Xiaomi surely came a long way. From being known as the Chinese Apple, they now produce phones that can outperform Apple iPhones sometimes.
The latest Xiaomi 13 Pro — released in December last year in China — is a strong statement from Xiaomi's end. This says that Xiaomi is capable of producing flagship phones, not the so-called “flagship killers.”
This is not the first Xiaomi flagship, nor the last. The company has been producing flagship phones for a while now. However, the gaps between Xiaomi flagship and others couldn't be narrower now.
While Xiaomi 13 Pro is still awaiting its global launch, some mobile shops have already imported the device from China.
In the past, we have seen Chinese versions of smartphones arriving with full Chinese text and without Google Play Store. But this time around, that's not the case.
The Chinese version of Xiaomi 13 Pro fully supports English alongside Chinese and has Google Play Store pre-installed. The 12GB RAM and 256GB storage version of the latest Xiaomi flagship is currently sold at Tk125,000 in Bangladesh.
Aesthetic
Apart from the design of the rear camera unit, nothing much has changed. However, Xiaomi did add a ceramic back cover.
While ceramic provides really good protection against scratches it also adds to the overall weight of the phone to 235 grams, which was 205 grams for Xiaomi 12 Pro.
The weight is pretty much close to iPhone 14 Pro Max (240 grams), the phone does not feel that heavy or bulky while in hand. The front display is curved, which also gives it a nicer grip.
Xiaomi 13 Pro comes in four colours — Ceramic White, Ceramic Black, Ceramic Flora Green, and Mountain Blue.
Display
The device has a 6.67-inch AMOLED screen. It is a Samsung 2K 120Hz panel with new features like high-frequency PMW dimming and increased window brightness of up to 1900 nits, which is very close to the latest iPhone's 2000 nits display brightness.
The usage experience of Xiaomi 13 Pro is wholesome, thanks to the 120Hz high refresh rate. Whether you're playing games or scrolling through Instagram, the display is incredibly smooth.
Quality-wise, this display is top-notch. The information displayed is incredibly detailed and clear. Deep blacks and vibrant, punchy colours are used throughout. This display provides an immersive viewing experience for videos.
Performance
Xiaomi 13 Pro comes with the latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset inside, and that's definitely a chipset which will be talked about in the future as well.
Golden Reviewer, a popular tech reviewer who primarily creates content on CPU performance, made a real-time video playing Genshin Impact on Xiaomi 13 Pro, and it outperformed all other flagship smartphones released so far.
During a 20-minute Genshin Impact gameplay with the highest graphics settings available, Xiaomi 13 Pro offered an average fps of 59.4 while also keeping the phone's temperature under 40 degrees Celsius.
In comparison, iPhone 14 Pro Max offers an average fps of 58.4 and the temperature goes above 46.7 degrees Celsius.
The Game Turbo app on the Xiaomi 13 Pro also has a clever trick reserved for Genshin Impact.
When you switch the game's GPU setting to the High-quality mode in the Game space while you're playing, the game's graphics will become sharper and more detailed as the resolution is increased from 720p to 864p. This is a 20% improvement in terms of clarity and details.
The gaming comparison might seem super impressive. But during day-to-day usage, there won't be much of a difference between Xiaomi 13 Pro and other flagship phones.
While the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 can take care of heavy-duty games better than other chipsets, exporting video files in Adobe Premiere Rush will still be much faster in your iPhone 14 Pro Max.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is just a chipset and it is Qualcomm's credit that they have managed to create such a powerful chipset. Any smartphone manufacturer can get their hands on it if they spend enough money.
However, what impressed me the most about the Xiaomi 13 Pro is how well they managed the chipset. The phone barely heats up, even with the heaviest of tasks. Apple should take some notes to improve in this department.
Camera
The camera unit of the Xiaomi 13 Pro is similar to the 12 Pro. On the back, there is a triple camera setup with a 50MP main camera, a 50MP ultra-wide lens and another 50MP telephoto lens. There is a 32MP front-facing camera for sharp selfies.
The primary 50MP lens takes fantastic photos in daylight conditions. The photos are clear and packed with details. The dynamic range is great and the colours look punchy and natural.
Even the low-light performance of the main camera is top-notch. It is well capable of maintaining the dynamic range in low light shots and the grains were minimal.
The 50MP telephoto lens also takes amazing portrait shots, both in well-lit and low-light environments. Both the primary and telephoto lens comes with OIS support, which is definitely a good move from Xiaomi.
The ultrawide lens takes nice shots in daylight. However, its performance drops a little as the ambient lighting starts to reduce.
Battery
Xiaomi 13 Pro max comes with a 4820 mAh battery inside, which is more than the 4600 mAh battery of the Xiaomi 12 Pro.
The phone also supports up to 120 Watts of fast charging, and Xiaomi was decent enough to put a power brick inside the box.
Due to a slightly larger battery, 13 Pro will take 19 minutes to fully charge from zero, which was 18 minutes in Xiaomi 12 Pro.
The phone also supports 50 Watts of wireless charging and 10 Watts of reverse wireless charging.
When it comes to the screen on time, it gets a bit annoying. Even with all the innovations and “technological leaps,” we can barely get around six to seven hours of screen time, and it is the same for Xiaomi 13 Pro.
However, this six to seven hours of screen time will include some heavy gameplay. Since the phone has a decent cooling mechanism inside, the battery should last much better in the long run.
Verdict
Xiaomi 13 Pro is definitely a phone worth recommending. Especially if you want to have a taste of a proper flagship with the latest and greatest chipset and not go bankrupt.
Make no mistake. With the dollar rate and increasing prices of smartphones nowadays, I have little hope about the other 8 Gen 2 flagships being affordable to many.
That being said, if you are interested in this phone, I would suggest you wait till Xiaomi officially brings this phone to the country.
If you buy it unofficially, do keep in mind that you will be getting a mere five days of replacement warranty and a one-year servicing warranty.
