Redmi 13 5G Review: A Budget 5G Smartphone That Will Appeal to Many

Xiaomi has played a huge part in ushering in the 5G revolution in India. In 2023, the Redmi 12 5G was the flagship bearer for 5G, on the budget side of the smartphone market. At their 10th anniversary event, in the second week of July, Xiaomi furthered its commitment to democratising 5G by introducing the Redmi 13 5G. It may seem like an incremental upgrade but it is compelling enough - a 6.79-inch FHD+ display, Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 AE chip, a 108MP primary camera, 33W fast charging, and Xiaomi’s latest HyperOS - for budget users to spring for.

The sub-Rs 15,000 mark is packed with 5G smartphones, and the question on everyone’s mind is, has Xiaomi done enough to stand out from the crowd? Read on to find out.

HyperOS: A clean software with some bloatware

The Redmi 13 5G is the first budget smartphone from the company to run on HyperOS. HyperOS has many options for customisation, optimisation for efficiency, and more. It’s a smooth and fluid UI and will meet all your expectations.

But, on the flip side, all the good is undone by the bloatware present in the smartphone. There are several pre-installed apps - Snapchat, PhonePe, Netflix, WPS, etc - and the UI features plenty of ads. There’s a promotional widget in the App Vault. I wish all of these could be removed, but that isn’t the case.

On a good note, Xiaomi promises two years of Android updates alongside four years of security patches.

Cameras

With budget smartphones, you can’t expect the best of hardware. The camera setup is fairly basic. There is the 108MP (Samsung ISOCELL HM6) primary camera and a 2MP macro shooter. There’s no OIS support and you only get 3x in-sensor zoom capability.

The primary camera outshines its hardware specifications. It’s got a balanced dynamic range, accurate colours and a good amount of detail if used in good lighting conditions. The skin tones lean toward the natural side and the photos come out pleasing to the eye.

For all those selfie enthusiasts, the 13MP camera on the front will do just fine.

Where the camera falters is during the low-light conditions. There’s a lot of noise present in the shot and the light intake isn’t sufficient. There is a night mode that helps to brighten the photo, but even then, the photos aren’t very clean.

Portrait photos had a good amount of background separation.

Battery life

Thanks to the 5,030mAh battery, and an optimised chip. The Redmi 13 5G easily lasts a full day. If you push it by taking a lot of photos/videos, watching too many YouTube videos, or playing games for hours on end, then you will need to find a place to plug it in well before the day is over.

The charging is speedy. A full charge takes just over one hour to juice up.

Verdict: The best budget 5G smartphone?

Xiaomi has done a good job of making 5G accessible to all. At Rs 13,999 (6GB RAM + 128GB storage), the Redmi 13 5G is worth considering. It has a good display, decent camera performance, good performance (if you’re not a gamer), and all-day battery life.

It doesn’t hit a home run in any one category, but that’s fine. The smartphone has accomplished what it set out to do.

There are some alternatives, in case the Redmi 13 5G isn’t your cup of tea. For gamers there is the iQOO Z9X, for tech enthusiasts there is the CMF Phone 1 (by Nothing) and if you just want a clean experience, then the Moto G64 will be good.

Nonetheless, if you’re on a strict budget of Rs 15,000 or less, then do check out the Redmi 13 5G at least once before making any purchase.