The Xiaomi 13 is a welcome upgrade from last year's flagship offerings. It has a handful of new tricks up its sleeve including the flashy Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, 1900 nits peak brightness, a new compact form, a very ergonomic design, and more. Of course, the camera system is co-developed by the global maker of premium camera and lenses - Leica. These made the smartphone very promising in this category.
With the Leica partnership, the Xiaomi 13 is making the camera its marquee feature. But being a compact flagship, we are sure that there's a lot more than just the camera for this device. We'll save the intricacies in our review, for now we'd love to unbox the phone and give you our first impressions.
Xiaomi 13 Unboxing
You'll still get the standard white box for the Xiaomi 13. On its face is the iconic Leica red dot which seals how the optics company has partnered with the phone maker. I hope it brings magic to the whole experience of the Xiaomi 13.
Moving on, we have a packet inside the main box which houses the case and other inserts (documentation and SIM eject tool). Lastly, in their respective compartments, we have the 67W adapter and the USB-C cable.
Design
The Xiaomi 13 is a beautiful smartphone; it has all the elements of a highly ergonomic phone. For one, it has flat sides (like that of an iPhone) accented by antenna bands. Unlike most phones with flat railings, the Xiaomi 13 employs a curved back making the phone easy on the hands. Our Flora Green variant looks stunning with its glass backing; though I love how it feels on the hand, I should say that it's an instant fingerprint magnet. You may also get the Xiaomi 13 in Black and White colorways.
The backing houses a new camera system; this also brings a new camera module design. It's a squarish black "island" with subtle lines that divide the cameras. The Leica branding is also present in the 4th quadrant, near the LED flash.
The Xiaomi 13 is a well-made phone with great construction and build. There's nothing to complain about the build of the phone; it has high quality glass for the backing and a Gorilla Glass 5 on the front panel. On top of the design, the phone also comes with IP68 dust and waterproofing.
Ports and buttons are where it should be. You can spot the power button and the volume rocker on the right side. The top side is a home for two microphones and an IR blaster; while the bottom side is pretty busy with the SIM slot, another microphone, USB-C port, and speaker grille.
Display
The Xiaomi 13 is a compact phone with its display measuring at 6.36-inch. It packs 1080 x 2400 pixel resolution, supports 120Hz refresh rate, and could crank the brightness up to 1900 nits. In our initial experience with the display, we think that the panel is quite great. It's super bright when used outdoors and has great color reproduction. Colors are vivid and accurate, as well as the dynamic range.
The display also supports HDR10+ and Dolby Vision. It handles high refresh rate well but it does not support LTPO tech and dynamic refresh rate toggling. However, it can still push the display at fixed 120Hz, 90Hz or 60Hz.
Camera and First Impressions
The phone has a very solid camera system knowing that it is co-engineered with Leica. It topbills the 50MP primary camera; this is coupled by the 12MP ultrawide sensor and a 10MP telephoto sensor. The first time you'll use the camera, you'll have a choice between Leica Vibrant or Leica Authentic presets; I find myself frequently using the former. On top of that, there are many Leica filters to experiment with.
So far, the Xiaomi 13 is a very powerful phone packaged in a small form factor. I think it will appeal to users who prefer smaller phones without sacrificing performance. The phone has 4500 mAh battery which supports 67W fast charging; Xiaomi says that you can reach 100% in just 38 minutes (we'll definitely test this in the review).
I honestly love the phone's build and design. The included case does not give its design justice. I'm using the phone without a case though I’m very careful with handling the phone. The display is also something to rave about with flagship-grade technologies that the standard model is sharing with the Pro model. We'd love to test the phone's capability in terms of gaming, and also its camera prowess. We'll talk more in our review. Stay tuned!
