Xiaomi 12X
32 - Google Pixel 7 Pro
26 - Nothing Phone (1)
23 - Realme 10 Pro+
16 - Galaxy A53 5G
15
GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (offscreen 1440p)
Higher is better
- Galaxy S23+
62 - iQOO 11
62 - Xiaomi 13
61 - Galaxy S23
61 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 8 Pro
61 - OnePlus 11
61 - Galaxy S23 Ultra
59 - Asus Zenfone 9
46 - Xiaomi 12T Pro
45 - Xiaomi 12
41 - Xiaomi 12 Pro
41 - Asus Zenfone 9 (Dynamic)
33 - Google Pixel 7 Pro
29 - Google Pixel 6a
29 - Sony Xperia 5 IV
29 - Poco X4 GT
26 - Sony Xperia 1 IV
26 - Xiaomi 12X
22 - Nothing Phone (1)
15 - Realme 10 Pro+
11 - Galaxy A53 5G
10
GFX Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Galaxy S23
98 - Galaxy S23 Ultra (1080p)
97 - Galaxy S23+
93 - Xiaomi 13
91 - iQOO 11 (1080p)
91 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 8 Pro
79 - Asus Zenfone 9
69 - iPhone 14 Pro
60 - Galaxy S23 Ultra
60 - Xiaomi 12
59 - Xiaomi 12T Pro
58 - iPhone 14
55 - iQOO 11
55 - Sony Xperia 5 IV
55 - OnePlus 11
53 - Asus Zenfone 9 (Dynamic)
47 - Google Pixel 6a
39 - Poco X4 GT
38 - Xiaomi 12 Pro
37 - Xiaomi 12X
35 - Sony Xperia 1 IV
31 - Google Pixel 7 Pro
25 - Nothing Phone (1)
23 - Galaxy A53 5G
15 - Realme 10 Pro+
15
GFX Aztek Vulkan High (offscreen 1440p)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi 13
69 - Galaxy S23+
69 - Galaxy S23 Ultra
69 - iQOO 11
69 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 8 Pro
68 - OnePlus 11
68 - Galaxy S23
65 - Asus Zenfone 9
52 - Xiaomi 12T Pro
50 - Xiaomi 12
45 - Xiaomi 12 Pro
45 - iPhone 14 Pro
42 - iPhone 14
38 - Sony Xperia 5 IV
38 - Asus Zenfone 9 (Dynamic)
36 - Google Pixel 6a
32 - Google Pixel 7 Pro
30 - Sony Xperia 1 IV
26 - Xiaomi 12X
24 - Poco X4 GT
24 - Nothing Phone (1)
16 - Galaxy A53 5G
10 - Realme 10 Pro+
10
The Xiaomi 13 makes excellent use of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset. We can clearly see that it is not being held back and is performing at its maximum potential here.
GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Galaxy S23
110 - Galaxy S23+
110 - Galaxy S23 Ultra (1080p)
110 - iQOO 11 (1080p)
110 - Xiaomi 13
109 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 8 Pro
97 - Asus Zenfone 9
89 - Xiaomi 12
75 - Sony Xperia 1 IV
74 - Galaxy S23 Ultra
67 - iQOO 11
67 - Asus Zenfone 9 (Dynamic)
66 - Xiaomi 12T Pro
65 - Sony Xperia 5 IV
63 - iPhone 14 Pro
60 - iPhone 14
60 - OnePlus 11
57 - Google Pixel 6a
51 - Xiaomi 12X
47 - Xiaomi 12 Pro
46 - Poco X4 GT
46 - Google Pixel 7 Pro
34 - Nothing Phone (1)
33 - Poco X5 Pro
28 - Realme 10 Pro+
21 - Galaxy A53 5G
19
GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)
Higher is better
- Galaxy S23+
130 - iQOO 11
128 - Xiaomi 13
127 - Galaxy S23
127 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 8 Pro
127 - Galaxy S23 Ultra
126 - OnePlus 11
126 - iPhone 14 Pro
112 - Asus Zenfone 9
104 - Xiaomi 12T Pro
100 - Xiaomi 12 Pro
96 - iPhone 14
91 - Xiaomi 12
84 - Sony Xperia 1 IV
79 - Asus Zenfone 9 (Dynamic)
75 - Sony Xperia 5 IV
70 - Google Pixel 6a
66 - Google Pixel 7 Pro
63 - Xiaomi 12X
55 - Poco X4 GT
52 - Nothing Phone (1)
37 - Realme 10 Pro+
27 - Galaxy A53 5G
23
As the test difficulty gets lower and lower, the Adreno 740 starts to shine and fully saturate the 120Hz display refresh rate of the Xiaomi 13 in on-screen tests. All the while posting ridiculous three-digit fps numbers in off-screen tests.
GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi 13
121 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 8 Pro
121 - Galaxy S23
120 - Galaxy S23+
120 - Galaxy S23 Ultra (1080p)
120 - iQOO 11 (1080p)
120 - Asus Zenfone 9
120 - Xiaomi 12
117 - Xiaomi 12T Pro
116 - Sony Xperia 5 IV
114 - Asus Zenfone 9 (Dynamic)
113 - Galaxy S23 Ultra
112 - iQOO 11
112 - Xiaomi 12 Pro
86
72
70
60
60
60
60
58
57
54
38
35
GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)
Higher is better
- Galaxy S23+
224 - Xiaomi 13
222 - iQOO 11
222 - OnePlus 11
220 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 8 Pro
219 - Galaxy S23
212 - Galaxy S23 Ultra
212 - iPhone 14 Pro
196 - Asus Zenfone 9
187 - Xiaomi 12T Pro
179 - Xiaomi 12 Pro
168 - Xiaomi 12
164 - iPhone 14
151 - Asus Zenfone 9 (Dynamic)
137 - Sony Xperia 5 IV
132 - Sony Xperia 1 IV
126 - Google Pixel 6a
116 - Google Pixel 7 Pro
108 - Poco X4 GT
103 - Xiaomi 12X
89 - Nothing Phone (1)
65 - Realme 10 Pro+
45 - Galaxy A53 5G
38
GFX Manhattan ES 3.0 (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi 13
121 - Xiaomi 12T Pro
121 - Xiaomi 12
121 - ZTE nubia Red Magic 8 Pro
121 - Galaxy S23
120 - Galaxy S23+
120 - Galaxy S23 Ultra (1080p)
120 - iQOO 11
120 - Sony Xperia 5 IV
120 - Asus Zenfone 9
120 - Asus Zenfone 9 (Dynamic)
120 - Galaxy S23 Ultra
119 - Xiaomi 12 Pro
117 - Xiaomi 12X
106 - Google Pixel 7 Pro
103 - Sony Xperia 1 IV
100 - Nothing Phone (1)
84 - Poco X4 GT
65 - iPhone 14 Pro
60 - iPhone 14
60 - OnePlus 11
60 - Google Pixel 6a
60 - Realme 10 Pro+
56 - Galaxy A53 5G
55
GFX Manhattan ES 3.0 (offscreen 1080p)
Higher is better
- ZTE nubia Red Magic 8 Pro
328 - Xiaomi 13
327 - OnePlus 11
327 - iQOO 11
321 - Galaxy S23
320 - Galaxy S23+
319 - Galaxy S23 Ultra
311 - Asus Zenfone 9
277 - Xiaomi 12T Pro
262 - Xiaomi 12 Pro
249 - iPhone 14 Pro
243 - Xiaomi 12
236 - Asus Zenfone 9 (Dynamic)
221 - iPhone 14
217 - Sony Xperia 5 IV
187 - Sony Xperia 1 IV
186 - Google Pixel 7 Pro
170 - Google Pixel 6a
167 - Poco X4 GT
146 - Xiaomi 12X
127 - Nothing Phone (1)
93 - Realme 10 Pro+
68 - Galaxy A53 5G
60
The phone is also perfectly snappy and fluent to use in practice. Animations are fluid and fast, and the Xiaomi 13 chews through each and every task you throw at it. Gaming is a joy as well, as long as you remember the refresh rate caveats and lock the refresh rate manually to 120Hz in supported games for the smoothest possible experience.
Xiaomi also paid a lot of attention to cooling the Xiaomi 13 and equipped it with a huge 4,642 mm2 vapor chamber. We ran our standard hour-long torture test on the Xiaomi 13 and found it to be able to sustain its performance very well. However, it did get really hot during the test. Definitely uncomfortable to the touch.
Thermal-throttling
The Adreno 740 GPU sustained its performance very well, too, under a prolonged stress load.
New triple camera setup with a telephoto
The Xiaomi 13 has a fancy new camera system. The camera setup here is the product of a collaboration with Leica, and yes, there is a telephoto camera this time around.
But first things first. The primary camera on the Xiaomi 13 is a 50MP unit based on the Sony IMX800 sensor. That has a 1/1.49" size with 1.0µm individual pixels. Though, those are meant to be binned four-way into 2.0µm effective pixels. Speaking of effective numbers, the Xiaomi 13 does not use the entire sensor. Instead, its f/1.8, 7-piece, HyperOIS lens is positioned in front of a portion of the sensor with an effective size of 1/1.56" and an effective resolution of 50MP. This camera also has Xiaomi ProFocus, Portrait Night mode, Ultra Night Video, and video capture at up to 8K@24fps.
The 12MP ultrawide camera on our unit appears to be based on the OmniVision OV13B10. This is actually the same sensor as on the Xiaomi 12. As the name suggests, the OV13B10 is actually a 13MP sensor, though 12MP of it is being used on the Xiaomi 13. It has a 1/3.06" sensor size with 1.12µm individual pixels. This ultrawide camera has a 15mm, 120-degree, f/2.2 lens with fixed focus.
Last but not least, on the back, we have the 10MP telephoto, based on the Samsung S5K3K1 sensor, which is actually the same sensor behind the telephoto camera in the Samsung Galaxy S22, S22+, S23 and S23+. It has a 1/3.94" size and 1.0µm individual pixels. The telephoto has a 3.2x, 75mm, optically-stabilized (OIS), f/2.0 lens and uses PDAF.
On the front - is a 32MP selfie camera based on the OmniVision OV32C (1/3.2", 0.7µm pixels) with a Quad Bayer pattern that results in 8MP binned images. It has fixed focus and sits behind an 89.6-degree f/2.0 5-piece lens. Though with a brighter lens, this is the same selfie sensor as on the Xiaomi 12S Ultra.
The familiar Xiaomi camera app has its quirks, but it's nothing outside the norm regarding basic use. Changing modes works with side swipes on the black area or the viewfinder. Up and down swipes don't work for switching between the front and rear cameras; only the toggle next to the shutter release does that.
You can add, remove, and rearrange modes in the main rolodex by going to the More tab and navigating to the edit button, and you can also access that from the settings menu. The hamburger menu at the far end is where you'll find additional options like the icon to access the settings. Next to that hamburger menu, you have a flash mode switch, an HDR switch, an AI toggle, and a shortcut to Google Lens. At the near end, you have a magic wand with beauty effects and filters, as well as the camera zoom switches.
Camera UI
New this time around is the Leica color mode switch. It toggles between the default "Vibrant" color profile and the Leica "Authentic" color mode. We will be testing both of these in a bit.
Leica color modes
There's a nicely capable Pro mode, where you can tweak the shooting parameters yourself. You can use the primary, the ultrawide and the telephoto here. You get to pick one of 4 white balance presets or dial in the light temperature with a slider; there's a manual focusing slider and shutter speed (1/4000s to 30s) and ISO control.
Pro mode
You also get focus peaking and exposure verification toggles in the hamburger menu.
Last but not least, the Xiaomi 13 has a pretty in-depth portrait mode.
Portrait mode
It now comes with different modes in the form of "Pro lenses". The idea is that Xiaomi is simulating the look of different camera lenses meant for portrait capture.
Daylight camera quality
Let's kick things off with the main camera. In its default 12.5MP mode, it produces very likable stills. These are clean and sharp with plenty of detail, nice contrast and dynamic range.
The high-frequency details, such as the grass rendering look a bit artificial under closer examination, but it's not a big deal. We don't have any real complaints about the test shots we took.
Xiaomi 13: 12.5MP main camera samples
We captured the samples above using the default Leica Vibrant color mode. Switching over to the Leica Authentic one, we get largely the same overall quality photos, as expected, just with different color reproduction. As the name suggests, the Authentic camera mode should produce more true-to-life colors with less artificial "pop," but the difference between the two modes appears to be marginal.
Xiaomi 13: 12.5MP main camera Authentic color samples
You can make the Xiaomi 13 capture full-res photos on its main camera. These come out in a little over 50MP and largely have the same quality characteristics as the 12.5MP stills, which is great to see. These 50MP stills don't really take too long to capture, either. Plus, they offer noticeably more fine detail in the frame.
Their only downside is the larger file size you have to deal with. Other than that, we do recommend the 50MP photos. One more thing - there is no color mode selection for 50MP stills.
Xiaomi 13: 50MP main camera samples
Here's how the main camera stacks up against the competition in our extensive photo compare database at both 12.5MP and 50MP. Pixel-peep away.
Xiaomi 13 against the Xiaomi 12T Pro and the Xiaomi 12S Ultra in our Photo compare tool
50MP: Xiaomi 13 against the Xiaomi 12T Pro and the Xiaomi 12S Ultra in our Photo compare tool
The ultrawide camera captures competent 12MP stills. Detail is plenty for this class of camera, and sharpness is good as well. Some very fine grain is visible on uniform surfaces, but it's nothing dramatic. Dynamic range is about what we can expect from a good ultrawide, too.
Xiaomi 13: 12MP ultrawide camera samples
Colors are very well matched between the main camera and the ultrawide. This goes for both the default Leica Vibrant mode and the alternative Leica Authentic. Here are some samples taken in Authentic mode. Again, the differences are very subtle and hard to spot.
Xiaomi 13: 12MP ultrawide camera Authentic color samples
One of the bigger additions to the Xiaomi 13's camera setup is the telephoto camera. It has a 3.2x zoom level and captures photos in just under 10MP resolution. These look great, with plenty of detail, almost no noise, and a very good level of sharpness across the frame. The contrast is slightly boosted compared to the main camera, but with a rather pleasing effect.
Xiaomi 13: 10MP telephoto camera samples
Colors reproduction, once again, is almost spot-on with the other cameras. Xiaomi and Leica have really done a great job in this department all around. Again, this also goes for the Leica Authentic color mode and its slightly more subdued colors.
Xiaomi 13: 10MP telephoto camera Authentic color samples
While the Xiaomi 13 lacks a dedicated macro camera and can't focus with its ultrawide, its main camera is actually pretty good at capturing macro-style close-up shots.
Xiaomi 13: 10MP telephoto camera macro samples
Interestingly enough, despite the inclusion of a dedicated telephoto camera Xiaomi still includes a 2x zoom toggle in the camera UI, which captures cropped and zoomed images from the main camera. They aren't as sharp and contrasty as those from the telephoto but could work well in a pinch.
Xiaomi 13: 12.5MP main camera 2x zoom samples
Portrait shots
As already mentioned, a lot of attention has gone into portrait mode on the Xiaomi 13. There are a total of five (or four, depending on how you count them) different "Pro lenses" you can choose from when capturing portraits.
Subject detection and separation are great across the board, though you do have to frame the subject more carefully with the more zoomed-in portrait modes to get the focus just right. The quality of the background blur is also very convincing.
First off, we have the sort of "default" portrait mode, which uses the telephoto camera.
Xiaomi 13: 10MP telephoto camera portrait shots
Then we have black and white effect portraits from the main camera. This is called the "35mm Black and White lens".
Xiaomi 13: 12.5MP main camera black and white portrait shots
Then we have a "50mm Swirly bokeh lens" effect, which also uses the main camera for capture.
Xiaomi 13: 12.5MP main camera Swirly bokeh portrait shots
Following that, there is a "75mm Portrait lens", which uses the telephoto camera to capture portraits and looks to be identical or, if not very similar to the "default" portrait mode.
Xiaomi 13: 10MP telephoto camera Portrait lens shots
And last but not least, we have another mode called "90mm Soft focus lens," which uses a zoomed-in camera feed from the telephoto.
Xiaomi 13: 10MP telephoto camera Soft focus lens shots
Portrait mode works pretty well on non-human subjects too.
Xiaomi 13: non-human portrait mode samples
Selfies
Selfies on the Xiaomi 13 come out at the full 32MP resolution, and we've said before, this is too much. You get large file sizes and none of the benefit that comes with pixel binning.
Still, the selfies are very detailed and have very mature processing of that detail - even at a (ridiculous for 32MP selfies) 1:1 magnification. These look about as good as any from phones with similar specs. In any case, we suggest downscaling them to something more sensible, like 12MP or even 8MP.
Colors look great, too, with natural and well-preserved skin tones. Skin texture looks great too. You get two distinct levels of zoom from the selfie camera - 1x and 0.8x.
Xiaomi 13: 32MP selfie camera samples
Selfie portraits look fine in terms of subject detection and separation. The background blur is a bit on the aggressive side but not too excessive. However, we did notice that outdoors the selfie portrait mode tends to blow out the exposure of the background for no apparent reason.
Xiaomi 13: 32MP selfie camera portrait samples
Video quality
The Xiaomi 13 can capture video at up to 8K@24fps on its main camera, which is a bit odd given that its chipset - the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is perfectly capable of 8K@30fps. Perhaps it's a sensor limitation. Video gets saved in h.264 by default, with the option of h.265 (HEVC) also available in settings.
8K video from the main cam is always captured in HEVC video format with a video stream at around 105 Mbps and a 320 kbps, 48 kHz stereo audio track inside an MP4 container. Quality is great, with plenty of detail, low noise and excellent contrast.
4K videos are very comparable to the 8K ones, with the added bonus that the Xiaomi 13 can record these clips at much smoother 30fps or even 60fps if that is your fancy. Detail is comparable, and so are contrast and the image's overall appearance.
4K videos get recorded in h.264 by default with an AVC video stream of a little over 50 Mbps and the same audio stream as the 8K video again in an MP4 container.
Here's the main camera of the Xiaomi 13 in our video compare database. We include samples at both 4K and 8K.
Xiaomi 13 against the Xiaomi 12T Pro and the Xiaomi 12S Ultra in our Video compare tool
4320p: Xiaomi 13 against the Xiaomi 12T Pro and the Xiaomi 12S Ultra in our Video compare tool
The ultrawide camera produces very decent 4K clips, but nothing to phone home about. Detail is alright for this class of camera, and so are contrast and dynamic range. There is practically no noise, which is great to see.
Colors appear to be slightly muted, and you can already see the dynamic range hitting its limit.
Just like with photos, the Xiaomi 13 has a 2x toggle in its video capture mode, which uses the main camera to capture softer zoomed-in 2x clips. There is nothing particularly special about these.
The dedicated telephoto camera does alright with its 4K video capture, but again nothing spectacular. There is a decent amount of detail, and colors, once again, match the main camera well.
However, there is plenty of shimmering in these clips and even some color fringing in areas with finer detail and overlapping colors, like the tops of trees. The footage is still perfectly usable, though.
The Xiaomi 13 has two or three (depending on how you count them) levels of video stabilization. By default, video from the main and telephoto cameras is stabilized to an extent, thanks to the inclusion of OIS. Beyond that, there are two levels of EIS available. Steady video and Steady video PRO are both capped at 1080p resolution and have an increasing degree of intensity of the applied EIS. Both do a great job, respectively. The main difference between them is that Steady video Pro uses the ultrawide camera, whereas the regular Steady video applies its effects on the main camera.
The selfie camera is limited to 1080p@30fps video capture. Even so, these clips look pretty good in terms of detail, skin texture and tone. Dynamic range is a bit of an issue, though and with a challenging backlit scene, highlights will almost certainly get blown out.
However, the footage appears to be quite steady, so it clearly has an always-on EIS enabled.
We only wish 4K was available on the selfie cam.
Low-light camera quality
The main camera does great in low-light conditions. Photos come out looking detailed and quite sharp. Noise is pretty much nonexistent. Both shadows and highlights are handled competently, and the same goes for light sources.
Xiaomi 13: 12.5MP main camera low-light samples
Switching over to Leica Authentic color mode is not really advisable in low-light conditions. Despite having the same exposure, these shots look much darker to the point of detriment to detail in the shadows.
Xiaomi 13: 12.5MP main camera low-light Authentic color samples
The Xiaomi 13 has an automatic Night mode that triggers when the phone deems the environment too dark and is indicated by a small red moon icon in the corner of the viewfinder. Beyond that, there is also a manual Night mode, which is a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, it contains light sources better and sharpens finer detail a bit more.
Xiaomi 13: 12.5MP main camera Night mode samples
However, often times it also produces darker photos, with less visible detail in darker areas of the frame.
Shooting Night mode photos in Leica Authentic color mode only further exacerbates the issue and produces darker images still. You should really avoid doing so.
Xiaomi 13: 12.5MP main camera Night mode Authentic color samples
The ultrawide camera does a decent job in low light but is far from spectacular. Detail is plenty, contrast looks good, and both shadows and highlights are well handled.
Xiaomi 13: 12MP ultrawide camera low-light samples
However, there is noticeable softness, especially on uniform surfaces and more so near the edges of the frame. Colors look good in the default Leica Vibrant mode. We won't be including any more Leica Authentic samples since these share the same brightness issues across all of the cameras on the Xiaomi 13.
Just like on the main cam, Night mode is a bit of a mixed bag on the ultrawide. It handles light sources a bit better and makes the whole scene look slightly more detailed, thanks to some extra sharpening.
Xiaomi 13: 12MP ultrawide camera Night mode samples
However, it can result in a visibly darker shot, which is not exactly a pleasing look.
The telephoto camera holds its own decently well in low light but is nothing to phone home about. There is plenty of detail in these shots. Light sources are handled very well. Contrast is good too.
Xiaomi 13: 10MP telephoto camera low-light samples
The one complaint we have is that these shots look a bit soft. Not really noisy, though, which is great to see, just soft. Night mode generally takes care of that by additionally sharpening up lines. Once again, however, despite sharing the same exposure, Night mode shots look noticeably darker and can sacrifice some detail in the shadows.
Xiaomi 13: 10MP telephoto camera Night mode samples
Low-light selfies look good with a decent amount of detail, pleasant skin tones and even some skin texture intact.
Xiaomi 13: 32MP selfie camera low-light samples
The background in these shots tends to be pretty noisy and soft, though.
Night mode cleans that up nicely. Again, it tends to darken the shots a bit, but it seems to be to a much more reasonable degree. We would definitely recommend night mode for the selfie cam.
Xiaomi 13: 32MP selfie camera Night mode samples
The Xiaomi 13 captures very good low-light video with its main camera at both 8K and 4K. Detail is plenty, colors look good, and light sources are well-handled. There is low noise too.
The ultrawide camera struggles quite a bit. While usable, its videos are pretty dark and generally soft and a bit noisy. Light sources are blown out. Colors still look good, though.
Telephoto videos are a bit more impressive than the ultrawide ones, but not by much. The detail is there, contrast is good, and so are colors. Everything in frame, however, is decidedly soft.
Alternatives
With a starting MSRP of EUR 1000, the Xiaomi 13 is not cheap. Then again, it does offer a very complete package for that price. If you expect nothing less, then Samsung's Galaxy S23 series instantly comes to mind. There are a few obvious discrepancies, though. EUR 1000 or so only buy you the base Galaxy S23, which is quite a bit smaller physically than the Xiaomi 13. The more viable alternative in our mind is the Galaxy S23+, for which you will have to stretch your budget a bit.
Left: Xiaomi 13 Pro * Right: Xiaomi 13
Still, you get a lot of phone for your money. Some highlights of the S23+ include excellent build quality with Gorilla Glass Victus 2 and an IP68 rating, stereo speakers, an excellent Dynamic AMOLED 120Hz display, the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for Galaxy chipset, a potent triple camera setup, very similar to the one on the Xiaomi 13 and a large 4,700 mAh battery. Of course, all of this is topped by the company's signature One UI experience.
Samsung Galaxy S23+ • OnePlus 11 • Google Pixel 7 Pro • Apple iPhone 14 Plus
The OnePlus 11 is also another easy recommendation. Once again, you are getting a bigger phone with a 6.7-inch excellent LTPO3 Fluid AMOLED, 120Hz display, but the extra size does also come with a bigger 5,000 mAh battery with 100W wired charging. Other highlights of the phone include an IP64 rating - not quite IP68, but still good, stereo speakers, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset and a very potent triple camera setup.
EUR 1000 is plenty of budget to get yourself a Google Pixel 7 Pro and even have plenty left over for some other gadgets or accessories. Google's flagship has a downright competitive price tag these days and is not shabby at all in terms of specs. You get a sturdy phone with an IP68 rating, stereo speakers, a 5,000 mAh battery (though not necessarily great battery life) and a 6.7-inch LTPO, 120Hz AMOLED display. Google is second to none in computational photography and makes great use of the triple camera setup on the Pixel 7 Pro. All of this is tied together by a clean AOSP software experience. Just like with the Galaxy S23+, we will mention that the Pixel 7 Pro is a bit physically bigger than the Xiaomi 13. The regular Pixel 7 is a bit of a better match in that regard, but it does come with some significant hardware sacrifices.
Left: Xiaomi 13 Pro * Right: Xiaomi 13
Why not consider a shiny new iPhone 14 too? It is a great alternative to the Xiaomi 13. Just like with the Galaxy S23, the vanilla iPhone 14 is a bit too small to be a direct competitor, while the iPhone 14 Plus is a bit too big. It seems like the closer match, however. There's nothing we can say about the iPhone that hasn't been repeated to death already. We will note, however, that you will be missing out on a dedicated telephoto camera by going the Apple route.
Our verdict
The Xiaomi 13 is a very well-rounded flagship offer. Xiaomi seems to have taken plenty of notes coming from the previous generation Xiaomi 12. The 13 is a very sturdy and well-made device, now with the important addition of IP68 ingress protection. It has a slightly bigger display than its predecessor and one that really impresses both in terms of brightness and color reproduction. It also has superb HDR support for all four major standards.
The Xiaomi 13 also has a great stereo speaker setup and gets to enjoy the latest and greatest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset. Qualcomm's best chip to date has been hugely beneficial to the Xiaomi 13. It delivers excellent, chart-topping all around performance, and amazing efficiency, which has pushed battery life to a whole new level this generation.
The camera setup is also much improved, particularly by including a dedicated telephoto snapper. We found the quality to be excellent all-around while testing the Xiaomi 13.
All things considered, the Xiaomi 13 is a really compelling, feature-rich package. There is very little compromise to speak of here beyond some nitpicks like the lack of Xiaomi's 120W charging, Gorilla Glass Victus and 8K@30fps video capture. Xiaomi has a great product on its hands. One that we can recommend without any hesitation.
Pros
- Great design. Solid and well put together - aluminum alloy frame, Gorilla Glass 5 front and IP68 rating.
- Flagship 120Hz OLED with amazing brightness, great color accuracy and excellent HDR support.
- Excellent battery life upgraded from the previous model and very fast charging.
- Great stereo audio output with Dolby Atmos support.
- Android 13, feature-rich MIUI 14.
- Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 offers chart-topping performance.
- Solid camera performance in all photo&video scenarios.
Cons
- It is not using Xiaomi's faster 120W charging standard.
- Gets pretty hot under sustained load but remains very performant.
- Gorilla Glass 5 instead of Victus, 24fps 8K instead of 30fps.
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