Faced with the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, iPhone 14 Pro and other Oppo Find X5 Pro, Xiaomi draws its 2023 flagship with the Xiaomi 13 (available in black or white). And to justify its status – and its high price (from 1,299.90 euros), the Chinese manufacturer has teamed up with Leica to enhance its status as an avant-garde photophone. The bet is quite successful. The Xiaomi 13 Pro has serious strengths to claim in the premium segment, but also some weaknesses that can be disabling depending on how you use it.
Its advantages
Photography with Leica
Leica does not simply associate its name with Xiaomi, but rather its know-how. The famous photo maker designed the sensors that adorn the rear of the Xiaomi 13 Pro and was involved in the software interface. In a rather elegant black square, we find the photographic module: a large 1-inch (50 Mpx) main sensor, a telephoto lens (50 Mpx) used for close-ups and portrait mode, as well as an ultra-wide-angle (50 Mpx ) with a field of view of 115°.
The 1-inch sensor allows more light to be captured for much more detailed and bright shots, especially in low-light conditions or at night. It will be better to avoid ultra-wide-angle night photos, which offer a less flattering rendering.
To this, Xiaomi adds photographic styles (Leica Authentic and Leica Vibrant) to offer a photographic rendering that recalls the aesthetic touch of the German photographic giant. Our preference is for the more natural Leica Vibrant mode. Be careful, in portrait mode this can give quite a vintage effect. If it does the job, portrait mode lacks sharpness a bit and is artificial at times as it tries to catch up and compensate. But its filters, especially black and white, are quite nice.
Xiaomi’s camera quickly focuses on a subject, allowing you to really capture the moment, especially if you’re trying to capture a moving animal or child. It is possible to film in 8K. The selfie photo with its 32 Mpx front sensor, with the addition of beautification filters effective enough to waste a few years, will delight fans.
The optical zoom of up to x3.2 is quite qualitative and loses little detail along the way. It goes up to x70 in digital, but it’s really for fun, because, on the other hand, we lose a lot in quality.
super fast charging
The Xiaomi Pro 13 is one of its smartphones that has opted for ultra-fast charging. Supplied with a 120W charger (quite rare at the moment) that will allow you to resume the colors in a spectacular way. We recover 50% autonomy in less than 10 minutes and 100% in less than 25 minutes. However, this will require going through the battery settings to get the most out of it, increasing the charging speed.
Additionally, it benefits from 50W wireless charging (with compatible charger to buy extra) and also offers reverse charging to restore charge to another device (10W).
the performances
As often happens, Xiaomi has provided its flagship with the best. Obviously we find the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor that will bring more power, but also better photography management, greater autonomy and facilities for the smartphone to consume less energy, better connectivity. The Xiaomi 13 Pro is compatible with 5G and Bluetooth 5.3 for greater stability and less loss of connectivity. It is also Wi-Fi 7 ready.
If you are a fan of mobile games, you will be delighted. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 brings its full power to the game by being able to tailor its performance and operation. Xiaomi adds a Game Turbo mode to boost everything without particularly heating up the hands. It runs on Android 13.
Design
The Xiaomi 13 Pro is an elegant smartphone with its square black photographic module on the back, its very large 6.73-inch 2K Amoled screen with an adaptive refresh rate from 1 to 120 Hz for more fluidity and details. It’s extremely bright and easy on the eyes in video or gaming, and in all sunlight situations (maximum advertised at 1900 nits).
The Chinese manufacturer has seen it large for its size (162.9 mm high), but not too wide (74.6 mm), less than most of its competitors in any case. It holds well in the hand, even if it has a good weight (210 g). The ceramic back gives a premium side to the smartphone and makes it more resistant. But above all, it exposes you much more easily to fingerprints.
Fortunately, it comes with a transparent case that serves to protect it from bumps, scratches on the back, and fingerprints. Good news, the smartphone is resistant with Gorilla Glass Victus, the most resistant on the market and an IP68 certification to resist immersion and dust.
our reservations
Autonomy
If he regains his strength very quickly, he will struggle to last a day on his own. At night, you risk getting closer to 25-30% without forcing use. If you are a heavy user of your smartphone (mobile gaming, video streaming, etc.), then you will go a long way without recharging first.
short term updates
Spending such a sum on a smartphone suggests that we will keep it for a long time. Apple is still updating its iPhone 8s released in 2017, and they may continue for another year. Samsung like Oppo and OnePlus have promised four years of Android updates for all their high-end smartphones and five years for security ones. It’s a shame Xiaomi doesn’t do the same.
The Xiaomi 13 Pro is certainly already equipped with Android 13 and the MIUI 14 home overlay (not always very ergonomic and cluttered with multiple apps that are not very useful to uninstall from settings), but it will only support three years of updates. Google operating system. For safety, the mark aligns with five years.
Conclusion
Faced with Apple and Samsung, Xiaomi offers a high-end device from a performance point of view. The Xiaomi 13 Pro is a true photography specialist. We will like the style of the rendering or not, the actual contribution of Leica or not (if you like a somewhat retro style of photography, some stylistic filters will please you). The Chinese smartphone is powerful, but if you expected, like the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra or the iPhone 14 Pro Max, to last a long time with it, you are going to be disappointed.
It’s better to have your charger in your bag and in this case, the good life of fast charging is yours! Only its price, a little too much in line with the competition without offering so much (an ultra-quality stylus and screen, especially for Samsung; a first-rate, fluid and intuitive operating system, plus years of updates for Apple) can be a hindrance.
Source: BFM TV
