Which Xiaomi 13 series smartphone is best for you?

We are dealing with 6 smartphones here namely, Xiaomi 13, 13 Lite, 13 Pro, 13 Ultra, 13T and 13T Pro. All of these phones are in the flagship category except the Lite version. So, if you are on a low budget the choice is easier. But let’s get into these phones to figure out which would be the best choice for you altogether.

Xiaomi 13

This one comes with a great design. The display is a compact 6.36-inch one. So, if you like compact and boxy, that’s kind of a sweet or you may also say practical or elegant (depending on how you view it) choice to pick. It’s also “THE Xiaomi 13” the main phone of the 13 series although you may argue that the ultra version is the maximum one thus that is the main phone in this series. We agree with both.

You’ll get a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset which has the highest gaming score (100 out of 100) in a smartphone chipset according to Nanoreview as of September 2023 (The score may change in the future), leaving even the Apple A17 Pro chipset (gaming score: 99 out of 100) behind. We are talking about gaming. A17 Pro ranks 1 in overall performance score and the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 comes in 4th place. But if you are a gamer, this is a champion phone coming at a much lower price than the Apple iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max with the Apple A17 Pro chipset. You are also getting the 50W wireless charging which we appreciate very much.

The disadvantage is that you’ll have a Full HD+ display and some other 13 series models will give you a higher resolution Quad HD+ display.

13 Lite

This one is easy as we have mentioned earlier. There is no comparison with the other 13 series models. It costs much lower and the specs also match the price. But you still get some nice and premium features and the feeling of the Xiaomi 13 series with the design and some of the features. Also, it comes with a Dual front camera setup with a main ultrawide lens. That’s exceptional and provides very pleasant quality.

13 Pro

This one is a bit tricky. Firstly, we really like the fact that it has ceramic back in some of its models. There is also a silicone polymer back which is a premium natural material as well but you’ll get it in other 13 series phones. Ceramic is a very rare material in smartphones and this makes the Pro model stand out the most for us.

But why did we say it’s tricky? Because we still think this is the model that is most flat with a lack of charisma or the X factor. Yes, you get a premium and professional type of design and it complements the ceramic back very much. You get the Quad HD+ screen, maximum 120W charging and wireless charging is there too, and the chipset is the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 as well with maximum gaming. There is up to 8K recording with a Leica lens, telephoto and so on. It has all the maximum flagship features but that’s what you’d expect from a flagship phone anyway especially when it’s a brand like Xiaomi. But you know Samsung gives a stylus or DeX feature, Apple gives iOS, A17 Pro chipset, and cinematic videos, these are the X factors we are talking about and This phone seems to lack it. Of course, the price is a bit lower but still, it’s in the flagship category.

13 Ultra

Now this is our favorite choice here. You can’t get over its bold and grand, ultimate kind of design, put together so harmoniously, so intuitively with a feeling of genuine comfort and value, we must give proper credit to Xiaomi for it. Then look at its rounded Penta back camera setup with the Leica branding which also does justice to the quality of the camera. The curved Quad HD+ display, the vibrant and deep colors of the back panel, and the comfort of environmental-friendly eco-leather, the safety of a waterproof body and a tough Gorilla Glass Victus display it’s just simply wow. You can carry a device like this for many many years and it can kind of become like a family phone or even for professional or personal usage the same applies. It’s that kind of all-rounder.

Aside from that, you get all the premium features that you may expect, one of the best performance chipsets, up to 16 GB RAM, a very fine and large 6.73-inch display, and so on. But the point to be noted is the price of it is also the most elevated. It comes with an additional camera kit which you may need to buy extra but suits very well to the style of the gadget.

13T

This phone is particularly interesting because Xiaomi confirmed four years of Android updates and 5 years of security patches. It means that it comes with Android 13 and you’ll get up to Android 17 and then another year of security patches. So, if you buy it right now, you have no worry about software updates and security measures for 5 years straight. All other phones mentioned above will get four years of security updates and the Android updates are not confirmed. You may get 2 to 3 years of Android update in those but we can’t confirm it. That’s usually the case.

This is also the most recent release so, we expect that it has been further optimized. It comes with the same kind of Leica camera and the same kind of “Vegan Leather” as Xiaomi termed it for the European market in their announcement because Vegan and climate-friendly products are in high demand in Europe. So, it was a good marketing strategy from Xiaomi.

13T Pro

It gets the benefits of the 13T plus it comes with the MediaTek Dimensity 9200 Plus chipset which is the best in terms of overall performance among all of the 13 series smartphones. But it is just a little behind in gaming score (scores 99 out of 100 by Nanoreview) compared to the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 which scores 100. But the Dimensity 9200 Plus chipset ranks 2 in overall performance (CPU, gaming and battery) right after the A17 Pro chipset by Apple. This is our second favorite after the Ultra model.