Xiaomi 13 Ultra: Lei Jun confirms a global launch for Xiaomi's next Ultra smartphone

Xiaomi debuted the Xiaomi 12S Ultra last month as its biggest, most premium traditional smartphone of the year. The 12S Ultra launched exclusively in China and will not make its way outside of Xiaomi's home market, but it appears things will be different for its successor next year.

In a response to an Android Central review post, Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun confirmed the company's plans to launch its next-gen Ultra model on the global market. "The next iteration of Ultra will be available in our global markets!", the executive tweeted. 

Xiaomi typically launches one or two Ultra models every year, usually a proper flagship under the main Xiaomi brand, and a "flagship killer" from Redmi. This year, though, the company released only the Xiaomi 12S Ultra, with the "Redmi K50 Ultra" instead branded as the Redmi K50 Extreme Edition. That strongly hints at Xiaomi's next "Ultra" model being the Xiaomi 13 Ultra.

A Xiaomi 13 Ultra for the global market wouldn't be surprising in any case, as the company launched the Mi 11 Ultra globally last year. While the 12S Ultra will never make its way out of China, word on the grapevine seems to indicate that Xiaomi originally intended to release a Xiaomi 12 Ultra before those plans were scrapped. The Xiaomi 13 Ultra will likely be a return of sorts to such plans.

Buy the Xiaomi 11T Pro 5G on Amazon.