Xiaomi 13: everything we know about Xiaomi’s next flagship

Xiaomi is known as a mid-range player, with its Redmi and Poco brands being the company’s bread and butter in terms of shipping volume. But the company has long offered flagship phones too, and the numbered (formerly Mi) series is its most well-known flagship line. The company launched the Xiaomi 12 series to global markets in early 2022, but what does it have in store for the Xiaomi 13 family? There are currently some unconfirmed details, but here’s everything we know about the new flagship range.

Xiaomi has been releasing a mainline flagship smartphone family annually for years, so it’s almost guaranteed that we’ll see the Xiaomi 13 – and very likely a Pro variant – in 2023. Xiaomi has also introduced the more compact 12X alongside the 12 and 12 Pro. So this year we would expect a Xiaomi 13X alongside the 13 and 13 Pro.

Will it actually be called Xiaomi 13? Well, that’s just a guess now. But the company has changed things before. Most recently, it dropped the “Mi” prefix, so the Mi 11 was superseded by the Xiaomi 12. Going back even further, the company skipped the Mi 7 name in favor of the Mi 8 nickname.

• Xiaomi Mi 9 – February 20, 2019
• Xiaomi Mi 10 series – February 13, 2020
• Xiaomi Mi 11 series – December 28, 2020
• Xiaomi 12 series – December 28, 2021

Xiaomi hasn’t confirmed that the Xiaomi 13 series exists, let alone a release date. But a look at previous Xiaomi releases seen above gives us an idea of ​​what to expect.

It’s a safe bet that we should be seeing the phones by February 2023 at the latest. But the company’s decision to launch the last two generations at the end of December means we can very well see the same thing happening with the Xiaomi 13.

It’s also worth noting that the above launch dates are mostly for China. Global markets could lag a few weeks to a few months unless it is a simultaneous China-world affair. For example, the Xiaomi Mi 9 was launched in Europe on February 24, 2019. The Xiaomi 12, on the other hand, landed in Europe on March 15th.

A rumor from Weibo tipster Digital Chat Station says we could even see a November launch for the Xiaomi 13. That would be much earlier than before, presumably in the wake of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 launch, which also happens in November.

Here’s what we know about the Xiaomi 13 family so far, based on leaks and educated guesses.

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We haven’t seen many reliable leaks regarding the design of the Xiaomi 13 series. Perhaps the most notable leak so far has come from the Tech Going outlet. The release received what appears to be a Xiaomi 13 Pro rendering. This is obviously not the Standard Model, but it gives us a possible idea of ​​what the Standard Model might look like. Check out the image below.

Specifications and Features

Perhaps the most obvious feature we’re expecting is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, as Xiaomi’s flagship phones are usually among the first to use new high-end Snapdragon silicon.

Leaker Digital Chat Station allegedly claimed that the vanilla Xiaomi 13 will get a QHD+ resolution and an LTPO OLED screen. The standard Xiaomi 12 missed out on this feature, while the Xiaomi Mi 11 actually got a QHD+ screen. So at this point it’s everyone’s guess.

There’s no word yet on battery capacity for either phone, but a certification listing appears to point to 67W wired charging speeds for the standard model. That would correspond to the current vanilla flagship. To be honest, we’re happy with this performance if it means that Xiaomi can offer excellent battery performance when charging at these speeds. Meanwhile, a certification list for the Pro model indicates charging speeds of 120W, in line with the Xiaomi 12 Pro.

We’re not sure about all the camera-related specs just yet, but it seems a no-brainer that the Xiaomi 13 series will feature Leica branding. However, Weibo tipsters have hinted at a 1-inch main camera that will likely end up on the Pro model.

Xiaomi’s last vanilla flagships haven’t offered a telephoto camera, but we hope that changes this time. However, the Pro model has typically offered a telephoto camera, so it stands to reason that we’ll see that option on the 13 Pro.

• Xiaomi Mi 10 — Rs. €49,999 / €799 / £699
• Xiaomi Mi 11 — €749 / £749
• Xiaomi 12 — €799 / £749
• Xiaomi 12 Pro — €999 / £1,049

There’s no word on pricing just yet, but we can speculate based on the prices of Xiaomi’s previous flagship phones. The Xiaomi 12 received a €50 premium over the Mi 11 in Europe, while UK prices stayed the same. However, the Xiaomi Mi 10 was actually £50 cheaper than the Mi 11 in the UK, but €50 more expensive in Europe. Meanwhile, the Xiaomi 12 Pro has pushed the series into a much higher price range.

In any case, it stands to reason that we will see similar prices for the Xiaomi 13 series. Could we even see a price drop on the new phones? Well, we wouldn’t bet on it, but we’re hoping that Google’s aggressive pricing with its Pixel series will spur similarly aggressive discounts from OEMs like Xiaomi.

Xiaomi 13: what we want to see

The Xiaomi Mi flagship series has evolved more and more over the years. It started out as an affordable flagship but has since evolved into your typical high-end series, rivaling Apple, Google and Samsung.

The Xiaomi 13 and 13 Pro will likely pick up where the standard Xiaomi 12 series left off in early 2022. But here’s how the Chinese brand can deliver a better product.

One of the more disappointing omissions for the Xiaomi 12 pair was the lack of water resistance. This marks a big difference from competing flagship phones that offer IP67 or IP68 ratings for full water resistance.

We definitely want to see Xiaomi bring this to its future flagship release. And the company can’t just pull a OnePlus and claim that IP ratings cost a lot of money when even cheaper devices like the Pixel 7 offer high levels of intrusion protection.

The vanilla Mi 10, Mi 11 and Xiaomi 12 all don’t have telephoto cameras, although the Mi 9, Mi 8 and Mi 6 did. The Xiaomi 12 Pro did have a telephoto lens, but it was limited to a meager 2x optical zoom.

We hope that the Chinese manufacturer will buck this trend and offer a telephoto camera for the Xiaomi 13 to deliver a higher quality zoom. But if Xiaomi decides against a telephoto lens, then let’s hope the company offers top-notch close-range zoom imaging algorithms. In the meantime, we’d like to see a more impressive telephoto zoom on the Pro model.

Xiaomi’s mainline Mi range used to be an affordable flagship in the best sense, offering good value for money. But the game has changed in recent years and both incumbents (Google, Samsung) and other Chinese brands (OnePlus, Realme) are arguably better value these days.

You just have to look at the launch price of the Xiaomi 12 in Europe, which stands at €799 (~$805). That’s €150 more expensive than the Pixel 7 on the market. We’d love it if the Xiaomi 13 could take the fight to Google and Samsung by delivering a far more competitive price point.