Xiaomi 13 Ultra vs Sony Xperia 1 V

We’re here to compare two camera-centric smartphones. This time around, we’re comparing the Xiaomi 13 Ultra vs Sony Xperia 1 V. Both of these smartphones are brand new, basically. The Xiaomi 13 Ultra arrived in April, while the Xperia 1 V launched earlier this month. Do note that the Xiaomi 13 Ultra still didn’t launch globally, only in China. We did already review it, however, as the phone works perfectly fine once the Google services are sideloaded.

Now, we’ll first list the specs of both devices, and will then move to compare them across a number of different categories. We’ll compare their designs, displays, performance, battery life, cameras, and audio performance. There is plenty to talk about here, so let’s get things started, shall we?

Specs

Xiaomi 13 Ultra vs Sony Xperia 1 V: Design

Both of these phones feature rather unique designs, but completely different ones. The Xiaomi 13 Ultra has a vegan leather backplate. That backplate doesn’t go all the way to the edges of the phone’s back, and it also gradually climbs towards the camera oreo. The part where the camera oreo sits is actually thicker than the bottom part of the phone. You can easily notice the slope on the back. The camera bump would be even more noticeable if not for this design implementation, and it won’t really bother you during usage, it’s actually a nice point to anchor your finger when you’re holding the device.

The Xperia 1 V also has a rather unique design. It’s made out of metal and glass, but the metal on the sides has vertical lines across it, embedded into the frame. That helps with the grip, and the phone’s sides are flat all around, by the way. On the back, you’ll notice a glass backplate, but with a dotted design. Yes. you’ll feel those dots under your finger on the back, as they do protrude, every single one of them. That also helps with the grip, and makes the phone more pleasant to hold.

Xiaomi’s flagship has a centered display camera hole, and a curved display. The Xperia 1 V doesn’t have a camera hole or notch, but its bezels are a bit thicker because of it. The Xperia 1 has a lot smaller camera island on the back, and one that features a different shape. Sony’s handset is a lot narrower than the Xiaomi 13 Ultra, but it’s also slightly taller. The Xiaomi 13 Ultra does have a larger display, though, we’ll talk about that soon. Both phones do offer IP68 certification for water and dust resistance, by the way, and they do feel like quality pieces of tech (in the hand) through and through.

Xiaomi 13 Ultra vs Sony Xperia 1 V: Display

There is a 6.73-inch QHD+ (3200 x 1440) LTPO AMOLED display included on the Xiaomi 13 Ultra. That is an LTPO panel, with a 120Hz refresh rate (adaptive), and it’s curved. Dolby Vision is supported here, and the phone also supports HDR10+ content. This display gets immensely bright at 2,600 nits of peak brightness, and is actually technically the brightest display in the industry at the moment. The phone display has a 20:9 aspect ratio, and the Gorilla Glass Victus protects this panel.

The Xperia 1 V, on the flip side, features a 6.5-inch 4K (3840 x 1644) OLED display. This is also a 120Hz panel (adaptive), and it supports HDR content. This display can project up to 1 billion colors, and has an aspect ratio of 21:9. In other words, it’s very tall and narrow. The Gorilla Glass Victus 2 protects this display, in case you were wondering, and the panel is flat.

Both displays offer great viewing angles, and are more than sharp enough. The Xperia 1 V will use its 4K resolution only for 4K content, though. The colors on both displays are vivid, and the blacks are deep. The touch response is good on both of them. Do note that the Xiaomi 13 Ultra’s panel will get brighter outdoors, but the Xperia 1 V’s display is not exactly dim either. Both of these panels are excellent, as you’d expect out of Xiaomi and Sony flagships.

Xiaomi 13 Ultra vs Sony Xperia 1 V: Performance

Both phones are fueled by the same processor, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC. That is Qualcomm’s most powerful chip at the moment, a truly excellent processor. Both smartphones also utilize LPDDR5X RAM. The Xiaomi 13 Ultra has up to 16GB of it, while the Xperia 1 V comes with 12GB of RAM. You will also find UFS 4.0 flash storage inside both of these smartphones.

So, when it comes to specs, they’re really well equipped. Does that reflect on performance? Well, yes, it does. They are both very snappy, very responsive. They simply fly through regular, everyday tasks, and can also handle some intensive gaming sessions without a problem. Their software implementations are different, even though they’re both based on Android 13. The Xiaomi 13 Ultra’s MIUI build is a bit odd to use due to the fact it’s made for China, you may stumble upon some quirks, but not that many. Sony tries to keep things close to stock Android, for the most part. Both are future-proof spec-wise, and both offer outstanding performance.

Xiaomi 13 Ultra vs Sony Xperia 1 V: Battery

There is a 5,000mAh battery inside each of these two phones. Their battery life is actually quite good, and also comparable. Getting 7-8 hours of screen-on-time is easily doable, as long as you’re not running demanding games or something similar to that. Your usage will, of course, play a huge part in it, as will your signal strength. Therefore, you may get entirely different results.

When it comes to charging, it’s not even comparable. The Xiaomi 13 Ultra comes out on top. It supports 90W wired, 50W wireless, and 10W reverse wireless charging. The Xperia 1 V supports 30W wired, 15W wireless, and reverse wireless charging. Another thing worth noting is that Xiaomi’s flagship does come with a charger in the box, unlike the Xperia 1 V. The Xiaomi 13 Ultra blows the Xperia 1 V out of the water as far as charging is concerned.

Xiaomi 13 Ultra vs Sony Xperia 1 V: Cameras

The Xiaomi 13 Ultra packs in a 50-megapixel main camera (1-inch camera sensor, variable aperture), a 50-megapixel ultrawide unit (122-degree FoV), a 50-megapixel telephoto camera (3.2x optical zoom), and a 50-megapixel periscope telephoto unit (5x optical zoom). The Sony Xperia 1, on the other hand, has a 48-megapixel main camera (Sony’s new sensor), a 12-megapixel ultrawide camera, and a 12-megapixel telephoto unit (3.5x-5.2x continuous zoom).

First and foremost, do note that both of these phones are phenomenal camera smartphones. That goes for both photos and videos. The Xiaomi 13 Ultra has that recognizable Leica look if you opt for the ‘Authentic’ shooting mode, while the ‘Vibrant’ shooting mode will make photos look a bit more vibrant, and less Leica-like. Both results are outstanding. The phone provides a ton of details, the colors are gorgeous, and it also does a great job in low light. It shoots photos really fast in such conditions, and it doesn’t even require you to switch to night mode. It has a truly fast shutter speed.

The Xperia 1 V is in the same boat, but has a different look to its photos. They look barely processed, and the phone tends to keep things a bit darker in low light, to keep things looking a bit more authentic. It provides a ton of details in all shooting scenarios, and does a great job when it comes to balancing images. Both do a great job in HDR situations, and with reflections. Their telephoto cameras are also worth talking about separately. They do a phenomenal job with portraits, and keep a ton of detail in the shot. 3x optical zoom is a tossup between the two, while we prefer the Xperia 1 V when it comes to 5x zoom. Everything above 5-6x is Xiaomi’s territory.

Ultrawide cameras are really good on both phones, no complaints here, while the selfie camera is definitely better on the Xperia 1 V. The one on the Xiaomi 13 Ultra tends to ‘beautify’ photos even when you disable all those options, and the images don’t look all that great, to be quite honest. When video recording is concerned, both phones do a really good job.

Audio

There are stereo speakers included on both smartphones. The Xiaomi 13 Ultra has top and bottom firing speakers, while the Xperia 1 V has front-facing ones. Both sets of speakers are great, actually. They’re loud, detailed, and well-balanced. Both sets also offer some bass. We prefer the Xperia 1 V output, mainly because they’re front-firing speakers.

The Xperia 1 V also has a 3.5mm headphone jack, which is something you won’t find on the Xiaomi 13 Ultra. You’ll have to use the Type-C port for wired audio connections. If you opt for a wireless connection, both smartphones do offer Bluetooth 5.3.