Xiaomi 13 review 2024: premium build quality

The Xiaomi 13 is the company’s new flagship phone. It replaces the Xiaomi 12, which was the company’s top phone in 2022, and stays true to its predecessor’s philosophy: high-end performance in a small size. The phone’s screen is mostly the same, except that it’s a little bit bigger. However, Xiaomi’s knack for brightness and rich colours is here in a much sleeker, almost iPhone-like body.

Which puts the Xiaomi 13 in the “handsome” category of today’s best Android phones. Even though the Xiaomi 13 doesn’t have much in the way of a unique design besides its Leica-branded camera setup (more on that below), if you’re a fan of Apple’s straight-sided design like we were, the fact that it looks a lot like the best iPhones is actually a good thing.

Xiaomi 13 Specifications

Design and Display

The Xiaomi 13 looks a lot like the iPhone 14, which is not a bad thing. The phone is 71.5 x 152.8 x 8 mm and weighs 185g. It has a glossy, straight-edged aluminium body that isn’t very innovative, but it feels great in the hand, and its size, at least for me, hits a rare sweet spot between being easy to use and big enough to look impressive. As a point of comparison, the Xiaomi 13 is about the same size as the middle point between the Samsung Galaxy S23 and the Samsung Galaxy S23 Plus.

The Xiaomi 13’s 6.36-inch OLED screen is a little bigger than the one on the Xiaomi 12, but the phone still has the same 1080 x 2400 resolution, 120Hz refresh rate, and support for a variety of HDR standards as the Xiaomi 12. Like the 12, it has a flat screen with a hole in the top for the camera. The borders are also small, which is a good thing.

Xiaomi 13 Lite: Cameras

The Xiaomi 13’s cameras aren’t as high-end as those on the Xiaomi 13 Pro, but they’re still a very good set. The main 50MP camera and the 32MP front-facing camera are the best features, but the other lenses are also useful.

The whole system benefits from Xiaomi’s relationship with Leica, and you can set your photos’ default colour mode to either Leica Authentic Look or Leica Vibrant Look. We picked Authentic, and all of the pictures we took had colours that were very true to life. You can buy this smartphone from its official website

Xiaomi 13 Lite: Software

The software left a little to be desired, and that’s one of the few real things I don’t like about this device. I’ve never been a big fan of Xiaomi’s MIUI, and MIUI 14 still feels like an Android OS trying to copy Apple’s iOS by taking away all of the simple design that Google has been adding to its own software builds in recent years.

Xiaomi 13 Lite: Battery life

The Xiaomi 13 has a 4500mAh battery, while the 13 Pro has a 4820mAh battery. However, both phones seem to last about the same amount of time when they are being used. We wouldn’t recommend getting the Pro just because it looks like it has more battery life because it has a bigger battery. During the two-week review time, we were able to use the Xiaomi 13 comfortably through full, busy days. 

Price and Availability

The Xiaomi 13 costs £849 and is now available at Xiaomi’s official shop. The phone will also be sold at Argos, but the product page isn’t up and running yet as I write this.

If you buy one from Xiaomi directly before March 20, you can get a “eco voucher” worth £80 that you can use on other goods in the Xiaomi eco system. Xiaomi phones aren’t usually sold in the US, but you should be able to buy one through Aliexpress.

Final words

In terms of its tech, the Xiaomi 13 is pretty good. It’s very well made and will last longer than the last model. Even in low light, the main camera takes photos that are clear and sharp, which is an amazing feat.

But because the price went up from the last model, it now competes with some of the best smartphones of the past year, like the iPhone 14 and the Google Pixel 7 Pro. Unfortunately, the MIUI software makes it not quite as good as the iPhone 14 or the Google Pixel 7 Pro.

Xiaomi 13 review: The good and The bad

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