Xiaomi 13 Ultra vs Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra

Here we compared two flagship smartphones: the 6.73-inch Xiaomi 13 Ultra (with Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2) that was released on April 18, 2023, against the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, which is powered by Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy and came out 2 months before. On this page, you will find tests, full specs, strengths, and weaknesses of each of the devices.

Select the amount of RAM to evaluate performance and value for money more precisely
Memory

Key differences

An overview of the main advantages of each smartphone
Reasons to consider the Xiaomi 13 Ultra
  • Has 50% more RAM: 12GB versus 8GB
  • Supports higher wattage charging (90W versus 45W)
  • Compatible with the latest Wi-Fi 7 wireless networks
  • Slow-motion recording at 1920FPS
  • Has 2 SIM card slots
  • Has a built-in infrared port
Reasons to consider the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
  • The rear camera has a 10x optical zoom
  • Shows 11% longer battery life (26:01 vs 23:30 hours)
  • More recent OS version: Android 16 versus 14
  • The front-facing camera can record video at 4K
  • Ready for eSIM technology

Review

Evaluation of Xiaomi 13 Ultra and Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra crucial features
Display
Screen quality, color accuracy, brightness
Camera
Photo and video recording quality
Performance
CPU and memory performance (apps, system)
Gaming
Capabilities for playing modern games
Battery
Battery life, charging type and speed
Connectivity
Networks, ports, data transmission
NanoReview Score
Final comparison evaluation
Select your primary usage scenario to get a more accurate NanoReview Score
📱 Primary usage:

Value for money (Beta)

To get an accurate value-for-money index, update the default prices with actual prices from your country’s retailers (for the selected memory configs) and press the "Calculate" button.
Currency
12 / 256 GB
VS
8 / 256 GB
61.5
(Average)
Value Index
50.5
(Average)

Tests and specifications

Comparison table of technical specifications and tests

Display

Type AMOLED Dynamic AMOLED
Size 6.73 inches 6.8 inches
Resolution 1440 x 3200 pixels 1440 x 3088 pixels
Aspect ratio 20:9 19.3:9
PPI 522 ppi 500 ppi
Refresh rate 120 Hz 120 Hz
Adaptive refresh rate Yes Yes (24-120 Hz)
Max rated brightness 1300 nits 1200 nits
Max rated brightness in HDR 2600 nits 1750 nits
HDR support Yes, Dolby Vision Yes, HDR10+
Touch sampling rate 240 Hz 240 Hz
Screen protection Gorilla Glass Victus Gorilla Glass Victus 2
Screen-to-body ratio 89.7% 89.5%
Display features - DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
- DC Dimming
- DCI-P3
- Always-On Display
Display tests
RGB color space 97.4% 96.9%
PWM 120 Hz 240 Hz
Response time 1 ms 2 ms
Contrast ∞ Infinity ∞ Infinity
Peak brightness test (auto)
1215 nits
1282 nits
Sources: NotebookCheck [3], [4]

Design and build

Height 163.18 mm (6.42 inches) 163.4 mm (6.43 inches)
Width 74.64 mm (2.94 inches) 78.1 mm (3.07 inches)
Thickness 9.06 mm (0.36 inches) 8.9 mm (0.35 inches)
Weight 227 g (8.01 oz) 233 g (8.22 oz)
Waterproof IP68 IP68
Advanced cooling Vapor chamber Vapor chamber
Rear material Eco-leather Glass
Frame material Metal Metal
Colors White, Black, Green White, Black, Gray, Blue, Green, Red, Purple
Fingerprint scanner Yes, in-display Yes, in-display
Screen-to-body ratio

Performance

Chipset specifications of Xiaomi 13 Ultra and Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
SoC
Chipset Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform for Galaxy
Max clock 3200 MHz 3360 MHz
CPU cores 8 (1 + 2 + 2 + 3) 8 (1 + 2 + 2 + 3)
Architecture - 3 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A510
- 2 cores at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-A710
- 2 cores at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-A715
- 1 core at 3.2 GHz: Cortex-X3
- 3 cores at 2 GHz: Cortex-A510
- 2 cores at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-A710
- 2 cores at 2.8 GHz: Cortex-A715
- 1 core at 3.2 GHz: Cortex-X3
L3 cache 8 MB 8 MB
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Lithography process 4 nanometers 4 nanometers
Neural processor (NPU) Hexagon Hexagon
GPU
Graphics Adreno 740 Adreno 740
GPU shading units 1536 1536
GPU clock 680 MHz 680 MHz
FLOPS ~2089 GFLOPS ~2089 GFLOPS

Benchmarks

Benchmark comparison of Xiaomi 13 Ultra and Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
1995
2010
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
13 Ultra +3%
5419
Compute Score (GPU)
Compute Score (GPU) - 9254
Single-core score 1995 2010
Multi-core score 5419 5245
Sources: Geekbench [3]
AnTuTu Benchmark 11
13 Ultra +2%
1796720
CPU 579418 556398
GPU 433654 445907
Memory 329244 285085
UX 454407 474949
Total score 1796720 1762339
Samples [12 tests] [31 tests]
3DMark Steel Nomad Light
1011
1098
Stability 96% 81%
Graphics test 7 FPS 8 FPS
Graphics score 1011 1098
3DMark Solar Bay
5228
5383
Stability 98% 77%
Graphics test 20 FPS 20 FPS
Section 1 23 FPS 23 FPS
Section 2 20 FPS 20 FPS
Section 3 17 FPS 18 FPS
Graphics score 5228 5383
3DMark Wild Life Extreme
3488
3723
Stability 91% 69%
Graphics test 20 FPS 22 FPS
Graphics score 3488 3723
Sources: 3DMark [5], [6]
PCMark 3.0
Web score - 17072
Video editing - 7852
Photo editing - 33655
Data manipulation - 13329
Writing score - 19857

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Xiaomi 13 Ultra
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-08-06 (berkayvaihimself)AnTuTu1874805
📘 2026-07-23 (Zalupachos)AnTuTu1766026
📘 2026-06-23 (Kotosti)AnTuTu1782088
📘 2026-05-23 (Acolute)AnTuTu1815019
📘 2026-05-08 (Zerok|Tech)AnTuTu1842097
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-08-07 (Turtle tech)AnTuTu1789039
📘 2026-07-21 (Jedidiah)AnTuTu1621561
📘 2026-07-20 (Khải)GeekBench CPU1642 / 5251
📘 2026-07-20 (Khải)AnTuTu1796597
📘 2026-05-14 (Trizer)AnTuTu1763324

Memory

RAM
RAM size 12 GB 8 GB
Memory type LPDDR5X LPDDR5X
Memory clock 3200 MHz 4200 MHz
Channels 4 4
Storage
Storage size 256 GB 256 GB
Storage type UFS 4.0 UFS 4.0
Memory card No No

Software

Operating system Android 13 (Can be upgraded to Android 14) Android 13 (Can be upgraded to Android 16)
ROM HyperOS 1.0 One UI 8.0
OS size - 39.9 GB
OS updates 3 years 4 years
Security updates 5 years 5 years

Battery

Capacity 5000 mAh 5000 mAh
Max charge power 90 W 45 W
Battery type Li-Po Li-Ion
Replaceable No No
Wireless charging Yes (50 W) Yes (15 W)
Reverse charging Yes Yes, (wireless)
Bypass charging - Yes
Fast charging Yes (58% in 15 min) Yes (68% in 30 min)
Full charging time 0:40 hr 0:59 hr
Battery life tests
Web browsing 09:36 hr 09:57 hr
Watching video 13:10 hr 15:38 hr
Gaming 05:28 hr 06:22 hr
Standby 117 hr 130 hr
General battery life
23:30 hr
26:01 hr

Main camera

Matrix 50.3 megapixels 200 megapixels
Image resolution 8192 x 6144 16320 x 12240
Zoom Optical, 5x Optical, 10x
Flash Dual LED LED
Stabilization Optical Optical
8K video recording Up to 24FPS Up to 30FPS
4K video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 60FPS
1080p video recording Up to 60FPS Up to 120FPS
Slow motion 1920 FPS (1080p) 960 FPS (1080p)
Angle of widest lens 122° 120°
Lenses 1) Standard: 50.3 MP
2) Telephoto: 50 MP
3) Telephoto: 50 MP
4) Ultrawide: 50 MP
5) Depth
1) Standard: 200 MP
2) Telephoto: 10 MP
3) Telephoto: 10 MP
4) Ultrawide: 12 MP
Camera features - Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
- Bokeh mode
- Pro mode
- RAW support
Standard lens
Image resolution 50.3 MP 200 MP
Aperture f/1.9 - 4.0 f/1.7
Focal length 23 mm 23 mm
Sensor Sony IMX989 Samsung ISOCELL HP2
Sensor size 1/1" (≈ 1 inch) 1/1.3" (≈ 0.77 inch)
Pixel size 1.6 micron 0.64 micron
Autofocus Laser autofocus Laser autofocus
Stabilization Optical Optical
Telephoto lens
Image resolution 50 MP 10 MP
Aperture f/3.0 f/4.9
Focal length 120 mm 230 mm
Sensor Sony IMX858 Sony IMX754
Sensor size 1/2.51" (≈ 0.4 inch) 1/3.52" (≈ 0.28 inch)
Pixel size 0.64 micron 1.12 micron
Stabilization Optical Optical
Ultra-wide lens
Image resolution 50 MP 12 MP
Aperture f/1.8 f/2.2
Focal length 12 mm 13 mm
Sensor Sony IMX858 Sony IMX564
Sensor size 1/2.51" (≈ 0.4 inch) 1/2.55" (≈ 0.39 inch)
Pixel size 0.64 micron 1.4 micron
Stabilization Digital Digital

DxOMark main camera tests

Photo quality
Video quality
Generic main camera score
Bokeh 65 70
Preview 72 73
Zoom 147 141
Samples Photo samples of Xiaomi 13 Ultra from DxOMark Photo samples of Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra from DxOMark

Selfie camera

Megapixels 32 megapixels 12 megapixels
Image resolution 6528 x 4896 4000 x 3000
Aperture f/2.0 f/2.2
Focal length 22 mm 26 mm
Sensor CMOS Samsung S5K3LU
Sensor size 1/3.14" (≈ 0.32 inch) 1/3.24" (≈ 0.31 inch)
Pixel size 0.7 micron 1.12 micron
Autofocus Phase autofocus Phase autofocus
Stabilization Digital Digital
Video resolution 1080p (Full HD) at 60 FPS 2160p (4K) at 60 FPS
Depth sensor (TOF 3D) No No
DxOMark front camera
128
141
Photo 123 139
Video 137 145

Connectivity

Wi-Fi standard Wi-Fi 7 (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be) Wi-Fi 6E (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax)
Wi-Fi features - Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
- Dual Band
- Wi-Fi MiMO
- Wi-Fi Direct
- Wi-Fi Hotspot
- Wi-Fi Display
Bluetooth version 5.3 5.3
Bluetooth features LE LE
USB type USB Type-C USB Type-C
USB version 3.2 3.2
USB features - Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
- Charging
- USB-Storage mode
- OTG
DisplayPort Yes, DP 1.2 Yes, DP 1.2
GPS GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS, NAVIC GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo, QZSS
NFC* Yes Yes
Infrared port Yes No
Network
Number of SIM* 2 1
Type of SIM card Nano Nano
Multi SIM mode Standby Standby
eSIM support* No Yes
Hybrid slot No No
LTE Cat* 20 20
5G support Yes Yes

Sound

Speakers Stereo Stereo
Headphone audio jack No No
FM radio No No
Dolby Atmos Yes Yes
Speakers test
Max loudness
89.5 dB
91.8 dB

Other

Category Flagship Flagship
Announced April 2023 February 2023
Release date April 2023 February 2023
Launch price (MSRP) $1499 $1199
Successor - Xiaomi 17 Ultra - Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra
SAR (head) - 0.96 W/kg
SAR (body) - 1.4 W/kg
Sensors - Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
- Hall-effect sensor
- Barometer
- Proximity sensor
- Gyroscope
- Accelerometer
- Ambient light sensor
- Compass
- Fingerprint
Bundled charger Yes, 90 W Not included
*Disclaimer! NFC, GSM network support, and some other specs can be different depending on the country.

Conclusion

If the battery life and software are more important to you, then choose the Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. But if the connectivity and design are more of a priority – go for the Xiaomi 13 Ultra.

Cast your vote

So, which phone would you choose?
2047 (49%)
2129 (51%)
Total votes: 4176

User opinions

You can share your opinion or ask a question in the comments below
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Avatar
Emilian January 3, 2026 at 04:46 AM
13 ultra have 120x zoom and 8k 15x zoom , perfect clarity Best camera
+5 Reply
Avatar
dex April 19, 2023 at 07:05 AM
Lol, xiaomi worked so hard to get a weaker phone than the s23 ultra, why would you put a 3.2X and a 5X, it doesn't make any sense.
+184 Reply
Avatar
Stiff May 12, 2023 at 10:43 PM
And what exactly have you ever used the 10x zoom for. I have the mi 11 ultra with 120x zoom.. never used it once.
+165 Reply