The iPhone 14 could see stiff competition from this surprise Xiaomi phone

The iPhone 14 could see stiff competition from this surprise Xiaomi phone

A Xiaomi 12 (Image credit: Future)

The biggest mobile launch of late 2022 is likely to be the iPhone 14, as Apple usually dominates the tech airwaves with its annual September launches, but it sounds like Xiaomi wants to steal some attention, as it could be bringing the launch of its next flagship forward.

According to prolific and fairly reliable leaker Digital Chat Station (opens in new tab), the Xiaomi 13 might launch in November 2022 - this is earlier than we expected, as the Xiaomi 12 debuted in December 2021. The leaker says that progress is a month ahead of last year, which would hint towards an earlier launch.

This is all regarding the China launch of the Xiaomi flagship - if you're wondering why you only saw adverts for the 12 long after December, it's because the global launch was March 2022. We'd expect that pattern to repeat for the Xiaomi 13 phones.

If Digital Chat Station is correct, the Xiaomi 13 might land a month earlier, and as such be a closer rival to Apple's newest iPhones, which likely won't land too long before that, though it'd be a surprisingly early launch. We'd also likely see the global unveiling brought forward, which could put its global launch around the same time as the Samsung Galaxy S23 family.

The leak continues that the new phones - note the plural, with two mentioned, likely meaning a Xiaomi 13 Pro alongside the standard model - will get the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset (a likelihood, given that the 12 models have the 8 Gen 1) and will use Android 13, while one of the phones (likely the larger one) will have a 2K display.

None of those specs are exactly game-changing - they're basically exactly what we expected - but they start to paint a picture regarding this upcoming phone series.

Analysis: what about the real rival arrival?

With the Xiaomi 12 series, the company made a firm move to rival other similar-priced flagships like the Samsung Galaxy S21 and iPhone 13, by reducing the size of its vanilla flagship to create a small-body mobile.

But Xiaomi likely won't be able to launch a full suite of phones to rival Apple's ones, judging by the reference to only two 13 phones coming, and that Xiaomi typically staggers its flagship series launches. 

Since the Xiaomi 13 Ultra will likely only launch in the middle of 2023, a real rival to the iPhone 14 Pro Max likely won't show up, and while the standard and Pro Xiaomi and Apple phones will likely be comparable, it's unlikely that there will be a Xiaomi 13 device to rival the anticipated iPhone 14 Max.

Xiaomi might be able to offer something that Apple can't though: an affordable alternative. The Xiaomi 12T range will likely launch in August or September as a mid-range Android phone with features from the Xiaomi 12 series but a lower price than it (and than the iPhones), and we'll likely see a Xiaomi 13 Lite at some point too.

Apple and Xiaomi aim for different audiences, so it makes sense that while they'll have some devices that compete, they both have devices that stand out. But people who can afford a premium phone and want top camera features may find it hard to choose between the Pro phones each offers - and we'll have to see where the Xiaomi 13 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max both place in our list of the best camera phones.