Redmi Note 13 Pro+ review: Almost a no-brainer

Hello and Namaste everyone! Today I will be reviewing the Redmi Note 13 Pro+ — a MIDRANGE phone so stacked, it's hard to make a case against it! I mean, you get this 120Hz AMOLED screen with Gorilla Glass Victus, IP68 rating, 200MP camera, superfast charging, and whatnot! On paper, it looks very attractive, but what's the catch? Let's take a deeper look at it in this Redmi Note 13 Pro+ review! But first, let's get going with the specs of the phone!

Redmi Note 13 Pro+ Specifications

• Design: Curved design with glass or leather back, IP68 rated
• Dimensions: 168.70 mm x 74.20 mm x 8.90 mm
• Weight: 204.50 grams
• Display: 6.67” AMOLED Panel, 120Hz refresh rate, 1800 nits peak brightness, 12-bit colour depth, 100% DCI-P3 colour gamut, 446 PPI, 1920Hz PWM dimming, Corning Gorilla Glass Victus protection
• Resolution: 1.5K (1,220 x 2,712)
• Chipset: Octa-core MediaTek Dimensity 7200 Ultra (4nm)
• RAM: 8GB or 12GB LPDDR5
• ROM: 256GB or 512GB UFS 3.1
• UI & OS: MIUI 14 based on Android 13
• Rear Camera: Triple Camera (200MP OIS Primary + 8MP Ultrawide + 2MP Macro)
• Front Camera: 16MP Camera (Centre-aligned hole-punch cutout)
• Security: In-display fingerprint sensor, AI Face Unlock
• Sensors: Proximity, Ambient Light, Accelerometer, Electronic Compass, IR blaster, Gyroscope, X-axis linear motor
• Navigation: GPS, BeiDou, Galileo, GLONASS, QZSS, AGNSS (A-GPS, A-GLONASS, A-BDS)
• Battery: 5,000 mAh cell with 120W HyperCharge
• Connectivity: Dual SIM, Dual 5G, WiFi 6, Bluetooth v5.3, NFC (Region-specific), USB Type-C
• Colour Options: Midnight Black, Moonlight White, Aurora Purple
• Check the full specs of the Redmi Note 13 Pro+ HERE!
• Buy Redmi Note 13 Pro+ 5G HERE!

Reviewer's Rant

Before getting into the detailed review of the Redmi Note 13 Pro+, let's talk briefly about the market, offers, and such. First things first, the Redmi Note series has been the king at this price range and rightfully so. These phones used to be available at around NPR 30,000 a few years back, but last year it was priced in the range of NPR 40,000. Meanwhile, this time around the Redmi Note 13 Pro+ Plus has cracked the half-a-lakh price point. This isn't just a simple case of inflation or unjustified pricing though! Redmi or Xiaomi has actually added quality-of-life and premium features into their Note series of phones. Talking about the price, the 8GB + 256GB variant retails for NPR 48,000 while the 12GB + 256GB trim goes for NPR 53,000. Personally speaking, I find the 12GB + 512GB option quite mouthwatering because this one ticks the modern-day smartphone requirement boxes pretty well. Like, having ample storage is a must these days and this one has that. Moreover, Redmi has done pretty well in terms of pricing — given that this phone is comparatively cheaper here than it is in India. Additionally, Xiaomi Nepal is also giving some pre-booking offers with this phone. You can grab the Redmi Buds 4 Active — that costs NPR 3,000 normally — for just NPR 1,700. You could also get the Redmi Watch 3 Active for an additional three and a half grand on top of what this phone costs. And of course, if you found these offers to be meh, then you can opt to get the phone in the MRP instead. I guess, that's enough talk about everything else. Now, let's get going with the...

Redmi Note 13 Pro+ Review

Design and Build

Starting with the design of the phone — it hits a home run right off the bat! You get this premium glass design in the black and white colour options of this. The purple variant even takes it up a notch with a leather finish. With this, the phone has a premium feel and “is just looking like a wow”! That's great and all, but could it be any better? Apparently, yes! Xiaomi had a bright idea to slap an IP68 rating on the Redmi Note 13 Pro+ — a midrange phone! For context, even the great Samsung offers water and dust resistance of up to IP67 on their higher-end A-series of phones. Moreover, the IP68 rating has been more or less reserved for the flagship offerings. So, seeing it being made available in a midrange offering — is the kind of development I absolutely love seeing! Other than that, the Redmi Note 13 Pro+ also comes with a curved design here. Now, let me just tell it right away — curved design isn't necessarily better. BUT! It does give you that premium aesthetic. With all the flagship phones going flat recently, the paradigm might shift in a few years. Until then, curved design is equal to premium. While the curve may look fancy and all, it fares slightly worse in terms of real-life usage. Like, if you game or use swipe gestures quite a lot then you are prone to accidental touches. But in the case of normal usage — ain't no issues there!

Display

Talking of display, you get a good quality AMOLED screen with 12-bit colour depth. In comparison, its predecessor i.e. Redmi Note 12 Pro+ only had a 10-bit screen. On top of that, you get a Corning Gorilla Glass Victus protection on the Redmi Note 13 Pro+. Once again, the Victus protection has been more or less reserved for flagship phones. Thus, seeing it in the 50K segment is quite a rare sight. While there that's, this glass offers you added durability. So, the phone's display should be able to shrug off occasional drops here and there without any issues whatsoever. However, I wouldn't dare try it myself! Anyhoo, other improvements on the screen also include higher brightness capability. All in all, it's a nice display to interact with.

Performance

Now let's head towards the performance side of things of this phone! You get a healthy upgrade on the Redmi Note 13 Pro+ compared to its forerunner. This phone packs MediaTek's Dimensity 7200 Ultra processor which is a sizable upgrade over the MediaTek Dimensity 1080 you got in last year's Redmi offering. Even though the silicone upgrade establishes this phone as one of the good-performing phones in this price range — it still doesn't cut it as a gaming-focused chipset. This isn't to say that you cannot game on this phone at all. Before that, let's talk about the regular usage — specifically about the haptics. You get good haptic feedback, thanks to the X-axis vibration motor in this phone. It is pleasant and doesn't feel buzzy. It's not close to what we get on flagship phones, but it's nice nonetheless. Other than that, you get an LPDDR5 RAM coupled with UFS 3.1 storage on this phone, which is enough to not raise any red flags on the performance side of things.

Gaming

Okay, game time! Starting with the favourite i.e. PUBG! You get an easy 60 FPS over here. Similarly, Call of Duty is smooth too. Talking of the more demanding Genshin Impact, this phone offers an average of 34 FPS over here while peaking at an additional 10 FPS. Then I tested the phone out with Mech Arena, which allows you to really crank up the frame rate. And here, you can go all the way up to 92 FPS while getting a consistent frame rate of around 70 FPS. While all that is going down, you also get good temperature handling on the Redmi Note 13 Pro+, courtesy of its 4,000 mm² vapour chamber cooling system. Moreover, thanks to the better heat management, you can get more stable performance out of the phone over on extended use, and also in hotter environments.

Software

The phone has been sunshine and rainbows so far, but the software side of things is where you get your first rain. Or drizzle — depends on how you take it. For context, last year's Redmi Note 12 Pro+ booted on Android 12 even when the newer Android 13 had been available for quite some time by then. The story remains the same this year as well! The Redmi Note 13 Pro+ comes with MIUI 14 which is based on Android 13. If you take a look at offerings from other manufacturers, they all boot on the newer Android 14. But not this phone! Then there is a whole other issue of minor bugs on the MIUI. However, the silver lining is this phone has been confirmed to get the HyperOS update. The phone should have shipped with it right out of the box, but that's just me nitpicking. It's not like you lose anything major with a year-old software these days. Anyways, your experience with this phone will definitely get better once HyperOS arrives. The thing I will certainly complain about is software updates! Xiaomi has promised three years of OS updates on this phone. If you look at it at face value, getting updates till Android 16 doesn't seem all that bad. But the thing is — this phone boots on Android 13. That means, getting the Android 14 update will count as one year of update. So, you're basically getting only two years of OS updates, if you think about it. Furthermore, getting five years of software updates on a midrange phone isn't a fever dream anymore. Come on Xioami!

Camera

The camera is another department where you get quite an improvement. The primary shooter on this phone is a 200MP Samsung HPX sensor which remains unchanged from the last iteration. But, what has changed is the implementation of it.

Daytime

It can capture good-looking photos with a little bit of vibrancy that looks pleasing. The dynamic range is preserved pretty well in the photos but also struggles with it at times. The contrast is also nice and does not go overboard. The highlights, however, could definitely see an improvement. But, it's not bad at all for a brand like Redmi whose cameras have never been its strong forte.

4X Zoom

Moving on, you also get a 4X in-sensor lossless zoom on this phone this time around. Which is basically a digital cropping of the images, but the output is quite nice nonetheless. However, what's weird is that Redmi decided to skip the 2X or 3X portrait option despite having capable hardware — which is quite a bummer!

Portrait

Talking of portraits, the results are a hit or a miss. They look nice overall with plenty of details, but at times it messes up the skin tone. Similarly, the background blur and the colour science also need a bit more work.

Selfies

Meanwhile, you get a 16MP camera upfront that produces good results. You get a pinkish tone on the selfies and has a definite amount of smoothening. But, it looks nice with nothing much to complain about.

Nighttime

The low-light photos have also improved quite a bit. The Redmi Note 13 Pro+ maintains a decent amount of detail and produces digestible colours. It does not suffer from unnecessary over-saturation or overexposure and such.

Videography

Well, well, another bump on a rather smooth ride. The videos are quite weak here, unlike the photos. Xiaomi has said that this phone is equipped with EIS as well as OIS, but it does not appear to be doing a very good job. The videos are slightly jerky, while the colour reproduction is quite poor as well. The stabilisation does not improve whatsoever even in lower-resolution videos. On the front, the video isn't any good either and what's worse is it caps out at 1080p. Welp! At least the rear camera records at 4K@30FPS and the output is okay at best. Before closing on the camera, the ultrawide shots from the 8MP unit are pretty good too. I must say it more or less keeps up with regular shots. And the 2MP macro, well, it's there. Not worth talking about or anything. Moreover, I hope Redmi fixes whatever issues they have in terms of imaging with software updates. Fingers crossed!

Battery

In the tank, the Redmi Note 13 Pro+ packs a 5,000 mAh cell. Pretty standard these days. With this, the phone offers an easy day's worth of usage. And to juice the phone back up, you get 120W fast charging support — which is super useful. You could go from 0 to 100 on this phone in about 20 minutes. So, if you are someone who is always in a rush, then this phone is an absolute lifesaver!

On top of that, you even get the 120W (non-GaN) charging brick included in the box!

Redmi Note 13 Pro+ Review: Conclusion

Okie dokie, so that's almost all about this phone! Before I actually close this review of the Redmi Note 13 Pro+, I would like to briefly touch about this phone's speakers as well. They are plenty loud but can be a bit jarring at times, which is not at all pleasing. Okay, so at the price point of some NPR 50,000, I think the Redmi Note 13 Pro+ is a very good option in Nepal. Firstly, Xiaomi Nepal has priced the phone quite aggressively. And secondly, there aren't many phones in the market that can put up a fight in this segment. Let's take a look at the competition while we're at it, alright? So, we have the Samsung Galaxy A34 which is almost a year old at this point. The other is the Realme 11 Pro, which is honestly overpriced. The Realme 12 Pro might also cut it at this price, but I don't think it will be a value-for-money offering in 2024. So, looking at the competition, you get flagship-esque features like an IP68 rating and Gorilla Glass Victus protection, a good AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate, and an in-display fingerprint scanner. You also get fast performance, and decent cameras — all around NPR 50,000! The red flag on this phone would be its software itself! The MIUI experience isn't very good as opposed to something like OnePlus or Samsung. Even after the HyperOS update, the situation won't change all that much. The videos on this phone also could have been better. But, the software is the only thing holding this phone down. So, that's one thing you need to really consider when buying this Xiaomi offering. All in all, the Redmi Note 13 Pro+ is a well-balanced midrange phone for the price tag of NPR 50,000! It's almost a no-brainer choice!

Redmi Note 13 Pro+: Pros and Cons

Pros

• Nice Curved Display with Victus Protection
• IP68 Dust and Water Resistance
• Good 200MP cameras for photos
• Good Performance and Battery backup
• Super Fast Charging Speed

Cons

• Average Ultra-wide Camera and Videography
• Still Boots on Android 13 (MIUI), No HyperOS yet