The Xiaomi 13T Pro has defied the brand snob in me and reared its ugly head when the Beijing-based tech giant approached Mashable with a review unit.
I always thought I was brand agnostic, but the truth is that I found myself rejecting the 13T Pro because Xiaomi is not one of the top three US smartphone giants.: Apple, Google and Samsung. However, it’s time to pull your head out of the sand. Looking beyond my backyard and from a global perspective, Xiaomi is hot on its heels from big players like Samsung and Apple.
And considering the phone’s regional origins, ahem, I wondered if our American readers could even buy the Xiaomi 13T Pro. Turns out they can, but they have to order it from third-party sellers (e.g. Amazon).
Despite my reservations, I decided to give the Xiaomi 13T Pro a try. Now that I have spent a week with the Xiaomi 13T Pro, I am really surprised by its performance. And in some cases… few being the key word here, even surpasses my iPhone 15 Pro Max.
But before we dive in, let’s discuss the price and specifications of the Xiaomi 13T Pro.
Price and availability of the Xiaomi 13T Pro
The Xiaomi 13T Pro that we tested has a price of $699 on Amazon and comes with the following specifications:
Compare this to me iPhone 15 Pro Maxwhich sets you back a lot $1,599 via Apple’s official website. Here are its specifications:
8GB RAM
1TB of storage
A17 Pro chipset
Now that you have a brief overview of the internals of both phones, let’s talk about the mind-blowing ways the Xiaomi 13T Pro outperforms the iPhone 15 Pro Max.
1. Xiaomi 13T Pro beats iPhone 15 Pro Max in battery life
When it comes to Android phones, we normally use PCMark 10 to test the battery life. However, the problem with this is that PCMark 10 is not supported on iOS. As such, I had to come up with a different way to test the power efficiency of both phones. Consequently, I decided to launch a TikTok summary test. With both phones’ brightness set to maximum, I kept the TikTok app looping until they ran out of power.
These are the run times for both phones:
Xiaomi 13T Pro: 11 hours and 5 minutes
iPhone 15 Pro Max: 10 hours and 50 minutes
Both phones have excellent battery life, but the Xiaomi 13T Pro managed to beat the iPhone 15 Pro Max by 15 minutes. This is not a significant delta, but to be honest, I did not expect the Xiaomi 13T Pro to even tap The battery life of the iPhone 15 Pro Max. However, it should not be also surprised. After all, the Xiaomi 13T Pro has a larger battery (5000 mAh vs 4441 mAh).
2. Xiaomi 13T Pro has ultra-fast charging
The Xiaomi 13T Pro actually comes with a bestial 120W charging block (iPhone 15 Pro Max does not come with a load brick).
Xiaomi 13T Pro
Credit: Kimberly Gedeon/Mashable
The problem, however, is that the charging brick that comes in the box is not compatible with North American wall outlets. It looks like it was designed for the EU. In any case, I have a 120W charging block that is not Xiaomi which I used to fast charge the 13T Pro and as Xiaomi claims, it charged to 100% in less than 20 minutes.
Although the iPhone 15 Pro Max eventually ditched the Lightning port in favor of USB-C, you still get 20W charging speeds. I can charge the iPhone 15 Pro Max to 50% in about 30 minutes, which is much slower than the Xiaomi 13T Pro.
3. Xiaomi 13T Pro has an in-display fingerprint scanner
One thing I loved about my iPhone SE 2022 is the fingerprint scanner, and I miss it on the iPhone 15 Pro Max.
iPhone 15 Pro Max
Credit: Kimberly Gedeon/Mashable
Face ID has never been my steel. I always seem to miss the “Face Unlock” window, especially if the phone is too far from my face, which ends up asking me to enter my password. With the Xiaomi 13T Pro, on the other hand, I can simply scan my fingerprint to log in without problems.
As a bonus, I also prefer the Xiaomi 13T Pro’s haptic keyboard. Texting feels faster and offers more tactile feedback; It’s almost addictive.
I still recommend the iPhone 15 Pro Max over the Xiaomi 13T Pro
Although the Xiaomi 13T Pro conquered some battles, the iPhone 15 Pro Max won the war. The new action button is elite. I can customize it to trigger any app or action I want. For now, I have the action button set to launch the Notes app, since I use it so frequently. But hey, next time I can set it to open an iMessage window and text a friend I communicate with often.
The iPhone 15 Pro Max also has a much better display. When I place the two phones side by side, the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s 6.7-inch screen is noticeably more attractive than the Xiaomi 13T Pro’s 6.67-inch panel. It’s more colorful, more vivid, and sharper.
The iPhone 15 Pro Max is clearly on the left.
Credit: Kimberly Gedeon/Mashable
This is evident if I am playing. Genshin Impact or looking I sell sunset on Netflix. However, it’s worth noting that the 13T Pro can output better brightness (maximum brightness of 2,600 nits compared to the iPhone 15 Pro Max’s 2,000 nits).
And most importantly, the cameras on the iPhone 15 Pro Max are, as you might have guessed, much better than those on the Xiaomi 13T Pro. I tested the selfie camera on both phones and the 12MP front camera on the iPhone 15 Pro Max produced more realistic photos. and realistic compared to the 20MP camera of the Xiaomi 13T Pro.
Xiaomi 13T Pro Selfie (Left) vs iPhone 15 Pro Max Selfie (Right)
Credit: Kimberly Gedeon/Mashable
It also goes without saying that the A17 Pro inside the iPhone 15 Pro Max is absolute beast of a chipset. I would even say that it has too much force. Also, I could never give up iOS, which has a clean, minimalist and elegant interface, for the clunky MIUI software that is based on Android.
Finally, if you live in the United States, I would be careful when purchasing a Xiaomi 13T Pro. In theory, you could buy a model from a third-party seller (you can’t buy one directly from Xiaomi), but check to see if your carrier offers satisfactory coverage for the phone Sidelined Android.
Topics
iPhone
Smart phones
