Xiaomi 13T Pro review

Android 13 with MIUI 14

The Xiaomi 13T Pro runs the company's latest MIUI 14 on top of Android 13. Xiaomi promises four years of major Android updates and one more year of security patches for the 13T series.

Let's quickly go over the new things we found in MIUI 14 running on our Xiaomi 13T Pro unit. Only eight system apps cannot be uninstalled, which is a major leap from past MIUI releases. Other neat optimizations include automatic compression for apps that are not actively used and a toggle to turn off permanent notifications. These ones seem to stem from the Android 13 core rather than the MIUI shell. Privacy is also overhauled with end-to-end encryption and local on-device processing of user data.

Going over the list of expected new additions to MIUI 14 from its official release, we found a lot is not present in the international MIUI 14 version. Our unit lacks the new animated character widgets, for one, but it does have the new style of enlarged folders.

Enlarged folders

We also didn't find the duplicate file merger, Xiaomi wireless accessory cross-device switching controls, nor the new family account features. The improved text recognition and extraction from images in the gallery are present, however.

Text recognition from gallery

Other than these few changes, MIUI hasn't morphed in any major way, and users will feel right at home.

The split between a notification shade and Control Center is enabled by default this time, and that's probably a good thing. We found it to be quite convenient, and it's a way to educate users about MIUI's unique approach to the UI. And in case you are not a fan, you can always revert back to the standard notification shade with quick toggles in one place.

Lockscreen • Home screen • notification shade • Control center

The home screen, recent apps and the general settings menu are business as usual. The app drawer is also enabled by default, and we like that Xiaomi has placed the search bar at the bottom of the screen for easier reach. There are custom and preset app categories for faster navigation.

Unlike the standard recent apps menu, the MIUI task switcher lists the apps vertically and provides several useful shortcuts. That's where you can open up apps in floating windows. However, you can have only one floating app open at a time. In case you want a faster shortcut to apps that support free-form windows, just enable the Sidebar.

Recent apps • Options • Floating window • Split screen • enable app drawer

Notably, the Sidebar is different depending on the scenario. In games, the Sidebar provides a couple of gaming-related features, while in video apps, the Sidebar becomes a Video toolbox. It lets you launch video apps in pop-up windows, Screenshot, Record screen, Cast, and Play Video with the screen off, including on YouTube without a Premium subscription. The only caveat is that the apps where you want the feature enabled need to be whitelisted in advance.

Sidebar and Video toolbox

Customization is, as always, a big part of MIUI. The system lets you choose the style of the Always-on display or the theme of the UI. Aside from the ones pre-installed on the device, there's a Themes store that gives you a wide selection. The themes themselves change not only the general appearance but also the ringtones and system icons.

Themes and Always-on display

Moving on to privacy and security, MIUI comes with a pre-installed system Security app. Aside from the additional malware protection layer it provides, the app holds many of the app settings and privacy features in one place. It can manage your blacklist, manage or restrict your data usage, configure battery behavior, and free up some RAM. It can also manage the permissions of your installed apps, define the battery behavior of selected apps, and apply restrictions only to certain apps.

MIUI 14 offers Memory Extension option that's active by default (you can deactivate it if you like). On our review unit, we could choose between 4GB, 6GB and 8GB of internal storage reserved to serve as RAM extension. Less important memory blocks should come here.

Security app • Security app • Memory extension

Speaking of security, the fingerprint reader is fast and reliable. We had no issues even when outside on a bright sunny day. There's extended functionality for the fingerprint reader, allowing you to open up an app or initiate action as soon as you unlock the device - just keep your finger on the scanner when it unlocks. It's a lot like OnePlus' OxygenOS/Oppo's ColorOS/Realme's Realme UI feature, but this one doesn't allow customization. We didn't find a way to add shortcut apps, so you are stuck with the Search and QR Code scanner.

Fingerprint reader and shortcuts

There is also an experimental feature that lets you use the fingerprint reader to measure heart rate. It is a bit wonky, but still an interesting little addition.

Heart rate monitoring with the fingerprint reader

MIUI comes with its proprietary multimedia apps - there's Gallery, and Music and Mi Video (both with local and streaming options). A MIUI File manager is also on board. And, of course, there is a Mi Remote app that uses the integrated IR blaster.

Gallery • Music • Video • File manager • Mi Remote

All in all, MIUI 14 changed a little over the 13th iteration. At least on our Xiaomi 13T Pro unit, that is. It's just as snappy and customizable as ever. Xiaomi has paid special attention to the haptics on this unit, and we found the motor to be crisp, strong and accurate. There's even haptic feedback intensity adjustment if you find it obtrusive or not strong enough.

Performance and benchmarks, stress tests

The Xiaomi 13T Pro is the second smartphone we meet with top-of-the-line Dimensity 9200 chipset. It is actually 9200+ in this model, which offers higher CPU and GPU clock frequencies. It is fabbed on the 2nd Gen TSMC 4nm process (N4P) and brings plenty of improvements.

The Dimensity 9200+ chipset features an octa-core processor with a prime Cortex-X3 core @ 3.35Hz, 3x Cortex-A715 cores @ 3.0GHz and 4x Cortex-A510 @ 2.0GHz.

The SoC utilizes the ARM Immortalis-G715 MC11 GPU (@1164MHz, vs. 995MHz in 9200) with hardware-based ray tracing engine. The new flagship graphics unit brings Variable Rate Shading (VRS), double machine learning performance compared to the predecessor and ARM Fixed Rate Compression (AFRC) for reduced bandwidth usage.

MediaTek is also bringing a sixth-generation AI Processing Unit - the APU 690, which brings a 35% improvement over its predecessor in the ETHZ5.0 benchmark app. The chipset also enables support for speedy LPDDR5X RAM with support for up to 8,533Mbps memory and UFS 4.0 storage for blazing-fast data transmission and direct storage access to the CPU cores.

The Xiaomi 13T Pro we have for this review packs 12GB of LPDDR5X RAM and 512GB UFS 4.0 storage. A 12GB/256GB and 16GB/1TB models are also available for purchase in some markets.

Speaking of storage, this is one of the notable differences between the two handsets. The more expensive Xiaomi 13T Pro runs on UFS 4.0 storage, compared to 13T's UFS 3.1 storage. Samsung's official data, the theoretical performance gain from UFS 3.1 to UFS 4.0 is 29% faster transfer of large files and 27% faster when unzipping files. We ran AnTuTu 10's storage test and compared the two results.

AnTuTu 10 storage test: 13T Pro vs. 13T

It appears that the Xiaomi 13T Pro achieves a score that's 45% higher than the 13T's in AnTuTu's storage test. That does not mean the 13T Pro is 45% faster than the 13T in real-world scenarios, of course, but it does mean it's considerably faster.

And now, let's run some CPU and GPU benchmarks.

The CPU performance of the Dimensity 9200+ is on par with the best in the class, as fast as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 and about 10% faster as the regular 9200 chip inside the vivo X90 Pro.

If you have wondered where the biggest difference between the Xiaomi 13T Pro and the base 13T model is- it's the GPU. While the 13T offers excellent midrange GPU performance, the 13T Pro doubles it, and it offers raw performance that is faster than the Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1 and a close match to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. Nice!

The AnTuTu tests put the Xiaomi 13T Pro on par with the best-scoring phones in the world.

The Dimensity 9200+ chipset is as powerful as the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, and it is safe to say it is one of the most powerful SoCs in the smartphone market right now. Gaming, even High Frame Rate one, is a breeze, and everything runs smoothly.

Xiaomi has promised us a cool phone, too, with an adequate cooling system. And our stress tests do confirm that.

First, we ran our usual COU stress test for an hour, and we got an outstanding stability of 77%. The phone got warm after an hour of running at peak load, but it was far from hot.

Then we ran the 3D Mark stress test - 20 loops of 1-minute GPU-intensive test. The GPU ran at 100% speed for 15 minutes, but then dropped its performance down to 67%. It is still a very good score, considering we've seen flagships that do 40% or less. And the phone never got hot, just warm.

CPU test • GPU test

Overall, we'd give the Xiaomi 13T Pro an excellent mark for performance, stability and even cooling.