Xiaomi Phone 13 Ultra VS iPhone 14 Pro Max: features, differences and price

Xiaomi has become one of the leading brands of “smart” mobile phones in several countries around the world, including USA, thanks to its wide catalog of smartphones with good value for money. But For some time now, it has no longer focused solely on the low and mid-rangebut also because of the top, even the prime.

The Xiaomi 13 Ultra is the new beast of asian pet. A phone that, on paper, has it all: raw power, spectacular cameras, very fast charging, all kinds of connectivity, and even a heart rate reader under the screen. And it all comes at a price that inevitably makes it compare to the iPhone 14 Pro Max.

This Apple terminal is a reference in terms of screen quality, battery life, performance and photography. Something to be expected given what it’s worth. WhatThe Xiaomi 13 Ultra will live up to the Cupertino proposal having a similar PVP?

Features iPhone 14 Pro Max and Xiaomi 13 Ultra

• Filter: Very similar in size, the iPhone has a 6.7-inch LTPO Super Retina XDR OLED panel capable of reaching 2,000 nits of brightness, is Dolby Vision compatible and has an adaptive refresh rate of 120 Hz , as well as an ODA function. The Xiaomi 13 Ultra has a 6.73-inch AMOLED display that can reach 2,600 nits of brightness and comes with a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate.
• Processor: The Xiaomi 13 Ultra integrates Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, one of the best processors for mobile devices on the market with the A16 Bionic, which is the one used by the iPhone 14 Pro Max.
• RAM and storage– The iPhone has 6GB of RAM and storage options ranging from 128GB to 1TB, while the Xiaomi can be configured with 12 or 16GB of super-fast LPDDR5X RAM and 256, 512GB or 1TB UFS 4.0 storage.
• cameras: The Xiaomi 13 Ultra has multiple rear cameras, the main one being 50 MP, and a 50 MP telephoto, a 50 MP super telephoto and a 50 MP wide-angle camera. The front is 32 MP. The iPhone 14 Pro Max has a triple rear camera, with a main sensor of 48 MP, and a wide angle and an ultra wide angle of 12 MP. The front is TrueDepth 12 MP.
• connectivity: Both terminals share similar connectivity. The main difference is in the connector, which on the Xiaomi 13 Ultra is USB-C and on the iPhone 14 Pro Max it’s Lightning.
• Operating system: the Apple smartphone uses iOS 16 and the Xiaomi 13 Ultra has Android 13 with the MIUI 14 customization layer.
• Battery: the Xiaomi 13 Ultra mounts a 5,000 mAh battery, and the iPhone 14 Pro Max a 4,323 mAh. Both phones have fast charging, with the Xiaomi being much higher.
• Price: Apple’s proposal is available from 1,469 dollars, and the Xiaomi 13 Ultra can be purchased from 1,499 dollars.

Xiaomi 13 Ultra VS iPhone 14 Pro Max, which phone to buy?

Xiaomi has long ceased to focus solely on affordable smartphones, a market in which it has been crowned king with entry-level and mid-range “smart” cellphones with good value for money. And that’s why many people don’t associate it with high end and primedespite the fact that it has terminals that adapt to it for price and functionality.

But the Xiaomi 13 Ultra could be the turning point, since it has features that, on paper, have nothing to envy to other phones like the iPhone 14 Pro Max, against which it competes directly. These are the points on which one and the other stand out the most.

The Xiaomi 13 Ultra is not a phone, but a camera

In addition to performance, the photographic section is one of the most pampered points by manufacturers, since it is increasingly difficult to notice the difference in power (the main tasks are writing WhatsApp messages, downloading photos on Instagram, surfing the Internet, reading e-mails, etc.), but in photography there is still room for improvement.

And it is that the Xiaomi 13 Ultra is basically a camera built into a mobile phone, because it has several sensors, one of an inch and three other IMX 858 from Sony which, although not so big, are very capable. It has a better lens than the Xiaomi 13 Pro and the processing algorithms change almost completely, and that’s very important. Here are the characteristics of the sensors:

• Main sensor: 50.3 MP, f/1.9 de/4.0 (variable aperture), 23mm, 1 pulgada, OIS. Sony IMX989.
• periscopic telephoto sensor: 50 MP, f/3.0, 120mm, 5x periscopic zoom, 1/2.51″, OIS.
• Optical telephoto sensor: 50 MP, f/1.8, 75mm, 3.2x optical zoom, 1/2.51″, OIS.
• Ultra wide angle sensor: 50 MP, f/1.8, 12mm, ultra wide angle sin OIS, 1/2.51″.
• 3D ToF sensor.

It allows shooting in RAW at 50 MP, and the shutter speed is better. However, as our colleagues from Xataka comment, the real-time HDR processing offered by Google and Apple is missed. At least the camera app is pretty comprehensive. It even performs well for taking night shots, which not all manufacturers manage to do well.

The iPhone 14 Pro Max and its unbeatable autonomy

It is amazing how Apple has improved the autonomy of the previous generation of its smartphones, and that in this one it has managed to increase it even more. And it is surprising because the iPhone 14 Pro Max has a 4323 mAh battery and can last up to 29 hours in video playback. That’s to say, you can spend more than a day watching series without the phone having to go through the charger

Battery optimization on Android smartphones is complicated. Several factors come into play, such as the customization layer, the processor, the battery size… That’s why it’s very difficult to reach Apple’s level. And the Xiaomi 13 Ultra is no exception.

Xiaomi’s latest beast has a 5,000 mAh battery. Although more usage time was gained compared to the Xiaomi 13 Pro (its battery was also slightly smaller), We are far from the figures of the titan Apple. In the analysis of our colleagues from Xataka, they concluded that with intensive use, you could get around six hours of screen time (a day and a half per charge, in this specific case).

But there’s something about the Xiaomi 13 Ultra that’s loved and that Apple has fallen behind: fast charging. The phone of the Asian brand can be recharged wired at an impressive 90W and wirelessly at 50W. This is much higher than what Apple offers, around 20W for Lightning and 15W for MagSafe. Although it is not good to abuse fast charging, it never hurts and can help us in a difficult moment.

MIUI is not what it used to be

There was a time when Xiaomi smartphones were distinguished not only by their low price, but also by their good performance. The company has always used the MIUI customization layer on its phoneswhich shares similarities with iOS and adds features not available on other Android phones.

A layer of personalization doesn’t have to be a bad thing. But if it is not well optimized and has bugs, no matter how good the smartphone features; the experience will be tarnished and leave something to be desired. And this has been one of the most recurring complaints in recent years regarding MIUI, that the customization layer it stopped working as well as before and the company does not fix errors that recur update after update.

Xiaomi launches many new phones every year, so much so that it becomes difficult to offer good support to each of them. This means that support for updates in the brand’s terminals is generally rare if we compare it to the plans of Samsung or Apple, since the Californians offer around six years per device.

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pictures | Apple, Xiaomi, Applesfera and Xataka

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