Xiaomi's latest flagship lineup is finally complete, as the company has officially unveiled the highly-anticipated Xiaomi 13 Ultra. The top-of-the-line flagship joins the base Xiaomi 13 and Xiaomi 13 Pro, which launched internationally at MWC earlier this year. It brings several noteworthy improvements over the Xiaomi 12S Ultra from last year, including a refreshed design, an updated SoC, a brighter display, and better cameras. The Xiaomi 13 Ultra is undoubtedly one of the best phones to hit the market this year, and here's what you need to know about it.
A new and improved set of cameras
The Xiaomi 13 Ultra features an updated quad-camera system consisting of a 50MP Sony IMX989 1-inch main camera with a variable aperture (f/1.9, f/4.0), HyperOIS, and Leica's Vario-Summicron aspherical lens, a 50MP IMX858 f/1.8 75mm equivalent telephoto camera with OIS, an additional 50MP IMX858 f/3.0 120mm equivalent telephoto camera with OIS, and a 50MP IMX858 f/1.8 ultra-wide camera with a 122-degree FoV with autofocus.
It's one of the most versatile camera systems on a smartphone, offering support for two photographic styles developed in partnership with Leica: Leica Authentic Look and Leica Vibrant Look. The phone also offers multiple Leica filters, 4K 60fps video capture support with Dolby Vision, 8K 24fps video capture, and 14-bit ultra RAW image capture. The Xiaomi 13 Ultra also features a 32MP f/2.0 selfie shooter with dynamic framing and HDR support.
The brightest display on a smartphone
The Xiaomi 13 Ultra features a 6.73-inch WQHD+ AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate. It's the brightest display on a smartphone so far, promising an insane peak brightness of 2600nits. It also offers 1-120Hz adaptive refresh rate support and up to 240Hz touch sampling rate, along with Dolby Vision, HDR10+, HDR10, and HLG support.
It's a curved panel with a 3200x1440p resolution and 12-bit color depth, offering clear visuals with vivid color reproduction, and it's calibrated according to the new CIE 2015 calorimetry, which supports automatic color management to ensure consistent color reproduction across all recently launched Xiaomi devices. Furthermore, the display supports 1920Hz PWM dimming and in-display heart rate monitoring.
Enhanced performance with better thermals
Like most flagship smartphones released this year, the Xiaomi 13 Ultra packs Qualcomm's latest flagship chipset: the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. It offers a significant performance bump over last year's model to deliver a fast and smooth experience in all applications. The SoC is paired with up to 16GB LPDDR5X RAM and up to 1TB of fast UFS 4.0 storage for a great multitasking experience and quick data transfers.
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To keep temperatures in check, Xiaomi has equipped the 13 Ultra with its new in-house Loop LiquidCool technology. The company claims this new cooling solution will help users capture 4K videos at 60fps without any frame rate drop and play demanding games for long periods. Additionally, the Xiaomi 13 Ultra features an upgraded USB 3.2 port that offers peak data transfer speeds of up to 5Gbps, which is ten times faster than the last-gen model.
On the software front, the Xiaomi 13 Ultra runs MIUI 14 based on Android 13. Other noteworthy features include a large 5,000mAh battery with 90W wired and 50W wireless fast charging support, dual speakers, Gorilla Glass Victus protection on the display, and an IP68 dust and water resistance rating.
Pricing & availability
The Xiaomi 13 Ultra is already up for pre-order in China, and it's available in three cool colorways: Black, White, and Olive Green. The device comes in three RAM/storage configurations that are priced as follows:
- 12GB+256GB: RMB 5,999 (~$870)
- 16GB+512GB: RMB 6,499 (~$945)
- 16GB+1TB: RMB 7,299 (~$1,060)
Currently, the Xiaomi 13 Ultra is limited to the Chinese market. The company has not shared any information about international availability. We'll update this post as soon as we have more details