The Xiaomi 13 Pro is regarded as one of the best camera smartphones you can lay your hands on. Its Leica-tuned cameras with custom lenses, impressive post-processing and the powerful ISP of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip, make it one of the most desirable Android flagships of 2023. Hence, people were quite excited to see what Xiaomi does next after setting the bar of expectations so high. Well, based on recent developments, it looks like Xiaomi is all set to meet that bar.
As soon as Qualcomm revealed the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip in Hawaii, Xiaomi took to the stage to announce its next-generation flagship smartphone called the Xiaomi 14 Pro. Currently announced for China with multiple upgrades on paper, the Xiaomi 14 Pro is likely to take the fight to Apple’s iPhone 15 Pro Max and the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra.
While Xiaomi’s flagship phones have been focusing on camera performance lately, the star of this year’s instalment is the newly announced Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip that promises a notable boost in overall performance and power efficiency. Xiaomi has also made a few upgrades to the camera hardware, design and power reserve, all of which come together in a highly compelling package. However, are these upgrades worth making a move from the Xiaomi 13 Pro? That’s the million-dollar question.
To answer that, we have done a comprehensive comparison of the Xiaomi 14 Pro vs Xiaomi 13 Pro. Here’s how the two powerful smartphones fared:
Xiaomi 13 Pro vs Xiaomi 14 Pro’s specifications
Design
Xiaomi has always led the charge in designing the best iPhone clones and even in 2023, the tradition continues.
The Xiaomi 13 Pro took a lot of inspiration from the iPhone’s square-shaped rear camera hump and overall design. Continuing the same idea, the Xiaomi 14 Pro retains a similar square-shaped camera hump with better design detailing and iPhone 14 Pro-inspired flat sides with a chrome finish. There’s even a Titanium model that apes the iPhone 15 Pro’s matte flat sides.
Although this boils down to personal preferences, and we respect that, if we were to pick the better-looking phone here, our vote would go to the last-generation Xiaomi 13 Pro for its more elegant and well-balanced design.
Winner: Xiaomi 13 Pro
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Display
With a recent rise in the popularity of high-brightness OLED panels, it was expected that Xiaomi would pull off the unexpected.
The Xiaomi 13 Pro has a 6.7-inch QHD+ resolution 120Hz curved edge OLED panel with 1 billion colours and 1,900 nits of peak brightness. With the Xiaomi 14 Pro, Xiaomi retained the 6.7-inch panel but went for a flat display. The QHD+ OLED panel now supports up to 10 billion colours and a peak brightness of a whopping 3,000 nits. That makes it the brightest display we have seen on any smartphone.
Additionally, Xiaomi has ditched the Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protection in favour of a new Xiaomi Longjing Glass, which claims to offer better protection against drops and scratches. On the whole, the Xiaomi 14 Pro’s display appears to be the superior one here.
Winner: Xiaomi 14 Pro
Performance
The Xiaomi 13 Pro with its Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset had been one of the fastest Android smartphones to buy until Qualcomm dropped the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chipset.
With superior performance and greater efficiency on offer, the new Xiaomi 14 Pro is one of the fastest Android smartphones today, if not the fastest. With up to 16GB LPDDR5X RAM and 1TB UFS 4.0 storage, the Xiaomi 14 Pro also offers the fastest read/write speeds, thereby offering blistering fast app loading times.
However, the most notable change has been made on the software front.
Instead of the ageing MIUI interface that powers the Xiaomi 13 Pro, the Xiaomi 14 Pro debuts the new HyperOS custom experience based on Android 14. Basing its focus on AI and performance, HyperOS aims to create an entire ecosystem of smart devices and smart cars.
Winner: Xiaomi 14 Pro
Cameras
As the Xiaomi 13 Pro already has an incredible camera system to begin with, it’s perfectly understandable that Xiaomi isn’t changing much with this year’s Xiaomi 14 Pro.
For the rear camera system, Xiaomi is using a 50-megapixel sensor with a new lens assembly while retaining the same 50-megapixel telephoto camera with 3.2x optical zoom and 50-megapixel ultra-wide camera from its predecessor. Xiaomi promises better results with this mildly modified hardware courtesy of all the software advancements.
As for the front cameras, while the 32-megapixel sensor remains identical, the Xiaomi 14 Pro’s selfie camera can record 4K videos at 30 fps.
Winner: Xiaomi 14 Pro
Battery
The battery capacities on both the Xiaomi 13 Pro and Xiaomi 14 Pro are almost identical. The Xiaomi 13 Pro relies on a 4,820 mAh battery whereas the Xiaomi 14 Pro gets a slightly bigger 4,880 mAh battery. Both smartphones feature the same 120W fast wired charging solution capable of fully charging the battery in 20 minutes. There’s also support for 50W wireless charging and 10W reverse wireless charging.
Winner: Xiaomi 14 Pro
Xiaomi 14 Pro vs Xiaomi 13 Pro: Our verdict
When all is said and done, the Xiaomi 14 Pro is the superior smartphone. Coming in as the successor to the Xiaomi 13 Pro, the new model keeps all of the predecessor’s strengths while improving on its areas of weakness.
The new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip promises a huge boost in performance and that alone could be a driving factor for most consumers. The advancements to the camera system and the new HyperOS experience are also key reasons to consider the Xiaomi 14 Pro over its predecessor and rivals.
That said, the Xiaomi 13 Pro is still a splendid flagship smartphone and if you are able to secure a good deal on it, it gets our top recommendation for those seeking greater value for money. Its Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip and Leica-tuned 50-megapixel triple rear camera system are still quite impressive. Not to mention, the Xiaomi 13 Pro is also a better-looking phone than its successor.
(Hero and Featured Image Credits: Courtesy Xiaomi)
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
– What is the difference between Xiaomi 14 Pro and Xiaomi 13 Pro?
The Xiaomi 14 Pro uses the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, a brighter 6.7-inch QHD+ 120Hz OLED display, a 4,880 mAh battery with 120W wired charging and 50W wireless fast charging.
– What is the price of the Xiaomi 14 Pro?
The Xiaomi 14 Pro has been launched in China at a starting price of CNY 4,999 (HKD 5,389) for the base variant.
– What are the specifications of the Xiaomi 14 Pro?
The Xiaomi 14 Pro features a 6.7-inch QHD+ 120Hz OLED display with 3,000 nits of peak brightness, a Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 chip, a 4,880 mAh battery with 120W wired and 50W wireless fast charging and a 50-megapixel triple rear camera system.
