Xiaomi 13 Pro first impressions: third time's the charm! on 28th Feb 2023 In India

After being available in the Chinese market for quite some time, the Xiaomi 13 Pro has finally made its global debut, and yes, it is coming to India as well. And in this piece, I am going to share my first impressions of the latest flagship from Xiaomi. But before we get to the good part, there's a backstory to where it all started. And no, I am not talking about Xiaomi's partnership with Leica, but, here's my take on it.

The Xiaomi 13 Pro is being marketed as this "masterpiece" of camera phones that has been co-developed with Leica. And I'll talk about the camera in a moment. For now, let me tell you, readers - this is a phone I've been waiting for for a long time. You see, it all started with the Mi 11 Ultra, the phone that started it all and put the company on the map – that yes, Xiaomi can make excellent flagships with great cameras too. Unfortunately, I never got a chance to use the phone and it was also a limited release at that time.

Then came the Xiaomi 12 Pro, a phone that I used and loved for its great display and of course the great cameras. However, it was once again another phone that was supposed to be the real successor to the Mi 11 Ultra - the Xiaomi 12S Ultra. Once again, I've heard all the great things about this device, but never got a chance to experience it myself, as the phone never actually made it to the Indian market, let alone went on sale in limited numbers. But, there's always a next time, and I totally believe in the saying, third time's the charm. Well, the Xiaomi 13 Pro is the third time the company is making an all-out premium smartphone after the Mi 11 Ultra and 12S Ultra, and here are my first impressions.

Xiaomi 13 Pro: first impression

The name might suggest that the Xiaomi 13 Pro is the successor to the Xiaomi 12 Pro, which it technically is. But, trust me, with the 13 Pro, Xiaomi is only carrying forward the Mi 11 Ultra lineage. To go through what I liked and disliked about the Xiaomi 13 Pro one by one, let me first give you some of the highlights of the Xiaomi 13 Pro. The latest smartphone sports a 50MP primary rear camera which is a 1" Sony IMX989 sensor. On the front, there's a beautiful curved OLED display. The Xiaomi 13 Pro is powered by the latest and greatest, Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, and that too out of the box. Comes with 120W charging support with a charging brick bundled inside.

We start with the design of the Xiaomi 13 Pro, and frankly, this phone is going to remind you of the Mi 11 Ultra, which does not have a secondary screen. So, of course, the Xiaomi 13 Pro also has a ceramic back, and it comes in two colours – black and white. Of course, the moment I held this phone in my hand, it screamed premium! Now, I won't deny that this is a heavy phone, and the camera bump at the back is also prominent, but despite all that, I think the phone's weight distribution is pretty decent. And this is coming from someone who already uses the Galaxy S23 Ultra. So, while both the phones weigh almost the same, I found the Xiaomi 13 Pro more comfortable and ergonomic to use.

Moving on, what you get on the Xiaomi 13 Pro is this beautiful 10-bit 6.73" QHD+ Curved E6 AMOLED display that features an adaptive 1-120Hz refresh rate with a peak brightness of 1900 nits, which is the highest right now on any Android flagship smartphone. Apart from that, of course, you get all the bells and whistles you expect from a flagship panel, ie HDR10 playback, Dolby Vision, P3 Color and all that jazz. So, yeah, it's an eye-catching display that looks good aesthetically, and even quality-wise, it's super bright, has rich colours and contrasts, and overall, just looks gorgeous when you look at it The stereo speakers sound rich and loud, which I think are very good and only add to the immersive multimedia experience. Additionally, the device is resistant to drops and scratches, for protection, Corning on the front is protected by a sheet of Gorilla Glass Victus.

Furthermore, there is a fast and reliable under-display fingerprint reader for authentication. I must also mention that the haptics of the Xiaomi 13 Pro has improved, and it feels much better than the Xiaomi 12 Pro. Sure, it's still not iPhone-level, but the company is on the right track.

Moving on, the Xiaomi 13 Pro is powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, coupled with up to 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 256GB of UFS 4.0 storage, and this is the only variant that is going to be available in India. For software, there's MIUI 14 on top of Android 13, and Xiaomi is promising a total of 3 years of Android OS upgrades + 5 years of security patches. So, in terms of performance, the Xiaomi 13 Pro is a fast phone and coupled with Xiaomi's software, things fly on this device.

As far as MIUI 14 is concerned, I think Xiaomi's software has come a long way and with the strong hardware backing it, one will immediately start noticing the capabilities of MIUI. Of course, there is still a bloatware situation, which can be fixed by uninstalling apps that are seen as unnecessary. But more than bloatware, there are still some areas where I feel MIUI needs to be polished.

Now, in terms of speed, responsiveness, and fluid and snappy animations, MIUI 14 is right up there. However, app optimization could take a bit more work. For example, Instagram still doesn't feel as optimized as it should. And by the way, this is not Xiaomi's problem, but Android's problem. In fact, apart from Samsung, there is no other Android phone maker, including Google, that can deliver an unmatched Instagram user experience as you get it on an iPhone. So, software-wise, MIUI 14 is great. However, the company needs to work closely with Google regarding app optimization.

The Xiaomi 13 Pro packs a 4,800mAh battery under the hood, which supports 120W charging. As I mentioned earlier, the good thing is that Xiaomi ships a 120W charger in the box. However, we would have liked to see a PD charger here, as the charging brick still has a Type-A port instead of a Type-C. Otherwise, even in the case of charging, we still have to see how long fast charging can last. But, for now, we can say that the phone is capable of charging up to 50 per cent in under 10 minutes, which is pretty fast.

Lastly, the major selling point of the Xiaomi 13 Pro is its camera system, which has been co-engineered with Leica. Here you get a 50MP primary camera, ie 1" IMX989. It is paired with a 50MP telephoto camera, ie 50MP ultra-wide-angle camera with a 75mm floating lens with 115-degree FoV. 32MP for selfies on the front camera.

Now, in terms of camera features, the Xiaomi 13 Pro gets OIS, 8K video recording, Leica photographic style, etc. And all in all, the Xiaomi 13 Pro is poised to be one of the best camera phones many can buy. However, I have to mention the 75mm telephoto lens with which Xiaomi has been boasting about the super macro capabilities of the phone.

Let me confirm that the Super Macro Stick works like a charm! It's so cool that I was mesmerized by the results and thought to myself, why haven't other phone makers been able to achieve something like this before? But, of course, there's a lot more to the Xiaomi 13 Pro's camera, which is something we'll cover in our full review right now.

I think the partnership with Leica is a great decision, and if we are getting this offer, the future looks bright. With that said, the Xiaomi 13 Pro is priced at EUR 1,299. Also, the company intends to sell the Xiaomi 13 Pro in limited numbers to check the public response. And to be honest, as good as the Xiaomi 13 Pro is, what matters most is people's acceptance. Are Indians ready for an all-out Xiaomi smartphone with a premium price tag? Looks like we'll find out soon enough.

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