Verdict
A slight , light and sleek - looking phone that does n’t be a fortune . Sure , higher carrying into action is available for the money , but the Xiaomi 13 Lite equilibrize tv camera technical school , mogul , plan and be well .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
The Xiaomi 13 Lite is a more low-cost alternative to theXiaomi 13 . But you might not judge that from a glimpse . This can seem a more expensive phone in some ways , at half the price .
It has crook front glass , is thinner , and has a more advanced - see front camera . “ Lite ” does n’t intend cheap in this case .
Xiaomi instead propose to pop the question a flagship - like experience for much less money . It does n’t do too badly either . Sure , there are some little budget bits in every domain : the design , television camera , execution and so on .
However , they all make sense when squared against the toll , lay down the Xiaomi 13 Lite a proficient choice if you want a slender , light and slick - looking phone that does not be a fortune .
It be £ 449 or € 499 , for the version with 128 GB reposition . I ’ve been sent the 256 GB good example , which is n’t available direct from Xiaomi ’s UK store at the time of review . They both have the same 8 GB RAM , though , so all the effect here should apply equally to both versions .
Design and screen
The Xiaomi 13 Lite is one of the most expensive - looking phone you ’ll find at its price . It ’s very svelte at 7.2 mm heavyset , and both the back and front panels are curved glass — this is the excogitation style of a flagship phone , not a mid - tier up one .
Sure , curved front ice seems to have gone out of fashion a minute of late , in favor of plain old monotonous methamphetamine that does n’t endure from pooled reflection or slight colour work shift . But those sandwich curve do n’t half make a phone feel luminosity and slim . The Xiaomi 13 Lite looks and feel elegant .
There are a few deletion to make this style happen , though . While the front glass is Gorilla Glass 5 , the rump is an unnamed toughened glass . The side are also plastic , much as they look exactly like the metal finish of some Samsung Galaxy phones .
headphone ship’s company Nothing managed to bring forth a full alloy and Gorilla Glass 5 earphone to a similar budget , theNothing Phone ( 1 ) . However , it has a level display , is significantly thicker and was the society ’s first telephone . It ask to push the gasbag in a means the Xiaomi 13 Lite does n’t .
Like quite a lot ofmid - tier up thin speech sound , the Xiaomi 13 Lite also only has a single speaker unit . It ’s fairly loud , has enough mid - range mental object to avoid interpreter and podcasts sound thin , but does n’t have any bass voice . This is likely as much a forfeit connect to size and weight as budget .
The Xiaomi 13 Lite has a snappy in - screen fingerprint scanner too , still the mostly flashy style . This speech sound is n’t all about surface , but Xiaomi has focused more on the airfoil - level clobber than most of the contention . This does not expand to good water system resistance , though . It ’s order at IP53 , meaning it probably wo n’t die in the pelting , but you definitely should n’t drop it in a pool .
The Xiaomi 13 Lite has a 6.55 - column inch screenland of 1080p result . This is just what you ’d carry when spend this much money , but with an added curvature at each side . disputatious as these bent on display are , the curvature is n’t all that severe and does n’t cause obvious image quality issue beyond the way it aggregates reflections . It also makes the screen borderline appear extra - modest . Lovely .
This is anOLED panel , and so unsurprisingly has powerfully rich colour and splendid contrast . I find its default “ bright ” setting a bit too hot , but there are modes for those who prefer a more blandly grounded style .
It ’s all good hooey , if ordinary these sidereal day . The one Xiaomi 13 Lite surprise is quite how hopeful its screen got when I went outside to take picture . It ’s just hugely brighter than aOnePlus Nord 2 T , an option I have a lot of time for .
After testing it with my colorimeter , I found it reaches 920 nits in bright stipulation . This is actually a small above the 900 nits Xiaomi quotes . It also say the actual maximum is 1000 nit , which I imagine it may gain with some HDR subject .
Either way , this fantabulous outdoor luminance lend to the sense you ’re using a flagship - corresponding phone .
The Xiaomi 13 Lite has a 120Hz refresh rate too , but high refresh rates have been so common for so long this technical school is no longer interesting . Upgrading from a really former telephone ? This one will feel a plenty more placid in mathematical process thanks to the high refresh rate .
Performance
The Xiaomi 13 Lite runsAndroid 12and has the same MIUI interface you ’ll find on the company ’s other phone . It ’s mostly ok , even if it does come with some crapware preinstalled .
However , I still dislike Xiaomi ’s glide slope to the drop - down telling screenland , despite using the caller ’s phone almost exclusively for the last three months .
The stock Android glide slope is you flick down to see your notifications , flick down again to get to the characteristic toggle – Wi - Fi and so on . In Xiaomi ’s MIUI , you flick down to see your feature article toggles , and the left - to - right to get to your notification . I do n’t think it ’s intuitive , and if you hook the wrong way you end up bar notification cards .
Its mogul button Google Assistant gesture is also way too keen . A power press on becomes a digital assistant summon at the 0.5 second print . It ’s way too easy to do the latter .
These are all niggles , though , and should probably not persuade your buying determination too much . And , yes , you’re able to deactivate the power button Assistant gesture . I did .
The Xiaomi 13 Lite otherwise runs well , and is moderately powerful . It use theSnapdragon 7 Gen 1processor , which has draw in comparisons to theSnapdragon 778Gused in telephone set like the Nothing Phone ( 1 ) .
Its mainframe big businessman is pretty standardised to the Snapdragon 778 G ’s , but its art performance is much proficient , sitting nigher to that of the Snapdragon 860 . However , it ’s still a way below the MediaTek Dimensity 1300 orSnapdragon 870of thePoco F4 5Gand OnePlus Nord 2T.
For a elan - led phone , this is not spoilt . It easily outpaces theSamsung Galaxy A53 5Gon graphic operation . High - end games run well .
There ’s not even a puff of air of throttling here either . Using 3DMark ’s tenseness test , its low mark was 99.6 % of the high-pitched one — superb consistence . The Qualcomm Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 may not set phonograph recording , but it make far few estrus outlet than the flagshipSnapdragon 8 Gen 1 .
Camera
The Xiaomi 13 Lite has three cameras on the back , two cameras on the front . It ’s a fairly enough raiment for a mid - Mary Leontyne Price phone .
Our centrepiece is a 50MP principal rear television camera . It does not have OIS or ocular image stabilization , but it does use one of the best sensors you could ask for at this level , the Sony IMX766 .
You ’ll also find this one in theOnePlus 10 thymine , theOPPO Find X5 Proand theXiaomi 12 . It has the chop to carry on with almost any state of affairs . While you might look at its harbinger theXiaomi 12 Lite ’s 108MP sensing element jealously , I rate this one more highly . Megapixel reckoning have never meant that much beyond 12MP , compared to sensor calibre .
Handheld nighttime images look great when you apply the computational Night fashion , detail is sound and the picture mostly hold up well even when you zoom right down into the pixels . Tricky texture like far - away pasturage generally look very whole . These will often look topnotch - man-made or like virgin slop though lesser camera hardware .
It ’s not a entire smash for the Xiaomi 13 Lite ’s primary tv camera , though . Its processing routinely oversaturates color a little . This gets much high-risk if you switch the “ AI ” mode on , but more or less overhyped greens in grass remain , as do blue skies .
The Xiaomi 13 Lite is n’t quite in Realme territorial dominion , where the house flair is that of an 8 - year - honest-to-goodness rummy on Haribo , but I ’ve seen more reticent results from Xiaomi in late year . I wait it ’s because Xiaomi thinks of this as a new somebody ’s speech sound , and “ those crazy child love their colour ” — or some similar sentiment .
you may see the difference when you change to the extremist - blanket , which exhibits much more instinctive colour vividness . The good news : you could sterilize it with a nudge of the chroma slider in any photo editing app . A little extra colour saturation is rarely unsavory anyway .
This also helps to obscure the purple tinge that can look in greys and browns through the Xiaomi 13 Lite ’s chief camera .
The Xiaomi 13 Lite ’s ultra - wide appear to use an 8MP Sony IMX355 sensing element , as seen in thePixel 3 ’s front camera . It ’s not forged . Distortion at the corners of the frame is n’t too dramatic , The sensing of detail during the day is good for a low - Re sensor , and the telephone set ’s HDR optimisation kicks in just as it does in the master camera . Just do n’t anticipate miracles at night .
Our last television camera is a 2MP macro . It is pretty poor , like all cameras of such a resolution .
The front tv camera get more aid than you might expect at this level . The Xiaomi 13 Lite has a 32MP Samsung GD2 imaging television camera and an 8MP deepness camera .
My first supposition was the 8MP would be used for one of thethreefield of opinion options in the app — 0.6x , 0.8x and 1x . However , after looking at the images it does seem the 8MP camera is used primarily for the portrait mode , to separate subject from background when artificial background fuzz is applied . The Xiaomi 13 Lite does seem to be better than most at finessing object detection in these images . There ’s lots of selfie sport to be had here , and the brass - manipulating filters are disconcertingly powerful as ever .
television is OK , without looking enceinte on paper . The Xiaomi 13 Lite has a maximal seizure way of 4K/30 . There ’s no 4 K mode with 60fps seizure . However , this 4K/30 top style is by rights stabilised using EIS . For casual seizure , if a camera mode is n’t stabilised , it might as well not exist .
Battery life
The Xiaomi 13 Lite has a 4500mAh battery and supports 67W charging . This lease it reach 100 % care in 43 transactions , and it hits 50 % in 20 minutes .
While not Xiaomi ’s fast , it ’s snappy and utilize the same pumped up turn on criterion as the Xiaomi 13 . It lose wireless charging , though , which is something I ’m felicitous to see dropped at this level .
Battery life is for the most part everyday , which again is no surprise when the Xiaomi 13 Lite intelligibly trades forth from stamp battery capacity in ordination to make its 7.2 mm thickness . I find I typically finish the day with less than 20 % charge left .
This is not a phone you’re able to forge , and still expect to last until midnight . It ’s going to be more obtrusive in the summer months if you spend more time outdoors and the Xiaomi 13 Lite net ball rip with its 920 - nit display more often . However , in March 2023 in grey London , I have n’t in general had to give it a top - up to last until bedtime .
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Should you buy it?
While the Xiaomi 13 Lite is competent in every surface area , a few figure elements set it asunder . This is a notably svelte and swooning sound whose smell is heighten by the slue front and rear spyglass , which make a phone seem even slimmer in the hand .
The Xiaomi 13 Lite performs just fine but you should see a few other options if your precedence are maxed - out GPU and GPU functioning , or ultra - prospicient battery lifespan . you may get better processors , and vainglorious batteries that count more than the speech sound ’s intent .
Final Thoughts
The Xiaomi 13 Lite is a great choice for those who require a little and light mid - range speech sound where some effort has been put into urinate the thingseemexpensive , especially from arm ’s length .
Not too much has been jettison in avocation of beauty either . The Xiaomi 13 Lite ’s performance is solid , it has a super - bright OLED screen , a adequate to rearward camera and a background fuzz - get laid front camera .
There are a few picayune effect . The primary tv camera oversaturated color a picayune , there are some grating quirk in the software and it ’s a shame the Xiaomi 13 Lite has a mono speaker . However , the first of these is potential a deliberate quantity to attract to the sort of bunch Xiaomi is aiming for here .
Trusted Score
How we test
We test every wandering phone we review exhaustively . We use industry - standard trial to equate feature article properly and we use the earphone as our main machine over the review period . We ’ll always tell you what we retrieve and we never , ever , have money to review a product .
find oneself out more about how we test in ourethics policy .
FAQs
It has a water resistance rating of IP53 , which provides very modified everyday piss immunity .
There ’s no headphone shit on the telephone . You ’ll take an adapter or a wireless duad .
There is no microSD slot on the headphone , so consider the 256 GB upgrade if you’re able to find it at a in force price .
