Check out these photos: The phone’s new camera takes really good DSLR-like photos that are impossible to take on an iPhone or Galaxy S23 Ultra

We’ve all been waiting for this phone to take the next-generation leap in phone camera quality and show us meaningful innovation across the Galaxy S23 Ultra, iPhone 14 Pro Max, and Google Pixel 7 Pro, and now it’s here.

But maybe not in the way we expected. The recently released Xiaomi 13 Pro makes no secret of its huge aspirations for the camera, but most of the talk was actually about the main camera sensor which is much larger than the competition.

Surprisingly, however, just days after the phone’s launch, Xiaomi 13 Pro owners are actually sharing less photos from their 1-inch dream camera sensor and more photos from… one of its other cameras!

The amazing new telephoto camera with close focus steals the show

Instead of using a long-range zoom camera like the Galaxy S22 Ultra, the Xiaomi 13 Pro uses a traditional zoom camera with a zoom range of 3.2X, or about 75mm.

And if that was the whole story, it would be… well, completely unremarkable! But this new camera actually comes with one superpower that we haven’t seen before in a zoom gun: It’s ability to focus until far away Close distances!

Xiaomi Mi 13 Pro close-up zoom photos

Being able to get up close with a zoom camera opens up a whole world of possibilities. Close-ups of pets, beautiful photos of bees and other insects, it all lends itself perfectly to this new camera.

The innovation behind this close focus ability with a telephoto camera is a floating element inside the lens that moves as you shift focus. Conventional cameras use a fixed lens and cannot achieve such close focus.

Xiaomi 13 Pro Telephoto camera in low light

One of the big advantages of using a relatively close telephoto range like 3.2X is that you can use a larger aperture, which allows more light to enter the sensor.

Many flagship phones can’t use zoom cameras at night simply because the combination of slow aperture and small sensor makes this impossible. But not Xiaomi 13 Pro. As you can see above, you can use the 3.2X zoom camera in various low light and even night conditions and get some great shots.

Colors are also something that Xiaomi has been working on in collaboration with its partner, the legendary camera company Leica.

In fact, the lens in the Xiaomi 13 series bears the Vario-Summicron brand name, where the “Vario” part denotes the presence of a zoom feature and the “Summicron” part denotes the Leica badge for maximum lens quality.

And it’s notable how Xiaomi has already switched to this lens after using a longer 5X periscope zoom on the 12S Ultra from earlier this year. This closer zoom range may be more versatile and people use it more often, plus it will come in handy for portrait shots as well.

Xiaomi Mi 13 Pro close-up zoom video

And of course, you can use the same close-up focus in video recording as well.

Here’s what the super zoom video looks like:

This is very impressive, the detail, color and general cinematic look you can get with this lens.

Xiaomi 13 Pro: Not just a camera phone

But the Xiaomi 13 Pro is far from just a camera phone, it’s a full-fledged flagship! In case you missed its main characteristics, here’s a quick summary.

Highlights of Xiaomi 13 Pro specifications:

Xiaomi 13 Pro: where and when can you buy one?

The Xiaomi phone already impressed phone camera enthusiasts with the 12S Ultra earlier in 2022, but this phone remained exclusive to the Chinese market, while the Xiaomi 13 Pro will be available outside of China. Company president Lei Jun teased that the global launch is expected to happen earlier than what we saw last year with the Xiaomi 12 series, so this could mean that the phones will arrive in the UK and Europe in February 2023.

Xiaomi phones aren’t officially sold in the US, and that won’t change anytime soon (if ever), but you can still import a phone. Amazon sells old Xiaomi phones, so this is one place to take care of after a few months, just keep in mind that an imported phone may not have all of the 5G connection bands suitable for the US market.