Xiaomi 13: everything you need to know
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The Xiaomi 13 and Xiaomi 13 Pro are now official and could be among the best phones of 2023. After launching in China late last year, Xiaomi has finally brought its latest flagship smartphone series to multiple markets worldwide, starting with a special event ahead of the MWC trade show in Barcelona on February 26.
With the international launch, we now have a clearer picture of design, specs, features and, of course, pricing and availability.
Highlights include a high-end Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset and – in the case of the Xiaomi 13 Pro – a 1-inch camera sensor, but there’s plenty more to like about these phones, all of which you’ll find detailed below.
We’ve also added information about the Xiaomi 13 Ultra, which has not yet been announced but has been rumored a few times, and the Xiaomi 13 Lite, which also launched on February 26.
Cut to the chase
- What is it? The latest flagship Xiaomi phones
- When is it out? Launched worldwide on February 26, on sale March 14
- How much is it? Starts at CNY 3,999 (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 both announced in China on December 11, after which the company confirmed they would launch globally on February 26 – which they did, just ahead of the MWC 2023 trade show in Barcelona.
While February 26 played host to the global release of the Xiaomi 13 series, markets where Xiaomi doesn’t yet have a dedicated presence – including the US and Australia – are likely to prompt eager buyers to pick up a gray market import instead.
In the UK it’s a different story, as the Xiaomi 13 and 13 Pro officially go on sale on March 14, with availability from Xiaomi itself, as well as ‘official sales channels’ and local retailers including Currys and Argos.
Internationally, you’ll find higher prices for the 13 Series compared to their local Chinese prices (as is always the way), as well as 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 to buy immediately.
Xiaomi 13 design
The Xiaomi 13 comes in subdued black, light green, light blue, gray and white tones, along with much brighter reds, yellows, greens and blues. Those bright colors, along with the gray hue, are classified as limited editions and you don’t see them outside of China.
All colors use a glass back, except for the light blue model, which has a leather-like finish.
The Xiaomi 13 has a large camera block on the back, with lines dividing it into sections. The frame is made of metal. There’s a flat screen with a punch-hole camera and the phone is less than 8mm thin (or 8.1mm for the light blue version).
The phone weighs 189g – or 185g in light blue – and has IP68 certification, so it’s significantly water and dust resistant.
The Xiaomi 13 Pro has a very similar design, but with a curved screen and curved back – more on that below. It comes in white, black, green and light blue tones, all of which are ceramic except for the blue, which uses a leather-like finish, and again, that choice becomes more limited when you buy the phone internationally.
The 13 Pro also has an IP68 rating and is less than 8.4mm thick and 229g. The exception is the blue model, which is 8.7mm thick but only 210g.
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As for the Xiaomi 13 Lite, while the phone technically launched late last year like its siblings mentioned here, it arrived in China as the Xiaomi Civi 2 which was rebranded for an international audience as the 13 Lite for its relaunch on February 26.
This explains the distinctly different design aesthetic of the phone, which is much more similar to the Xiaomi 12 series – with its rounded segmented camera module. It is also the thinnest and lightest entry in the 13 series.
Xiaomi 13 screen
The Xiaomi 13 has a 6.36-inch, 1080 x 2400 OLED display with a 120 Hz refresh rate, HDR10+ support and a peak brightness of 1,900 nits, which is very bright. It’s a flat screen with a hole-punch camera on the top and bezels are small.
The Xiaomi 13 Pro has a 6.73-inch, 1440 x 3200 OLED display with a 120 Hz refresh rate, HDR10+ support and a peak brightness of 1,900 nits. So the screen of the Xiaomi 13 Pro is larger and has a higher resolution, but is similar in other ways. It is also curved, unlike the standard Xiaomi 13 screen.
The Xiaomi 13 Lite has a 6.55-inch, 1080 x 2400 OLED display with a 120 Hz refresh rate, HDR10+ support, and a peak brightness of 1,000 nits – lower than the other entries in the series.
Xiaomi 13 camera and battery
The Xiaomi 13 Lite, Xiaomi 13 and Xiaomi 13 Pro have a triple lens camera, but use different lenses and sensors.
The Xiaomi 13 has a 50 MP f/1.8 primary sensor, a 10 MP f/2.0 telephoto lens with 3.2x optical zoom and a 12 MP f/2.2 ultrawide; the main and telephoto cameras also have optical image stabilization (OIS). The phone can record video in up to 8K quality at 24fps and also packs a 32MP f/2.0 selfie camera.
The Xiaomi 13 Pro, meanwhile, has a 50MP f/1.9 primary camera with OIS and a massive one-inch sensor size, enabling significantly higher quality shots than most smartphone sensors.
It also has a 50MP f/2.0 telephoto camera with 3.2x optical zoom and a 50MP f/2.2 ultra-wide camera, which can also capture macro shots, and has a 115-degree field of view. The front camera is again 32 MP.
The Xiaomi 13 Lite is a different beast, losing the Leica partnership and serving up a relatively pedestrian 8MP ultrawide and 2MP macro snapper, though it does aim to impress with its class-leading 50Mp f/1.8 sensor (no OIS here, though).
Perhaps the most notable camera feature is the 32MP f/2.4 selfie camera, which is joined by a secondary 8MP depth sensor that collectively gives the phone a distinct iPhone 14 Pro-style Dynamic Island-style notch along the top edge of the display. the phone gives .
Below you can see official camera samples of the Xiaomi 13 Pro’s main and telephoto lenses.
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It’s worth mentioning the Xiaomi 13 Ultra here too, because while it hasn’t been announced yet, it’s rumoured. Apparently this has a quad-lens camera, including the same 1-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 4,500mAh cell with 67W wired charging, 50W wireless charging and 10W reverse wireless charging. The Xiaomi 13 Pro has a 4,820 mAh battery that offers 120W wired charging, 50W wireless charging and 10W reverse wireless charging.
The Xiaomi 13 Lite loses out on wireless charging, but otherwise enjoys the same 4,500mAh battery capacity and 67W fast charging as the standard Xiaomi 13.
Xiaomi 13 specs and features
Both the Xiaomi 13 and Xiaomi 13 Pro use a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset. This is the best Snapdragon chipset at the time of writing and is probably the best option available for Android phones through the end of 2023 when we might see a Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 2.
The two phones also come in a range of configurations, with a choice of 8GB or 12GB RAM and 128GB, 256GB or 512GB storage, although in the UK – as with the color restrictions – the Xiaomi 13 is only available with 8 GB of RAM (LPDDR5X) and 256 GB (UFS 4.0) of storage, while the Xiaomi 13 Pro comes with 12 GB of RAM (but the same storage).
They both support 5G, both run Android 13 (with Xiaomi’s MIUI 14 interface on top) and both have Dolby Atmos-tuned stereo speakers too.
The Xiaomi 13 Lite, meanwhile, relies on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 SoC and comes with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage in the UK. While it also arrives with MIUI 14, the experience runs on top of Android 12 and like the 13 and 13 Pro, the phone also packs in Dolby Atmos-enabled stereo speakers.