Earlier this year, we reviewed the Xiaomi 13 Pro. You can read it here. Now, we’re back again with the latest iteration, the Xiaomi 13T Pro. Recently released in late September 2023, the 13T Pro retails for a much cheaper price as compared to the 13 Pro.

The Xiaomi 13 Pro impressed us with its photography. Will the 13T Pro impress us too?

Xiaomi 13T Pro – the details

The Xiaomi 13T Pro comes in three colours – Black, Meadow Green and Alpine Blue. We were lent the Black to review. Upon unboxing the phone, the first thing that came to mind is that the phone is super similar to the 13 Pro. Nothing stands out to me as either good or bad.

The camera is still quite “bulky” in the sense that the phone is not able to lie flat when placed down. Now, on to the specifications. I will be doing a side by side comparison with the Xiaomi 13 Pro’s specifications.

Xiaomi 13T ProXiaomi 13 Pro
ProcessorMediaTek Dimensity 9200+Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform
Storage & RAM12GB+256GB | 12GB+512GB | 16GB +1TB12GB+256GB | 12GB+512GB
DimensionsGlass: 162.2mm x 75.7mm x 8.49mm + 206g
PU: 162.2mm x 75.7mm x 8.62mm + 200g		162.9mm (h) x 74.5mm (w) x 8.28mm (thickness) +
229g (weight)
DisplayFHD+ 6.67″ AMOLEDWQHD+ 6.73″ AMOLED Display
Rear CameraLeica Professional Optical Lens (Leica Vario-Summicron 1:1.9-2.2/15-50mm ASPH)Leica Professional Optical Lens
(Leica Vario-Summicron 1:1.9-2.2/14.75 ASPH)
Front Camera20MP front camera32MP in-display selfie camera
Battery & ChargingXiaomi Surge Battery Management SystemXiaomi Surge Battery Management System

There are some differences between the two phones, mainly the processor, a bigger storage option for the Xiaomi 13T Pro, dimensions, display and the cameras. The battery remains the in-house management system.

The Xiaomi 13T Pro retails for a much cheaper price of SGD$899 on both Lazada and Shopee platform at time of review. This price is for the phone with 12GB+512GB of storage and RAM. For the Xiaomi 13T Pro with 16GB+1TB of storage and RAM, the price is currently SGD$1,099 on both platforms as well.

The Xiaomi 13T Pro price tag is drastically different to Xiaomi 13 Pro price tag of SGD$1,699. This explains the differences in both phones, even though they are similarly named. However, will this difference affect the performance of the phone?

Does this mean that the Xiaomi 13T Pro would be a flop? Read on to find out!

The Stress Test

For the stress test, I used the “Wild Life Extreme Stress Test” first. It performed quite okay for me, scoring a percentage of 86.6% for stability. I have seen better results from other phones but, honestly for the price point, I am quite accepting of its results. If I recall correctly, the 13 Pro fared much better as compared to the 13T Pro, but please do remember that the 13 Pro has almost a $1,000 price difference depending on the model that you are considering buying.

Moving on the PCMark. We did the Work Performance Test and the scores were, again, lower as compared to the 13 Pro. Horrible? No, I don’t think so. In fact, I don’t think the difference is noticeable to the average user unless you truly do care about it.

I have not been able to run the Battery Life test. The app just would not run no matter what I did and so, I skipped it.

The Camera Test – the pictures

There are fewer filter options for the Xiaomi 13T Pro as compared to the 13 Pro. The two filter options available are only the “Leica Authentic” and the “Leica Vibrant”. It does make switching between the two options easier though as you only need to tap an option at the top right hand corner of the phone.

There are noticeable differences between the two filters, especially in the colour brightness and the contrast. I brought the phone to our family picnic at East Coast Park over the Deepavali weekend and I do not regret it, at all. I loved playing with the phone, taking various pictures of our family and the beach.

This is captured using the ‘Authetic’ filter. I love how the colours turned out.

I love the pictures taken using the “Authentic” filter. It really does live up to the ‘Authentic’ name as the pictures turned out looking good and not overly edited, in my eyes. However, the “Vibrant” filter comes in super handy when you want to punch up the colours in your pictures. Here’s a side-by-side comparison of the “Vibrant” (right) and the “Authentic” (left).

You can see the “Authetic” looks great, the colours are still strong and the picture is clear. The “Vibrant” on the other hand, punches up the brightness of the colours and seem to make the picture, mmm, whiter, for lack of a better description. I would say that the “Vibrant” removed more shadows as compared to the “Authentic”, where it left the shadows alone.

There’s also a ‘Night’ option in the camera itself. I tried taking a photo in the semi-dark living room whilst my husband was playing his game. Please note that the only light was a small kitchen light and the from the TV itself. I have to admit, I am impressed by the picture taken. Somehow, it looked like the photo is brighter and it looked “cleaner”, if that’s a better word? I took a similar photo a few seconds after using my current phone, which also has the ‘Night’ option but somehow, that picture seemed to turn out a little more pixelated and dimmer.

The picture on the left is from Xiaomi 13T Pro whilst the one of the right is from my personal phone. Again, both are using the ‘Night’ option setting on the phones.

The Camera test – the videos

I also managed to play with the dual camera feature, which admittedly felt a little awkward. However, it did provide an interesting perspective. I do imagine if someone wanted to provide their reaction to something they are recording, the dual camera feature would come in handy. The sound quality of the video is great. You can hear the waves even though I was not necessarily near the waters.

There was also the short film feature which reminds me a little of ‘Capcut’ or ‘IG Reels’. You record 9 clips, which is only a few seconds long each, then join them all together to create a short film. This comes with a preset filter to give the effect that you are going for. The preset filter that was already downloaded was ‘Nostalgia’ but there were five more filters for you to download too. Unfortunately, I did not manage to finish the short clip and there doesn’t seem to be a way for me to download the unfinished clip…

The only thing that bothers me about the Xiaomi 13T Pro is how the quality of the pictures, but especially the videos, drops when it’s transferred or viewed on another device. The videos especially becomes blurred and pixelated when I sent it over my phone, either using bluetooth, whatsapp or telegram.

Example: the video below. Why oh why does it look so pixelated here?

Final Thoughts

I love the Xiaomi 13T Pro. I love the camera and I love the pictures produced.

Overall for the price point, I would not harp so much as you are still getting bang for your buck. Especially with the Leica camera lens. Nothing would really beat that. I have always been a loyal user of S_____g but, each time I use a Xiaomi phone, my mind wanders to whether I really should stick to the same brand or jump ship.

So, pros: the Leica camera lens, the price point. Cons: the dip in quality when transferring or viewing on other devices.

Occasional writer here. Full-time mother in real life.