Xiaomi 13T review

Competition

The Xiaomi 13T is in a good spot right now as it offers a substantial upgrade over its predecessor with a minimal price hike and there just aren't many direct competitors in this particular price bracket. Even though the Xiaomi 13T is a few weeks-old now, we already see a significant price drop. The handset initially launched at €650 but is now easy to find for less than €600. That's quite competitive in the current market conditions.

One of the first worthy alternatives that comes to mind is the vanilla Samsung Galaxy S23. It's slightly more expensive at around the mid-€600 but delivers an overall better camera experience, 3x zoom and a considerably more powerful Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. The trade-off here is the smaller display and charging speed. The former will definitely be a deal-breaker for users looking for a big-screen experience.

Samsung Galaxy S23 • Samsung Galaxy S23 FE • Nothing Phone (2)

Another Samsung-made alternative would be the recently launched Galaxy S23 FE. The pricing for Europe will likely be close to €700, judging by the UK tag, but it's still a tad smaller device with more powerful SoC and 3x zoom. Camera performance will likely be a step behind the Xiaomi 13T's, though. And so will charging speed.

The Nothing Phone (2) also comes up in our search for phones under the €650 mark. And perhaps this is the most adequate alternative to the 13T. It has the same display size, fancy design, longer battery life (especially in the on-screen tests) and a more powerful Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 chip. On the other hand, it falls short of the 13T's camera capabilities and charging speed and launches with 128GB internal storage by default, as opposed to the 13T's 256GB default option.

Xiaomi Poco F5 Pro • Xiaomi 13T Pro

When it comes to homegrown competition, Xiaomi has the Poco F5 Pro to offer a similar overall experience and hardware at a much lower price. The Poco F5 Pro is now selling for less than €500 and undercuts the 13T significantly. The Poco offers a similar display, battery life, charging speed (also supports wireless charging) and once again, a more potent SD8+ Gen 1 chipset. Despite its higher price, though, the 13T makes a more compelling case for itself as it offers longer software support (4 years of major OS updates, 5 years of security patches) and a camera system that's miles ahead of what the Poco F5 Pro can deliver.

And for those of you who are wondering whether the €800 Xiaomi 13T Pro is worth the extra bucks, it's going to be hard to answer. It's definitely up for debate. Still, the 13T delivers about 90% of the experience at a lower cost, with the last 10% being the slower SoC and charging. So, maybe for most people, the 13T is the sound choice.

Verdict

The Xiaomi 13T is an excellent upper-midranger, and the only thing that keeps us from calling it an affordable flagship is the uninspiring SoC. We expected more from the new Dimensity 8200 chip. It failed to meet our expectations in terms of power and efficiency, and there are considerably more powerful alternatives around that price point.

However, it's hard to overlook the package as a whole. The 13T is now a proficient shooter (sans the selfie camera), it sports a flagship-grade display, decently fast charging, 4 years of full software support, IP68 ingress protection and has dependable battery life, albeit not impressive. It covers almost all bases and offers a good value overall, so it gets the nod from us.

Pros

• Decent build with IP68 certification, the vegan leather option is nice.
• Superb OLED, 12-bit color depth, color accurate, 144Hz, Dolby Vision.
• Average battery life with fast charging.
• Good Dolby Atmos speakers.
• Excellent camera performance all-around, dedicated zoom camera.
• IR blaster, 4 promised major Android updates, 5 year of security patches.

Cons

• The selfie camera is disappointing.
• More powerful alternatives available.
• The panel doesn't reach 144Hz in most apps and system menus.
• Last year's 12T had faster charging.