The xiaomi 13 series has launched in China, but how does the base model in the lineup compare to the Galaxy S22? The Xiaomi 13 series consists of two smartphones: the vanilla Xiaomi 13 and the Xiaomi 13 Pro. Both models are powered by Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC and feature 120Hz AMOLED displays. However, of the two phones, the Xiaomi 13 has a smaller screen, which allows it to compete with the compact Galaxy S22.
The xiaomi 13 comes with a 6.36-inch OLED display with a peak brightness of 1,900 nits, while the Galaxy S22 comes with a 6.1-inch AMOLED display with a peak brightness of 1,300 nits. While both phones support a maximum refresh rate of 120 Hz, the Galaxy S22 has a higher pixel density and is equipped with Corning Gorilla Glass Victus Plus. As for the design, both phones have a similar front panel with a punch hole in the top center and symmetrical bezels on all sides. However, the Xiaomi 13 has a square camera island, while the S22 has a rectangular camera bump. Both smartphones have an IP68 water resistance rating.
Xiaomi 13 has a faster processor
As for the color options, the latest Xiaomi flagship comes in four colors: Mountain Blue, Flora Green, Black and White. On the other hand, Samsung offers five color options – Phantom White, Phantom Black, Green, Pink Gold and Bora Purple. The Galaxy S22 draws its power from the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 released in 2021. The primary Cortex-X2 performance core is clocked at 3 GHz. In addition, the processor has three Cortex-A710 cores clocked at 2.5 GHz and four Cortex-A510 cores ticking at 1.8 GHz. On Geekbench, the processor scores around 1,280 points in the single-core and 3,830 points in the multi-core performance test.
The Xiaomi 13, on the other hand, runs on the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC, an octa-core chipset with a revised cluster structure. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 has one Cortex-X3 core clocked at 3.2 GHz, two Cortex-A715 cores clocked at 2.8 GHz, two Cortex-A710 clocked at 2.8 GHz, and three Cortex-A510 cores. Early Geekbench scores suggest that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 scores approximately 1,480 points in the single-core and more than 5,000 points in the multi-core performance test.
According to the performance tests, the Xiaomi 13 is significantly faster than the Galaxy S22. However, that does not mean that the Samsung phone is slow. Both smartphones can easily handle multitasking and intensive gaming. Another distinguishing factor between smartphones is their user interface. While both phones ship with Android 13, the Xiaomi 13 runs MIUI 14, while the Galaxy S22 recently got the One UI 5.0 update.
Cameras, battery life and price
The Xiaomi 13 and the Galaxy S22 have similar camera configurations. The former comes with a 50 MP (f/1.8) primary sensor, 10 MP (f/2.0) telephoto sensor with up to 3.2x optical zoom, and a 12 MP (f/2.2) ultra-wide sensor. The Xiaomi 13 can record videos in 8K resolution at 24 fps. For comparison: the Galaxy S22 has a 50MP (f/1.8) primary camera which can also record 8K videos at 24 fps, a 10 MP (f/2.4) telephoto camera for up to 3x optical zoom, and a 12 MP (f/2.2) ultra-wide camera. On the front, Xiaomi 13 has a 32MP (f/2.0) sensor, while the Galaxy S22 has a 10MP (f/2.2) sensor. Both phones can record HDR10+ videos with stereo surround sound.
When it comes to battery life, the Xiaomi 13 is the clear winner. The smartphone has a 4,500 mAh battery that supports up to 67 W wired charging and 50 W wireless fast charging. The Galaxy S22 doesn’t come close, with a battery capacity of 3,700 mAh and support 25W wired and 15W wireless charging. However, both smartphones are similar in connectivity and biometric options including USB Type-C, Wi-Fi 6, NFC, GPS, Bluetooth LE and built-in fingerprint scanners.
The base version of Xiaomi 13 with 8 GB RAM and 128 GB storage costs ¥3,999 (~$575) in China. But Xiaomi probably won’t release the phone in the US, giving the $799 Galaxy S22 with 8GB RAM and 256GB storage the upper hand. Nevertheless, the Xiaomi 13 is more powerful and also less expensive, and in any case is the better choice in markets where it is available until the Galaxy S23 comes along.
