Xiaomi has today announced the new Xiaomi 13T and 13T Pro family of smartphones at an event in Berlin, Germany. The event also witnessed the launch of the company’s first ever Wear OS smartwatch – the Xiaomi Watch 2 Pro – as well as the Smart Band 8 to take over from last year’s Smart Band 7.
The 13T series takes over from the vanilla 13 family released last year. As expected, there are a bunch of improvements, both outside and under the hood, when compared to the 13 and 13 Pro, as well as some downgrades.
The screens got bigger and so did the battery. But this time, Xiaomi went with MediaTek’s Dimensity chipset in place of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon. What’s even more interesting is that for the first time, the T series tags along IP68 certification for water and dust resistance.
Xiaomi 13T
Xiaomi went for a souped-up Dimensity 8200 chipset — the 4nm Dimensity 8200-Ultra — and paired it with either 8GB or 12GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB of UFS 3.1 storage. Instead of 6.3 inches on the standard Xiaomi 13, the 13T comes with a 6.67-inch OLED panel with up to 144Hz refresh rate, and Full HD+ resolution. The display’s peak brightness can go as far as 2,600+ nits.
There’s a 50MP main sensor on the back with OIS and an f/1.9 aperture. The “portrait” telephoto lens is also a 50MP unit with similar aperture while the third lens is a 12MP ultrawide shooter with f/2.2 aperture. The selfie shooter is a 20MP unit housed in a punch hole.
As noted, the battery is also bigger at 5000mAh, up from 4500mAh in the 13. The speed of direct charging is 67W, which Xiaomi says will get the phone to 21% in just 5 minutes. Although still fast enough, it represents a significant downgrade from the 120W in the 12T. There are three colorways to pick from — Alpine Blue, Meadow Green and Black.
In Europe, Xiaomi 13T will go for €650 for the 8/256 GB version, which translates to just over Kshs 100,000.
Xiaomi 13T Pro
The same 6.67-inch OLED panel with a 144Hz refresh rate features on the Xiaomi 13T Pro and so do the main camera setup and battery capacity. But under the hood, you get a much superior Dimensity 9200+ SoC. In comparison, the 12T Pro shipped with a Snapdragon 8+ Gen 1. There’s also faster 120W wired charging that Xiaomi calls HyperCharge. Apparently, it will only take 19 minutes to fill up the massive 5000mAh unit or 5 minutes to juice it up to 36%.
The 13T Pro comes with either 12GB or 16GB LPDDR5X RAM paired with 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB of UFS 4.0 storage. These are both faster and more advanced memory options than the standard 13T.
Xiaomi will sell the 13T Pro in Alpine Blue, Meadow Green and Black finish with prices starting at €800 for the base 12/256GB. This is about Kshs 125,000 at the current exchange rate.
Both phones boot Android 13 with MIUI 14 on top, with Xiaomi promising up to 5 years of software support that will include 4 Android OS updates. This means the 13T and 13T Pro will be upgraded through to Android 17.
Xiaomi Watch 2 Pro
With Xiaomi Watch 2 Pro, you are getting a full-fledged Wear OS smartwatch with access to multiple 3rd-party apps via the Google Play Store. There’s a Bluetooth-only and LTE model, where you can make calls and send texts on the latter without a paired smartphone.
The screen is a 1.43-inch AMOLED panel boasting 466 x 466p resolution with peak brightness of up to 600 nits. There’s also support for AoD and up to 20 built-in watch faces. Under the hood, the Snapdragon W5+ Gen 1 chipset runs the show alongside 2GB RAM and an impressive 32GB of onboard storage.
Just like any other basic Wear OS watch, Xiaomi has also equipped the Watch 2 Pro with things like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC, dual-band GNSS positioning, 5ATM water resistance, heart rate monitoring, blood oxygen, sleep and stress tracking. You also get support for at least 150 sports modes.
Keeping the watch alive is a 495mAh battery unit, with charging done through a two-pin magnetic charger. In terms of pricing, Xiaomi says the Watch 2 Pro will be available at €270 for the Bluetooth-only model and €330 for the LTE model. These prices translate to about Kshs 42,200 and Kshs 51,500 at the current exchange rate, which push the watch right into the Samsung Galaxy Watch 6 territory.
Xiaomi Smart Band 8
The Smart Band 8 is the global version of the Mi Band 8 launched in China back in April. It comes with a 1.62-inch AMOLED pill-shaped display with a resolution of 490 x 192 pixels. Similar to the Watch 2 Pro, you also get AoD support on the Smart Band 8 with up to 600 nits peak brightness.
While nothing changes much in terms of the fitness features you get compared to the Smart Band 7, the Band 8 comes with multiple official strap options in various styles. Xiaomi also claims you can clip the Band 8 to your shoes for better tracking and posture monitoring thanks to Pebble Mode.
Xiaomi is selling the Smart Band 8 at €40, which is about Kshs 6,250. Currently, the Smart Band 7 is selling in Kenya at the same price, so you can expect a slightly higher price for the Smart Band 8 whenever it hits local shelves.
While it’s unlikely Xiaomi 13T and 13T Pro will come to Kenya officially, the fact that the Smart Band 7 was sold locally could play in favour of the Smart Band 8. As for the Watch 2 Pro, it remains uncertain. But given that only Samsung sells Wear OS watches officially in Kenya, Xiaomi could be better placed to provide some competition as well as alternatives to non-Samsung fans who’d wish to try something else that is easily available locally.
