Gone are Xiaomi’s days on the lower-end of the smartphone spectrum. The Chinese company has grown steadily over the years, rolling out flagship models that can hold their own against strong competition. With the Xiaomi 13 Ultra, there’s a lot more to expect, from the brand’s highest price tag to enhanced photography prowess, courtesy of its Leica partnership.
But what of gaming? The device boasts a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, Adreno 740 GPU, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage, which offers a solid foundation — in theory, at least. Coupled with a 6.4-inch display and a 120Hz refresh rate, the Xiaomi 13 Ultra looks good and plays well enough, but has its fair share of gripes.
Putting it through the gauntlet of Genshin Impact, Honkai: Star Rail, Call of Duty: Mobile, and PUBG Mobile yielded a surprisingly decent thermal management showing. In Performance Mode, the phone was able to handle the heat in Genshin Impact a lot more efficiently than other market offerings, reaching a high of 35 °C. Temperatures never went above the 40-degree mark across all four games, largely hovering around 33 to 35 °C, with Honkai: Star Rail registering a 37-degree peak.
While the Xiaomi Ultra 13 generally works well, it isn’t able to keep up with the demands of Genshin Impact at the highest settings. The biggest flaw here, though, is the position of the protruding camera module, which tends to get in the way of gaming and makes gripping an uncomfortable, awkward affair.
Check out the above video for a detailed breakdown of the gaming test, which comprises temperature checks before and after playing a game, individual findings for each title, and concluding thoughts.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
Trinity Sun
