Xiaomi 13T Pro long-term review

Introduction

Another year, another T line release from Xiaomi - this is probably the most misunderstood family of devices in the Chinese company's incredibly expansive roster, isn't it? A lot of people still seem to either think the Ts are supposed to be incrementally better than the numbered T-less flagships (so the 13T Pro would be 'above' the 13 Pro, if we're talking 2023 international releases), or that the Ts are outright successors to the numbered ones. But neither option is accurate, the easiest way to think about the T line is that this is Xiaomi's 'flagship killer' family.

That slightly complicates things further, because the Poco F-series are also 'flagship killers', but using a sub-brand. In reality it's not actually that convoluted - the Xiaomi T series are more premium flagship killers than the Poco F line devices. So, if you're into such smartphones that offer a lot of bang for your buck not skimping on some specs like the chipset, battery capacity and charging speed, while usually deprioritizing cameras somewhat - you have two series in Xiaomi's stable, comprising four devices in total. Want to go as cheap as possible in the flagship killer realm, then go with the Poco F5 or F5 Pro. Want better cameras and screens, go with the Xiaomi 13T or Xiaomi 13T Pro.

Hopefully that explains the situation. Today we have concluded our long-term review of the most high-end of this bunch, and that is the Xiaomi 13T Pro of course. Its launch pricing clearly implies this means business, and a quick glance at the spec sheet confirms that. We're especially intrigued by the Leica branding for the cameras - this is a first for the T line, and it's a first for any Xiaomi 'flagship killer', so it should be interesting to see whether this device has massively improved its camera game or not.

If we can wager a guess here, we think Xiaomi was running out of differentiating factors for the T series, and the Leica brand clearly brings a new one - while also probably trying to take on the OnePlus flagships with their Hasselblad partnership. Sure, Google and Samsung have both thus far survived without any co-branding with a legacy camera brand, but that doesn't necessarily mean the co-branding is all fluff, does it? We'll find out if you stick around.

As usual, we've lived with the Xiaomi 13T Pro for an extended period of time, day-in, day-out, as our one and only smartphone in order to bring you a more subjective view of what it's like to use away from lab tests and benchmarks and all of that - those are still important, of course, but we've covered all of them in our normal review. This one is for those who are more interested in how a phone feels in real life. So let's get started.