Xiaomi 13T Pro review

The competition

The Xiaomi 13T Pro turned out to be an excellent smartphone that ticks every box except one - the selfie camera. But even as it is, it is shaping as one of the best offers right now with a starting price of €800 for the 256GB model.

The first alternative that comes to mind is the standard Xiaomi 13T. It is €150 cheaper and still offers the same high-quality design, screen, camera experience, good battery life, and software longevity. It has a bit slower charging, and its GPU is less capable, but the mainstream users will probably notice neither of these. So, unless you are an avid gamer, we do suggest exploring the Xiaomi 13T.

If you are in a market where the vivo X90 and X90 Pro are available, you may want to consider these instead. They are equally powerful, with similar designs and camera experience. The Pro model will give you fast wireless charging on top of everything. Vivo and Xiaomi have similar selfie cameras, though.

The Motorola Edge 40 Pro is an excellent alternative to the Xiaomi 13T Pro. It is equally powerful with similar cameras on the back and one great Dolby Vision OLED with 165Hz refresh rate. The Edge 40 Pro trumps the 13T Pro with a higher-res ultrawide camera with macro mode, wireless and reversed wireless charging, and one far better 60MP selfie camera with 4K video capturing. The Ready For perks are quite nice, too. There are some drawbacks, though - the photo quality of the ultrawide and zoom cameras and the portraits are unimpressive.

Finally, the OnePlus 11 is now cheaper at about €700, and it's quite a solid alternative for its higher-res ultrawide camera with autofocus, a higher-res and more dynamic OLED screen, and the Gorilla Glass Victus panels. The phone does not support HFR gaming, though, it is not completely waterproof, and its selfie camera is of a similar class.

Xiaomi 13T • vivo X90 • vivo X90 Pro • OnePlus 11

Our verdict

The Xiaomi 13T Pro is among the best phones you can get for €800. It delivers on every single promise and has plenty of flagship-grade, class-leading features. The new IP68-rated design, especially the one with the vegan leather back, is classy and stunning.

The 13T Pro impresses with one of the best OLED screens in the industry that is jam-packed with premium features, and it can also brag with the smallest punch hole. Furthermore, the Xiaomi 13T Pro employs one of the fastest chipsets on the smartphone market, which delivers excellent performance and stability across the board.

The Leica cooperation must be paying off, as all rear cameras deliver outstanding photo and video quality day and night.

Let's not forget the good battery life, the loud stereo speakers, and the incredibly fast 120W charging - these deserve to be mentioned. Xiaomi's dedication to four major Android updates and five years of security patches is very welcome, too.

The only real setback we encountered on the Xiaomi 13T Pro was the selfie camera. It is a 20MP Quad-Bayer shooter is an insult to any cameraphone, let alone one co-developed with Leica. Its photo and video quality are quite average, too.

Some might have hope for longer zoom, but we guess that will come with the Xiaomi 14 phones later this year.

Long story short - the Xiaomi 13T Pro is one of the best phones right now, with top-notch hardware, exceptional execution across the board and a promising future. The launch price is also surprisingly good and we do recommend putting it at the top of your consideration lists. You can tell we really liked this phone and we think you'd love it, too. Unless you are a selfie person, then it's a big no.

Pros

• Top-notch design, IP68-rated, especially nice Alpine Blue.
• Superb OLED, 12-bit color depth, color accurate, 144Hz, Dolby Vision.
• Very good battery life, incredibly fast charging.
• Good Dolby Atmos speakers.
• Flagship-grade performance and stability.
• Outstanding photo and video quality from all rear cameras, day and night.
• IR blaster, 4 promised major Android updates, 5 year of security patches.

Cons

• The selfie camera is disappointing.
• A 3x optical zoom camera would have been better than 2x.