Xiaomi 13T Pro review

Design, build quality, handling

The Xiaomi 13T and Xiaomi 13T Pro have virtually identical exteriors. Luckily, we received the two 13T models in two different colorways - Alpine Blue and Black - and we can show you the two designs in circulation.

13T Pro and 13T

The 13T Pro, as well as the standard 13T, come in two versions - dual-glass design and glass front with vegan leather back, both featuring plastic frames with matching colors and metal-like finish. The glass model has glossy rear panels (available in Meadow Green or Black), while the series' signature Alpine Blue impresses with a panel covered with blue vegan leather.

The front panel is all flat and made of Gorilla Glass 5. The frame is also flat, with a matt finish, and it has small but visible and feelable chamfers, which are great grip and look boosters. Finally, the back is slightly curved across the longer sides towards the frame, and this makes the 13T Pro look a bit thinner than it is.

The Xiaomi 13T smartphones are the first from the T series to receive IP68 certification for dust and water resistance, and we are incredibly happy with this development.

Other than these design peculiarities, the Xiaomi 13T Pro is a mainstream smartphone through and through. Let's take a close look at it.

The front is home to the 6.67-inch OLED display, which Xiaomi has named CrystalRes. That is probably due to the higher resolution, now 1,220 x 2,712 pixels. The panel is jam-packed with premium features such as dynamic 144Hz refresh rate, 12-bit color depth, 480Hz touch sampling, 2880Hz PWM dimming, plus HDR10+ and Dolby Vision support. Wow!

The OLED has thin enough bezels, even across all sides. We have seen thinner, of course, but they are usually on more expensive smartphones.

There is a tiny punch hole centered around the top, one of the smallest we've seen so far, and it accommodates the rather mediocre 20MP Quad-Bayer selfie camera.

There are two things invisible to the naked eye - the earpiece razor-thin outlet and the under-display fingerprint scanner. The fingerprint reader is always-on, fast and reliable, and we had no issues using it.

The earpiece also acts as a stereo speaker, and it has another sound outlet at the top of the phone.

The back of the Alpine Blue model is absolutely stunning. The vegan leather feels great to touch, and the light blue color suits is very well!

The camera housing is huge, and it's the pièce de résistance here. It is made of glass, has a square shape, and is surrounded by what looks like a black plastic framing. The whole thing is jutting out of the back big time and makes the phone wobble on tables. The bundled case solves the wobbling issue, as usual.

The 50MP primary camera sits at the top, while the 50MP telephoto is at the bottom. Those two have small rings around them sticking out just a bit from the housing glass. The 12MP ultrawide camera and the single-LED flash are around, no rings for these though. There is also a small LEICA branding.

The frame is made of plastic, looks and feels thick, and has a nice brushed finish that imitates metal.

There is nothing on its left side.

The volume and the power/lock keys are on the right.

The top of the 13T Pro accommodates the IR blaster, a microphone, and the outlet for one of the stereo speakers.

The other stereo speaker, bigger and louder, is at the bottom, together with the USB-C port, the primary microphone, and the SIM tray.

The Xiaomi 13T Pro measures 162.2 x 75.7 x 8.5 mm and weighs 200g or 206g depending on the back. This makes it in line with the rest of the 6.67" caliber phones with similar specifications.

We've handled the Xiaomi 13T Pro for more than a week, and we have no complaints. The phone is of a solid build and offers a secure enough grip, it looks lovely, and despite the huge camera on the back - it is well-balanced.

We were glad to learn the Xiaomi 13T phones are now waterproof, which is amazing - no more worries around pools, on a rainy day, or near fountains.

Overall, we think the Xiaomi 13T Pro deserves an excellent mark for its Alpine Blue version as it is visually stunning and smudge resistant, and an A- for the dual-glass models because they are more mainstream-looking and prone to smudges and other sticky unpleasantries.