Xiaomi 13 Pro First Impressions: New Heavyweight Flagship

The Indian smartphone market has already witnessed the launch of many premium devices in 2023, such as the iQoo 11 5G (Review), OnePlus 11 5G (Review) and the Samsung Galaxy S23 series. Joining the league is Xiaomi's most premium smartphone offering to date, the Xiaomi 13 Pro. The new flagship features top-of-the-line hardware and was announced here at MWC 2023. The highlight feature is its new 1-inch camera sensor, which was first seen in the Xiaomi 12S Ultra. There is more to the Xiaomi 13 Pro than just the main camera sensor, and here's our first look at the phone.

The Xiaomi 13 Pro comes in two premium colours — Ceramic Black and Ceramic White. We have the black colour option which has a glossy back panel. While it is a fingerprint magnet, I do like the overall look of the phone. Xiaomi has bundled a case inside the box for people like me, who like to keep their phone's back looking neat and clean.

Using the case does add some weight to the already heavy device (229g), and you'll miss the great in-hand feel of the ceramic back panel. In short, I would recommend getting the white colour instead, which looks equally good and also helps hide fingerprints better.

The retail box also packs a charging adapter, USB Type-A to Type-C cable, screen protector, SIM ejector tool, and some documentation booklets.

Another key highlight of the Xiaomi 13 Pro is its big display. The phone features a 6.73-inch WQHD+ AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate. It gets all the premium display features too such as support for Dolby Vision and HDR10+ playback, WideVine L1 certification, etc. The curved-edge screen offers 1,900 nits of peak brightness and comes with a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass Victus. For security, there is an in-display fingerprint scanner along with the convenient AI face unlock.

The Xiaomi 13 Pro has a curved-edge AMOLED display

 

The metal frame of the Xiaomi 13 Pro is curved on the sides, whereas the top and bottom are flat. On the right side, you get the power and volume keys, whereas the bottom edge houses the USB Type-C port, primary speaker, SIM card tray and microphone. The top edge houses the IR emitter and another microphone.

On the back, there is a square-shaped camera module for the triple-camera setup. The Xiaomi 13 Pro houses a 50-megapixel 1-inch Sony IMX989 primary camera with support for optical image stabilisation (OIS). There is also a 50-megapixel ultra-wide camera with a 115-degree field of view, and a 50-megapixel telephoto camera with 3.2X optical zoom. Digitally, the camera can zoom up to 70X. There is a hole-punch cutout at the top of the display for the 32-megapixel front camera.

Xiaomi's partnership with camera manufacturer Leica for its flagship smartphones will also making its debut in India with the Xiaomi 13 Pro. It goes without saying, our review will cover the performance of all four camera sensors, so stay tuned for our final verdict.

The Xiaomi 13 Pro has the same 1-inch camera sensor found in the Xiaomi 12S Ultra

 

What we will also be testing is how the phone performs during routine tasks and while gaming. The Xiaomi 13 Pro has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC, which is currently the most powerful SoC for Android smartphones. The phone also packs a 4,820mAh battery with support for 120W fast wired charging, 50W wireless charging, and 10W reverse wireless charging. Our unit had 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 256GB of UFS 4.0 storage.

In terms of software, Xiaomi has launched the 13 Pro with the latest MIUI 14 which is based on Android 13. The new MIUI skin is claimed to have received many enhancements under the hood, which should help offer a smoother user experience. Xiaomi has also promised to provide three years of software updates and five years of security support.

Stay tuned for the full review of the Xiaomi 13 Pro, which will be up very soon on Gadgets 360. Let us know what you think about the new Xiaomi 13 Pro in the comments below. 

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After facing headwinds in India last year, Xiaomi is all set to take on the competition in 2023. What are the company's plans for its wide product portfolio and its Make in India commitment in the country? We discuss this and more on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

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