The Xiaomi 13 Ultra is finally official with its foursome of Leica-tuned 50MP camera sensors, Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, a ton of RAM and storage, as well as a big battery with support for 90W and 50W wired and wireless charging. Sporting a big round rear camera housing, the Xiaomi 13 Ultra also demonstrates how a flagship phone needn't be slippery or prone to scratches and fingerprints, which is all thanks to its new anti-bacterial silicon leather material which makes the prettiest phone of 2023 so far, and possibly the least slippy.
Before we get to the nitty-gritty, let's take a look at the Xiaomi 13 Ultra's camera hardware. With the size of the camera housing and the number of 50MP sensors, you could be forgiven for thinking that it's a camera with a phone bolted on.
The main 50MP camera (Sony IMX989) has a 1-inch sensor with a variable aperture of f/1.9 or f/4.0 which should aid users in their quest for the perfect bokeh effect on their images. There's a 50MP telephoto lens (IMX858) which is capable of 3.2x zoom (75mm focal length) along with a 50MP periscope telephoto lens (IMX858) which is capable of 5x optical zoom. Bringing up the rear is yet another 50MP sensor (IMX858) which offers an ultra-wide lens with 112° FoV. Xiaomi is claiming that the foursome of Leica-tuned cameras will produce images that are more natural than its competitors with less sharpening. On the front resides a central punch-hole that houses the 32MP selfie camera.
There are Leica filters and watermarks available as options in the camera app as well as Fast Shot mode which opens the camera app and takes a ‘focus-free' snapshot of that memory you don't want to miss in just 0.8 seconds.
In case you are wondering, the Xiaomi 13 Ultra is more than just a camera platform. Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, up to 16GB of LPDDR5X memory, and up to 1TB of UFS 4.0 storage take care of performance.
There's a 6.73-inch OLED display with WQHD+ resolution, a 1-120Hz adaptive refresh rate, and up to 2,600 nits peak brightness. Powering this is a 5,000mAh battery that supports 90W wired charging (100% charge in 35 minutes) via the USB 3.2 port and 50W wireless charging. A pair of speakers are present, and the phone runs MIUI 14 (based on Android 13) out of the box.
Unlike its predecessor, the newly announced Xiaomi 13 Ultra is slated to be released globally in white/black/olive green silicon leather finishes with the 12/256GB variant priced at ~$875, the 16/512GB model at ~$945, and the top-of-the-line 16GB/1TB version at ~$1,060. It's likely that the global Xiaomi 13 Ultra will cost a bit more when it becomes available in Western markets. As per usual, it's unlikely that the Xiaomi 13 Ultra will be available in the US other than from third-party importers.
