Great Display at a Good Price

February 25, 2024

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We at nextpit accepted Xiaomi’s challenge and tested all five Redmi Note 13 models. Today we are getting a look at the junior model in 2024’s line-up, the Redmi Note 13 4G. Priced at around $200 (€200), what does it offer in terms of performance, camera, display, and battery life? Let’s find out!

Summary
Buy

Good

Bright and smooth OLED screen
Four years of security updates
Good battery life
33 W charger included

Bad

Questionable secondary cameras
Nineteen third-party apps by default

Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 4G: All deals

Redmi Note 13 4G In a nutshell
We were critical of Xiaomi’s decision of launching the Note 13 Pro in a 4G model, but for the base Note 13 that limitation is fine in light of the €200 MSRP (approx. $220). The phone was launched on January 15, together with its four bigger siblings:

Compared to the 5G model, the junior Note 13 offers the same FullHD+, 120 Hz, 6.67-inch OLED display, the same camera kit with its 108-megapixel main camera, and identical battery and charging specifications.
There are however some important changes, with an entirely different Snapdragon 685 processor, more modest memory options to reach its price point, and a different design without a camera island.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 4G design and build quality

The Redmi Note 13 4G offers a nice design that manages to hide its plastic build with shiny reflective materials. In the front, the big 6.67-inch OLED display is the center of attention, offering a good combination of resolution and refresh rate that was exclusive to premium models not so long ago.

Pros:

Good build quality.
Bright and smooth OLED screen.
Headphone jack and microSD support.
Included case.

Cons:

The FullHD+ (2400 x 1080 pixels) display is surrounded by relatively small bezels, and refreshes at a fast 120 Hz for smooth animations. And just like many 2024 phones, Xiaomi advertises a high 1800 nits max brightness. In practice, outdoor usage isn’t a problem for the Redmi Note 13 4G.

The 120 Hz OLED screen is possibly the Redmi Note 13 4G’s best selling point. / © nextpit

Another feature that used to be exclusive to more expensive phones is the under-display fingerprint reader, which worked fine in our tests. Besides that, Xiaomi protects the display with Gorilla Glass 3, which is not a common feature in the price range.
Still in the resistance department, the phone is rated for IP54 water and dust protection. While we criticized the Note 13 Pro 4G for this point, the basic Note 13 4G is competitive with its direct competitors.

The back has a nice shiny finish that attracts tons of fingerprints. / © nextpit

On the back, the shiny plastic looks nice at first glance, but it will quickly collect fingerprints. For better or worse, we expect most people will hide the phone with the included protective case.
To round up the design, around the flat edges of the Redmi Note 13 4G you will find the volume rocker and power button on the right. Speaker, USB-C port, and hybrid microSD/dual-SIM tray on the bottom. Headphone jack, speaker, and IR blaster on the top, with an empty left side.

Performance and software

Powered by a relatively new Snapdragon 685 processor, the Redmi Note 13 4G offers an OK performance for daily tasks, and can even game with modest graphical settings.

Pros:

Adequate performance in daily tasks.
Can play mainstream games.
Four years of security updates.

Cons:

No 5G support.
Ads and bloatware.

With modest expectations for a $200/€200 phone, the Redmi Note 13 4G performed fine in our tests, except for some hiccups during the demanding initial setup when the phone is updating many things at the same time.

Redmi Note 13 4G(Snapdragon 685)
Redmi Note 13 Pro 4G(Helio G99 Ultra)
Redmi Note 13 Pro 5G(Snapdragon 7s Gen 2)
Redmi Note 13 5G(Dimensity 6080)
Galaxy A14 5G(Dimensity 700)
Redmi Note 11(Snapdragon 680)

3D Mark Wild LifeStress Test
Best loop: 660Worst loop: 656
Best loop: 1245Worst loop: 1217
Best loop: 3050Worst loop: 2754
Best loop: 1333Worst loop: 1307
Best loop: 1200Worst loop: 1193
Best loop: 446Worst loop: 442

Geekbench 6
Single: 482Multi: 1601
Single: 744Multi: 2112
Single: 889Multi: 2523
Single: 777Multi: 1996
Single: 682Multi: 1804
Single: 385Multi: 1041

PCMark Work 3.0
7431
10688
13047
10582
–

After that, general tasks like web browsing, social media doom-scrolling, app switching, and messaging worked better than we expected for such a modest phone. Those were probably helped by Xiaomi’s usage of fast memory standards—LPDDR4x RAM and UFS 2.2 storage.
Heavier processing tasks can quickly show the Snapdragon’s limits, so don’t expect snappy performance when editing videos, as showcased by the Geekbench numbers above.

Consistent (if low) performance, and no temperature issues on the Redmi Note 13 4G. / © nextpit

When it comes to gaming benchmarks, the Snapdragon 685 (SM6225-AD) cannot hide its roots. Although the chip debuted in Q1 2023 on the Redmi Note 12 4G, the processor is basically an overclocked version of the Snapdragon 680 (SM6225) from 2021. The result is around half the gaming performance of its 5G version or of the similarly priced Galaxy A14 5G that impressed Camila Rinaldi in 2023.
Numbers aside, just like its bigger brothers, the Redmi Note 13 4G should be able to run most Android games. We tested both Call of Duty Mobile and Genshin Impact with the default low graphical settings. While CoD:M was smooth enough to win some rounds, Genshin was slightly below 30 fps but was still playable.

It ain’t pretty but at least Genshin Impact was playable. / © nextpit

Another consequence of having an older processor is the lack of some modern standards. The Redmi Note 13 4G is not only limited to 4G, but also Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) and Bluetooth 5.1. Those trade-offs are expected in sub-$200 phones, but are worth mentioning. On the other hand, the Note 13 4G features NFC and the traditional Xiaomi IR blaster.
Software
Xiaomi packs MIUI 14 over Android 13 with the Redmi Note 13 4G, and the experience is the usual one for a low-end phone from the brand: Lots of customizations and bloatware.

The default installation takes over approximately 31.9 GB of storage and included in our review unit a record-breaking 20 third-party apps and games. Besides that, expect to find some ads on the first-party apps—most of them can be hidden or disabled within a couple of minutes, however.

19 third-party apps help understand why the Redmi Note 13 4G has almost 32 GB of storage space occupied by default. / © nextpit

A very welcome change in the Redmi Note 13 4G is the improved security update policy, with four years of security patches (up from 3 in the Note 12). When it comes to Android upgrades, on the other hand, Xiaomi still promises two versions (up to Android 15), which is still competitive.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 4G camera

The triple camera setup on the Redmi Note 13 4G follows the same recipe found in the 5G model: A competent 108-megapixel main camera, an 8 MP ultra-wide lens, and the questionable 2 MP macro.

Pros:

Good shots from the 108 MP main camera.
Decent selfies.

Cons:

Blurry ultra-wide photos.
Low-resolution (and useless) macro camera.

Pictures from the 108 MP main camera were pretty good at the standard 1x focal length. For daylight shots, even the 3x digital zoom images offered usable results for sharing on social media or messaging apps—although not “equal [to] a traditional optical zoom”, as Xiaomi says.

Xiaomi Redmi Note 13 4G: Main camera © nextpit