We’ve all been waiting for that one phone to bring the next generation leap in phone camera quality and show us meaningful innovation over the Galaxy S23 Ultra, iPhone 14 Pro Max and the Google Pixel 7 Pro, and now it’s here.
But maybe not in the form we expected. The just-released Xiaomi 13 Pro makes no secret of its massive camera ambitions, but most of the talk has actually been about the main camera sensor being much bigger than the competition.
But surprisingly, a few days after the phone’s release, Xiaomi 13 Pro owners are sharing fewer photos from that 1-inch dream camera sensor and more photos from… one of its other cameras!
A surprising new telephoto camera with close-up focus steals the show
Instead of using a long-range periscope zoom camera like you have on the Galaxy S22 Ultra, for example, the Xiaomi 13 Pro uses a traditional zoom camera with a zoom range of 3.2x, or about 75mm.
And if this were the whole story, it would be… well, pretty unremarkable! But this new camera actually has one superpower that we’ve never seen before in a zoom shooter: it can focus on extreme short distances!
Xiaomi 13 Pro close-up zoom photos
Being able to get this close with the zoom camera opens up a whole world of possibilities. Close-ups of pets, beautiful photos of bees and other insects, all just lend themselves perfectly to this new camera.
The innovation behind this ability to focus up close with a telephoto camera is a floating element in the lens that moves as you shift the focus. Traditional cameras use a stationary lens and cannot focus such a close-up.
Xiaomi 13 Pro telephoto camera in low light
A big advantage of a relatively short zoom range, such as 3.2x, is that you can use a wider aperture, which means that much more light falls on the sensor.
Many flagship phones can’t really use their zoom cameras at night, simply because the combination of a small aperture and small sensor makes it impossible. But not the Xiaomi 13 Pro. As you can see above, the 3.2x zoom allows you to use the camera in a variety of low-light conditions and even at night and take impressive shots.
Colors are also something Xiaomi has been working on in collaboration with its partner, the legendary camera company Leica.
Actually, the lens of the Xiaomi 13 series bears the Vario-Summicron brand name, with the “Vario” part referring to the presence of a zoom function and the “Summicron” part referring to Leica’s badge of the highest lens quality.
And it’s remarkable how Xiaomi actually switched to this lens after using a longer 5x zoom periscope shooter on the 12S Ultra from earlier this year. Only this shorter zoom range might be more versatile and more commonly used by people, and it will come in handy for portrait shots too.
Xiaomi 13 Pro close-up zoom video
And of course, you can also use the same close-up focus in video recording.
This is what a super close-up video looks like:
Xiaomi 13 Pro comes with a 75mm (3.2x zoom) camera that can focus at very close distances (as close as 4 inches or 10cm). Photo and video quality is insane! Video source – Xiaomi official account on Weibo pic.twitter.com/7U9zgywgA8
— Victor Hristov (@TheVicExpress) December 14, 2022
This is seriously impressive, the details, the colors and just the overall cinematic look you can get with this lens.
Xiaomi 13 Pro: not just a camera phone
But the Xiaomi 13 Pro is far from just a camera phone, it’s a full-fledged flagship! In case you missed the main features, here’s a quick summary.
Xiaomi 13 Pro Specs Highlights:
- Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip
- Curved 6.73 inch OLED display with the latest Samsung E6 panel
- Latest LPDDR5X RAM, latest UFS 4.0 storage
- Triple rear view camera system with 1 inch main sensor
- 4,820 mAh battery
- 120W fast wired charging, 50W wireless charging, 10W reverse charging
- MIUI 14 with Android 13 on board
Xiaomi 13 Pro: where and when can you buy one?
Xiaomi already impressed phone camera enthusiasts with the 12S Ultra earlier in 2022, but that phone remained exclusive to the Chinese market, while the Xiaomi 13 Pro will be available outside of China. Company chief Lei Jun teased that a global launch is expected to happen earlier than what we saw last year with the Xiaomi 12 series, so this could mean the phones will arrive in the UK and Europe around February 2023.
Xiaomi phones aren’t officially sold in the United States and this isn’t likely to change any time soon (if ever), but you can still import one. Amazon sells older Xiaomi phones, so that’s a place to look after a few months, but be aware that an imported phone may not have all the correct 5G connectivity bands for the US market.
