Xiaomi 13: Does many things better than its predecessor

Despite being slightly larger than last year's model, the Xiaomi 13 is still considered a compact Android phone. The 6.36-inch AMOLED display is capable of running at high refresh rates and can get very bright, but it marginally falls short of the peak brightness specified by the manufacturer. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 inside delivers extremely high performance whilst remaining fairly well cooled, even under sustained load. The SoC has access to cutting-edge LPDDR5x RAM and UFS 4.0 storage. Xiaomi also included a wireless solution that supports the latest Wi-Fi 7 standard. On the other hand, our import version lacks a few important LTE frequency bands, which could pose a problem especially in less built-up rural areas within Europe. But the international version of the phone shouldn't have this limitation. The Xiaomi 13 also doesn't support eSIMs.

The USB port will take you right back to the stone age – it still only supports USB 2.0. This means the port has sluggish transfer speeds and can't output video signals over a cable. The triple-camera setup is more up to date by comparison. It not only features a current-gen Sony sensor but also offers a telephoto lens with 3.2x optical zoom as well as an additional ultrawide camera. The partnership with Leica, though, wasn't really that noticeable when we were reviewing the phone.

Even though the Xiaomi 13 uses the same charging standard and has the same battery capacity as the Xiaomi 12, its battery life has been massively improved. It is going to be a tough act to follow for its competitors in terms of stamina. The phone rounds off the package by finally having an IP68 rating.

At the time of writing the review, the Xiaomi 13 is only available as an import device, for instance from TradingShenzhen, who kindly loaned us the review unit. But you can already purchase cases and other accessories from retailers such as Amazon. The international version is expected to launch in March 2023.