The Xiaomi 12 and 12 Pro launched in 2022 came with the problematic Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 SOC, which was based on Samsung’s 4nm manufacturing, which was not very efficient and presented many performance and temperature issues.
This resulted in the Xiaomi 12 and 12 Pro having serious overheating issues even in simple day-to-day use like using the cameras, as well as subpar gaming performance due to thermal throttling. On the other hand, the Xiaomi 13 and Xiaomi 13 Pro seem to be turning things around, as initial benchmark results report a massive performance boost.
Xiaomi recently confirmed that the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SOC will be used for the Xiaomi 13 series. On Geekbench, the Xiaomi 13 Pro scored an excellent 5342 in the multi-core score and more than 1504 in the single-core score. The vanilla Xiaomi 13 scored 5343 in the multi-core test and 1507 in the single-core test.
Xiaomi 2211133C and Xiaomi 2210132C are most likely Xiaomi 13 and Xiaomi 13 Pro. They share the same SOC, with 8 CPUs and three efficiency cores. At the Snapdragon Summit, Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, now known for offering one primary core, four performance cores and three efficiency cores.
8 Gen 2 includes a Cortex X3 core (3.2 GHz), four powerful cores (Cortex A715) and three efficient cores at 2.02 GHz. The Xiaomi 13 and Xiaomi 13 Pro this time offer 12 gigabytes of RAM, so they share the same performance as they provide the same SOC.
On Geekbench, both offer remarkably similar benchmark results, around 5300 multi-core and 1500 single-core. Samsung has the highest frequency of the 8 Gen 2 so far, but according to early benchmark scores, the S23 Ultra still scores below the Xiaomi 13 Pro, which does not have an overclocked version of the chip; it uses the standard Snapdragon 8 Gen 2.
In comparison, the S23 Ultra with the higher clocked chip has a Geekbench score of around 4700, but since it’s still launch time, there may be an optimization bug at the moment and overall performance may improve over time. But now we have a new lead in CPU performance in the Android world that goes to the Xiaomi 13 and Xiaomi 13 Pro.
The Xiaomi 13 Pro looks like an exciting phone with the IMX 989 as the primary sensor, a 1″ sensor from Sony that is well known. The leaks visualize a polarizing design, a zoom lens and an improved ultra-wide-angle camera. We’ll also see a 1440P 120Hz OLED (E6) display with Dolby Vision support and insane peak brightness levels. For the basic variant, it will have 8 or 12 GB of RAM.
The Xiaomi 13 Pro is a well-rounded flagship with excellent specifications and can compete with high-end phones. The only thing it’s missing is a periscope lens, but that’s not expected at the price it’s launching at, around $899, according to leaks. It will also mostly run Xiaomi’s MIUI 14 skin based on Android 13 out of the box.
Xiaomi 13 and Xiaomi 13 Pro score significantly higher than Xiaomi 12 and 12 Pro. They achieve 20% more in the single-core CPU test and 45% more in the multi-core test. However, it’s still not enough to dethrone the Apple A16 in the CPU department, as the A16 scores over 5600 in the multi-core tests and 1800-1900 in the single-core tests.
