We are expecting the Xiaomi 13 and Xiaomi 13 Pro to finally launch this week too…
(Image credit: Xiaomi)
The Xiaomi 13 series was due to get its official launch on December 1, 2022, but it hasn’t happened yet. Xiaomi posted about the delay to launch on the Chinese social media site Weibo, which was spotted by NotebookCheck and simply read: “We regret to inform you that the launch of the new Mi 13 series will be postponed. We will notify you as soon as the new release date is confirmed. Thank you for your understanding and support.”
According to the Indian Express, the delay is due to the sudden demise of China’s former president Jiang Zemin and we should expect the phone to launch on December 8 now, instead. Amidst this postponement, a new leak has surfaced online, sharing some key specifications for the Xiaomi 13 Ultra’s camera setup.
If you're not familiar with the Xiaomi brand, you'll find the best Xiaomi phone in our roundup guide. Xiaomi offers decent cameras and great specs for less than the latest iPhone or Google Pixel phone, but is it easy to get excited about them? Let's look at the likely Xiaomi 13 lineup including the Xiaomi 13 Ultra.
Initially, we expect the Xiaomi 13 series to be made up of the vanilla Xiaomi 13 – the successor to the Xiaomi 12 – and the Xiaomi 13 Pro replacing the Xiaomi 12 Pro, with an Ultra variant making the series a trio later on. It’s the camera setup on the Xiaomi 13 Ultra that tipster Digital Chat Station, via GSMArena, has shared key specs of.
According to Digital Chat Station, who shared the leak on Weibo, the Xiaomi 13 Ultra will feature a four-camera setup with the primary 1-inch Sony IMX989 sensor as seen in the Xiaomi 12S Ultra – an excellent camera phone which we awarded five stars in our review.
What’s interesting, and indeed different, is that the Ultra is now rumored to feature gimbal stabilization. The leak also confirms PDAF autofocus on all four of its sensors and a dToF (Direct Time-of-Flight) sensor.
Xiaomi 13 series: What we know so far
When Xiaomi confirmed the launch date (that didn’t happen) for its upcoming Xiaomi 13 series, which was due to be launched alongside MIUI 14, Xiaomi boss, Lei Jun, shared an official render of the Xiaomi 13 on the Chinese social media site, Weibo.
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The company also confirmed the Xiaomi 13 as having a flat OLED screen with super-slim bezels. On the top and sides, the bezels will measure just 1.61mm thick and the bottom one will measure 1.81mm. We also now know the phone will be 71.5mm wide and feature an IP68 rating, meaning that it is water and dustproof.
As the new Xiaomi 13 phones will launch at the same time as Xiaomi's MIUI 14 interface, we hope to see it pre-installed. If it’s not, it’s sure to be the first to get the software upgrade.
While the 12 series phones launched with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chip, the Xiaomi 13 series is rumored to launch with the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. This unconfirmed rumor is corroborated by @OnLeaks in collaboration with Zoutons and CompareDial, who shared renders earlier this month and by Yogesh Brar last month, too.
Rachael is a British journalist with 18 years experience in the publishing industry. Since working on www.digitalcameraworld.com, she’s been freelancing, and contributing to some of the world’s best-loved websites and magazines including T3.com and TechRadar.com and has also had a book, iPad for Photographers, published. She's currently acting as editor of 5GRadar.com - a website specializing in the latest cellular technology.
