Xiaomi 13 Professional Evaluate: Leica It, however Don’t Love It

After a reputation change and the reintroduction of a Professional mannequin final 12 months, it’s extra of the identical for Xiaomi in the beginning of 2023. 

At MWC in late February, the corporate launched two new flagships globally: the 13 and 13 Professional. An much more succesful Extremely mannequin is anticipated in some unspecified time in the future, however Xiaomi has confirmed that there’ll be no half-step ‘S’ replace later within the 12 months. 

From testing the 13 Professional, it’s laborious to think about a non-gaming telephone which could possibly be extra succesful than this – maybe solely the Galaxy S23 Extremely. With Qualcomm’s newest silicon, a principal digicam geared up with an enormous 1in sensor, and a few of the quickest charging round, the system is sort of unmatched on the subject of {hardware}. 

However acquainted frustrations stay on the software program aspect, and so they’re the primary purpose this isn’t an prompt advice.  

Design & construct

• Large, ugly rear digicam module
• New ceramic again
• Return of the IP68 ranking

Xiaomi has revamped the design of the 13 Professional – simply not in a great way. A lot of the telephone retains its ordinary modern look, however the gigantic digicam module stands proud like a sore thumb. 

It displays Xiaomi’s new partnership with digicam firm Leica, together with some massive upgrades to the rear sensors. However there’s no denying it seems ugly, and protrudes considerably from the again of the telephone.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

The impact may be decreased by making use of the silicone case within the field, though even then there’s a big wobble when used face up on a desk. The massive emphasis on telephone cameras means a flush digicam module isn’t lifelike, however absolutely Xiaomi might’ve completed higher than this. 

Whereas the common Xiaomi 13 additionally has an enormous module, it doesn’t stick out almost as a lot. You’ll be able to’t complain that it seems like all different telephones, at the least. 

One other key change sees the glass again of the 12 Professional swapped for a ceramic one. It definitely feels very premium, however provides to the full weight considerably. At 229g, it’s a lot heavier than final 12 months’s 12 Professional (205g), and one of many heaviest telephones full cease.  

That rear design can be extremely reflective, that means it shortly accumulates noticeable fingerprint smudges. This may be mitigated by popping on a case, which additionally provides much-needed grip to an in any other case slippery system.  

The 13 Professional is well-built and feels impressively sturdy, however a ceramic rear means will it at all times be susceptible to shattering than plastic. Whereas the entrance is supplied with robust Gorilla Glass Victus, there aren’t any such ensures for the again.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

One massive enchancment is that there’s now an IP68 ranking – beforehand seen on the Mi 11, however dropped for final 12 months’s telephones. It means the telephone is totally protected towards mud and submersion in as much as 1.5m of water for as much as half-hour. 

Color choices are restricted, with simply black and white fashions to select from. However should you’re going to use a case anyway, it doesn’t actually matter. 

It’s additionally price mentioning the vibration motor, which supplies refined haptic suggestions as you navigate the telephone. It does an excellent job of simulating actual button presses, and feels very top quality. 

Xiaomi retains issues easy on the aluminium sides of the telephone, with simply the ability button and quantity controls on the correct, then a SIM tray (helps twin SIM), single downward-firing speaker and USB-C port on the underside. It means there’s no 3.5mm audio jack, however that’s by no means shocking. 

Display & audio system

• Excellent 6.73in OLED show
• Dynamic 120Hz refresh charge
• Underwhelming twin audio system

The Xiaomi 13 Professional’s show has solely been barely tweaked in comparison with final 12 months, and it’s functionally similar for most individuals. 

Because it was already among the finest shows on any telephone, that’s hardly shocking. You continue to get a big 6.73in, 1440×3200 OLED panel, giving it an more and more frequent 20:9 side ratio. The display screen is a pleasure to behold, with excellent element and dynamic colors that basically pop.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

It combines with an adaptive refresh charge, that means the show may be set to routinely transfer between 1 and 120Hz relying on what you’re doing. This can be a nice approach to stability efficiency and battery life, solely providing you with these slick larger refresh charges while you’ll really profit from them. 

You’ll be able to manually set it to 60Hz or 120Hz should you’d want, however the dynamic refresh charge is a superb function that you just received’t discover on many telephones. After experiencing the slick, fluid transitions on the 13 Professional, you’ll by no means need to return to a 60Hz show once more. 

Xiaomi says the display screen can hit an unimaginable 1900 nits of peak brightness. That’s far larger than most telephones, and also you’ll don’t have any downside utilizing the 13 Professional on vibrant sunny days. Sure, there have been a few these within the UK winter! 

Inside the show you’ll discover an optical fingerprint sensor which is simple to arrange and works nicely more often than not. Nevertheless, there’s fairly a small goal space to intention for, and any moisture will cease it from unlocking. 

Unusually, Xiaomi has determined to ditch the 12 Professional’s quad speaker system, though they weren’t notably spectacular.  

Combining a single downward-firing grille with the earpiece means you continue to get a stereo setup, however the audio hasn’t improved a lot. It’s typically clear and might attain an honest quantity with out a lot distortion, however there’s little or no bass or depth to the sound.

Specs & efficiency

• Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and 12GB of RAM
• Excellent efficiency throughout the board
• 256/512GB of non-expandable storage

Xiaomi’s flagship telephones are often geared up with Qualcomm’s newest and biggest chips, and the 13 Professional is not any totally different. 

The telephone is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, which supplies each efficiency and energy effectivity advantages in comparison with the 8 Gen 1 discovered within the Xiaomi 12 Professional. Whether or not you’ll be able to inform them aside is one other matter, however there’s no doubting the superb efficiency right here.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Alongside 12GB of RAM on both configuration, the 13 Professional breezes via virtually each activity you’ll be able to consider with ease. That features net looking, texting, watching movies, looking social media and taking pictures, plus shortly switching between apps and utilizing them side-by-side. 

There’s wasn’t even a touch of stuttering or hesitation all through my testing time, one thing which might’t be mentioned for many telephones. It even extends to cell gaming, with Name of Responsibility: Cell, PUBG Cell, and Asphalt 9 all remaining clean and responsive. 

Even in these demanding eventualities, the 13 Professional solely will get barely heat to the contact. Overheating is one thing earlier Snapdragon-powered telephones have struggled with, however it’s not a difficulty right here. That may change if you wish to play video games for a number of hours, however there are devoted telephones for that. 

The 13 Professional retains up with this 12 months’s different flagships in testing, solely lagging behind these with decrease decision shows, which have a neater time within the graphics-heavy GFXBench. 

When it comes to storage, there are two selections: 256GB or 512GB. There’s no assist for expandable storage. 

Being powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 means the 13 Professional has 5G assist, alongside the newest Bluetooth 5.3 and Wi-Fi 6E requirements. Xiaomi additionally says it’ll be appropriate with the upcoming Wi-Fi 7 through a software program replace. 

Digital camera & video

• Triple Leica 50Mp rear cameras
• Wonderful pictures from all three
• Spectacular 30Mp selfie digicam

Xiaomi has teamed up with digicam firm Leica for the 13 collection, with each common and Professional fashions that includes some vital modifications. 

That may not be instantly obvious from the specs, with the hefty rear module nonetheless containing three 50Mp lenses. Nevertheless, that principal sensor is now the a lot bigger 1in Sony IMX989 – the identical as in present digicam champ Vivo X90 Professional and final 12 months’s Xiaomi 12S Extremely – so it’s no shock that the pictures it produces are spectacular.

The telephone is especially nicely suited to panorama pictures, however structure and avenue images additionally look nice. Nevertheless, with out a devoted depth sensor, the software-based portrait mode is hit or miss. A gorgeous background blur (which may be adjusted after the picture is taken) is feasible, however it typically struggles with edge detection. 

If most of my pictures above look somewhat washed out, that’s as a result of they have been taken on a winter day within the UK: that was how the scenes really regarded. However throughout all scenes, you get clear, well-exposed pictures with loads of element and nice dynamic vary. Key components of the shot are nonetheless clearly seen when cropping in, so that you don’t lose something essential within the background.

The 50Mp telephoto lens can be now bigger, that means it gives 3.2x optical zoom fairly than the Xiaomi 12 Professional’s 2x. It means you will get some detailed pictures from fairly an extended distance away, though counting on digital zoom after that (all the best way to 70x) results in a speedy decline in high quality. 

Then there’s the 50Mp ultrawide, which gives the identical 115˚ discipline of view as its predecessor. Retaining the megapixel depend so excessive means there’s solely a slight drop intimately in comparison with the primary sensor, and its versatility is nice in quite a lot of eventualities. 

As you may anticipate, there are a great deal of totally different modes to select from within the digicam app. Amongst these, you’ll be able to select between ‘Leica Vibrant’ and ‘Leica Genuine’ modes. I caught with the latter for probably the most half, which lacks the same old saturation of many smartphone cameras however stays impressively true to life.

In the event you’d fairly go for the colourful mode, look out for vivid, eye-catching colors that basically stand out. In lots of conditions, you received’t have to do any modifying earlier than sharing, particularly for a private social media account.

Whereas the primary lens handles low-light environments comparatively nicely, there’s additionally a devoted night time mode. This provides a natural-looking brightening impact with out shedding key particulars or introducing an excessive amount of noise. Just about each telephone digicam has an evening mode as of late, however this is among the most spectacular.

The selfie digicam stays at 32Mp, however it’s nonetheless one of many easiest. Publicity, particulars and hues are all on level, and it does an honest job of portrait mode. Make no mistake: this is among the greatest telephone digicam methods round.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

The Xiaomi 13 Professional can file video as much as 8K at 24fps, however the default 1080p at 30fps is a greater possibility for most individuals. Footage received’t rival an iPhone, however OIS on the primary lens means it stays clear and regular – even with numerous motion. 

Battery & charging

• 4800mAh battery
• Strong all-day battery life
• 120W wired charging, 50W wi-fi

Battery life was a key weak point of the Xiaomi 12 Professional, however that’s not the case with its successor. The mix of a bigger 4800mAh cell and improved Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 energy effectivity means it may possibly now comfortably final a full day – even with some intensive duties akin to gaming or utilizing GPS. 

That’s mirrored within the PCMark battery take a look at, which simulates real-world world utilization at a reasonably typical 200 nits of brightness. A time of 11 hours 56 minutes is nicely over 4 hours higher than its predecessor, and above common among the many high-end telephones we’ve not too long ago examined. 

With the development right here, the 13 Professional is among the few telephones that delivers nice battery life and charging speeds.  

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

The 120W adapter within the field will get you a full cost in lower than half an hour, whereas it additionally helps 50W wi-fi charging and 10W reverse wi-fi charging. The latter is nice for shortly charging equipment akin to a watch or telephone, however it helps all units with the Qi commonplace. 

Software program & updates

• MIUI 14 over Android 13
• Irritating, unintuitive software program expertise
• Three years of Android model updates

The 13 and 13 Professional are the primary Xiaomi telephones to run Android 13 out of the field. Nevertheless, each have Xiaomi’s MIUI 14 pores and skin excessive, which stays the one greatest purpose to not purchase the 13 Professional. 

Basically, MIUI 14 dilutes what makes Android so nice, then provides a garish color scheme and annoying apps you’ll be able to’t uninstall. It’s completely usable, however a big downgrade in comparison with the software program expertise on many different telephones. 

Key variations in comparison with ‘inventory’ Android embrace a cut up notification shade and management centre, vibrant icons, and a redesigned Settings menu. All of those take the polish off the consumer expertise, fairly than including to it.

Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry

Then there are all of the pre-installed apps, and there are some unusual selections right here. Xiaomi appears to suppose everybody needs to make use of the likes of TikTok, LinkedIn, and Solitaire, although at the least these may be uninstalled.  

The corporate has its personal apps for messaging, safety, file administration, net looking and lots of extra, none of which you’ll take away. Your greatest various is to cover these within the app drawer and by no means use it, however they shouldn’t be there within the first place. 

I’ve used a number of Xiaomi telephones now, so know what to anticipate. However there’s a big studying curve should you haven’t tried one earlier than. 

When it comes to software program assist, Xiaomi commits to 3 years of safety updates and 4 of safety patches. Which means you’ll be able to anticipate Android 14, 15, and 16, plus patches till 2027. 

That is roughly in keeping with different Android producers, albeit behind each Samsung and Apple. 

Worth & availability

As anticipated, the Xiaomi 13 Professional doesn’t come low-cost.  

It’ll set you again £1,099/€1,299 for the 12+256GB mannequin – the one one obtainable within the UK.

Pre-orders are reside now through the Xiaomi web site, forward of the telephone’s launch on 14 March. At that time, you’ll additionally have the ability to purchase one from Currys and Argos.

As ordinary, the system received’t be bought within the US. 

The apparent various is Samsung’s Galaxy S23 Plus, which begins at $999/£1,049/€1,219. However there are many nice alternate options in our greatest smartphone chart. 

Verdict

The Xiaomi 13 Professional takes what made the 12 Professional so nice and makes it even higher. However that doesn’t imply you can purchase one.  

Efficiency from the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 is totally unbelievable, with its improved energy effectivity and a bigger battery delivering vital battery life enhancements. New Leica cameras are near the very best you’ll discover on any telephone, with nice outcomes throughout all 4 lenses. 

However an enormous new digicam bump interrupts an in any other case modern design, whereas the software program expertise stays a significant supply of frustration. 

At this flagship worth level, these shortcomings are laborious to disregard. The Xiaomi 13 Professional is a superb telephone, however it’s not best-in-class. 

Specs

• Android 13 w/ MIUI 14 
• 6.73in LTPO WQHD+ OLED 120Hz curved show, 20:9, 240Hz contact sampling, HDR10+, Dolby Imaginative and prescient 
• In-display fingerprint sensor 
• Gorilla Glass Victus 
• Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 
• 12GB RAM LPDDR5 
• 256GB/512GB UFS 3.1 non-expandable storage
• Cameras: 
  • 50Mp, f/1.9 principal digicam with OIS 
  • 50Mp, f/2.2 ultrawide digicam 
  • 50Mp, f/2.0 3.2x zoom telephoto digicam 
  • 32Mp, f/2.0 front-facing digicam 
• Twin audio system with Dolby Atmos 
• Twin-SIM 
• 5G 
• WiFi 6E 
• Bluetooth 5.3 
• IP68 
• USB-C 
• 4820mAh battery 
• 120W wired charging 
• 50W wi-fi charging 
• 10W reverse wi-fi charging 
• 162.9 x 74.6 x 8.4 mm 
• 229g 
• Launch colors: Black, White