Xiaomi has unveiled its flagship phone, the Xiaomi 13 Pro, co-developed with Leica, in India. Only the Pro variant will be available in the country. It comes with a single RAM and ROM configuration. The Xiaomi 13 Pro extends the Xiaomi-Leica partnership in the Indian market, which started with the 12S Ultra. The phone is packed with the latest and fastest Android processor, AMOLED display, and powerful camera sensors. But can the Xiaomi 13 Pro compete against the Samsung S23 and the OnePlus 11 5G that are in a similar price band? In this review, we’ll find out which smartphone wins the race.
In the Box
We received a scratch guard, TPU case, SIM ejector pin, Type-A to Type-C wire cable, 120W adapter, and product documentation.
Design
The first thing you will feel when holding the phone is that it is heavy in the hands. We are saying so because we used the Samsung S23, which is compact and way lighter. Xiaomi has used a 3D Bio-ceramic back design on the phone, and Gorilla Victus for protection on the front, but we will advise using the phone with care. We reviewed the Ceramic White variant which really syncs with the black square-shaped frame housing the camera sensors, adding an aesthetic monochromatic look to the device. Also, the big square island on the back sports a laser emitter and receiver for the laser-assisted autofocus and the dual-LED flash.
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The front side of the phone is all-screen with very thin bezels. The fingerprint sensor is on display, which is lighting fast and accurate. A punch hole is also present, housing the selfie camera sensor. The power button and the volume rockers are placed on the right side of the phone, whereas the left side is completely blank. At the top lie two microphones, an IR blaster and just above the display, in a very sleek manner, a small speaker outlet.
Display
The Xiaomi 13 Pro features a 6.73-inch LTPO 2K E6 OLED display with a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate. The screen has a 3200x1440 resolution and a 240Hz touch sampling rate. The colour production on the screen is accurate, vivid, bright, and punchy, as it has a 10-bit colour depth, which means it can support more than a billion colours. There is also support for the DCI-P3 colour gamut and a promise of great colour accuracy. The display is a treat when streaming videos, as there is the support of HDR10+ and Dolby Vision. The screen visibility is excellent, and it has a peak brightness of 1,900 nits, topping any Android phone at the moment.
The display is of top-notch quality, and to our surprise, many of the contents were upscaled, which we liked.
The association with Leica proves to be a major boost for the new Xiaomi 13 Pro and a treat for users who love sharp and extra-detailed images | Photo Credit: Haider Ali Khan
OS
The Xiaomi 13 Pro is running on the company’s latest MIUI 14 on top of Android 13. Compared to its predecessor, the company claims that the new OS offers improvements and optimisations. The UI is mostly clean and smooth, with only required applications.
Processor
The Xiaomi 13 Pro is one of the few phones in India using the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor. The processor has eight cores to smartly manage functions. Among all the cores, one is clocked at 3.2GHz Cortex-X3, two cores at 2.8 GHz Cortex-A715, two cores at 2.8GHz Cortex-A710 and the final three are clocked at 2.0GHz Cortex-A510. We have seen in our previous review units featuring the latest processor that it just drives every task with ultimate ease.
The phone comes with only one configuration, i.e. 12GB RAM and 256GB ROM. The RAM assists the processor very efficiently, but in terms of fluidity, we felt that the new Samsung S23 has the upper hand.
The gaming experience is also impressive, with every game running at its highest quality. The widescreen space adds another level of joy, providing engaging gaming hours. Furthermore, the company has utilised an Adreno 740 GPU capable of Ray Tracing, which enhances the graphics output.
Cameras
The new Xiaomi 13 Pro features a powerful trio of rear camera sensors. The main primary sensor is a 50.3MP 1-inch Sony IMX989 sensor and has a Quad-Bayer RGB colour filter, f/1.9 stabilised aperture, Dual Pixel PDAF, Laser AF and OIS. The second sensor is a 50MP Samsung S5KJN1 telephoto lens with a Tetracell filter and offers 3.2x optical zoom over the main camera via a 75mm f/2.0 Leica floating lens. The third lens is a 50MP ultrawide sensor with an aperture of f/2.2.
The association with Leica proves to be a major boost for the new Xiaomi 13 Pro and a treat for users who love sharp and extra-detailed images.
Low light photography with the Xiaomi 13 Pro | Photo Credit: Haider Ali Khan
We chose the Leica Vibrant mode as a default photo mode to capture images, and it offers extraordinary photos with vibrant colours, higher contrast, and a sharp, processed look overall. The Leica Authentic mode preserves colour-accurate photos with a slight boost in dynamic range. The images are captured in the 12.5MP format by default, and you will get to see very fine detailing with no noise effect and great sharpness. The images maintain the touch of reality constantly, and you can even see the way it manages to capture the shadows cast during the daytime. The telephoto lens is also on point in capturing high-definition images with every detail intact. It also acts as a Super Macro camera, allowing you to capture the fine details very closely. The images by the second sensor were dynamic with no sign of noise. We really liked the portrait mode of the camera as the subject separation was very accurate with no changes in any details, be it colour, contrast, non-intrusive blurs, etc.
Moving to low light images, the camera, by default, applies the night mode, which assists you in capturing images in high resolution. The images maintain great white balance, and the retention of colours at night was on point in every shot. There is an option to disable the auto night mode and capture images using the normal effect. The images without the night mode were brilliant, with no noise effect, and the right saturation level.
The eponymous Authentic mode is a success as the images kept their authentic touch in every scene, whether we used the primary, secondary, or the third sensor. The digital zoom is one aspect where we found the focus to be a little disturbed and unable to grasp the details accurately.
The overall camera performance is outstanding and impressed us throughout our review period with its capability to deliver highly crisp and detailed images. In the flagship segment, we feel it is one of the best phones for its camera capability.
The images maintain the touch of reality constantly, and you can even see the way it manages to capture the shadows cast during the daytime | Photo Credit: Haider Ali Khan
Battery
The Xiaomi 13 Pro is powered by a 4,820mAh battery and has the fastest charger in the flagship range. The battery lasts for a day very easily, even after hours of gaming and streaming movies. The phone comes with a 6A-rated cable and 120W HyperCharge support that charges the phone completely within 25-30 minutes.
Verdict
The latest Xiaomi 13 Pro is ensconced in a tricky and competitive price band. It is packed with every feature to make it a top choice, especially with fast charging and superior camera capabilities. There is a slight difference in smoothness when compared to Samsung’s S23, which is more fluid. The other aspect which might affect the appeal of the phone is the overweight body, which makes it a little difficult to grip.
The Xiaomi 13 Pro sells at ₹79,999.
