Review of Xiaomi Redmi 13 phone. Price review, technical specifications, camera, hardware, software, battery, charging speed, and other features of Xiaomi Redmi 13 phone.

Xiaomi Redmi 13 review

Introduction

The Redmi 13 is a good little entry-level phone. Well, not literally, at 6.79 inches it’s actually pretty big. The Redmi 13 is not the cheapest phone in the current Redmi lineup. For example, with Redmi 13C, you can go even lower. However, a basic 6GB/128GB Redmi 13  will run you just $180/€170. This price is potentially a good deal, especially if you value a good camera experience.

Redmi 13 is the first phone in the Redmi Number series with a 108-megapixel main camera. It looks impressive on paper, and there seem to be only a few obvious competitors in the price range that offer a similar main camera.

Specifications of Xiaomi Redmi 13 at a glance:

• Body:  168.6 x 76.3 x 8.3mm, 205g; Glass front, plastic frame, glass back; IP53, resistant to dust and water splash.
• Display:  6.79 inch IPS LCD, 90 Hz, 550 nits (HBM), resolution 1080 x 2460 pixels, aspect ratio 20.5:9, 396ppi.
• Chipset:  Mediatek Helio G91 Ultra (12 nm): Octa-core (2×2.0 GHz Cortex-A75 & 6×1.8 GHz Cortex-A55); Mali-G52 MC2.
• Memory:  128GB 6GB RAM, 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM; eMMC 5.1; microSDXC (uses a shared SIM card slot).
• OS/Software:  Android 14, HyperOS.
• Rear camera:  Wide (main): 108 MP, f/1.8, 1/1.67 inch, 0.64 µm, PDAF;  Macro: 2 megapixels, f/2.4.
• Front camera:  13 MP, f/2.5, (wide).
• Video recording:  rear camera: 1080p@30fps;  Front camera: 1080p@30fps.
• Battery:  5030mAh; Wired 33 watts
• Connectivity:  LTE; hybrid of two SIM cards; Wi-Fi 5; BT 5.4; NFC; FM radio; IR blaster; 3.5 mm jack
• Other features:  Fingerprint reader (mounted on the side). Virtual proximity sensor

The Redmi 13 comes with some cut corners here and there. It’s a 4G phone rocking one of the older Helio chipsets (well, it’s older on the inside). The Helio G91 Ultra is not that impressive. And it’s paired with eMMC 5.1 storage chips, which are pretty slow by today’s standards.

The Redmi 13 also comes with a speaker instead of a stereo setup, basic intrusion protection, and a rather bland 90Hz LCD panel.

The positive thing is that Redmi 13 supports two SIM cards. One of the nano SIM slots is hybrid, meaning you can expand the microSD storage as well. There is also a 3.5mm jack on the Redmi 13 and an FM radio receiver, IR blaster, and NFC in some markets. The nicely sized 5,030 mAh battery also supports 33W wired PD charging, which is pretty fast potential for a lower mid-range phone. Unfortunately, you don’t get a charger in the box in every region.

Unboxing

The Redmi 13 comes in a simple two-piece cardboard box. Its upper part is painted red to a large extent, which makes it stand out a lot. The box is nice and sturdy. Apparently, there is no plastic in the packaging, and the phone stand inside the box is made of cardboard.

As we mentioned earlier, the Redmi 13 unfortunately does not come with a charger in every region. You’ll only get one in some markets.

You get an original USB Type-A to Type-C cable in the box. Nothing special, but it’s wired for data, which is nice.

Our review unit also came with a nice clear TPU case. However, you should check if your local retailer offers it.

Design, build quality, handling

There is nothing special about the design of the Redmi 13. It’s your basic phone, with multiple circular camera modules on the back, a punch hole on the front, and a decent size, well-proportioned and balanced.

Perhaps the choice of color is the only thing that catches our attention in the design of the Redmi 13. If you want to keep things simple, there’s Midnight Black. It doesn’t get any easier than that. Sand gold is also relatively unpretentious.

We are part of our pink review unit. It’s a very subtle and playful pink that you rarely see on a phone. Ocean blue should be the “hero color” of some sort. It is the only one of the many that has a wavy color pattern.

Redmi 13 has a fairly standard set of controls. The layout is also as expected. You have a volume rocker and power button on the right side. The latter has an integrated capacitive fingerprint reader that is both fast and reliable. We have no complaints about it.

The buttons are well placed in terms of height and are very clicky, which is nice.

 
 
Redmi 13

The left side of the phone is mostly empty, only the SIM and microSD tray. At the bottom is the main microphone, single speaker, and Type-C port. The top of the phone houses a 3.5 mm audio jack and an IR blaster. Both of these are small extras.

The front of the phone has a typical budget design. This includes relatively large display bezels. Wide enough to hold the light sensor above the screen. There’s a punch hole for the selfie camera, which is also on the larger side.

Then about the material. Despite its budget nature, the Redmi 13 still has two flat glass panes in its build – one on the front and one on the back. The front is Corning Gorilla glass. Although, we don’t know exactly what kind.

The middle frame is made of plastic, but it looks and feels good in the hand. This also applies to the entire phone. There are no noticeable bends in the chassis or hollows anywhere. As mentioned earlier, the Redmi 13 only has basic IP53 protection for entry.

The Redmi 13 feels solid in the hand and is quite comfortable thanks to its beautiful rounded corners. The surfaces don’t crease or show stains too badly, which is always appreciated.

show

Redmi 13 has a very large 6.79-inch screen. The FHD+ resolution is 1080 x 2460 pixels, which has a very sharp pixel density of about 396 ppi. While the display itself doesn’t look half bad in a dark room, any kind of light source reflecting off its extra reflective surface ruins the experience.

And the Redmi 13 simply lacks the brightness to adequately combat reflections. Officially, the phone should be able to do 550 nits in high-brightness mode. In our benchmark test,  we measured just 342 nits with the slider maxed out and  448 nits at high brightness. Unfortunately, this is not enough for outdoor comfort. In fact, as we have said, even proper anti-reflection indoors is not enough.

The minimum brightness we measured in the white point was 3.3 nits, which is quite respectable. This screen also supports DC dimming, which is of little value in an LCD whose brightness is not controlled via PWM like OLEDs.

The Redmi 13 panel uses the standard 8-bit color depth. You can choose from several color modes, and there’s even manual color temperature adjustment. However, you can never set the colors perfectly. The Redmi 13 targets the sRGB color space in all its color modes, and it always seems to come up short.

Redmi 13 has a refresh rate of 90 Hz. Admittedly, it’s not as good as what some of its rivals offer, like the Poco M6 Pro and its 120Hz OLED panel. However, 90 Hz is better than 60 Hz.

Redmi 13 has automatic refresh rate change logic which is on by default. This display can actually work at 36 Hz, 48 Hz, 60 Hz and 90 Hz. You don’t see such low and unusual refresh rate modes every day. Depending on whether you’re interacting with the phone, what’s happening on the screen, and what app is in focus, the phone will oscillate between modes. The game seems to run well and consistently with a high refresh rate. We got all of our test titles to cooperate and break the 60fps mark.

Redmi 13 has no HDR support on the display. It has some HDR decoding capabilities for HDR10 and HLG. No HDR10+ or ​​Dolby Vision though. On the plus side, it supports the highest Widevine L1 DRM certification, allowing apps like Netflix to deliver FullHD streams to saturate the display resolution.

Battery life

Redmi 13 has a very large battery of 5030 mAh. However, based on historical data on the Helio G85 and G88 (which are essentially the same chipset as the G91 Ultra), we came into the battery test with very low expectations. And Taming is basically what we got. With an active usage rating of 10:28 hours, the Redmi 13 is decent but largely unremarkable in the battery department.

Charging speed

Redmi 13 touts 33W fast charging with its 5030mAh battery. In many markets, there’s no charger in the box, and we couldn’t find any detailed information on exactly what charging standard the Redmi 13 supports. Since Xiaomi makes and sells a 33W charger, we can only assume it’s the best charger.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have Xiaomi’s 33W charger available when testing the Redmi 13, so we opted to test it with Xiaomi’s 67W HyperCharge adapter.

Redmi 13 does not charge very fast. In fact, we’d say it’s a little slow.

Speaker – loudness and quality

The Redmi 13 has a single bottom-firing speaker. There is no stereo setup, not even a hybrid. Don’t expect too much from this speaker. In our testing, we only got an average loudness score. It is not great in terms of quality. It doesn’t scream too much, but it gets distorted at high volumes. The mids are a little muddy, but overall no problem.

Use playback controls to listen to phone recordings (best with headphones). We measure the average loudness of the speakers in LUFS. A lower absolute value means a louder sound. A look at the frequency response graph tells you how far the reproduction of bass, treble, and midrange frequencies is from the ideal flat “0db” line.

Connectivity

Redmi 13 is a 4G/LTE dual SIM device. The phone has two nano SIM card slots, one of which is a hybrid slot that shares microSD expansion.

There is GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO, and BDS support for location services. Local connectivity is provided by dual-band Wi-Fi AC and Bluetooth 5.4 with LE support. You also get an FM radio receiver, a 3.5mm audio jack, an IR blaster, and NFC in some markets. Contact your retailer for more information.

The Type-C port on the Redmi 13 is backed up by a simple USB 2.0 data connection, which means data transfer speeds of up to 480Mbps. It has OTG/Host support but nothing fancy like video output.

Redmi 13 has a BMA510 accelerometer, MMC5603 magnetometer and compass, and SIP1328 light sensor. Unfortunately, the gyroscope and proximity sensor are both virtual. There is no barometer.

HyperOS on top of Android 14

The Redmi 13 runs on Xiaomi’s relatively new HyperOS – in their words, “a human-centric operating system designed for the ‘Human x Car x Home’ smart ecosystem.”

We can’t find any reliable information about how many years of software support the Redmi 13 will have. However, Xiaomi is advertising a “new 36-month software experience” for the phone, something that comes with HyperOS improvements compared to MIUI.

The new OS still looks and behaves very much like MIUI, and while we’ve no doubt there are improvements to come, long-time Xiaomi phone users will be right at home. However, there are subtle differences, such as a slightly smoother design and more rounded edges for many design elements.

  
HyperOS on Redmi 13

Interestingly, despite running HyperOS, the Redmi 13 lacks the new style of quick settings. You also have no choice to enable or disable Control Center. We didn’t find an option to run multi-window apps on the Redmi 13 either.

  
HyperOS on Redmi 13

Apparently, there are a few artificial intelligence features on the Redmi 13, similar to those on recent Poco devices like the Poco F6.

Benchmarks and performance

No point here – performance is a problem on the Redmi 13. So much so, in fact, that even the UI stutters and slows down while doing trivial day-to-day tasks.

The Mediatek Helio G91 Ultra isn’t a powerful chip to begin with. It has two ARM Cortex-A75 cores with a frequency of 2.0 GHz and another 6 Cortex-A55 cores that work up to 1.8 GHz. The Mali-G52 MC2 internal GPU is also not powerful.

However, we think the eMMC 5.1 storage chips are what really let the performance down. You can get the Redmi 13 with 128 or 256 GB of internal memory. which can be expanded through the microSD card slot. For RAM, you get 6GB in the base 128GB variant or 8GB with either 128GB or 256GB storage. Our review unit is the base 6/128GB version, and we’ve set the memory expansion to the default 2GB option.

The Gelio G91 is a relatively new chipset introduced in 2024, but at its core, it’s not much different from the G85 or G88. This chip has the same CPU and GPU configuration as TSMC’s 12nm chips and manufacturing process. The G91 has an upgraded ISP with support for primary cameras up to 108MP – a feature that the Redmi 13 takes full advantage of.

Let’s get to some real benchmarks to show just how slow the Redmi 13 is, starting with some CPU and GeekBench. The Redmi 13 and its Helio G91 Ultra are near the bottom of the CPU benchmark table in both single-core and multi-core scenarios.

AnTuTu is a bit kinder than the Redmi 13, but not by much. It’s still at the bottom of the table, barely outpacing the Helio G85 and G88 devices.

The situation in the GPU department is not much better. Once again, we find the Redmi 13 near the bottom of the chart. The Mali-G52 MC2 outperforms the likes of the Adreno 613 and 610, and again, not by much.

To be honest, the performance offered by Redmi 13 is very poor and definitely not enough for a 2024 phone, even a budget phone. To put things into perspective, the 2020 Redmi Note 9 has practically the same CPU and GPU configuration.

Thermal-throttling

The Helio G91 Ultra may not be particularly powerful, but on the other hand, at least it doesn’t get too hot.

  

Thermal-throttling

Powerful 108-megapixel main camera

The main camera is the highlight feature of Redmi 13. This is the first 108MP camera to come to Redmi’s numbering series. The device uses Samsung’s s5khm6 sensor, commonly referred to as the HM6. It’s a 1/1.67-inch sensor with 0.64 µm pixels. The sensor is behind an f/1.8 lens and has PDAF.

The affordable price of the Redmi 13 apparently doesn’t leave enough budget for anything more than a very basic 2MP macro camera on the back. There is no ultra-wide telephoto, and certainly no dedicated ones.

The ultimate selfie camera is 13 megapixels. It’s pretty basic, based on the fixed-focus OmniVision ov13b10 sensor and f/2.5 lens.

• Wide (primary)  : 108MP Sony s5khm6 f/1.8, 1/1.67in, 0.64µm, PDAF; 1080p@30fps
• Macro  : 2MP GalaxyCore gc02m1, f/2.4, 1/5″, 1.75µm.
• Front camera:  13 MP OmniVision ov13b10, f/2.5, 1/3-inch, 1.12 µm; 1080p@30fps

Nothing much has changed in terms of camera UI. You get a well-organized interface with a mode wheel on the right, next to the camera shutter, a few keys on the left, and a drop-down menu for more options.

Day photo quality

Main camera

The Redmi 13’s main camera takes good overall photos with plenty of detail and beautiful, mostly natural colors. The dynamic range is also good and the contrast is good.

  
  
  

Redmi 13: samples of the main camera of 12 megapixels

However, when you start the Pixel, it quickly becomes clear that these photos are slightly processed. There is a lot of sharpening. Some noise is also left behind, and color fringing can be seen in more subtle patterns. Overall, though, these are pretty decent shots for a budget device.

The Redmi 13 also performs well with human subjects. Skin color and texture appear and look completely realistic. The main camera can also do portraits. While these aren’t perfect, and the algorithm sometimes crashes, they’re pretty good. We like the accuracy of subject detection and separation and the quality of the background blur.

 
 
Redmi 13: 12MP main camera portrait examples

There’s no dedicated telephoto on the Redmi 13, but the main camera still has plenty of resolution for decent digital zoom. There is a 3x shift in the camera UI. 3x photos look great, practically identical to 1x photos. There is plenty of detail, beautiful colors, great contrast and good dynamic range.

  
  
Redmi 13: 12MP main camera samples with 3x zoom

You can force the main camera to shoot at full 108MP resolution. We’re not necessarily saying you get better detail from these photos, but the processing is much less aggressive, resulting in more natural-looking photos, especially when looking at pixels.

  
  
Redmi 13: 108-megapixel main camera samples

If you don’t mind the larger file size, then the 108MP mode might be the way to go for the best quality possible from the Redmi 13.

Macro camera

The dedicated 2MP macro camera isn’t that impressive. Given its limited resolution and fixed focus, it performs about as well as can be expected. With enough fiddling, you can take interesting pictures. Just don’t expect extreme close-ups or crisp quality.

 
 
Redmi 13: 2-megapixel macro camera examples

Selfie camera

Despite its relatively average specs, the Redmi 13’s selfie camera takes surprisingly clean photos. These have a lot of detail and beautiful colors, especially the skin tone. Contrast and dynamic range are also good.

  
  
 
Redmi 13: examples of 13-megapixel selfie camera

Camera quality in low light

The main camera takes decent photos in low light, but not much else. The results are hardly spectacular. There is enough detail in the frame and the darker areas are well defined. However, the corners are too soft and the light sources are very weak and almost always turn off.

 
 
Redmi 13: Examples of the 12-megapixel main camera in low light

There is a dedicated night mode, but it hardly does anything useful. In fact, it seems to soften the photos a bit, which is not a desirable effect in this situation.

 
 
Redmi 13: samples of the 12-megapixel main camera in night mode

Everything is not better at 3x zoom. You get what we’d normally consider usable photos, but you have to be a bit steady and struggle with the autofocus to get a decent blurry result.

 
 
Redmi 13: examples of the 12-megapixel main camera in low light with 3x zoom

Night mode doesn’t really do much for 3x zoom shots. Shot-to-shot variance is normally higher due to autofocus and slight camera shake.

 
 
Redmi 13: 12-megapixel main camera, night mode with 3x zoom

Low-light selfies look really soft and noisy and are barely usable.

 
 
Redmi 13: examples of 13-megapixel selfie camera in low light

However, night mode does almost nothing to improve photos. Well, maybe it cleans up a bit of noise and sometimes handles light sources better, though the effect is hardly consistent and thus not likely due to night mode processing at all, but rather due to shot-to-shot variance.

 
 
Redmi 13: samples of the 13-megapixel selfie camera in night mode

Video quality

The MediaTek Helio G91 Ultra may have an upgraded ISP compared to the G85 and G88, but it’s still limited to a maximum of 1080p video. This is unfortunate as the main camera has more than enough resolution to capture 4K, but it’s not entirely unexpected on a budget device either. Both the main and selfie cameras can do 1080p@30fps. This is not the only drawback of video recording. Another thing is that the Redmi 13 only records mono audio. On the plus side, you can choose between the default AVC/h.264 format and the more space-efficient HEVC/h.265.

Full HD videos from the main camera look decent enough, but nothing to call. Given the resolution, detail is good, and aggressive sharpening is being done to give the illusion of a sharper, sharper image. The colors are nice, but not what we would call real. Saturation is greatly increased. Dynamic range and contrast are decent.

Just like photos, there’s a 3x zoom button for videos. These don’t sound as good as the 1x examples and are understandably a bit softer but still quite sharp.

Redmi 13 lacks any video stabilization. Any kind of movement results in extremely shaky videos that are almost unusable. This applies to both the main camera and the selfie camera.

When it comes to the selfie camera, it performs decently, but again, nothing spectacular. Regarding the resolution, the details are good and the colors are very nice. However, contrast and dynamic range are far from ideal.

Unlike low-light photos, the main camera’s videos are decent in low light, but not much else. There is enough detail for the resolution, colors look good and even some detail is developed in the darker parts of the frame. The light sources, however, are very weak and almost always explode.

Checking the Competitors

A basic 6GB/128GB Redmi 13 will only run you around $180/€170,  and a top-of-the-line 8GB/256GB version should cost around €190-200. It’s a very affordable price, but not quite unbeatable. Affordable devices just keep getting better and better, and there are plenty of options to consider.

Perhaps the closest competitor is the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite. It also has a 108-megapixel rear camera and a similarly sized 6.72-inch IPS LCD (FHD+) display with a higher 120Hz refresh rate (the Redmi 13’s LCD runs at 90Hz). 5000 mAh battery charging is faster. 67W Note that the Snapdragon 695 chipset is more powerful than the Helio G91 used in Redmi and has 5G connectivity.

   
OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite • Realme C55 • Xiaomi Poco M6 Pro • Samsung Galaxy A25

Then there’s the Realme C55, which can be found for €150 or more (128/6GB unit). This one uses the Helio G88, which is similar enough to the G91, except that it can’t support 108MP cameras. And it doesn’t have to, it’s paired with a 64-megapixel base module. The phone has a 6.72-inch IPS LCD screen with FHD+ resolution at 90 Hz and a 5000 mAh battery with 33W charging, which is very close to Redmi in terms of specifications.

The Poco M6 Pro can be bought for less than €200 in the 256/8GB configuration, but note that we’re looking at the 4G model with the Helio G99. Unlike the two phones above, this is the 2024 model. And it’s IP54 rated, while none of the others are rated for dust or water resistance. The camera also switches to an OLED, 6.67-inch FHD+ 120Hz display. While the 64-megapixel main camera isn’t that impressive, the 8-megapixel ultra-wide camera stands out as the others just have their regular main camera. The 5000mAh battery charges at 67W.

Samsung Galaxy A25 is also priced below 200 euros for a 128/6GB unit. The Exynos 1280 gives the phone 5G connectivity. This model is paired with a smaller 6.5-inch FHD+ 120Hz OLED display. This model also has an 8-megapixel ultra-wide screen that sits alongside a 50-megapixel primary camera – the first and only camera on this list to offer 4K video. Samsung usually charges. 5000 mAh 25-watt battery.

Note that all the phones listed above have a 3.5mm headphone jack and a microSD slot. Most of them also have stereo speakers. Not Redmi or Realme though.

Related article: Xiaomi Poco F6 Pro review

Summary

The Redmi 13 looks great on paper, especially in the camera department with its 108-megapixel primary camera. While it can actually capture pretty decent photos, even this hardware highlight has some cut corners that are primarily notable for video capture. It is limited to 1080p@30fps and there is no EIS and only mono audio.

We believe it’s all about the details. For example, while we like its build quality, with Gorilla Glass on the front and glass on the back, it only offers basic IP53 protection.

The display looks good on paper, too, and we’d appreciate more attention to the refresh rate and switching modes. However, it lacks maximum brightness for outdoor use.

The battery life is only decent on the phone and the charging speed is not that impressive. It also lacks a stereo speaker setup, although we’d welcome the addition of a 3.5mm jack and an FM radio receiver.

Its gyroscope and proximity sensor are virtual hardware as opposed to hardware. And although the Redmi 13 has HyperOS, it seems that the Redmi 13 lacks the new operating system.

But Redmi 13’s biggest flaw has to be its performance. MediaTek Helio G91 Ultra is only closed for performance. He has trouble even with normal daily tasks. Even the UI of the phone sometimes stutters, which is not acceptable even in an affordable device.

For all these reasons, we can’t honestly see ourselves recommending the Redmi 13 over some of its competitors we’ve already listed.

Why should we buy Xiaomi Redmi 13?

• Solid build quality with Gorilla Glass on the front and glass on the back.
• Good refresh rate control with low refresh rate situations.
• The all-in-one fixed function of still image.

Why should we avoid buying the Xiaomi Redmi 13 phone?

• Some markets do not have a charger in the box.
• The screen isn’t bright enough to be comfortable outdoors, and it lacks HDR video support.
• Single speaker and not good.
• Virtual gyroscope and proximity sensor.
• The MediaTek Helio G91 Ultra and eMMC memory provide poor performance with frequent stuttering and slowness.
• Video recording with mono audio is limited to 1080p and there is no EIS

Source: GSMARENA.COM