Game-changer for smartphone photography: Xiaomi 13 Ultra unveiled with a sprinkle of Leica magic
When it comes to the best camera phones, three names come to mind instantly: Apple's iPhones, the Samsung Galaxy Ultra series and the Google Pixels, but this phone aims to one-up all of them.
This is the Xiaomi 13 Ultra, just unveiled as the company's 2023 premium flagship, and it's a camera phone down to its bones.
It all starts with a design that is reminiscent of a real camera with the leather like finish, round camera system, and impressive quad-camera setup unlike any other.
The biggest change from the iPhones and Galaxies of the world, however, is that the Xiaomi 13 Ultra aims to capture images with a genuine "camera look" instead of the typical over-processed "smartphone look" photos. And Xiaomi has iconic camera maker Leica on its side to do just that.
Before you ask: yes, Xiaomi has said the phone is launching globally, but no, it will not be available in the United States. Today's launch event focused on the launch in China, but we expect the company to tell us more about the global version in the near future as well. Good news is that the Xiaomi 13 Ultra has about the same price as last year's 12S Utlra model. We have the prices below, just remember that these Chinese prices are not indicative of the global price, which will likely be considerably higher.
Xiaomi 13 Ultra prices:
- 12/256 — 5999 yuan ($873)
- 16/512 — 6499 yuan ($945)
- 16/1TB — 7299 yuan ($1,062)
You will also be able to buy the Xiaomi 13 Ultra professional accessory kit including a protective case, a camera grip, a 67mm adapter ring and a lens cap for a price 999 yuan, or roughly $145.
Camera: insane hardware meets thoughtful processing
Main, ultra-wide and two zoom cameras
So... what's the big deal about this Xiaomi 13 Ultra that makes it so special?
It's all about the combination of stellar hardware and innovative software processing of images.
Starting with the main camera, it uses the largest sensor available in the industry, a 1-inch type Sony IMX989, and this sensor beats the sensors on iPhones and Galaxies in size by a good margin. But Xiaomi is equally proud of the nanometer precision manufacturing for the lens on top of this camera. It's a Summicron type lens, which is key to achieving the natural look of photos that Xiaomi is gunning for.
Then, the ultra-wide and the two telephoto cameras all use the same Sony IMX858 sensor, so Xiaomi really makes sure you get consistent colors across all these cameras.
Widest ultra-wide camera ever used on a phone
The ultra-wide camera is the widest we have ever seen on a smartphone at 12mm, compared to the previous widest at 13mm on the iPhone 14 Pro series. This might not seem like a big difference, but in the world of ultra-wide cameras it is indeed quite noticeable. This camera will also be able to focus at a distance of just 5cm for those epic macro shots.
And then you have two telephoto lenses: a 3.2X zoom one (or 75mm in photographic terms) with a wide f/1.8 aperture, and a 5X zoom one (120mm), also with a very fast f/3.0 aperture. This allows you to use these lenses even in low light conditions and still get very good image quality, unlike most other phones where the zoom cameras are very limited in dim conditions.
Xiaomi 13 Ultra Camera Specs:
- 50MP Wide (Sony IMX 989, 1" sensor): 23mm Summicron lens with variable aperture (f/1.9 - f/4.0)
- 50MP Ultra-wide (Sony IMX 858, 1/2.51" sensor) with f/1.8 aperture
- 50MP 3.2X Zoom (Sony IMX 858): 75mm with f/1.8 aperture
- 50MP 5X Periscope zoom (Sony IMX 858): 120mm with f/3.0 aperture
- 32MP Front cam
Xiaomi says that thanks to clever processing, you can have optimal quality in six focal lengths: 0.5X (12mm), 1X (23mm), 2X (46mm), 3.2X (75mm), 5X (120mm), and 10X (240mm).
The main camera also comes with a variable aperture that can go from f/1.9 to f/4.0, which is nice. At f/1.9 the background becomes blurry so you can better focus on one subject, and at f/4.0 pretty much everything is in focus.
But Xiaomi specifically made a point that it is addressing the "digital look" of modern smartphones and instead wants to give you a natural, real camera photos that are not over-processed to infinity. A key part of that is optics with the Summicron lens we have to solve the oversharpening problem by focusing on optics.
In the above image you can see the typical oversharpening on the iPhone picture which fails to properly capture the soft, gentle fur on the kittens.
The Xiaomi 13 Ultra also comes with a special street photography mode, which allows you to capture a shot at just 0.8 seconds.
In the words of CEO Lei Jun, the one word to describe this camera system is "professional".
Design and Colors
Second generation nano-skin for a leather-like soft touch feel
The camera theme carries over to the design of the phone that overall looks a lot like a traditional camera. Key for that effect is the leather like finish. Xiaomi calls this a second generation nano-skin, and it has superb stain resistance and a nice soft touch feel to it.
The Xiaomi 13 Ultra comes in a choice of three colors:
- olive green
- professional black
- white
The white one is particularly stunning in our opinions.
You can also notice how the camera are is slightly raised above the rest of the phone for this really cool and unique look that again helps better mimic what a real camera looks like.
Display
World's brightest screen
Just a couple of weeks ago, we told you about the Oppo Find X6 Pro having the world's brightest screen, but it is no longer at the number one spot as the Xiaomi 13 Ultra replaces it.
The 6.7" screen on the Xiaomi hits an impressive 2,600 nits in bright sunlight in HDR mode, with a typical max brightness level of 1,300 nits.
Xiaomi is using a next generation display panel it calls a C7 panel, made by China Star, and it is said to be an even more impressive screen than the latest generation Samsung OLED panels.
The other thing that Xiaomi has focused on is it has optimized the color shift under wide viewing angles, and it has built the screen under the CIE 2015 color calibration standard, or in simple terms, ensures that color remains consistent across different materials.
Finally, this screen supports adaptive refresh rate from 1-120Hz, but unlike mainstream flagships it is also way easier on the eyes at night thanks to support for a higher, 1,920Hz pulse width modulation (PWM).
Performance
All of that is powered by the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor.
Even the base model ships with 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM, and you have a selection of three storage options, the base one is 256GB, and you have a 512GB and even a 1TB model.
Interestingly, you might expect the chip to be best used in gaming, but Xiaomi explains that the camera actually has higher requirements for performance than even the most intense modern games.
The Xiaomi 13 Ultra also supports USB 3.2 speeds for faster transmission of files.
Battery and Charging
Equipped with a 5,000mAh battery, the Xiaomi 13 Ultra is on par with most Android phones.
Xiaomi uses the DOU measurement and tells us this phone scores 1.34 days, so it will last you more than one day, which is definitely a solid score.
You get support for both wired and wireless charging. The wired charging is 90W, and this gives you a 50% top-up in just 11 minutes, and a full charge takes just 34 minutes. For wireless charging, you get 50W speeds, so a 19 minute top up boosts you to 50%, while a full charge on a compatible fast wireless charging takes 49 minutes.
Battery and charging safety and efficiency is taken care of the Surge P2 and G1 chips developed by Xiaomi that ensure a safe. Xiaomi has also built in a special extreme battery saver mode that kicks in at 1% and gives you 60 minutes of use or you can use it to make a 12 minute phone call.
Final Words
The Xiaomi 13 Ultra is a stunning phone for photography. Instead of just focusing on specs and trying to sell you that, it focuses on something more important: the actual camera processing.
Having a true camera-like look and Leica colors is something that many people will really appreciate. We might have just seen the arrival of the next benchmark for smartphone camera performance.
We will have a full review and in-depth testing of the Xiaomi 13 Ultra camera system soon, so stay tuned for that.
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