On December 8th, iQOO launched its latest generation flagship smartphone lineup, the iQOO 11 series. The series includes the iQOO 11 Pro, which will serve as the company’s top offering for now as it features the latest generation Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC. However, shortly after that, fellow China-based OEM Xiaomi unveiled the Xiaomi 13 series on December 11th. This brought with it the Xiaomi 13 Pro, which serves as the brand’s flagship offering. While the Xiaomi 13 Pro and the iQOO 11 Pro come with key similarities, including the chipset, they also have a number of features that differentiate the two.
Before the two smartphones make their way to the Indian market, here’s looking at how the Xiaomi 13 Pro and iQOO 11 Pro differ from each other — and how they are similar.
5 ways the Xiaomi 13 Pro is different from iQOO 11 Pro
Thickness
Starting with the dimensions of the two smartphones, the Xiaomi 13 Pro appears to have a slim advantage over the iQOO 11 Pro in terms of how slim or light the two phones are. While neither is particularly compact, light, or slim, the Xiaomi 13 Pro is at least 8.4mm thick and weighs up to 229 grams.
In comparison, the iQOO 11 Pro is a marginally thicker phone, measuring at least 8.9mm. However, it weighs up to 213 grams, making it a lighter phone despite its thickness. The difference is likely due to the image sensors used in the phone, and while the thickness difference is unlikely to be immediately noticeable, the weight difference of 16 grams could be noticeable in the long run.
Durability
The Xiaomi 13 Pro further adds to its weight with its overall durability specifications, which include the Corning Gorilla Glass Victus on top of the display, and a ceramic back. It also gets IP68 dust and water resistance rating, which means that the smartphone can be submerged in up to 1.5 metres of water for up to 30 minutes.
The iQOO 11 Pro, on the other hand, does not specify any protective glass layer atop its display, and also does not specify any IP rating for durability, making this a score for the Xiaomi 13 Pro.
Display
The two smartphones feature slightly differing displays. The Xiaomi 13 Pro offers a 6.73-inch LTPO OLED display, with a 3200 x 1440 pixels screen resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. Key features of the display include a rendering capacity of 1 billion colours, HDR10+ and Dolby Vision rating, and 1900 nits peak brightness.
In comparison, the iQOO 11 Pro features a marginally larger 6.78-inch display, with an LTPO4 AMOLED panel. It also gets the capability to render 1 billion colours and an HDR10+ certification, and its peak brightness of 1800 nits is nearly comparable, too. However, while it misses the Dolby Vision certification, it offers a higher refresh rate of 144Hz that gamers would appreciate.
Cameras
The Xiaomi 13 Pro brings a 1-inch sensor within the smartphone body, making it one of the most well-equipped flagship smartphones in terms of its cameras. The configuration includes a 50.3MP 1-inch primary sensor, paired with f/1.9 lens, Dual Pixel and laser-assisted autofocus, and optical image stabilisation (OIS). The two other cameras include a 50MP sensor for the telephoto camera, with 3.2x optical zoom, f/2.0 aperture, and phase detection autofocus; and finally, a 50MP autofocus ultrawide camera with f/2.2 lens. All lenses are Leica certified, and the Xiaomi 13 Pro can record 10-bit Dolby Vision HDR videos or 10-bit LOG videos at up to 4K 60fps, or 8K 24fps. It also gets a 32MP front camera.
The iQOO 11 Pro, meanwhile, features a smaller 50MP primary sensor with f/1.8 lens, phase detection autofocus and OIS, a 13MP f/2.5 portrait and telephoto unit with 3x optical zoom range, and a 50MP ultrawide unit with f/2.3 lens and autofocus. While it can also record 8K 30fps and 4K 60fps videos, it misses out on features such as Leica certification, Dolby Vision certification, and 10-bit uncompressed formats for recorded videos. Its front camera is also 16MP in resolution.
Battery
The Xiaomi 13 Pro gets a 4820mAh battery with 120W wired fast charging, which is advertised to offer a full charge in 19 minutes. In comparison, the iQOO 11 Pro gets a 4700mAh battery with 200W fast charging, which claims to offer a full charge in 10 minutes.
2 ways the Xiaomi 13 Pro is similar to iQOO 11 Pro
Chipset and storage
While the above were all factors that differentiate the two phones, here’s what unifies them — both the phones are powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 SoC from Qualcomm. The chipset claims to offer 35 per cent better performance and 25 per cent better graphics than its predecessor, thanks to its Adreno 740 GPU. Both phones also get up to 512GB of UFS 4.0 storage.
Wireless connectivity
Both smartphones support Wi-Fi 6, with dual-band connectivity and Wi-Fi Direct support as well. Both also get Bluetooth 5.3 support, with A2DP Low Energy audio streaming support.
