Xiaomi 13 Ultra review

Industry-leading camera setup

The Xiaomi 13 Ultra has a quad-camera setup unlike any other, and in many ways, it's the most complete imaging capture hardware on a smartphone. This year is the year of the 1-inch camera sensors, and the Ultra has one as well, but adds a special touch by including a changeable aperture. Meanwhile, the other three cameras on its back all use the same sensor, and even though this phone or that phone may have a larger imager on one camera or another, the Xiaomi's combo of extreme ultrawide and two telephotos is hard to beat.

The primary camera's underlying hardware isn't unique - the vivo X90 Pro (the Pro+ too), the Oppo Find X6 Pro, and even Xiaomi's own 13 Pro all use the same Sony IMX989 sensor. It's a Quad Bayer design with a 50MP nominal resolution and 1.6µm individual pixels that result in 12.5MP images after the 4-to-1 binning (you can think of it as 3.2µm pixel pitch then).

Where the 13 Ultra stands out is with what's in front of that sensor. Xiaomi has implemented a dual-aperture diaphragm on the main camera here, allowing you to choose between the default f/1.9 aperture (same as the 13 Pro) or a stopped-down f/4.0 mode. That gives you control over the depth of field and should allow you to capture sharper subjects at closer distances, where the wide open setting otherwise makes for a very shallow depth of field.

The 8-element lens is stabilized, too - fitting the diaphragm mechanism didn't interfere with that.

The other three cameras use a Sony IMX858 each. This one has a 1/2.51" optical format and is also nominally a 50MP Quad Bayer unit with individual pixels measuring 0.7µm. This consistency in hardware is a good recipe for consistency in image properties, we reckon - we'll see about that.

The ultrawide camera's lens has a specified coverage of 122 degrees which is hugely wide and corresponds to something like a 12mm equivalent focal length on a full-frame camera. The 12S Ultra and 11 Ultra also had extremely wide ultrawide cameras, so it's apparently Xiaomi's preferred way of doing things.

Since we mentioned previous Ultras, it's worth pointing out that they both had larger sensors on their ultrawides (1/2.0", 48MP), and the vivo X90 Pro+ (China only) has the same size sensor. The current Oppo Find X6 Pro (also China only) has an even bigger sensor on its ultrawide camera, at 1/1.56", though it can't cover quite as wide a frame as the Xiaomi. The Galaxy S23 Ultra's ultrawide camera uses a similarly-sized sensor (albeit different in principle), and the vivo X90 Pro (non-Plus, global) has a smaller one, at 1/2.93".

Moving on to the telephotos, of which there are two. The shorter one has an equivalent focal length of 75mm (3.2x zoom compared to the main camera's 23mm) and an f/1.8 aperture. The longer one's periscope lens stands at 120mm equivalent (5x zoom) and f/3.0. Both of these feature optical stabilization.

Comparisons against competitors can turn out pretty lengthy, so we'll only mention the Find X6 Pro's 3x zoom - its larger sensor (1/1.56") does give it an edge on the one hand, though its dimmer lens (f/2.6) and shorter reach (65mm) maybe negate that in a way. And then the Find has no answer to the Xiaomi's 5x telephoto.

It's the 13 Ultra's selfie game that we're not so sure about. The 32MP sensor on the front-facing camera has been around for a while, and the way it's being implemented leaves a lot to be desired - for one, there's no 8MP mode, so you only get 32MP photos. It's also missing autofocus, and there's no 4K video recording capability either. Not quite fitting for a flagship device.

Camera app

The camera app on the 13 Ultra, at least on this Chinese version of the phone, differs somewhat from the one previous Xiaomis we've seen, and that includes both the Chinese 12S Ultra from last year and the global 13 Pro from a few months ago. It's not a dramatic difference, of course, and basic operation (switching modes, changing zoom level) is straightforward.

The viewfinder has a couple of toggles on the far end, one for the Leica mode (Vibrant or Authentic), and one for the flash mode. Around here is sort of a status bar, where indicators for other settings appear when you switch them on (for example, the Auto HDR) and tapping on those indicators deactivates the feature and remove the indicator.

If you want to enable the feature once again, you either pull down from anywhere in the viewfinder, or tap on the little arrow button. That opens up a contextual settings menu that varies depending on which mode you're in - in Photo mode includes things like aspect ratio, Timed burst (a.k.a. intervalometer - neat), macro mode (auto, off, on), and the all-important aperture setting (f/1.9, f/4.0, but also auto).

Camera app

There's a full-featured Pro mode where you can adjust exposure settings (white balance, ISO, shutter speed, aperture, exposure compensation). Naturally, you can also use manual focus here. Several aids are available, including a live histogram, focus peaking, and zebras.

Camera app, Pro mode

A unique feature enabled by the changing aperture and its resulting larger depth of field is the Fastshot mode. It's based on the principle of hyperfocal distance shooting, in which there's a range of distances at which subjects will be in acceptably sharp focus. You can set the focus at three predetermined distances (0.6m, 1.2m, 5m) and be ready to take a shot in 0.8s with a double press on the volume down button to launch the camera.

Camera app, Fastshot mode