For a while, we didn’t want to hold out hope that the global Xiaomi Ultra would return – the 2021 model could be a memorable one-off. And we were led to believe that not only was it going to be global, but it wasn’t at all. In the end, everything worked out and now I have a Xiaomi 13 Ultra. One for China and one for the world. However, it should be noted that Xiaomi sent us a version of the phone with China-specific software. We are talking about the unique quad camera setup on the back of the handset. And when the 1-inch, 50-megapixel  main unit, perhaps the flagship of the series, is paired with a pair of telephoto and ultra-wide cameras, each with their 50-megapixel sensor, there’s something special I know there is. With his latest Snapdragon, his cutting-edge high-res, high-refresh-rate OLED screen, dust and water resistance,  fast charging, and more, you won’t be able to complain in the pages that follow. When I first saw the pictures, I thought it was a mediocre design, but when I tried the device out, I was blown away by how it looked. I am looking forward to the beginning of this camera corner with both excitement and anxiety. But everything comes in its own time.

Design

Putting premium camera hardware on a smartphone doesn’t mean it looks understated. The previous Xiaomi Ultra was only in incognito mode. But they always had what made the big camera setup attractive in its way. The specs say 9.1mm (measured by the thin ends of course) but our calipers said 9.3mm. The Leica side, on the other hand, is 15.2mm thick. So having the camera sticking out about 6mm from him would be eye-catching, not to mention it could cause problems for handling (and pulling it out of your pocket). In this case, a lamp would be very welcome. The cameras, developed in collaboration with German optical experts,  are gathered under a common glass circle with a diameter of 55 mm. The new Ultrawide sits on the top right of the cluster, so it’s closer to the edge of the phone. It’s a few millimetres taller than the 12S Ultra and sits slightly lower on the back of the phone. The back of the 13 Ultra is made of faux leather, not “real” leather, and it’s one of the best materials we’ve tested. The brass ring around the camera body could be a shade of green, but it could be a nice way to add some colour either way. Two other body colours are available, and no doubt the standard black and white will also be available. The bottom also has a speaker and microphone hole and a  SIM card slot (dual nano, no microSD card). The 13 Ultra’s physical controls are on the right side, with the power button in the middle and the volume rocker above it. We were sceptical at first, but the Xiaomi 13 Ultra convinced us with its design. The original looks good, handles well and feels expensive.

Display

The Xiaomi 13 Ultra has a truly stunning 6.73-inch OLED display. With a resolution of 1440 x 3200 pixels, 120Hz adaptive refresh, 1920Hz PWM dimming and Dolby Vision support, this device doesn’t miss a beat. In terms of brightness, the 13 Ultra reached just over 1200 nits in adjustable brightness mode. It’s about 100 nits smaller than FindEveryone. About 500 nits are available in the slider even without the sun hitting the ambient light sensor, so Xiaomi falls into the “normal” category, so to speak. With a score of 500/1200, it’s hard to blame Xiaomi for not being bright enough, with only the real best in the competition. Like other recent Xiaomi models with 1440p screens, the 13 Ultra gives you the option to render the phone at its resolution or a lower 1080p resolution. This assumes that the lower resolution consumes less battery and is a graphics-intensive task. The display supports refresh rates up to 120 Hz and has two refresh modes: regular (select 120 Hz or 60 Hz refresh rate) and standard (automatic switching behaviour). The screen supports high-frequency PWM dimming at 1920Hz, so those who are sensitive to the usual low-frequency PWM brightness controls found on OLED screens need not worry.

Software

The Xiaomi 13 Ultra runs MIUI 14 based on the Android 13 core. It’s the latest feature available on a Xiaomi smartphone, so as you’d expect, the Ultra gets a representation. It’s software that’s already been seen on the  13 Pro, so it shouldn’t be too surprising. Our evaluation unit is Chinese, so it uses language-specific software. This means that some properties differ from those of the global branch. A China-only release usually shows the phone’s software like this, but last year it did so with the 12S Ultra. In addition, there is a detailed review of MIUI 14 on Android 13 that we prepared earlier. It not only introduces the latest software from Xiaomi but also explains the differences between the Chinese version and the global version, which is more informative than just looking at the 13 Ultra. So instead of going through the interface in the reviews section, you’d better focus on our  13 Pro reviews to get a better idea of ​​what to expect.

Performance

Not surprisingly, the Xiaomi 13 Ultra packs Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, Qualcomm’s flagship 2023 chipset. This is the SoC that powers the 13 Pro, Galaxy S23 Ultra, Find X6 Pro and OnePlus 11. There are many others. You’ve probably read this before – just like the review above, but the SD 8 Gen 2 has high-quality cores, 4 performance cores (divided into another 2 and 2) and 3 not-so-financial ones. It has an octa-core processor with cores. Since this is an app, it’s a 1 2 2 3 setup. For perfection: 1 x 3.2 GHz Cortex-X3, 2 x 2.8 GHz Cortex-A715, 2 x 2.8 GHz Cortex-A710 and 3 x 2.0 GHz Cortex-A510 CPU cores. The Gen 2 chipset improves CPU performance by 35%  and efficiency by 40% compared to the previous generation, while the GPU side also offers 25% and 45% performance and efficiency (via Adreno 740). It also supports new high-speed storage technologies (LPDDR5X and UFS 4.0). That’s fine, but since you’re probably comparing the latest phones to their latest competitors, most current high-end devices share the same chip, so those differences don’t matter. The Xiaomi 13 Ultra has three storage options: 12GB/256GB, 16GB/512GB (review unit) and 16GB/1TB.

Camera

The Xiaomi 13 Ultra has a unique quad-camera setup, making it in many ways the most complete smartphone camera setup. This year is the year of the 1-inch camera sensor, and the Ultra has one too but adds a twist with an adjustable aperture. On the other hand, its other 3 rear cameras use the same sensor, and it is possible that either this phone or this phone has a larger image sensor, but the combination of Xiaomi’s ultra-wide angle lens and two telephoto lenses is difficult. beat What stands out in the 13 Ultra is what is in front of the sensor. Xiaomi has added a dual aperture to the main camera, allowing you to choose between a standard f/1.9 aperture (like the 13 Pro) or a narrowed f/4.0 mode. This allows you to control the depth of field, allowing you to capture sharper subjects up close, even if the wide-angle setting results in a very shallow depth of field. All Xiaomi 13 Pro use the same Sony IMX989 sensor. It is a Quad Bayer model with a nominal resolution of 50 megapixels and an individual pixel size of 1.6 µm, resulting in a 12.5-megapixel image after 4:1 binning (so we can consider the pixel pitch as 3.2 µm). The 13 Ultra’s camera app is a bit different from Xiaomi’s we’ve seen so far, at least on this Chinese version of the phone. This includes both the 12S Ultra, which went on sale in China last year, and the 13 Pro, which was launched globally a few months ago. Of course, this is not a dramatic difference, and the basic operations (changing modes, changing the zoom level) are simple. Xiaomi 13 Ultra records video up to 8K24 with all four rear cameras. All four rear cameras also support 4K resolution at 24, 30 and 60 frames per second. It also includes a 2x zoom level. Selfie cameras, on the other hand, are limited to 1080p resolution at 30 and 60 frames per second.

Battery

The 13 Ultra has a 5,000mAh battery like most of its competitors. That’s like an upgrade from the 4860mAh capacity of the 12S Ultra and a slight discount from the 5000mAh capacity of the 11 Ultra. We found this phone to score well on all of our tests, showing an overall improvement over its predecessor. The 13 Ultra supports USB Powerdelivery 3.0 and Qualcomm QuickCharge 4.0 and is designed to charge up to 90 watts. It says so on the included charger. In our tests, the power meter peaked at around 77W, which is pretty close. The browsing result of 15:29 hours is slightly below the category average, but the 19:13 hours achieved in gaming is on par with the Find X6 Pro and, if not quite, the vivo X90 Better than Pro. As good as the galaxy. Talk time was 36 hours and 31 minutes, a few hours shorter than the Galaxy, but better than the others. Overall, the Xiaomi 13 Ultra achieved its 108-hour durability. Xiaomi says the 13 Ultra can be fully charged in 35 minutes, but according to our measurements, it took 40 minutes. Maybe this figure is reached when the phone is turned off when the device is turned on and tested. 91-30 minutes.

Price

The Xiaomi 13 Ultra is priced at RMB 5,999 (roughly Rs. 71,600) for the base variant with 12GB RAM and 256GB storage. The mid-range model with 16GB  RAM and 512GB  storage costs RMB 6,499 (approximately Rs. 77,500), while the top model with 16GB  RAM and 1TB  storage costs RMB 7,299 (approximately Rs. 87,000). The expected price of Xiaomi 13 Ultra 5G in India starts at ₹ 71,499. Check out the detailed specifications and features of the Xiaomi 13 Ultra 5G.