Xiaomi 13 Pro preview: 1-inch camera system that wants to end iPhone Pro and Galaxy Ultra rule

Xiaomi 13 Pro Intro

Nearly three years since it first dipped its toes into flagship territory, Xiaomi is finally ready to unveil its ultimate “flagship killer”. The Xiaomi 13 Pro is the dream phone that many have been waiting for as it combines the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, a chip that fixes many of the issues that plagued Android phones just last year, and on top of that you have the second iteration of the most advanced camera phone sensor on the market.

So can this new phone be the one that finally moves the needle for Xiaomi in the flagship space and propels it to the top ranks? Let’s find out! 

*This is a preview based on preliminary information about the phone. The Xiaomi 13 Pro release date is set for Sunday, December 11th, 2022.

What’s new about the Xiaomi 13 Pro

Table of Contents:

Xiaomi 13 Pro Specs

Here is a quick look at the Xiaomi 13 Pro specs:

Each of these versions comes with its own set of advantages. The leather like finish is warmer to touch and there is something more organic and welcoming to such a finish, and it’s also lighter than the other two. Glass is self-explanatory, and ceramic is a material we rarely see on phones, but that has better scratch resistance than glass and a slightly different feel. 

You also get IP68 water and dust protection, just like most flagships.

The phone also has extremely slim bezels around the screen for a very elegant look, and bezels are actually noticeably smaller than what you get on a Galaxy or an iPhone, something that Xiaomi is obviously proud of.

The screen comes with LTPO 4.0 technology and it supports a 120Hz dynamic refresh rate for smooth scrolling. 

The triple camera system is housed in a glass rectangle on the back of the phone and it all grows organically out of the phone, a nice design touch.

The gigantic Sony IMX 989 1-inch type sensor is what all the buzz is about. It’s a bigger sensor than what you get on a Galaxy Ultra or iPhone, and this alone is an important advantage.

Xiaomi goes with a 3.2X telephoto zoom lens, a change from longer-range periscope lenses, but this might be actually a worthy change as the new telephoto lens also works in dim conditions and is very versatile.

One cool trick of this new zoom lens is a floating element inside that allows the lens to zoom at just 4 inches (10cm), so you can shoot these close-up photos. It’s a stunning look that you usually expect to get out of a dedicated camera, but not a phone.

We will be updating this article with more camera tests and samples of our own soon, so stay tuned for that.

Performance Benchmarks:

Preliminary results show surprisingly good performance all around and this will be particularly good for gamers as the thermal management of this new chip is improved, so it won’t throttle as easily as previous ones.

We still don’t know too much about the connectivity of the Xiaomi 13 Pro.

It will be a 5G phone without a doubt, but what bands it will support and whether there will be different versions for different markets is a question we don’t yet have an answer to.

Xiaomi 13 Pro: MIUI 14 on top of Android 13

The Xiaomi 13 Pro will also serve as the launch pad for the new MIUI 14 custom interface on top of Android 13.

This is a huge release for Xiaomi and is expected to come with a slew of new features and improvements.

Let’s see if Xiaomi even addresses those issue with this new release.

This seems like an adequate size that should guarantee you a full day of use, with even more intense tasks. More modest use might stretch that a bit, but so far we don’t expect 2-day battery life out of this phone.

While the 13 Pro might not have the largest battery, but with 120W wired fast charging, it certainly has one of the fastest charging speeds on a mainstream phone. It should fill up the battery from 0 to 100% in about 20 to 30 minutes.

The Xiaomi 13 Pro loses the Harman-Kardon branding, but is still expected to feature quality speaker system with a bottom firing main speaker and a helper speaker in the earpiece.

The Xiaomi 13 Pro is a full-fledged flagship and it is going against the very best phones.

Here is the list of its competitors and why you might prefer one of them over the Xiaomi 13 Pro:

Xiaomi has arguably the most advanced camera sensor on the market and it is not afraid to use it, it has improved the telephoto camera, and overall photos look poised to beat images from the Galaxy Ultra and iPhone Pro series.

If Xiaomi prices this reasonably, it will finally give us a worthy alternative to the usual trifecta of Apple, Google and Samsung.