Xiaomi 13 and Xiaomi 13 Pro are now official and can be among the best phones of 2023. After launching in China late last year, Xiaomi has finally launched its latest flagship smartphone series in multiple markets around the world, starting with a dedicated event ahead of the MWC in Barcalona on February 26.
Thanks to the international launch, we now have a clearer picture of design, specs, features and of course pricing and availability.
Highlights include the top-end Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset and – in the case of the Xiaomi 13 Pro – a 1-inch camera sensor, but there’s a lot more to like about these phones as well, all of which you’ll find in detail below.
We also included information on the Xiaomi 13 Ultra, which has not yet been announced but there are several rumors, and the Xiaomi 13 Lite, which was also launched on February 26.
To the point
- What is this? Latest Xiaomi flagship phones
- when is it coming out? Premieres worldwide on February 26, on sale March 14
- How much is it? It starts at CNY3,999 (around $575 / £465 / AU$845) in China and costs from £849 and £1,099 in the UK for the 13 and 13 Pro respectively.
Xiaomi 13 release date and price
The Xiaomi 13 and Xiaomi 13 Pro were announced in China on December 11, and the company then confirmed that they would launch worldwide on February 26 – which they did just before MWC 2023 in Barcelona.
While Feb. 26 hosted the global launch of the Xiaomi 13 series, markets where Xiaomi doesn’t yet have a dedicated presence – including the US and Australia – are likely to encourage eager buyers to purchase shadow imports.
In the UK, it’s a different story, with the Xiaomi 13 and 13 Pro officially going on sale on March 14, with availability from Xiaomi itself as well as “official retail channels” and local retailers including Currys and Argos.
Internationally, you’ll find Series 13 prices higher compared to their local China prices (as always) and a different mix of storage, memory, and color options to choose from.
In the UK, the standard Xiaomi 13 costs £849 (around $1,015 / AU$1,510), while the Xiaomi 13 Pro costs £1,099 (around $1,310 / AU$1,950). The Xiaomi 13 Lite costs £449 (around $535 / AU$800) in the UK and is available for immediate purchase.
Xiaomi project 13
Xiaomi 13 is available in subtle shades of black, light green, light blue, gray and white, as well as much brighter colors red, yellow, green and blue. These bright colors, along with the gray tint, are classed as limited editions and you won’t see them outside of China.
All colors have a glass back, except for the light blue model which has a leather-like finish.
Xiaomi 13 has a large camera block on the back, with lines dividing it into sections. The frame is metal. There’s a flat screen with a punch-hole camera, and the phone is just under 8mm thick (or 8.1mm on the light blue version).
The phone weighs 189g – or 185g in light blue – and is IP68 certified, so it has considerable resistance to water and dust.
The Xiaomi 13 Pro has a very similar design but with a curved screen and a curved back – more on that below. It comes in shades of white, black, green, and light blue, all of which are ceramic except for the blue which uses a leather-like finish, and again this choice becomes more limited when purchasing the phone internationally.
The 13 Pro is also IP68 certified and is less than 8.4mm thin and 229g. The exception is the blue model which is 8.7mm thick but only weighs 210g.
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As for the Xiaomi 13 Lite, while the phone was technically launched late last year, like the siblings mentioned here, it arrived in China as the Xiaomi Civi 2, receiving a rebrand to the international audience as the 13 Lite for its re-launch on February 26.
This explains the definitely different aesthetics of the phone, which is much more like the Xiaomi 12 series – with a rounded, segmented camera module. It is also the thinnest and lightest item in the 13 series.
Xiaomi Display 13
Xiaomi 13 has a 6.36-inch OLED screen with a resolution of 1080 x 2400 with a refresh rate of 120 Hz, HDR10 + support and a peak brightness of 1900 nits, which is very bright. It’s a flat screen with a hole-punch camera on top, and the bezels are small.
Xiaomi 13 Pro has a 6.73-inch OLED screen with a resolution of 1440 x 3200 with a refresh rate of 120 Hz, HDR10+ support and a peak brightness of 1900 nits. So the screen of the Xiaomi 13 Pro is larger and has a higher resolution, but it is similar in other respects. It is also curved, unlike the standard Xiaomi 13 screen.
The Xiaomi 13 Lite has a 6.55-inch OLED screen with a resolution of 1080 x 2400 with a refresh rate of 120Hz, HDR10+ support and a peak brightness of 1000 nits – which is lower than other items in the series.
Xiaomi 13 camera and battery
Xiaomi 13 Lite, Xiaomi 13 and Xiaomi 13 Pro have a triple-lens camera, but use different lenses and sensors.
Xiaomi 13 has a 50 MP f/1.8 main sensor, a 10 MP f/2.0 telephoto lens with 3.2x optical zoom and a 12 MP f/2.2 ultra-wide angle; the main camera and the telephoto lens also have optical image stabilization (OIS). The phone can record video in up to 8K quality at 24 frames per second, and it also has a 32MP f/2.0 selfie camera.
Meanwhile, the Xiaomi 13 Pro has a 50MP f/1.9 main camera with OIS and a massive one-inch sensor, likely allowing for much higher quality photos than most smartphone sensors.
It also has a 50MP f/2.0 telephoto lens with 3.2x optical zoom and a 50MP f/2.2 ultra-wide-angle camera that can also take macro shots and has a 115-degree field of view. The front camera is again 32MP.
The Xiaomi 13 Lite is a different beast that loses to its partnership with Leica and offers a relatively pedestrian 8MP ultra-wide and 2MP macro, although it aims to impress with its leading 50Mp f/1.8 sensor (no OIS here).
Perhaps its most outstanding camera feature is the 32MP f/2.4 selfie camera, which is accompanied by an additional 8MP depth sensor, which in total gives the phone a decidedly iPhone 14 Pro-like Dynamic Island notch along the top of the phone’s display.
You can see the official Xiaomi 13 Pro main and telephoto camera samples below.
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The Xiaomi 13 Ultra is also worth mentioning here, because although it has not yet been announced, rumors have been circulating. It apparently has a quad-lens camera, including the same one-inch main lens sensor as the Xiaomi 13 Pro, along with gimbal stabilization, which makes it sound like it could be a contender for our list of the best camera phones.
As for the battery, the Xiaomi 13 has a 4500mAh cell with 67W wired charging, 50W wireless charging and 10W reverse wireless charging. The Xiaomi 13 Pro has a 4820mAh battery that offers 120W wired charging, 50W wireless charging and 10W wireless reverse charge
Xiaomi 13 Lite loses on wireless charging, but otherwise enjoys the same 4500mAh battery capacity and 67W fast charging as the standard Xiaomi 13.
Xiaomi Specifications and Features 13
Both the Xiaomi 13 and Xiaomi 13 Pro use the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset. This is the best Snapdragon chipset at the time of writing and will likely be the best option available for Android phones until late 2023 when we might see the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 2.
Both phones also come in multiple configurations, with a choice of 8GB or 12GB of RAM and 128GB, 256GB or 512GB of storage, although in the UK – as with color restrictions – the Xiaomi 13 can only be had with 8GB of storage RAM (LPDDR5X) and 256GB of storage (UFS 4.0), while the Xiaomi 13 Pro has 12GB of RAM instead (but same space).
Both support 5G, both run Android 13 (with the Xiaomi MIUI 14 interface on top) and both also sport stereo speakers tuned for Dolby Atmos.
Meanwhile, the Xiaomi 13 Lite is based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 SoC and comes with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of UK storage. While it also arrives with MIUI 14, the experience runs on Android 12, and like the 13 and 13 Pro, the phone also comes with stereo speakers that support Dolby Atmos.