Xiaomi 13 review: A strong flagship locked in a crowded market

The Xiaomi 13 is the successor to the company’s 2022 flagship, the Xiaomi 12, and it continues its predecessor’s premise of superior performance in a tiny package.

Aside from a small size increase, the phone’s display remains virtually identical. Still, Xiaomi’s penchant for brightness and vibrant colors is now delivered in a much slimmer, almost iPhone-like design, putting the Xiaomi 13 in the ‘handsome’ category of today’s top Android phones. Granted, the Xiaomi 13 lacks design uniqueness beyond its Leica-branded camera arrangement (more on that below), but if, like me, you adore Apple’s straight-sided look, this phone’s unmistakable resemblance to the best iPhones is a plus rather than a disadvantage.

There’s a lot to appreciate about the Xiaomi 13, which has a nice design and a battery that won’t drain quickly. Users in the United Kingdom seeking top performance should go to the Galaxy S23 with its optimized Snapdragon chip. The Xiaomi 13 is a fantastic Android flagship with an extraordinarily bright display, phenomenal performance, and a gorgeous (if unoriginal) straight-edged design. It deserves a far larger market.

XIAOMI 13 KEY FEATURES

The Redmi 13 is a decent little entry-level smartphone. Well, not in the literal sense, as its 6.79-inch display is very large. The Redmi 13 is not the cheapest phone in Redmi’s current lineup. You may go even lower with the Redmi 13C. Still, a base 6GB/128GB Redmi 13 will cost you only $180/€170. That could be a terrific offer, especially if you value having a nice camera experience.

The Redmi 13 is the first in the Redmi number series to feature a 108MP primary camera. It is impressive on paper, and there appear to be only a few clear competitors in the price range with a similar main camera. The Redmi 13 is not without flaws. For starters, it’s a 4G phone with one of the older Helio chipsets (on the inside). The Helio G91 Ultra isn’t stunning. It is also linked with eMMC 5.1 storage chips, which are sluggish by modern standards. The Redmi 13 also has a single speaker instead of a stereo system, poor ingress protection, and a fairly mediocre 90Hz LCD panel.

On the plus side, the Redmi 13 supports dual SIM. One of the nano-SIM slots is a hybrid, which means it also supports microSD expanded storage. The Redmi 13 also has a 3.5mm connector, an FM radio receiver, an IR blaster, and NFC support in some areas. The fairly sized 5,030 mAh battery also supports 33W wired PD charging, which might be quite fast for a lower midrange phone. Unfortunately, not all regions include a charger in the box.

XIAOMI 13 UNBOXING

The Redmi 13 is packaged in a simple two-piece cardboard carton. It is primarily painted red on the top side, making it stand out significantly. The package is lovely and robust. The packaging appears to be plastic-free, and the phone cradle inside the box is made of cardboard.

As previously indicated, the Redmi 13 does not have a charger in every location. You will only find one in some markets. The box does provide a simple USB Type-A to Type-C connector, however. It’s nothing extraordinary, but it’s wired for data, which is convenient. Our review unit comes with a lovely clear TPU case. However, you should check to see if your local merchant provides it.

CAMERA

By adding the Leica tag to the lens, Xiaomi wants to make it apparent that this is not your typical phone camera. The camera on the 13 Pro, co-engineered with legendary photography firm Leica, blew my mind, so I had high hopes for this model despite its slightly lesser specs. On the rear, there’s a 50MP, 23mm wide lens, a 10MP, 75mm telephoto, and a 12MP, 15mm ultrawide lens (120 degrees here), and the selfie camera is a 32MP, 22mm one, same as the Pro.

Unfortunately, there is no macro option for one of my favorite pastimes, which is taking artful close-ups of bees, toys, and insects, but after experimenting with the Portrait mode and various optical zooms, I was able to find a mode that I liked, but it still felt like a strange omission. There is also a completely manual ‘pro’ mode here, where you can configure practically every aspect of your photography like you would on a DSLR, but the number of presets for hobbyists and amateurs is great enough to make this a very successful camera proposition.

As with the Pro, you can shoot 8K video in HDR, take HDR images, and select between two main Leica lens settings, ‘Vibrant’ and ‘Authentic’. Because the sensor is slightly smaller here than on the Pro, nighttime photography may not stand out as much, but it still competes with many of the best on the market today.

DESIGN AND SCREEN

One of the most remarkable features of the Xiaomi 13 is its design. Its new Flora Green hue is quite appealing. (Black and white colors are also available.) The phone’s aluminum sides and rounded corners remind me of the iPhone, which is a great source of inspiration. The look is enhanced by incredibly thin 1.63mm bezels and flat edges.

Xiaomi’s 6.3-inch display is significantly smaller than the OnePlus 11’s 6.7-inch panel, but so is the phone itself. The Xiaomi 13 measures 152.8 x 71.5 x 78.98 mm, making it shorter and slimmer than its competition. The Xiaomi 13’s tiny size and flat form also allow it to fit better in pockets than the OnePlus 11.

When it comes to durability, the Xiaomi 13 has room for improvement. On the front, it only has Gorilla Glass 5, not the stronger Gorilla Glass Victus found on the Pixel 7 Pro and OnePlus 11. Xiaomi’s phone is still durable, with 1.2 meters of drop protection. Its IP68 rating—the same as the Pixel and an improvement over the OnePlus 11’s IP64 rating—provides effective dust protection as well as up to 30 minutes of safety in about 1.5 meters of water.

Other phones, such as the OnePlus 11, produce clearer images than the Xiaomi 13’s 2400 x 1080 resolution. The Galaxy S23’s 2340 x 1080 screen is nearly comparable, however. The Xiaomi 13 features a maximum refresh rate of 120Hz, however when left inactive on the same screen, it reduces to save battery. There is no adaptive refresh rate, although you may manually switch between 60Hz and 120Hz.

When browsing the phone’s MIUI operating system, colors pop and the resolution is sharp, but when watching YouTube on the Xiaomi 13, it is evident that the picture quality isn’t as outstanding as others at this price.

For example, when watching the music video for Taylor Swift’s song Anti-Hero alongside the OnePlus 11 (top), the Xiaomi 13 (bottom) appeared significantly washed out, especially when the video was expanded to fill the entire screen. After selecting “Super-resolution” on the Xiaomi 13 and the AI HDR enhancement setting, the image warmed up tremendously but remained second best to the OnePlus 11.

HOW’S THE PERFORMANCE?

The Xiaomi 13 features the greatest mobile SoC Qualcomm has to offer in 2023: the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. There is no unique chipset here (like in Samsung’s Galaxy S23 range), but in practice, the Xiaomi 13 still has the quickest silicon available. The phone’s Geekbench 6 scores were nearly identical to those of the Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus, implying that the difference between the two processors is minimal. As indicated in the display portion of this review, the Xiaomi 13 felt quick during my time with it. Neither gaming nor regular surfing has caused the phone to overheat, and FIFA Mobile, my normal benchmark test for mobile gaming, runs as smoothly as can be expected on a mobile device.

The Xiaomi 13 is a 5G phone, so you’ll be able to connect to a quicker mobile network if it’s available where you live; however, as with all phones, your speeds will be determined by your network and location rather than the phone you use. WiFi 7 is an incredibly new networking technology that, if connected to a suitable network, can support up to 3.6Gbps.

I was also pleasantly delighted by the Xiaomi 13’s audio performance. I’m not a fan of playing music or videos loudly, but the phone’s Dolby Atmos-tuned dual speakers are unusually powerful and bass-rich, even if they don’t give a truly spatial audio experience.

Buy it if...

• Solid build quality, featuring Gorilla Glass on the front and a glass back.
• Excellent refresh rate management in low refresh rate conditions.
• Overall, solid still photography performance.

Don't buy it if…

• Some markets may not have a charger in the box.
• The display isn’t bright enough for outdoor use and doesn’t support HDR movies.
• There is only one loudspeaker, and it is not particularly good.
• Virtual gyroscope and proximity sensor.
• The MediaTek Helio G91 Ultra and eMMC storage provide poor performance, with frequent stutters and slowdowns.
• The video capture is limited to 1080p with mono audio, and there is no EIS.

FULL SPECIFICATION