Verdict
A globular dismissal for the Xiaomi 13 Ultra ca n’t come soon enough . This is a fantastic equipment that lives up to its rarified name .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
Take one glance at the back of the Xiaomi 13 Ultra and the telephone set ’s suggestion is immediately obvious . A massive camera bulge bespeak this as much of a camera as a telephone .
TheXiaomi 13 Prois already one of thebest camera phonesaround , so this Ultra needs to really do something special to set itself apart .
After spending an prolonged period with the equipment , I conceive it ’s safe to say it populate up to its own hype .
Screen and Design
I am certain it ’ll divide legal opinion greatly , but I have been charmed by the design of the Xiaomi 13 Ultra .
The back is handle in what Xiaomi call an ‘ antibacterial nanotech silicone leather ’ – but to you and me that ’s essentially faux leather , or vegan leather . It ’s a textured covering , giving added grip and ensure no fingerprints or spot will appear .
environ the coarse-textured finale are bland metal incline and while the silicone polymer leather does n’t flow into the side in a politic mode , I actually like the distinct two - tone finis Xiaomi has gone for . Three colours are available – green ( the variation you may see in these icon ) , smuggled and white – and they all feature the same finish .
The sides of the telephone are bland , give your fingers more room to well sit when holding the speech sound horizontally and taking pictures , while there ’s a detectable hump pose below the huge camera system . Some will hate how big and obvious the photographic camera is here , but I like it and it helps the Ultra stand out in a ocean of fairly dull Android smartphones .
However , having such a large tv camera module does come with some downsides . For one , finding a comfortable spot to rest your fingers below it is , to put it mildly , tricky . It ’s hard to avoid blur the tv camera with your fingers and it ’ll a little toilsome to hold . Even after nearly a month of using this phone , it does n’t finger very raw . It also does n’t consist flat on a desk , invariably wobbling about .
It ’s a sullen headphone at 227 gravitational constant and it does find weighty , though reassuringly so . It ’s finish wonderfully well too , with accurate cutouts and a genuine gamy - last feel .
While the camera is the focus , the rudiments have n’t been forgotten about . The telephone ring anIP68rating and Gorilla Glass Victus covering the front showing . The 6.73 - inch display is much the same as the one on the Xiaomi 13 Pro , peaking at 2600nitsof brightness in specific use cases and total the ability to dynamically lower the refresh pace to 1Hz to save ability .
It ’s a cracking concealment , really excelling in display HDR content thanks to the mellow levels of brightness andDolby Visionsupport on Netflix .
Camera
The camera regalia Xiaomi has used here is , on paper at least , impressive .
There ’s nothing on the market that can contend with it for puretechand it ’s a reasonably large hint about where smartphone photographic camera are heading . In many means , the Xiaomi 13 Ultra is morecamerathanphone .
In a similar fashion to theXiaomi 12S Ultra , the 13 Ultra is designed to really look like a television camera . There ’s been no attempt to veil the perfectly gigantic module on the back , quite the opposite in fact , as Xiaomi has proudly used it as the main , eye - catching innovation ingredient on the telephone .
The circular caparison holds four discrete cameras and cloggy Leica ( Xiaomi ’s imagine spouse ) denounce with each of them using 50 - megapixel sensors . There are two telephotograph cameras , one with a 75 mm zoom and another with a 120 mm zoom , plus a 122 - stage field of view ultra wide and a main camera with an aperture that can shift between f/1.9 and f/4.0 .
That main television camera is the star of the show thanks to its immense 1 - column inch sensing element ( the same one found in the Xiaomi 13 Pro – a phone we know takesamazingphotos ) but the differentiator here is that variable aperture . The wider f/1.9 aperture is great for getting that shallow depth of field upshot and allowing more light into that huge sensing element , while the narrower f/4.0 slenderize the ground fuzz , keeping more of the frame in focusing .
When I first start reviewing the speech sound , there was a fast toggle for change over between the apertures at the cutting edge inside the camera app , however a subsequent update , annoyingly , buried this deeper inside the options . I ’d sham this variety is to campaign more into using the machine fashion , which mechanically vary the aperture without any fiddling required .
I ’ve generally find the auto - switch does n’t work too well , seldom actually doing anything , and I have preferred to manually spay it depending on what I am shoot . The image below is a expert example of what the differences between the two scene are , with the background far blurrier at f/1.9 than at f/4 . Switch to f/4 when shooting landscape or shots with multiple the great unwashed and there is n’t any blurring on the edges that ’s become so common with smartphone picture taking .
Variable aperture on smartphones is n’t Modern – Samsung used it in 2018 with the Galaxy S9 and it was a bit of a flop feature that did n’t reappear on the S10 – but it feels far more useful now with the replacement to larger sensors . These with child sensors can often render more of the look-alike out of focusing than before , so impart in that f/4 alternative help palliate this way out .
Overall , the images take in with the Xiaomi 13 Ultra are impressive and at times arresting . The detail is strong , the colors pernicious and naturalistic ( Leica is most likely to thank for this ) and due to the high character sensors used throughout , there is n’t a huge fall in quality whichever focal distance is chosen .
My handsome takeout after shooting with this phone for the past month is that the images look more like those shoot with a mirrorless photographic camera rather than a phone , even an first-class one like theSamsung Galaxy S23 Ultra . This can be both a positive and a electronegative , though .
For instance , if you like pick off and monkey around with snap after they ’ve been call for , the huge detector opens up unnumbered possibleness . There ’s much more data to play with and the results from this phone only get safe if you ’re uncoerced to put a small more exploit in . This does mean that on some occasions , images straight out of the telephone can face a tad flat , particularly if you ’re using the Leica Authentic preset .
flick it over to Leica Vibrant and there ’s sure enough more pop and saturation in common and reds , though not to the floor of a flagship Samsung or iPhone . I actually prefer the more realistic approach , however I can empathise why some find it a little less visually appealing .
The big sensor is fantastic at capture a born bokeh consequence , take out out detail from a foreground object and afford a silky fuzz to the background . Phones like theiPhone 14 Procan do this well , but the Xiaomi 13 Ultra tops it with some arresting results . Just look at how natural the backdrop in the shot of the flower below looks – there ’s scarcely any motivation for a dedicated portrayal way here .
Xiaomi ’s decision to utilise quality sensors behind each unlike lens pays off , ensuring whether you ’re zooming or give out ultra - wide the image stay on substantial and detailed .
The 3.2x and 5x telephoto produce estimable dig too and it ’s smart of Xiaomi not to bother with those frankly nonsensical 100x rapid climb alternative see elsewhere . Being able to punch in 3x or 5x , and retain Brobdingnagian total of point , is a much better option .
The big sensor helps capture plenty of light in darker situations too . Lots of detail was retained in the images take at the Beyonce concert below , with a decent mix of coloring kept too .
It can be quite dim to shoot when it is really dour , but the results are mostly very good .
Impressions of the 32MP selfie are less strong , though . Images here lack color , detail and natural tincture , instead looking quite odd . This has been a theme of a lot of previous Xiaomi phones , even high - end I .
Switching over to video and there is a lot to mickle around with . 10 - bit LOG video recording is supported , and you may shoot8Kacross all four of the rearward cameras in cinematic 24fps . HDR transcription is corroborate in Dolby Vision up to 4 K at 60fps .
Video recording is very in force , with a high - caliber tactile property and slew of contingent . However , a real issue I have faced is that the mike is absolutely terrible , rendering most of the videos useless if there ’s even the little intimation of background lead . This is a real shame , and makes this phone really hard to recommend for those wanting to capture video .
Performance
Like just about all the high - terminal Android sound we ’ve review so far this year , the Xiaomi 13 Ultra is powered by Qualcomm ’s 8 Gen 2 chipset .
Alongside the chipset , there ’s 12 or 16 GB of LPDDR5X store ( this can be up by another 3 GB with the memory reference feature ) and 256GB/512GB/1 TB storage , although there is no microSD expandability .
It ’s a fast , equal to exercise set of internals and this is , predictably , a very fast phone . Both in actual - world , daytime - to - twenty-four hours usance and in our usual hardening of benchmark trial the Xiaomi 13 Ultra performs well – preserve its own with other eminent - end Android devices . you may see how it compares in the benchmark table below .
The model provide by Xiaomi for this review is the Formosan version of the phone , and there ’s no confirmation yet whether or not there will be a spherical edition . That means there ’s no Google Play ( or Google services ) by nonremittal and there are many elements of the software that are stuck in Chinese whatever the terminology of the sound is set to . This wo n’t be the eccentric when ( and if ) global versions become useable .
Using a phone track software like this is n’t for everyone – and I certainly would n’t want to live with it long - condition . There are just too many issues to make it deserving the scuffle and even though the screen and television camera are excellent , I do n’t consider I can urge anyone spell this phone unless they are really willing to put up with a janky software experience .
Some of the payoff include apps , notably WhatsApp , not alerting me to new messages for 60 minutes at a meter , certain Chinese elements of the computer software being ineffectual to be switch to English and perpetual notifications from apps I have never used . Xiaomi MIUI is also full of bloat , including horrifying additions like widgets you apparently have to pay for . A lot of these issues will be fixed if we get a European release , however MIUI does remain one of my least favorite version of Android .
Battery Life
There ’s a big 5000mAh barrage inside the Xiaomi 13 Ultra and it leads to strong survival , peculiarly for a flagship phone with such a fast , bright display . Throughout my nearly two month using the phone , I usually would end the day with upwards of 30 % leave and even on the busiest of solar day – including multiple hour prove out the camera – I rarely found myself cash in one’s chips below 10 % or necessitate to enable some of the assault and battery saver mood .
Oddly , standby times were poor , drip by as much as 15 % when the sound was disconnect overnight . This gives me the impression the phone is far from being properly optimised , and this could be another issuance with the software . Hopefully , this would n’t be an issue if a worldwide release was to come .
Wired and wireless charging are both stomach on the Xiaomi 13 Ultra , with 90w being the flying hurrying available . That ’s marginally slower than the Xiaomi 13 Pro , though still very speedy .
Xiaomi claims a full 0 - 100 % tutelage takes 35 minutes when using the included courser and I make out to get slightly faster speed than that , topping up fully in 32 minute . A 15 - mo charge can take the phone from 0 - 50 % .
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Should you buy it?
The photographic camera organisation is stacked and the solution are brilliant , often excellent .
You ’ll get well selfies with the Samsung Galaxy S23 , and you ’ll even get well selfies with thePixel 7a . The front television camera here is not very honest .
Final Thoughts
There ’s presently no UK , European or US pricing or availability for the Xiaomi 13 Ultra yet and judging by the Formosan price it ’s going to be a far whack more than the £ 1099Xiaomi 13 professional . If it was to make it in the UK , there ’s every luck this could be priced between £ 1300 - 1400 – but that ’s pure dead reckoning at this point .
The 13 Ultra does a lot though and the photographic camera hardware is some of the o.k. I have seen on any phone to day of the month . The huge sensor , varying aperture , distich of telephotograph sensors and four 50MP sensors make for a tempting parcel , specially if you desire more creative restraint over your snaps than you get from aniPhone 14orGalaxy S23 .
This is the definition of a niche speech sound , but it ’s full of innovation and it actually lives up to the Ultra stigmatization . Something I very seldom find .
As to whether I would recommend anyone import the Taiwanese version before a worldwide version is announced , I think you ’d have to be willing to take a caboodle of software system quirks that make using the phone for day - to - solar day basics a bit of annoyance . Still , the rear cameras , sieve , design and public presentation all remain excellent .
Trusted Score
How we test
We try out every peregrine earpiece we review soundly . We use industriousness - received tests to compare feature of speech properly and we use the phone as our main gimmick over the revue point . We ’ll always severalize you what we find out and we never , ever , accept money to refresh a product .
Find out more about how we test in ourethics policy .
FAQs
While it ’s not there by default , it ’s easy to enable and set up .
Yes , you got both a profligate charger and pillowcase in the boxful .
Test Data
Full Specs
