The much-awaited Xiaomi 13 Ultra finally debuted yesterday at the Xiaomi 13 launch event. The 13 Ultra is a testament to the strategic partnership between Xiaomi and Leica in advancing mobile photography. While the event also saw the launch of the Mi Band 8 and the Pad 6, the star of the show was the Xiaomi 13 Ultra. Let’s take a closer look at the latest Xiaomi flagship.
Xiaomi 13 Ultra: Specs and Features
Cameras
The key highlight of the launch event was the advancement in mobile photography thanks to Xiaomi’s strategic partnership with Leica. The Xiaomi 13 Ultra flaunts a quad-camera system that houses a 1-inch main camera sensor, with a variable aperture inspired by the Leica M series lenses, Xiaomi claims to offer “high imaging performance, reliability, and durability” with the help of a large aperture in a compact form factor.
The 50MP primary camera supports Hyper-OIS and uses the Sony IMX989 sensor, while the 50MP ultra-wide, telephoto, and super-telephoto lenses use the IMX858 sensor. The sensors are capable to cover focal lengths ranging from 12mm (ultra-wide), 23mm (wide angle), 75mm (telephoto), and 120mm (super-telephoto). The primary camera can switch between an f1.9 to f4.0 aperture, while the other three house an f2.0 aperture.
The main camera is capable to shoot at 50MP RAW for higher image resolution at multi-frame 14-bit UltraRAW. Taking inspiration from street photography, the Xiaomi 13 Ultra brings a new “Fast shoot” mode to take “focus-free” snapshots manually in just 0.8s. There is a 32MP selfie shooter too. There’s access the CyberFocus, various Leica fiters, 8K video recording, and much more.
Design and Display
The Xiaomi 13 Ultra is a proper flagship-grade smartphone, packing all the high-end hardware. It packs a 6.73-inch WQHD+ 120Hz AMOLED display with 2600 nits peak brightness, Dolby Vision, HDR10+, 1920Hz PWM dimming, and in-display heart rate monitoring. The display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus and offers a soft antibacterial silicone leather back. The smartphone is IP68 water and dust resistant.
Performance and More
The smartphone is powered by the latest 4nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset complemented by the Qualcomm Adreno GPU. The smartphone packs up to 16GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 1TB of UFS 4.0 Storage. To maintain peak performances, the smartphone has an active Loop liquid cooling technology.
The Xiaomi 13 Ultra is backed by a 5000mAh battery coupled with Xiaomi’s Surge P2 Charging Chip and Xiaomi Surge G1 Battery Management Chip. The smartphone supports 90W wired turbo charging, 50W wireless turbo charging, and reverse wireless charging. It runs MIUI 14 based on Android 13.
Xiaomi also announced a new video kit accessory for the Xiaomi 13 Ultra smartphone. With this kit, you can turn your smartphone into a proper handheld camera module. This kit supports 67mm filters from Leica, offers a physical crown for zooming and shutter, and a lanyard for portability. The Video Kit will be made available starting April 21 in China at RMB 700 (~ Rs 8,349).
Price and Availability
The Xiaomi 13 Ultra starts at CNY 5,999 (~Rs 71,600) and will be made available in China, starting April 21. We can expect the smartphone to hit international markets in the coming months. It is priced aggressively to compete with the likes of the Samsung S23 Ultra and the iPhone 14 Pro. Here are the prices.
- 12GB+256GB: CNY 5,999 (~ Rs 71,600)
- 16GB+512GB: CNY 6,499 (~ Rs 77,500)
- 16GB+1TB: CNY 7,299 (~ Rs 87,100)
The smartphone will be available in Black, White, and Olive. So what are your thoughts on the latest and greatest offering from Xiaomi? Are you excited about the strategic partnership with Leica? Do let us know in the comments below!
