As soon as I saw the specs of the Redmi 13, it was clear that this phone deserves our attention. Nearly every aspect of the series has received an upgrade.
It boasts a faster processor, double the number of megapixels on the camera, faster charging, a slightly bigger battery, and now features a glass back panel.
With all these enhancements, what more could we ask for, right?
Now, the next question is, does it perform as well as we hope it will? Well, let's figure that out together in this review.
Redmi 13 Specs
- Processor: MediaTek Helio G91-Ultra
- RAM and Storage: 8GG + 256GB
- Display: 6.79-inch, 2460x1080px, 90Hz, IPS
- Camera: 108MP f/1.7 (Main), 13MP f/2.45 (Front)
- Battery and Charging: 5030mAh, 33W Fast Charging
- Connectivity: 4G, Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth
- Biometrics: Side-mounted fingerprint
- Other notable specs: IP53 water resistance, IR remote, TUV Rheinland certified: Low bluelight, Flicker-free, Circadian friendly
Design
The moment this phone slid out of its packaging, I was honestly speechless. The glass back panel design looks stunning.
Forgive my radical attempt in trying to describe it, but to me, the design feels like a glittery sand wave encased in glass. It looks absolutely beautiful. I know maybe in a few months a new phone with a similar design will come out, but right now, this is easily one of the nicest-looking budget phones around.
Plus, despite being mostly glass, the phone doesn't feel fragile to hold at all. I didn't even use the included jelly case throughout this whole review and the phone managed to survive unscathed. To top it all off, the phone comes with IP53 splash resistance, making it even more desirable.
The sides are pretty standard. We have the volume rocker on the right along with the power button / side-mounted fingerprint scanner.
At the bottom, we have the speaker port, USB-C port, and mic port.
On top is the 3.5mm audio port and the Xiaomi staple, the IR port.
Display
For its display, the Redmi 13 uses a FullHD+ resolution on its 6.79-inch panel. And it has a screen refresh rate of 90Hz. This is a good upgrade for those still sporting their old 60Hz equipped smartphone.
The screen feels relatively sharp with a decent amount of pixels, although a bit on the dimmer side peaking at 550 nits, but it does have a couple of eye protection certifications to brag about, which partly makes up for it.
Plus we do appreciate the punch hole front camera design which would help this be utilized as a media consumption device.
Nothing that would compete with something like an OLED, but the display is decent enough for most people.
Performance
Now, moving on to its performance, Helio G-series processors are known to be the go-to for decent performance on more affordable smartphones. The Helio G91-Ultra on the Redmi 13, with the “ultra” in its name, makes it easy to get excited about the performance we can expect.
Running Genshin Impact, the experience was pleasing enough to get to enjoy the game. The frame rate didn’t feel like it was lagging behind, even in some heavier areas. I was only running the game at a mix of low and medium graphic settings, but that's not something I would really complain about since we need to keep in mind that this is a fairly inexpensive phone.
I did try to bump the graphic settings to medium across the board, but that introduced some lags. It might be bearable to some, but for those who want a solid frame rate, a low and medium combo would be best.
Call of Duty: Mobile also ran without any problems. The game can only max out at medium settings, which is the highest available option.
In Frontline mode, the gaming experience was smooth enough to be competitive. Dropping it down to low settings though, made the game feel a lot smoother. So those who really want to get serious with playing, may do so on this phone.
Overall, I’d say the gaming experience is pretty solid. It could compete with slightly more expensive phones sporting a Snapdragon 680 chipset, as the Redmi 13 scored a decent 279,233 on our Antutu benchmark.
This phone will surely breeze through normal day-to-day tasks like social media and web browsing. As for heavier tasks like video and photo editing, with managed expectations, you’ll also be able to get by on this.
Camera
For people coming from an affordable smartphone in recent years, the Redmi 13 will feel like an upgrade in terms of its main camera. And I don’t think it’s purely because of the increase in megapixel count, as we have already experienced phones with big megapixel numbers that didn’t perform as well as we hoped.
Here, we're no longer getting an overly sharpened image that is flooded with saturation and contrast. Instead, we now have more balanced-looking photos that are more pleasing to look at. A perfect example to describe this is through greenery, which are almost always exaggerated on other budget phones.
With the Redmi 13, it feels a bit more natural. Sometimes it even feels like it needs a bit more saturation. Though I’d much rather add a bit of that through editing than have an artificial looking image.
For zoomed-in shots, the Redmi 13 tries to push its 108MP sensor to do in-sensor zooming. And truly, I am happy to see this feature here as this is something that we haven't really seen at this price point. It is usable when you are shooting in broad daylight.
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| Redmi 13 3x Zoom |
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| Redmi 13 1x Zoom |
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| Redmi 13 3x Zoom |
However, don't expect this to compete with those higher priced mid rangers with the same feature. Its just not yet on that level.
That said, you can still get away with a little zoom but I’d keep the limit at about 3x or 6x if it's really bright.
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| Redmi 13 3x Zoom |
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| Redmi 13 6x Zoom |
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| Redmi 13 10x Zoom |
Portrait mode is also noticeably better now. While it still only cuts out the edges and blurs the background to achieve the bokeh effect, the edge detection on the Redmi 13, seems more accurate. It’s now easier to get a more convincing blur on the images, which is a characteristic we mostly see on higher-end phones.
As for its low light capability, the Redmi 13 manages to capture pretty decent looking images. The shots mostly maintain detail even at high ISO levels, which is somewhat impressive considering I wasn’t using night mode.
Though low light or not, one thing you need to keep in mind with this phone is to keep your hands steady, as it's easy to introduce blur to the shot if you’re not careful.
Selfies, on the other hand, look surprisingly nice for a 13MP camera sensor. They could use a bit more saturation—quite a bit more than its main camera—but I'd say they look quite pleasing straight out of the camera.
Battery and charging
A bit unusual to see, but Xiaomi has bumped the battery capacity on the Redmi 13 by 30mAh, making it 5030mAh in total. This is paired with 33W fast charging, which is almost double the speed of its predecessor.
During regular use, I didn’t find the endurance to be significantly different from a phone with a 5000mAh battery. I still managed to get a full day doing the usual stuff. Oddly though, the PCMark battery test wasn’t too kind to the Redmi 13. It only got 8 hours and 20 minutes from full down to 20 percent.
As for its charging speed, it reached full charge in a decent 1 hour and 40 minutes.
Conclusion
Retailing for PhP 7,999, the Redmi 13 definitely lives up to the reputation of the series - giving us great value-for-money at a very affordable price.
Sure, it may not excel in every feature, but for what it offers at its price, the value greatly outweighs any weakness you might find.
Packing a 108MP camera which shoots great portraits that you can zoom in, boasting solid performance and a stunning design that make it standout from other choices in its price range, the Redmi 13 is simply a phone that makes every peso worth it.