Release date, rumors, specs, price, and more

Xiaomi is known as a mid-market player, with the Redmi and Poco brands serving as bread and butter for the company in terms of shipping volume. But the company has also been offering flagship phones for a long time, and the numbered (formerly Mi) series is the most prominent flagship line. The company launched the Xiaomi 12 Series in the global markets in early 2022, but what does it have in store for the Xiaomi 13 family? There are quite a few unconfirmed details at this point, but here’s everything we know about the new flagship range.

Xiaomi has been releasing a flagship smartphone family every year for years, so it’s almost guaranteed that we’ll see the Xiaomi 13 – plus most likely a Pro variant – in 2023. Xiaomi also debuted the more compact 12X alongside the 12 and 12 Pro earlier this year, so we expect a Xiaomi 13X alongside the 13 and 13 Pro.

Will it actually be called the Xiaomi 13? Well, that’s just an assumption now. But the company has changed things before. Most recently, it dropped the “Mi” prefix so that the Mi 11 was succeeded by the Xiaomi 12. Going back even further, the company skipped the Mi 7 name in favor of the Mi 8 moniker.

• Xiaomi Mi 9 — February 20, 2019
• Xiaomi Mi 10 Series — February 13, 2020
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Series — December 28, 2020
• Xiaomi 12 Series — December 28, 2021

Xiaomi has not confirmed the existence of the Xiaomi 13 series, let alone a release date. But a look at previous Xiaomi releases, seen above, gives us an idea of ​​what to expect.

It’s a safe bet that we should see the phones by February 2023 at the latest. But the company’s decision to launch the last two generations at the end of December means we could very well see the same thing happen with the Xiaomi 13.

It’s also worth noting that the above launch dates are mostly for China. Global markets can be a few weeks to a few months behind if it is not a simultaneous China/global affair. For example, the Xiaomi Mi 9 launched in Europe on February 24, 2019. Meanwhile, the Xiaomi 12 has landed in Europe on March 15.

A Rumor of Weibo Tipter Digital Chat Station suggests we could even see a November launch for the Xiaomi 13. That would be much sooner than before, presumably in the wake of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 launch, which will also take place in November.

Here’s what we know about the Xiaomi 13 family so far based on leaks and well-researched guesswork.

Design

We have not seen many reliable leaks related to the design of the Xiaomi 13 series. Perhaps the most notable leak yet came from the… TechGoing exhaust pipe. The publication got a clear Xiaomi 13 Pro rendering. This is obviously not the standard model, but it does give us an idea of ​​what the standard model might look like. Check out the image below.

Specifications and Features

Perhaps the most obvious feature we expect is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, as Xiaomi’s flagship phones are usually among the first to adopt new high-end Snapdragon silicon.

Leaker Digital Chat Station Reportedly claimed that the vanilla Xiaomi 13 will get a QHD + resolution and an LTPO OLED display. The standard Xiaomi 12 lacked this feature, while the Xiaomi Mi 11 did indeed get a QHD+ screen. So it’s a gamble at the moment.

There’s no word yet on battery capacity for both phones, but a certification list: apparently points to 67W wired charging speeds for the standard model. That would be in line with the current vanilla flagship. Frankly, we’re happy with this wattage if it means Xiaomi can offer great battery health while charging at these speeds. Meanwhile, a certification list: for the Pro model points to charging speeds of 120 W, in line with the Xiaomi 12 Pro.

We’re not sure about all the camera-related specs yet, but it seems like a good idea that the Xiaomi 13 series will offer Leica branding. However, Weibo tipsters have pointed to a one-inch main camera, which will likely land on the Pro model.

The last few Xiaomi vanilla flagships have not offered a telephoto camera, but we hope that changes this time. However, the Pro model has mostly offered a telephoto camera, so it goes without saying that we will see this option on the 13 Pro.

• Xiaomi Mi 10 — Rs. 49,999 / €799 / £699
• Xiaomi Mi 11 — €749 / £749
• xiaomi 12 — €799 / £749
• Xiaomi 12 Pro — €999 / £1,049

There’s no word on pricing yet, but we can speculate based on pricing for Xiaomi’s previous flagship phones. The Xiaomi 12 received a €50 price increase in Europe over the Mi 11, while UK prices remained the same. However, the Xiaomi Mi 10 was actually £50 cheaper than the Mi 11 in the UK, but €50 more expensive in Europe. Meanwhile, the Xiaomi 12 Pro took the series to a much higher price range.

Anyway, it goes without saying that we will see similar prices for the Xiaomi 13 series. Can we even see a price drop with the new phones? Well, we wouldn’t bet on it, but we hope Google’s aggressive pricing with its Pixel series leads to similarly aggressive discounts from OEMs like Xiaomi.

Xiaomi 13: what we want to see

The Xiaomi Mi flagship series has grown stronger over the years. It started out as an affordable flagship range, but has since grown into a quintessential high-end series, battling it out with Apple, Google, and Samsung.

The Xiaomi 13 and 13 Pro will probably pick up where the standard Xiaomi 12 series left off in early 2022. But this way the Chinese brand can deliver a better product.

One of the more disappointing omissions for the Xiaomi 12 pair was the lack of water resistance. This is a big change from rival flagship phones, which offer IP67 or IP68 ratings for complete water resistance.

We definitely want to see Xiaomi bring this to its future flagship release. And the company can’t easily pull a OnePlus and claim that IP ratings cost a lot of money when even cheaper devices like the Pixel 7 provide a high degree of protection against ingress.

The vanilla Mi 10, Mi 11 and Xiaomi 12 all lack telephoto cameras, despite the fact that the Mi 9, Mi 8 and Mi 6 had them. The Xiaomi 12 Pro did have a telephoto lens, but it was capped at a meager 2x optical zoom.

We hope that the Chinese manufacturer will go against this trend and offer a telephoto camera on the Xiaomi 13 to deliver a higher quality zoom. But if Xiaomi forgoes a telephoto lens, we hope the company offers top-notch image algorithms for close-range zoom. Meanwhile, we’d love to see more impressive telephoto zoom on the Pro model.

Xiaomi’s main Mi range was affordable flagship phones in the best sense of the word, offering great value for money. But the game has changed in recent years and both established players (Google, Samsung) and other Chinese brands (OnePlus, Realme) are arguably better value for money these days.

You just need to look at the launch price of the Xiaomi 12 in Europe, which comes in at €799 (~$805). That’s $150 more expensive than the Pixel 7 on the market. We’d love for the Xiaomi 13 to compete with Google and Samsung by delivering a much more competitive price.