Xiaomi 13 Pro: Taking the fight to the Galaxy S23 Ultra
The Xiaomi 13 Professional has all of it: a beautiful design with a ceramic end, an elegant AMOLED display screen, the newest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, all-day battery existence with ultra-fast 120W stressed and 50W wi-fi charging, and IP68 mud and water resistance. Whilst you can in finding some of these options in different telephones, the place the 13 Professional comes into its personal is the cameras; using partnering with Leica, Xiaomi has delivered some of the highest camera programs you can in finding on a telephone as late.
How do you stand out in a phase the place each telephone is just about flawless? Xiaomi has grown to become the camera because the differentiator in recent times — the Mi 10 Professional presented a 108MP camera, the Mi 11 Extremely had a big 1/1.12-inch sensor and took exceptional footage, and ultimately 12 months Xiaomi 12S Extremely was once the primary with a 1-inch sensor.
Xiaomi had a fairly quiet 2022, with its highest gadgets — the MIX Fold 2 and 12S Extremely — restricted to its house marketplace. Whilst that is not converting, Xiaomi is bringing that huge 1-inch sensor to international markets with the advent of the Xiaomi 13 Professional. The telephone options the similar Sony IMX989 module on the again and keeps the Leica tuning, and Xiaomi is intent on going after Samsung and Google with its newest flagship.
Xiaomi did a perfect task cramming a bigger battery than the ultimate 12 months in a chassis that is more or less similar in dimension, and also you get 120W stressed and 50W wi-fi charging. The Xiaomi 12 Professional overlooked IP68 ingress coverage, and the 13 Professional rectifies that as smartly. Obviously, Xiaomi hasn't put a foot unsuitable right here, so let's check out what you are getting with the Xiaomi 13 Professional, and whether or not it could possibly take at the likes of the Galaxy S23 Extremely and Vivo X90 Professional.
Pricing and availability
The Xiaomi 13 sequence was once unveiled in China at the finish of December, and it's getting an international unlock at MWC. Xiaomi will kick off gross sales in India, U.Ok., France, and different international markets within the coming weeks.
In China, the Xiaomi 13 Professional begins at 4,999 RMB ($718) for the model with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of garage, 5,399 RMB ($776) for the 8GB/256GB style, 5,799 RMB ($833) for the 12GB/256GB version, and six,299 RMB ($905) for the 12GB/512GB style.
After all, the instrument is not fairly as inexpensive outdoor Xiaomi's house marketplace. The Xiaomi 13 Professional kicks off at €1,299 ($1,373) in Ecu international locations for the 12GB/256GB model, with the usual Xiaomi 13 to be had for €999 ($1,056). This is significantly greater than the €1,149 ($1,214) Xiaomi charged for the 12 Professional ultimate 12 months, however nonetheless not up to the Galaxy S23 Extremely's €1,399 ($1,480) beginning determine within the area.
The telephone will make its debut in India within the coming weeks, however, Xiaomi hasn't divulged what it'll value within the area simply — I will replace the put up after I know extra.
Like Samsung and different producers, Xiaomi is the usage of the older UFS 3.1 garage for the 128GB garage variants and provides the newest UFS 4.0 for the 256GB and 512GB fashions. Fortunately, the emblem is not bringing the 128GB style outdoor China, however, in case you are eyeing the usual Xiaomi 13, I would counsel getting the 256GB model.
Design
Samsung and OnePlus love to handle visible consistency throughout generations, however, that is not the case with Xiaomi. The Chinese language producer is going out of its means to verify its newest gadgets have an all-new aesthetic, and that is the reason the case with Xiaomi 13 sequence is smart. If anything else, Xiaomi is taking issues with every other excessive these 12 months, with the Xiaomi 13 Professional no longer sharing a lot of resemblance with the usual Xiaomi 13 both. The usual style has flat aspects and a tumbler again, and the in-hand really feels like could be very other between the 2.
With the Xiaomi 13 Professional, Xiaomi switched again to ceramic and a big camera island. It is extremely both from the Xiaomi 12 Professional and Xiaomi 12S Extremely, and the design is if truth be told extra in step with the Mi 11 Extremely — albeit narrower. The Mi 11 Extremely continues to be certainly one of my favourite Xiaomi telephones of all time, and the Xiaomi 13 Professional feels simply as excellent to carry, and the truth is that it's a 1.4mm narrower method it is not as unwieldy.
The telephone has symmetrical curves at the back and front, and there is sufficient width at the mid-frame to carry it with no problems. Because the camera housing extends a significant means around the again, the telephone does not wobble up to its predecessor when the usage of on a flat floor. You'll be able to in finding the facility and quantity buttons at the proper, there is an IR blaster on the best, and USB-C charging port together with the dual-SIM card tray on the backside.
Xiaomi has 3 colour choices this time, and all come with the ceramic end: white, black, and inexperienced. Whilst I just like the ceramic end greater than glass, it smudges very simply, and the white model does a greater task hiding those than the black style I am the usage of.
In some other houses,,, the place the Xiaomi 13 Professional resembles the Mi 11 Extremely in ingress coverage — you get IP68 mud and water resistance as same old. Xiaomi was once the one mainstream logo not to be offering this selection on its high-end telephones ultimate 12 months, so I am satisfied to peer the Chinese language producer rectify the placement this time round.
General, it is a very polished design, and Xiaomi nailed the heft and dimension; the Xiaomi 13 Professional feels superb in day-to-day use.
Display
Xiaomi did not trade the display screen this 12 months, with the 13 Professional that includes the similar 6.73-inch QHD+ (3200 x 1440) AMOLED panel as its predecessor. You get a similar 120Hz refresh charge and the facility to move Dolby Imaginative and prescient and HDR10+ content material, and there is Widevine L1 out of the field. Whilst the panel itself is unchanged, Xiaomi is turning in upper brightness figures this time, with the 13 Professional ready to move as much as 1,200 nits in common use and 1,900 nits for HDR content material — greater than the S23 Extremely and every other Android instrument.
Like the ultimate 12 months, the display screen is in a position to pass right down to 1Hz for static content material, permitting the instrument to preserve battery existence when studying long-form content material. It mechanically switches again to 120Hz once you engage with the panel, and right down to 30Hz when streaming movies. Xiaomi does a perfect task calibrating its telephones, and it is no other with the 13 Professional — the telephone has unbelievable colour vibrancy and distinction ranges, and is one of the highest you can in finding as of late.
There is no scarcity of customization both, and also you get a good number of always-on modes. You'll be able to additionally in finding the standard tweaks for adjusting the colour stability for your tastes, and because of an ambient colour sensor, the telephone can mechanically alter colours in keeping with ambient mild. Like every Xiaomi gadget, the display screen is about to FHD+ and 60Hz out of the field, so it is important to pass into the settings to change to QHD+ mode and toggle 120Hz.
I did not run into any problems when taking part in video games or streaming content material at the Xiaomi 13 Professional, and the display screen is a pride to make use of. One house place Xiaomi is converting issues is the onboard audio — the telephone does not have equivalent stereo channels, with the secondary speaker tucked into the earpiece.
That mentioned, there's an outlet for the speaker on the best, and whilst the instrument does not get fairly as detailed as the ultimate 12 months, it's nonetheless the most effective on this house
Performance
I used telephones powered using the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 for simply over two months now, and I will say without hesitation that Qualcomm did an excellent task these 12 months. On the entire gadgets I used so far, I did not see any throttling after prolonged use, any problems with battery existence, or any form of overheating.
Having switched to the Xiaomi 13 Professional from the Galaxy S23 Extremely, I did not see any shortcomings in any way. The telephone is phenomenal in day-to-day use, and there is greater than sufficient energy to blaze thru not easy video games. Like, different manufacturers, Xiaomi is the usage of a big cooling device at the 13 Professional, and that guarantees the instrument does not overheat even after prolonged gaming periods.
Like Samsung, Xiaomi is the usage of two other garage modules, with the 128GB style getting the older UFS 3.1 garage and the 256GB/512GB variants that include the newest UFS 4.0. For the reason that UFS 4.0 is just about two times as rapid for 4K workloads, you are at an advantage in averting the bottom style. There isn't any noticeable distinction nowadays, however in case you are paying north of $1,000 for a telephone, you can too get a style that has the newest {hardware}.
Xiaomi is providing the instrument with 8GB or 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM, and the 8GB style on its own is greater than good enough for anything else Android has to provide. For reference, I am the usage of the 12GB/512GB style.
For artificial workloads, I am pitting the Xiaomi 13 Professional towards the Galaxy S23 Extremely and ultimately 12 months Xiaomi 12 Professional. Proper off the bat, we will be able to see that the Xiaomi 13 Professional has a good 15% build-up in Geekbench 5.1 single-core workloads over its predecessor, with that determined going as much as 35% for multi-core exams.
That is in step with day-to-day use, with the 13 Professional turning in a lot better efficiency ahead of hitting it's thermal prohibit. In truth, I did not run into any circumstances of the instrument being throttled even after prolonged use, and that is the reason right down to the tweaks Qualcomm made with this technology.
The Galaxy S23 Extremely is in a position to put up upper ratings because it has an overclocked model of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, however in workloads that simulate real-world situations, the full ratings are on par with the 13 Professional.
The largest trade this 12 months must be gaming efficiency; like the remainder of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2-powered gadgets, the Xiaomi 13 Professional delivers exceptional figures on this house, and there is obviously greater than sufficient headroom for the long run.
Rounding out the {hardware}, the Xiaomi 13 Professional has Wi-Fi 6e connectivity, and whilst there's a Wi-Fi 7 modem as smartly, that is not enabled nowadays. You'll be able to in finding Bluetooth 5.3, NFC, dual-band GPS, and the aforementioned IR blaster. The instrument misses out on mmWave connectivity, but it surely has a good set of Sub-6 5G bands for international protection.
The in-screen optical fingerprint sensor is rapid to authenticate and is preferably located at the display screen to your thumb in case you are the usage of the instrument one-handed. There is face free-up as smartly, however, that is in keeping with the instrument, and subsequently no longer as safe as a PIN.
Xiaomi did an excellent task with the haptic motor, and it delivers granular comments that make the usage of the 13 Professional a lot more enticing. What I in particular like is the extent of customization for the vibration engine. In General, there is nothing else lacking at the 13 Professional, and it's on par with the most efficient Android telephones.
Camera
Like ultimate 12 months, the Xiaomi 13 Professional is rocking a trio of 50MP cameras again. Alternatively, there are really extensive upgrades beneath the hood, with the principal 50MP camera now powered using Sony's 1-inch f/1.9 IMX989 module with OIS. The 50MP telephoto lens could also be new, providing 3x optical zoom with OIS.
The tele lens additionally will get the facility to take pictures at a distance of simply 10cm, and as such Xiaomi makes use of this lens for taking macro footage as a substitute for the wide-angle lens from ultimate 12 months. The brand-new modules together with Leica optics give the Xiaomi 13 Professional an enormous edge over its predecessor. The 50MP wide-angle lens is similar to the ultimate 12 months, with Xiaomi's usage of a similar f/2.2 module with a 115-degree box of view.
The camera interface itself is unchanged, however, you're going to in finding crimson accents in a nod to the Leica collaboration, very similar to what OnePlus does with Hasselblad. The Leica partnership provides a fascinating measurement to the 13 Professional as it's the first Xiaomi telephone launching globally to make use of the German camera logo's tuning.
A large part of that collaboration is the inclusion of 2 kinds — Leica Unique and Leica Colourful. You'll be able to want to select one whilst launching the camera for the primary time, however, can trade between the 2 from throughout the viewfinder. Leica Unique produces true-to-life footage, with Leica Colourful turning in saturated pictures with colourful colours that glance nice.
The Xiaomi 13 Professional makes use of four-to-one pixel binning to supply 12.5MP pictures, and as you would consider for a telephone of thcalibreber, sunlight pictures are unbelievable. You get superb dynamic vary and excellent colour vibrancy, and even though the pictures have a tendency to be slightly oversaturated now and then, they give the impression of being nice. The camera does a perfect task with foliage, and it does not clean out finer main points.
The wide-angle lens does a perfect task in sunlight scenarios smartly, generating pictures with equivalent colour stability as the principal lens. However what sticks out these 12 months is the telephoto lens; it takes stellar footage at as much as 3.2x zoom, and it does an impressive task as a macro shooter. Certain, it will have been great to peer 10x optical zoom, and whilst the lens is going as much as 70x by the use of virtual zoom, it does not cling a candle to the S23 Extremely and Pixel 7 Professional at 5x and 10x zoom, a lot much less 70x.
There are masses to love in low-light pictures as smartly, and the Xiaomi 13 Professional holds its personal towards the likes of the Galaxy S22 Extremely, Pixel 7 Professional, and the Vivo X90 Professional. There is superb element rendition in difficult scenarios, and the camera does an excellent task managing highlights and minimizing noise ranges. The wide-angle and telephoto lenses additionally do a stellar task in the evening, generating pictures with excellent dynamic vary and minimum noise.
The telephone does a significantly better task with portrait pictures as smartly, turning in excellent bokeh and segmentation. I simply use a Pixel 7 Professional for taking portrait pictures of inanimate items as different gadgets do not do as excellent a role with segmentation, how, ver the Xiaomi 13 Professional got here very shut.
General, Xiaomi is onto a winner right here. The 13 Professional has the most efficient total camera bundle of any Xiaomi telephone I used so far, and it is going toe-to-toe with the most efficient that Samsung and Google have to provide.
Software
The Xiaomi 13 Professional runs MIUI 14 in keeping with Android 13 out of the field. Xiaomi did not introduce too many new options in MIUI 14, with lots of tweaks interested in under-the-hood optimization. As such, the interface itself is in large part similar to MIUI 13, so in case you are switching to the 13 Professional from an older Xiaomi instrument, you can really feel proper at the house right here.
Even though the UI hasn't been modified, day-to-day interactions really feel a lot more fluid, and it despite everything feels just like the instrument is optimized to take complete benefit of the {hardware}. There is much less bloatware than ahead of, and whilst I was given a couple of push notifications to check out the more than a few Xiaomi products and services bundled out of the field, it was once simply sufficient to type that out.
Xiaomi now makes use of an iOS-style Keep an eye on Heart as same old, so that you get the toggles on one facet and the notifications in a devoted pane. Fortunately, you'll be able to pass into the settings and turn again to a unified notification pane. However with the emblem focusing its consideration on the Keep an eye on Heart structure, the unified pane appears slightly dated, and in contrast to different interfaces, you will not in finding any Subject material You thrive right here.
Whilst One UI 5 and ColorOS 13 have embraced some portions of Google's Subject material You aesthetic — just like the dynamic colour picker — Xiaomi has in large part left out the design language, and the result is that MIUI 14 does not really feel as colourful. Certainly, one of my favourite issues to do on Android 13 is to change out the accessory colours frequently, and that is not imaginable right here.
The crux of the problem is that whilst different manufacturers are making sure strides in changing the glance in their interfaces to fit an international target audience — ColorOS has come to a final means within the ultimate two years — MIUI nonetheless feels find it irresistible was once constructed for a Chinese language target audience, with a couple of further extras for international markets. Xiaomi must make wholesale adjustments to the UI to convey it to parity with its Chinese language competitors.
Somewhere else, the app drawer is unchanged for two years and is similar to MIUI 12, and Xiaomi does not will let you disable Google products and services like Gmail. I take advantage of Newton Mail on all my gadgets, so I have a tendency to disable Gmail as I don't have any want of the provider, however, that is not possible right here, so I've to mute notifications as a substitute.
You continue to get a vertically-scrolling evaluation menu, however,, you'll be able to transfer to a regular card-style structure within the settings.
I love the truth that Xiaomi made the interface extra fluid, however,, MIUI is short of a redesign. On that be aware, every other house the place Xiaomi is located missing instrument updates. The Xiaomi 13 Professional gets 3 assured Android updates together with 5 years of safety patches, and whilst that is excellent, it isn't as much as a scratch in 2023.
Samsung, OnePlus, and OPPO now ensure 4 Android OS updates, so in case you set up the Xiaomi 13 Professional, you can get one much less platform replacement. Xiaomi wishes to compare its competitors in this regard, and whilst it is at it, the emblem must do a greater task of rolling out instrument updates on time. My Xiaomi 12 Professional made the transfer to Android 13 just about two months after the Galaxy S22 Extremely and In finding X5 Professional, I do not see that converting with the 13 Professional.
Battery life
The Xiaomi 13 Professional has a somewhat higher 4820mAh battery, and it makes use of the emblem's customized S1 Surge controller to verify the telephone fees safely at 120W. There is no battery nervousness in any way right here, and within the week I used the Xiaomi 13 Professional, I was given to the tip of the day with a minimum of 25% left over. That is with heavy use that incorporated 6.5 hours of screen-on-time unfold over the process of 18 hours, and as is the case with different 2023 flagships, the Xiaomi 13 Professional will simply ultimate over an afternoon with no problems.
Like different Xiaomi telephones that use 120W charging tech, you can want to pass into the settings to permit Spice up charging to free up the overall attainable of the charging tech. Xiaomi disables this selection out of the field as it might result in overheating, however a few occasions I charged with Spice up mode enabled, and the battery did not get noticeably sizzling.
Even with the characteristic disabled, you can absolutely feel the battery in simply 28 mins, an fulfilment in and of itself. Switching on Spice up mode reduces that determination to simply 24 mins, so in case you are after bragging rights, you may wish to pass this direction.
Whilst the ridiculously-fast occasions from 0 to 100% are nice, what you can like extra is the truth that it takes simply over ten mins for the battery to move as much as 50% — that makes a sizeable distinction in day-to-day use. Fortunately, Xiaomi continues to package deal a 120W charger within the field, and it's somewhat cumbersome — it is going as much as 120W, despite everything.
Competition
The Galaxy S23 Extremely is the yardstick for flagship telephones in 2023, with Samsung providing essentially the most feature-rich bundle on Android. The telephone has an elegant AMOLED panel, the newest Qualcomm {hardware}, superb battery existence, and wonderful cameras. It does not fail to see a lot, however,, it's unwieldy to make use of because of its dimension. It's significantly more expensive than the Xiaomi 13 Professional in international markets, however,, the upside is that it'll select extra instrument updates.
Vivo is doing numerous attention-grabbing issues on this house, and the X90 Professional is a superb choice for the Xiaomi 13 Professional. It does not have a QHD+ display screen, but it surely has robust {hardware} and takes fabulous footage. An equivalent set of instrument problems plague Vivo, and the instrument would possibly not get updates on time.
If you want the most efficient price in this class, the OnePlus 11 is a forged selection. The instrument has the newest Qualcomm silicon and a fascinating design, and whilst the cameras don't seem to be fairly as excellent as what Xiaomi is providing, it's significantly extra inexpensive.
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