Launched in China at the tail end of 2022, the Xiaomi 13 series is finally making its way to the rest of the world on February 26, just before the MWC 2023 kicks off in Barcelona from February 27 to March 2.
Once revealed to the rest of the world, it is expected that Xiaomi will also be present at the Mobile World Congress to showcase the series and MIUI 14, Xiaomi’s custom take on Android 13.
Xiaomi will live stream the launch on its official website and social media accounts starting from 9:30 PM IST (7 PM in Nairobi), if you would like to follow the event as it happens.
As expected, both the Pro and vanilla version of the Xiaomi 13 series will be unveiled, with rumours of an Ultra model being released later in the coming months. Being proper flagships, the Xiaomi 13 and 13 Pro are powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC and boast up to 12 GB RAM and 512 GB of internal storage.
The cameras will be a point of focus after Xiaomi and Leica partnered to develop the Leica branded lens. The vanilla and Pro versions will feature this Leica branded lens, but with different configurations.
The Xiaomi 13 Pro has a triple camera set-up consisting of a 50.3 MP primary (with OIS), 50 MP telephoto, and 50 MP ultrawide units while the Xiaomi 13 features a 50 MP primary (with OIS), 10 MP telephoto and 12 MP ultrawide sensors. The selfie camera for both models consists of a single 32 MP sensor.
The Xiaomi 13 Pro is also physically bigger, topping out at 6.7 inches of display, allowing it to pack a bigger battery (4,820 mAh) than the vanilla. The battery supports 120 W fast charging when wired, 50 W wireless charging and 10 W reverse wireless charging while the Xiaomi 13 can do 67 W wired, 50 W wireless and 10 W reverse wireless on a 4,500 mAh battery.
We will obviously have to wait for Xiaomi to release the global pricing, however, for reference purposes, Xiaomi 13 launched in China at CNY 3,999 which is around Kshs 74,000 while the Xiaomi 13 Pro launched at CNY 4,999 (Kshs 92,000).
