Xiaomi 13T Pro versus Xiaomi 13T

Co-engineered with Leica – this is the main slogan of the Xiaomi 13T series, as the smartphones share identical cameras. Xiaomi 13T and 13T Pro also have similar dimensions and identical design, they also share identical displays and batteries.

There are, of course, a couple of differences that give the Xiaomi 13T Pro its premium factor and price: the flagship chipset, faster charging, extended video capture capabilities, faster storage, and Wi-Fi support. -Fi 7.

Summary:

Let’s start by comparing the full spec sheets here.

Size comparison

Xiaomi
13T

193 g

162.2 x 75.7 x 8.5mm
(6.39 x 2.98 x 0.33 inches)

The Xiaomi 13T and 13T Pro have identical designs and are also similar in size and weight. Both smartphones are waterproof, with an IP68 rating for dust and water resistance. They are both available in two different variants characterized by different backrests.

The 13T and 13T Pro have a Gorilla Glass 5 front panel, a plastic chassis, while the Black and Green models have glass backs. On the other hand, the exclusive Alpine Blue model has a panel covered in blue vegan leather.

Aesthetically, both smartphones are beautiful. If we had to choose, we would opt for the leather version because it is more form-fitting than the others.

View the comparison

Xiaomi
13T

6.67″

AMOLED
144Hz

1220×2712
pixels

446
ppi

The Xiaomi 13T and 13T Pro feature identical display panels: 6.67-inch CrystalRes AMOLED screens with 1,220 x 2,712 pixels, 144Hz refresh rate, 12-bit color depth, and support for HDR10+ and Dolby Vision streaming. Xiaomi advertises them for 1,200 nits of auto high brightness and up to 2,600 nits of peak brightness.

And, as you’d expect, both screens have nearly identical brightness capabilities – approximately 1,100-1,200 nits in automatic mode and about 500 nits with manual control.

Both screens offer accurate color calibration.

Xiaomi has listed five refresh rate levels supported by the two models: 30Hz, 60Hz, 90Hz, 120Hz and 144Hz. The adaptive refresh rate works as expected: most of the UI and apps use 120Hz, while the phone drops to 60Hz when the screen displays static content. All streaming apps are limited to 60Hz for the UI and streaming as well. And of course, incompatible HFR apps like the Camera app and Google Maps are always rendered at 60fps.

The only time we saw the screen use 30Hz was for the always-on display. And we never saw 144Hz on the UI, but we can confirm that the screen uses 144Hz on various HFR-compatible games, benchmarks, and apps.

Finally, the two 13T phones support HDR10+ and Dolby Vision streaming and are successfully recognized on Netflix and the like.

Battery life

Both Xiaomi 13T and 13T Pro are powered by 5,000 mAh batteries.

It might appear that the two smartphones offer similar battery life: their active user scores are similar, as is their playtime. But the 13T offered an extra hour of web browsing and managed to log an additional 5 hours for voice calls.

Charging speed

One of the first big differences between Xiaomi 13T and Xiaomi 13T Pro is the charging speed. The Xiaomi 13T supports 67W fast charging, while the 13T Pro has 120W HyperCharge support. Both phones ship with their respective power adapters.

Wireless charging isn’t available on either.

It is obvious that the Xiaomi 13T Pro is much faster in terms of charging speed and can run circles around the 13T.

Just like other Xiaomi phones with 120W capabilities, the 13T Pro supports Boost Charge mode: this feature allows for the fastest possible charging at 120W, but only when the phone has the screen turned off as an overheating prevention measure. This option is disabled by default, but you can enable it from the battery settings.

If Boost mode is disabled, charging the phone is limited to 60W-80W and full charging is achieved more slowly – around 40 minutes or so – bringing it closer to 13T.

Test the speakers

The Xiaomi 13T and 13T Pro have the traditional hybrid stereo speaker setups of the new variety. Both have the two speakers positioned on the top and bottom sides behind dedicated grilles. The top speaker also doubles as an earphone which is why it has another front jack.

The Xiaomi 13T turned out to be the one with a slightly more powerful speaker system – it got a very good rating in our noise test, while the 13T Pro – a good rating. Both offer good sound with some bass, good vocals and a rather average high frequency presentation.

Performance

The second big difference is performance, and this part will probably make the biggest difference when deciding which phone to buy: the one with decent speeds or the one with flagship speeds.

The Xiaomi 13T runs on the brand new Dimensity 8200 Ultra based on the 4nm manufacturing process. The 8200 chip has an octa-core processor with a more modern combination of 1+3+4 cores. The main core is Cortex-A78 at 3.1 GHz, there is a second cluster of 3 Cortex-A78 cores clocked at 3.0 GHz. The energy-efficient cluster of 4 Cortex-A55 cores runs at 2.0 GHz. The GPU is a Mali-G610 MC6.

The Xiaomi 13T Pro uses the top-of-the-line Dimensity 9200+ chipset. It is made on TSMC’s second-generation 4nm (N4P) process. The chip features an octa-core processor with a top-of-the-line Cortex-X3 core at 3.35 Hz, 3x Cortex-A715 cores at 3.0 GHz and 4x Cortex-A510 cores at 2.0 GHz. The GPU here is the ARM Immortalis-G715 MC11 GPU with hardware-based ray tracing engine variable rate shading.

The Xiaomi 13T has 8GB of RAM with 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage, while the base 13T Pro has 12GB of RAM and comes with 256GB of UFS 4.0 storage.

Xiaomi
13T Pro

MediaTek Size 9200+
4 nautical miles

12GB/256GB UFS 4.0
basic configuration

Xiaomi
13T

MediaTek Size 8200 Ultra
4 nautical miles

8GB/256GB UFS 3.1
basic configuration

As expected, although excellent, the Xiaomi 13T has lower performance than the Xiaomi 13T Pro. This applies to every aspect: the Galaxy 13T Pro has a 40% faster CPU and a 3 times faster GPU.

Xiaomi
13T Pro

AnTuTu 10
1,470,464

Geekbench 6
4,518 multicores

GFX 3.1 bench
84 fps (on screen)

Xiaomi
13T

AnTuTu 10
888,714

Geekbench 6
4,089 multicores

GFX 3.1 bench
43 fps (on screen)

The Xiaomi 13T Pro has cutting-edge hardware and a more advanced processor, high-end graphics with ray tracing and a better AI core. It is best suited for high-end gaming and has proven to be a phone that offers great long-lasting performance.

The Xiaomi 13T also offers smooth gaming and excellent, long-lasting performance. Sure, the graphics settings won’t be at their maximum, but the experience won’t differ significantly. However, players will definitely notice it. Additionally, having a previous-generation processor and graphics chip makes the 13T less future-proof than the 13T Pro in the long run.

Camera comparison

The Xiaomi 13T and 13T Pro have identical cameras. There are three on the back: a 50MP OIS primary, a 50MP 2x telephoto, and a 12MP ultrawide. The front camera is 20 MP.

The only difference between the 13T and 13T Pro is in video capture capabilities: the 13T Pro supports 8K24 (main) and 4K60 (main, tele) options, as well as 4K30 (ultrawide). The 13T maxes out at 4K30 on all rear cameras. Selfie shooting on both phones is limited to 1080p30.

By default the photo mode is Leica Vibrant with the AI ​​turned off, and we adopted this mode as the default for our tests. There’s also a Leica Authentic mode with more natural color rendition, but it also adds a bit of vignetting.

Photo quality on both phones is identical except for small differences in color temperature.

The main cameras save detailed photos, the sharpness is just right and there is no visible noise. Image processing is balanced and provides natural-looking details in photos. The colors in the Leica Vibrant mode are, well, vibrant and punchier than they were in real life, but they’re definitely not overdone. The contrast is high, while the dynamic range is wide enough, but not too extreme and helps achieve an overall balanced look.

Ultrawide photos are good: detail is average, but sufficient for ultrawide purposes. The noise is low, the colors are pleasing, the dynamic range is wide. These photos aren’t as detailed as those from the main camera, because the camera’s sensor is smaller.

Photos from telephoto cameras are solid. They have enough details, saturated colors, high contrast and good dynamic range.

The 20MP selfie cameras on the 13T and 13T Pro use Quad-Bayer sensors. They save 20MP images instead of 5MP, which makes the situation worse. You see, 20MP photos are poor in detail, everything is soft and looks enlarged. Other than that, exposure is great, colors are vibrant and punchy, noise is low, and dynamic range is adequate

Xiaomi 13T Pro: main • ultrawide • 2x zoom • selfie

Xiaomi 13T: main • ultrawide • 2x zoom • selfie

Xiaomi 13T Pro: main • ultrawide • 2x zoom • selfie

Xiaomi 13T: main • ultrawide • 2x zoom • selfie

Xiaomi 13T Pro: main • ultrawide • 2x zoom

Xiaomi 13T: main • ultrawide • 2x zoom

The Xiaomi 13T Pro, just like many other Xiaomi, Samsung and Apple devices, offers automatic night mode processing in Photo mode. It will apply whatever simulated exposure and stacking it sees fit: it rarely activates on the primary and telephoto cameras, but almost always on the ultrawide camera, and it needs it.

Night samples from the main and telephoto cameras are among the best you can get from a smartphone. Photos are incredibly rich in detail, with no visible noise, wide dynamic range and superb color saturation. The highlights of all photos are handled with commendable expertise.

Photos from ultrawide cameras were taken with the help of night mode, usually 1s. They are good: they have good exposure, the dynamic range is wide, the colors are excellent and the detail is sufficient even if some of it is smeared by noise reduction.

Xiaomi 13T Pro: main • ultrawide • 2x zoom

Xiaomi 13T: main • ultrawide • 2x zoom

Finally, let’s talk about video capture. The Xiaomi 13T Pro can record videos at up to 8K24 (main) and 4K60 (main and telephoto), while the Xiaomi 13T maxes out at 4K30. Both selfie cameras support capture up to 1080p30. Optional video stabilization (EIS) is available for all cameras.

Daytime 4K30 videos from all cameras feature matching color saturation, great contrast, and wide dynamic range. Detail is very good on primary and enlarged videos, but average on ultrawide ones. The 1080p selfie footage also has medium detail.

Xiaomi 13T Pro: Main 4K • 4K ultrawide • 4K 2x zoom • FullHD selfie

Xiaomi 13T: Main 4K • 4K ultrawide • 4K 2x zoom • FullHD selfie

Even 4K videos in low light are high quality. Those from the main camera are rich in detail, noise is low and color saturation is lively and nice. The contrast is excellent and the dynamic range is sufficiently wide. The enlarged footage is a little noisy but still great. Ultrawide clips are usable as they have good colors and aren’t completely ruined by noise, but still have a dark exposure and narrow dynamic range.

Xiaomi 13T Pro: 4K main • 4K ultrawide • 4K 2x zoom

Xiaomi 13T: 4K main • 4K ultrawide • 4K 2x zoom

The Xiaomi 13T Pro also offers 60fps options plus 8K24 capture. 8K clips have mediocre detail, but daylight video can reveal more than 4K footage, such as license plate numbers and legible signs. Foliage and other random details look artificial, but the footage is detailed enough to be usable if you want to extract more from the scene, noise is low, colors are accurate, and dynamic range is wide.

We can’t say the same for 8K videos in low light, though: they look enlarged compared to 4K clips with no improvement.

Xiaomi 13T Pro 8K video

Here’s a glimpse of how the Xiaomi 13T Pro’s main camera compares in terms of image quality to that of the Xiaomi 13T in our photo comparison tool.

And here’s how the Xiaomi 13T Pro’s main camera compares in terms of video quality to that of the Xiaomi 13T in our video comparison tool.

Verdict

The $500 Xiaomi 13T and $700 Xiaomi 13T Pro are quite similar, offering flagship design and builds, great displays, great cameras, excellent battery life and charging, speakers, and reliable software. There are some notable differences, performance being the main one.

The Xiaomi 13T offers a lot of decent performance and even modern games will run well and smoothly, but the Xiaomi 13T Pro is the one with the flagship processor, graphics, storage chips and even Wi-Fi 7 support. So if ultra graphics and the subtleties of ray tracing in gaming are a must and you want the most future-proof hardware, the 13T Pro and its Dimensity 9200+ chip will make sense. Otherwise, the 13T and its Dimensity 8200 Ultra platform would be just fine, and you won’t see any hiccups for at least a couple of years.

The Xiaomi 13T Pro and its more powerful hardware also allows for smoother 4K60 video capture and the 8K24 option. While these are niche modes, some users would prefer smoother clips, especially in scenes that require modes.

Finally, there’s the matter of faster charging: 120W on the Pro versus 67W on the 13T. But unless you use Charge Boost, the difference in charging times is minimal.

Long story short: either get the Xiaomi 13T for its €200 lower price and a comprehensive spec sheet, or spend more and get the Xiaomi 13T Pro for its flagship performance, video capture, and blazingly fast charging .