As revealed by leaker Digital Chat Station, it appears there may not be a Xiaomi 13S series this year. The company released the Xiaomi 12S series in August last year as a way to refresh the standard Xiaomi 12 lineup with the hugely improved Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1, while also introducing the Xiaomi 12S Ultra with its much-vaunted type 1-inch camera sensor. Things will be different this year, it seems, however.
For one, from all available information, Xiaomi’s “Ultra” phone this year will be the Xiaomi 13 Ultra—not the Xiaomi 13S Ultra. Said device will launch globally, with reports indicating a possible April or May event. Also it’s unlikely we get a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 2 either, as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 already does an excellent job. As such, Xiaomi likely has little to no reason to refresh its flagship line with a Xiaomi 13S series.
The Xiaomi 13T series will launch globally later in the year, however. Supposedly, one of the Xiaomi 13T phones will be a rebadged Redmi K60 Extreme Edition. The Redmi K60 Extreme Edition—or more colloquially, the Redmi K60 Ultra—will be exclusive to China but will make the trip over to Europe as a Xiaomi 13T model. The Redmi K50 Extreme Edition was rebadged as the Xiaomi 12T Pro last year, for example, albeit swapping its 108 MP camera for a 200 MP along the way.
I like tech, simple as. Half the time, you can catch me writing snarky sales copy. The rest of the time, I’m either keeping readers abreast with the latest happenings in the mobile tech world or watching football. I worked as both a journo and freelance content writer for a couple of years before joining the Notebookcheck team in 2017. Feel free to shoot me some questions on Twitter or Reddit if it so tickles thine fancy.
