Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 4G review

The competition

The Redmi Note 13 4G is affordable. At the time of writing, a base 6GB/128GB unit retails for around €180/$190, and the top 8GB/256GB one will set you back about €200/$215. That's not a lot of budget to work with, but some interesting alternatives still exist.

Xiaomi has at least a few other intriguing budget phones. The Poco X6 instantly comes to mind, but it is a bit too expensive. The Poco M6 Pro, while still a bit more expensive than the Redmi Note 13 4G, is a lot closer in price and a viable alternative. A base Poco M6 Pro offers 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. You get a similar phone overall, but some notable benefits include Gorilla Glass 5, a more powerful Helio G99 chipset, an OIS-enabled main camera, FM radio and faster 67W charging. You will have to live with a virtual proximity sensor, though.

Xiaomi Poco M6 Pro • Samsung Galaxy A15 5G • Tecno Pova 5 Pro

Samsung has at least a few interesting devices within this price range. For instance, you can grab yourself a Samsung Galaxy A15. It comes in a 4G version and a 5G one for a bit more money. The two have very similar specs overall and mainly differ in the chipset department. The overall experience is pretty much identical across the two. It should be noted, however, that both models come with only 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. The storage is expandable via MicroSD, but you might want to get yourself a bit more RAM if possible.

Last but not least, the Tecno Pova 5 Pro might be a pretty good option, depending on where you live. You will have to settle for an IPS display instead of OLED, but other than that, the Pova 5 Pro is powered by a quite decent Dimensity 6080 chipset and comes with 8GB RAM even in its base 128GB variant. That storage is expandable, too. It is perhaps interesting to note that Tecno managed to get 1440p video capture working on the Pova 5 Pro, which is not quite 4K but is better than 1080p. Having 68W fast charging is nice too.

Our verdict

The Redmi Note 13 4G is the most affordable out of the Redmi Note 13 bunch. As such, one would expect lots of compromises and corner-cutting. Interestingly enough, that isn't entirely true. In fact, in some aspects, the 4G model offers better solutions than its 5G counterpart. Notably, it has a stereo speaker setup and an under-display fingerprint reader.

In many other aspects, the Redmi Note 13 4G is arguably just as good as the Redmi Note 13 5G. The design is nearly identical, and you get IP54 ingress protection on both phones. The display on the 4G model is nearly identical to the 5G one and only lacks 10-bit color support. You get nice and large 5,000 mAh batteries in both phones with adequate 33W fast charging and microSD storage expansion. Aside from some differences in processing, the camera setup on the Redmi Note 13 4G is also identical to that of the more expensive 5G model and is pretty dependable and versatile overall.

The Redmi Note 13 4G arguably only has one major shortcoming. Unfortunately, it's a pretty significant one too. The Snapdragon 685 chipset is just way too starved for performance, especially in the GPU department. It struggles to deliver an adequate experience even while simply browsing the phone's UI. Slowdowns are just a fact of life with the Redmi Note 13 4G. And that's a real shame in our book since the rest of the Redmi Note 13 4G experience is solid through and through, especially for the price.

Pros

• Full retail package with a charger and a case.
• IP54-rated no-nonsense design, nice colors, Gorilla Glass 3 front.
• Stereo speakers.
• Bright OLED with thin bezels, 120Hz.
• Competitive fast charging solution.
• Little to no thermal throttling.
• Great main and selfie camera performance.

Cons

• No HDR video playback support, which is otherwise common for Xiaomi devices.
• Battery life could be better.
• Poor overall performance with lots of UI slowdowns.
• Video capture is limited to 1080p.