Xiaomi 13 Ultra global launch has been confirmed. The 13 Ultra will launch in China first, in April itself, followed by a global release in the coming months, Xiaomi announced today. The big selling point of course will be the phone’s Leica optics and Xiaomi is— as expected— promising nothing but the moon.
Leica has—also— started teasing the partnership calling it a crucial step with a far-reaching significance. Xiaomi has Leica have worked together before, first on the 12S Ultra followed by the 13 series of smartphones, more precisely the 13 and 13 Pro. The 12S never made it out of China but the 13 series did launch globally, with the 13 Pro also making its way to India.
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What’s different about the 13 Ultra is that it would be Xiaomi’s “ultimate” flagship phone with offering the best of specs and pricing to match. The duo hasn’t shared technical details at the time of writing but Leica’s hype post shared on Twitter says the 13 Pro is likely to get a lens system with a large aperture, compact size, and high imaging performance over the entire focal length range. The ultrawide and telephoto on the 13S Ultra are said to also have parity in quality which is being described as “the coming-of-age-ceremony of mobile imaging.”
Xiaomi and Leica announced their long-term strategic partnership in 2022. While the 12S Ultra did not launch globally, Xiaomi –had— promised its next Leica” flagship would have a much wider release and with the 13S Ultra launch officially confirmed, it is ready to deliver. If the 12S Ultra and 13 Pro are anything to go by, we can expect the 13 Ultra to be nothing short of brilliant, at least as far as mobile photography is concerned.
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Xiaomi isn’t the only Chinese brand to partner with a camera icon like this. OnePlus has, similarly, partnered with Swedish camera maker Hasselblad to “co-develop” the camera systems seen inside its flagship phones like the recently launched OnePlus 11. Vivo, likewise, makes its X-series flagship phones in close partnership with another German imaging giant ZEISS.
