Xiaomi 13 Ultra is a top flagship smartphone completely devoted to imaging. Xiaomi 13 Ultra weakens the digital sense brought by computational photography, and equates the effect seen on the shooting interface with the actual shooting effect. The colors of the four cameras are very unified, and they are all commendable.
Xiaomi 13 Ultra specs and features:
- Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 mobile platform
- Leica Optical Full Focus Quad Camera (50MP)
- 6.73-inch 2K professional primary color screen
- 5000mAh battery + 90W wired + 50W wireless
- LPDDR5X+UFS 4.0+FBO
- 32MP front camera
- $1052 – Check latest price on AliExpress
Appearance Design and Display
Xiaomi 13 Ultra is a mobile phone with “image-driven design”, as long as you get the phone, you can really feel this. For example, the design of the super-large circular camera module continues on the back, with four cameras arranged in sequence, and the Leica logo in the middle.
The middle frame adopts a flat design, and the metal middle frame extends to both sides of the rear shell, connecting with the leather part, which is highly recognizable. At the same time, the entire camera module area of Xiaomi 13 Ultra has added a slope line transition, showing a “thick – thin” stepped aesthetic from top to bottom.
The leather part adopts the “second-generation technology nano-skin” material, which has a slight damping feeling, and the touch is delicate and skin-friendly. The smartphone also support IP68 dust and water resistance. In fact, just from the design point of view, the design language of Xiaomi 13 Ultra is still slightly complicated.
If you think of it as a camera that can make a phone call, the design of this all makes sense. Especially when you hold the phone horizontally to shoot, the upper and lower metal middle frame + leather design can easily remind you of the Leica M camera. It can be said that Xiaomi 13 Ultra is an image-driven mobile phone, and all its designs are entirely for the image.
The thickness of the upper part of the phone is 11.7mm, and the thickness of the camera module is about 15.4mm. The thickness of the lower half is 9.5mm, and the thickness difference between the upper and lower parts reaches 2mm. The weight reaches 227g, after all, it is a top flagship imaging smartphone.
The screen of Xiaomi 13 Ultra is jointly developed by TCL and Xiaomi, using the latest generation of C7 luminescent material. In terms of specifications, it includes 6.73-inch OLED screen + 3200*1440 (2K resolution), 12bit color depth, 120Hz LTPO adaptive refresh rate, and peak brightness of 2600nit. TCL’s latest generation of EL packaging structure, the viewing angle experience is optimized by 15%, and it supports the smooth switching of 1-120Hz frequency conversion, etc.
In addition, it also support low-brightness 1920Hz PWM dimming, high-brightness DC dimming, and a new professional primary color mode (based on CIE2015 color space calibration). After actual measurement, in the professional mode, it has a △E of only 0.32, which is quite a professional color accuracy performance. The visuals of the phone’s screen are decent – the picture is sharp, the colors are rich, and the display is clear outdoors in sunlight.
Xiaomi 13 Ultra has built-in rich screen color management functions in the system, and you can choose your favorite display mode in the screen display color style. In advanced mode, you can adjust gamut support, RGB color space, HSV color space, and other display options.
Performance – Battery Life
The Xiaomi 13 Ultra is equipped with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 mobile platform – this chip platform is based on the new TSMC 4nm process, with a 20% increase in transistor density. Reduce power consumption while improving performance, and the energy consumption ratio is the best in three years.
It is very important to emphasize that Xiaomi 13 Ultra uses a USB 3.2 interface with a transfer rate of up to 5Gbps and supports 4K DisplayPort output. Other configurations include LPDDR5X memory, UFS 4.0 flash memory, and Mi IceLoop annular cooling pump for heat dissipation.
AnTuTu benchmark score is 1.29 million points. The GeekBench5 single-core score is 1473 points and the multi-core score is 4981 points. The best cycle score of 3D Mark Wild Life Extreme Stess test is 3592 points, and the stability is 92.6%. The sequential read speed of AndroBench is 3273.28MB/s, and the sequential write speed is 2857.9MB/s.
Share with you the “Genshin Impact” game test of Xiaomi 13 Ultra. In 60 frame rate mode and 24°C indoor environment, after 30 minutes of gaming – the average frame rate is 57.6FPS. The maximum temperature of the front and back of the phone did not exceed 40°C during the game.
In terms of battery life, Xiaomi 13 Ultra has a built-in 5000mAh battery, equipped with 90W wired charging + 50W wireless charging + 10W wireless reverse charging. In addition, the battery life performance is quite satisfactory – go out to shoot + Tik Tok + listen to songs at 2 pm, and 30% of the battery is left at 9 pm.
In terms of charging, there are also Xiaomi Surging P2 smart fast charging chips and Xiaomi Surging G1 battery management chips. The measured 90W wired fast charge takes about 40 minutes to charge from 5% to 98%.
Photography Performance
Xiaomi 13 Ultra is equipped with Leica quad-camera, supports the second-generation Leica color science, adds street shooting mode and Leica custom image quality, and the camera module can be converted to a 67mm filter through an adapter ring.
The four cameras are all 50MP with large apertures, and all support snapshots, night scene shooting, and 8K video shooting. The specific sensors are: IMX989 + IMX858 + IMX858 + IMX858.
Among them, the IMX989 main camera adopts “Leica 1-inch variable aperture“, providing two variable aperture sizes of f/1.9 and f/4.0.
The size of the Sony IMX858 sensor is 1/2.51 inch, and Sony has introduced a full-pixel focusing system that uses full-pixel phase difference to obtain AF information. IMX858 uses 2 exp-DOL and customized Fine12bitAD function to achieve a high-dynamic photography experience close to eye recognition ability, and the secondary camera can also achieve smooth photography of 4K HDR. In addition, the IMX858 is also the first sub-camera sensor to support the new generation of Sony multi-camera collaboration system. It can be said that IMX858 completely serves for IMX989.
Compared with Xiaomi 12S Ultra, Xiaomi 13 Ultra ushered in a new IMX858 sensor. And, between the 1X main camera and the 5X periscope lens, a 3.2X medium telephoto lens (75mm focal length) is added. As a result, the four cameras of Xiaomi 13 Ultra achieve a total of six focal lengths, covering a zoom range from 12mm to 240mm. All secondary cameras have the same imaging capabilities, bringing a stable and consistent experience across the entire imaging system.
Leica Vivid (left), Leica Classic (right)
In terms of shooting styles, Xiaomi 13 Ultra provides two shooting styles: Leica Vivid and Leica Classic. The picture in Leica Vivid is brighter and the colors are relatively vivid. The Leica Classic pursues a relatively three-dimensional tone, with obvious vignetting, high contrast, and a slightly cooler tone.
If you don’t like this imaging style, Xiaomi 13 Ultra also provides a “Leica Custom Quality” option. In professional shooting, you can choose to flexibly adjust the picture contrast, dynamic range, white balance, noise reduction algorithm and sharpening strength of the algorithm, and save it.
The imaging system of Xiaomi 13 Ultra has the following advantages:
01/ The colors of the four cameras are unified
Few mobile phones can keep the color of each camera consistent, especially the color of the ultra-wide-angle lens and the wide-angle lens, there are often obvious differences. But this time, all four cameras of Xiaomi 13 Ultra have a unified color – very rare! ! This has something to do with Xiaomi 13 Ultra’s use of the Sony IMX858 sensor for the ultra-wide-angle lens, telephoto lens, and periscope telephoto lens. It facilitates the consistency of automatic light metering and automatic white balance, and Xiaomi also optimizes the shooting algorithm.
02/ Distortion control is very good
Xiaomi 13 Ultra is equipped with a 12mm ultra-wide-angle lens, which can capture a wider angle of view. Even at the focal length of 12mm, the distortion control is very good. When shooting in the horizontal direction, it is difficult to find stretching on both sides of the screen. Of course, you can also adjust the shooting angle to get a more stretched picture effect.
03/ Portrait photos are improving
Although portraits have never been Xiaomi’s advantage, Xiaomi 13 Ultra has improved compared to Xiaomi 12S Ultra in shooting portraits. In the portrait photos taken indoors, it can be clearly felt that the face of Xiaomi 12S Ultra is yellowish. The portrait photo effect of Xiaomi 13 Ultra is much brighter and more transparent.
When shooting in low-light environment and portrait mode, the face skin of Xiaomi 12S Ultra is yellowish. The face of Xiaomi 13 Ultra is much whiter and tenderer, and the portrait effect is better.
04/ The periscope telephoto camera is very stable
The Xiaomi 13 Ultra is equipped with two telephoto lenses, a 75mm telephoto lens (3.2X optical zoom) and a 120mm periscope telephoto lens (5X optical zoom). In daylight conditions with sufficient light, clear pictures can be taken. The handheld shooting picture is also relatively stable, without a large shake.
Using the telephoto lens of Xiaomi 13 Ultra during the day is also easier to compose and take good-looking German-style photos.
05/ Night photos are easy to take
Xiaomi 13 Ultra takes advantage of the 1-inch Sony IMX989 sensor to ensure the amount of light entering, and can quickly take bright night photos in most night environments. The night imaging effect of Xiaomi 13 Ultra does not simply increase the brightness, but pays more attention to the contrast between light and dark, which is in line with the effect seen by the human eye.
06/ F1.9 and F4.0 variable aperture
The main camera of Xiaomi 13 Ultra is equipped with two variable apertures of F1.9 and F4.0. On the main camera page, you can adjust the aperture mode through the drop-down menu interface. There are three aperture mode options: Automatic, F1.9, F4.0. Most of the scenes can be kept in F1.9 aperture mode. When shooting portraits or close-up scenes, you can adjust the aperture to F4.0, so that the group photos are clear and the edges of nearby scenes are also clear.
Photography Accessories
Professional wireless photography handle: Simple understanding, the principle is a “bluetooth remote control”. Connect to the phone via bluetooth, and then insert the handle into the phone’s protective case to hold it horizontally, giving you the “illusion” of holding the camera. Half-press the shutter to focus, long press the shutter to shoot. In addition, it is equipped with a zoom ring, through which the focal length of the mobile phone can be directly adjusted.
67mm filter adapter ring: 67mm CPL filter and 67mm soft light filter – the method of use is to install it on the phone protective case. Friends who are familiar with photography should know that CPL filters can eliminate certain specular reflection effects – such as removal of shadows reflected by glass and curved surfaces. The soft mirror can soften the background light when the background light is strong, making the background look softer.
Conclusion
Unlike other mobile phones on the market that focus on computational photography, Xiaomi 13 Ultra weakens the digital sense brought by computational photography, and equates the effect seen on the shooting interface with the actual shooting effect. The colors of the four cameras are very unified, which is quite commendable.
Xiaomi 13 Ultra is equipped with a 1-inch sensor main camera, which can take good photos in most night environments, with fast imaging speed and clear picture quality. In terms of performance, Xiaomi 13 Ultra is equipped with Snapdragon 8 Gen 2+LPDDR5X+UFS4.0, which meets the standard of high-end flagship smartphones.