Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 Pro Review
Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 Pro Intro
With five new phones, Redmi enters the new year in the best way it can, giving users a bunch of value-for-money champions with the Note 13 series.
This particular review is for the middle child in this family of five, the Redmi Note 13 Pro. Notice the lack of 5G in the name and in the feature set, but also notice that this is a "Pro" phone. For this particular series, the Pro series indicates an improved 200MP main camera sensor and a faster chip inside the phone.
As for all the rest, the Redmi Note 13 Pro is a big phone with a 6.7-inch 120Hz OLED screen and it also has a 5,000mAh battery, just like all five phones in the series.
You can find our reviews for the other models in the Redmi Note 13 series below:
- Redmi Note 13 Pro+ 5G Review (most advanced model)
- Redmi Note 13 Pro 5G Review
- Redmi Note 13 5G Review
- Redmi Note 13 Review (most basic model)
What’s new about the Redmi Note 13 Pro
- 6.7-inch AMOLED screen with 120Hz refresh rate
- Mid-range Helio G99 chip with 8GB RAM
- 200MP main camera with sensor crop zoom
- 8MP ultra-wide camera, but no telephoto camera
- 5,000mAh battery
- 67W fast charging, but no wireless charging
Table of Contents:
Redmi Note 13 Pro Specs
The 200MP main camera is the star of the show
Before we dive deep in our experience, here is an overview of the Redmi Note 13 Pro specs:
| Specs | Redmi Note 13 Pro |
|---|---|
| Size and Weight | 161.1 x 75 x 8mm 188 g |
| Display | 6.7" AMOLED 120Hz 1080p up to 1300 nits GGlass 5 |
| Processor | MediaTek Helio G99-Ultra |
| Configurations | 8/256GB for Europe 12/512GB *LPDDR4X, UFS 2.2 *Expandable storage |
| Cameras | 200MP main cam, f/1.65 8MP ultra-wide 2MP macro 16MP front |
| Battery | 5,000 mAh |
| Charging | 67W wired No wireless |
Redmi Note 13 Pro Design
Clean design with clever use of color
The Redmi Note 13 Pro features a clean design with flat sides and relatively slim bezels, while for camera decor, each lens is in its own separate island and Redmi has picked slightly different hues for the camera sections.
The device feels well put together, and it has its power and volume keys on the right, USB-C port and speaker on the bottom, as well as a 3.5mm headphone jack and IR blaster at the top. Having a headphone jack AND an IR blaster is great, and we find it so weird that budget phones like this one provide way more connectivity options than the flagships.
Redmi Note 13 Pro comes in a choice of three colors:
- Midnight Black
- Forest Green
- Lavender Purple
Redmi Note 13 Pro Unboxing
A case and a pre-applied screen protecter and even a charger! Flagship phones, take notice!
Here is what you can find in the box:
- Redmi Note 13 Pro phone with pre-applied plastic screen protector
- 67W charging brick with USB-A output
- Charging cable (USB-A to USB-C)
- Silicone case
- SIM tool
- User manuals
As you can see that is quite the package, including a charger, a case and a pre-applied screen protector, so you can just start using the phone right away. We really like that there is a case included too and we wish more phone makers would do this.
Redmi Note 13 Pro Display
The Redmi Note 13 Pro features a 6.7-inch 120Hz OLED screen with 1080p resolution, which is good to see on a mid-range phone.
We have run our usual lab measurements to give you a better idea about the quality of this screen.
Display Measurements:
The display hits an impressive 1,036 nits of max brightness when tested on a full white page, which is great for outdoor use. The minimum brightness of 1.9 nits is decent, but we do wish the screen could get even dimmer for more comfortable use at night.
The fingerprint here is an optical one built inside the screen. It works fine, just remember that at night it will light up brighter to read your fingerprint, which some people find a bit disturbing.
Redmi Note 13 Pro Camera
The 200MP camera performs well at night
It has three cameras on the back, but the macro one is not of much use
With a 200MP main camera sensor, the Redmi Note 13 Pro offers more than the non-Pro versions in the family.
Thanks to this larger sensor, you have very good performance in low light and you also have high quality zoom at 2X and 4X. This is not quite a replacement for a dedicated telephoto camera (you don't have one here), but it's the next best thing.
You also get an 8MP ultra-wide camera of okay-ish quality. However, the 2MP macro camera is too low-res and images from it lack detail.
Photo Samples
As you can see above, image quality from the main camera is great both during the day and in low light. Photos have a good dynamic range, there are no areas with burned highlights, the exposure is mostly spot on and colors look quite realistic.
The ultra-wide camera, however, is not nearly as good. It does a fine job in good lighting but even then there is not enough detail and in low light there is just too much noise. Similarly the selfie camera does fine in good light, but in slightly dimmer conditions images get very noisy.
Video Quality
Surprisingly, the Redmi Note 13 Pro does NOT support 4K video recording, so we shot at 1080p, which comes with less detail.
If you can live with that, you will find quite decent video stabilization and color reproduction of the 1080p footage. You can also zoom up to 6X digitally, but since this is all digital zoom, the quality drops very quickly.
In low light, there is some noise to the video recordings, so they are not as clean as we'd like, but we would not call the quality bad at all and the video stabilization is again quite decent.
Redmi Note 13 Pro Performance & Benchmarks
The Helio G99 chip inside is fine for daily tasks, but slower than rivals
Under the hood, you'd find the MediaTek Helio-G99 chip here coupled with 8GB of RAM.
For daily tasks, this feels just fine, with a mostly smooth experience.
Performance Benchmarks:
The gaming performance is particularly bad as the Redmi Note 13 has a third of the firepower of a Galaxy A54 5G and a quarter that of a Motorola Edge 40. Gamers and heavy users would be better off with one of those phones instead.
We do, however, like the generous 256GB of on-board storage, and it's nice to see the microSD card support for expandable storage as well.
Redmi Note 13 Pro Software
We have Android 13 here with MIUI 14 on top of it, which is a beat behind the times (Android 14 and Xiaomi's new HyperOS are what you get on more premium phones).
We don't think this older software is a deal-breaker by any means, but one particular feature you should be warned about.
You might run into problems with notifications on this phone. This has been the case with Xiaomi phones for the better part of the last decade and it has everything to do with MIUI aggressively killing background apps. This is obviously done to improve battery life, but it also means that some apps just will not deliver you push notifications on time, a big problem for messaging apps for example.
Redmi defaults to limiting all new apps, and you can try and disable those limitations, but that is no guarantee that you will receive timely notifications.
Of course, there is no such issue on mainstream phones like Galaxies or Pixel phones, so be warned about this on Xiaomi / Redmi phones.
For all the rest, this software runs just fine with smooth animations and transitions.
Of course, there is no such issue on mainstream phones like Galaxies or Pixel phones, so be warned about this on Xiaomi / Redmi phones.
Xiaomi promises 3 years of major OS updates and 4 years of security patches for the Pro models in the Redmi Note 13 series, including this phone. This means, it will receive:
- Android 14
- Android 15
- Android 16
Redmi Note 13 Pro Battery
Big battery, frugal software
Add the frugal MIUI on top of that.
We have run our independent battery tests and here is what we got.
PhoneArena Battery Test Results:
With a score of 9 hours and a half, the Redmi Note 13 Pro beats the competition easily on our YouTube video streaming test, and if you like watching a lot of videos, this is definitely an advantage you should consider.
At the same time, though, on our lighter web browsing test, rival phones did a better job than the Redmi.
Redmi Note 13 Pro Charging Speeds
Here are the actual charging speeds we measured:
You get a nearly 70% charge in just 30 minutes, while a full top up happens in just 51 minutes. It's really cool having the option to juice up your phone so quickly.
There is no wireless charging support, but we can easily overlook that with such fast wired charging. Oh, and Galaxy phones and iPhones can only dream of such speeds!
Redmi Note 13 Pro Audio Quality and Haptics
The loudspeakers on the Redmi are quite decent and they get pretty loud, but probably more important for many is that you have a 3.5mm headphone jack which you can use to plug in your good old headphones. Unlike wireless buds, you don't need to charge those traditional headphones, which is a big advantage too.
Haptics are quite average here, they get the job done, but are not quite as tight and sharp as on more expensive devices.
Redmi Note 13 Pro Competitors
The Redmi Note 13 Pro is listed at a price of 350 euro, so its right next to some very popular competitors.
The big name here is the Samsung Galaxy A54 5G. It has an official price of 490 euro, but is currently regularly sold for around 360 euro, and the Motorola Edge 40, with an official price of 600 euro, is also now available at around 360 euro.
| Redmi Note 13 Pro Rivals | Advantages (over Redmi Note 13 Pro) | Disadvantages (vs Redmi Note 13 Pro) |
|---|---|---|
| Samsung Galaxy A54 5G (current price 360E) | No issue with notifications Better video quality Has 5G | Slower charging No expandable storage |
| Motorola Edge 40 (current price 360E) | No issue with notifications Has 5G Sleeker design, better video quality | No expandable storage |
Learn more here:
Redmi Note 13 Pro Summary and Final Verdict
It is no coincidence that there are five phones in the Redmi Note 13 series, each with carefully tuned characteristics to take on the competition.
The Redmi Note 13 Pro in particular lacks 5G, a feature many people don't really need, and its processor is not the fastest around, but it is able to deliver in other areas that could be more important.
The capable 200MP main camera is the main selling point, and so is the very fast charging, the rich contents of the box, as well as beloved features from the recent past like microSD expandable storage and 3.5mm headphone jack.
We take issue with the MIUI software and how it can cripple push notifications for some apps, but for all else, this device is very good value for the money.
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