Premium design undermined by software choices a year behind
Xiaomi has released two mid-range phones — the Redmi Note 13 Pro+ and Pro — that share the same foundational DNA yet diverge meaningfully in design ambition, durability, and processing power. The Pro+ courts premium sensibilities with a curved display, IP68 protection, and faster silicon, while the Pro offers a quieter, more practical proposition with a larger battery and lower price. Both, however, carry the same unresolved tension: software that lags behind the moment, bloated with pre-installed excess, arriving on Android 13 in a world that has already moved on. In choosing between them, buyers are not simply selecting a phone — they are deciding how much beauty and performance are worth against the patience required to wait for software that should already be there.
- Xiaomi's Redmi Note 13 series arrives promising premium mid-range appeal, but the gap between the two siblings is wider than shared specs suggest — one is a design statement, the other a quiet compromise.
- The Pro+ commands attention with its curved aluminum frame, IP68 waterproofing, and faster MediaTek chip, while the Pro's flat, boxy form and Snapdragon processor feel like concessions dressed up as choices.
- A shared 200MP main camera sounds impressive until the auxiliary lenses — an 8MP ultra-wide and a near-useless 2MP macro — reveal where the budget was quietly reclaimed, and a software cap locks 4K video at 30fps despite capable hardware.
- Both phones ship on Android 13 with MIUI 14 packed with bloatware, and Xiaomi's promise of an Android 14 update in early 2024 carries the weight of a broken pledge made to the Note 12 series just a year before.
- The Pro+ earns its higher price with three major Android updates and four years of security patches versus the Pro's two updates and three years — making software longevity, not design, the most consequential difference for long-term buyers.
- Xiaomi has quietly abandoned the value-for-money legacy that made the Redmi Note line legendary, repositioning these phones against the Galaxy A54 and Pixel 7a while still carrying software and camera limitations those rivals have largely resolved.
Xiaomi's Redmi Note 13 Pro+ and Pro look like siblings but feel like strangers. They share a processor family, a 200MP camera sensor, and a 120Hz AMOLED display — yet diverge so sharply in design and capability that choosing between them demands understanding what Xiaomi is actually trying to sell.
The Pro+ is the statement piece. Its dual-curved screen and rounded aluminum frame give it a presence that rivals phones costing far more, while IP68 water resistance and a sleek two-tone back elevate it well above its price tier. Hold it and the premium intent is immediate. The Pro takes a different path — boxy sides, pastel camera accents, and a flat screen that Xiaomi frames as a deliberate choice, though the result feels less like variety and more like restraint. Despite being lighter on paper, it doesn't feel that way next to its sibling.
The shared 6.67-inch AMOLED panel is genuinely excellent — 1,800 nits of HDR brightness, Dolby Vision support, and Gorilla Glass Victus protection make it one of the best screens in the mid-range category. Processing diverges again: the Pro+'s MediaTek Dimensity 7200 Ultra outpaces the Pro's Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 in real-world tasks and gaming, and the Pro's reliance on older Wi-Fi ac rather than Wi-Fi 6 feels like a shortsighted economy at this price point.
The camera story is frustrating. Both phones mount the same capable 200MP main sensor with solid daylight performance, but both are undermined by identical auxiliary lenses — an 8MP ultra-wide and a 2MP macro that offer little practical value. More troubling, Xiaomi artificially caps 4K video at 30fps despite hardware capable of 60fps. This is a deliberate choice, not a technical limitation.
The deeper problem is software. Both phones ship with MIUI 14 on Android 13, bloated with pre-installed apps and lacking the refinement competitors have achieved. Xiaomi promises Android 14 in early 2024, but made similar promises for the Note 12 series and delivered months late. Software longevity also separates the two: the Pro+ receives three major Android updates and four years of security patches; the Pro gets only two updates and three years — a distinction that may matter more than any hardware specification.
Xiaomi has shifted its strategy. These phones no longer chase the legendary value-for-money crown of the Redmi Note series. They position themselves against the Galaxy A54 and Pixel 7a with premium hardware and design — but software delays and bloatware remain unresolved liabilities. The Pro+ is the more compelling device if you can accept the wait. The Pro offers a larger battery and lower price, but its design and processor feel like concessions. Either way, buyers are trading patience for hardware that deserves better software than it currently carries.
Xiaomi has released two phones that look like siblings but feel like strangers. The Redmi Note 13 Pro+ and Redmi Note 13 Pro share the same processor family, the same camera sensor, and the same screen technology, yet they diverge so sharply in design and capability that choosing between them requires understanding what Xiaomi is actually trying to sell.
The Pro+ is the statement piece. Its dual-curved screen and rounded aluminum frame give it a presence that rivals phones costing twice as much. The back features a minimalist two-tone pattern and a sleek camera module surround that catches light in ways the flatter Pro cannot match. Hold it and you feel the premium positioning immediately—the in-hand experience is smooth, deliberate, almost flagship-like. This design ambition extends to protection: the Pro+ earns IP68 dust and water resistance, meaning it can survive submersion. The Pro, by contrast, settles for IP54, which handles splashes but not dunks. Both phones now include an in-display fingerprint sensor, a long-overdue upgrade that sits slightly lower on the screen than ideal but represents genuine progress.
The Pro takes a different visual path. Its boxy sides and traditional camera island with pastel accents feel more conventional, less adventurous. Xiaomi claims the flat screen was a deliberate choice to offer variety, but the result is a phone that feels less confident in its own skin. Despite being thinner and lighter on paper, it doesn't feel that way when the two sit side by side. The design language simply doesn't command the same attention.
Both phones share a 6.67-inch AMOLED display running at 120Hz, and this is where the hardware story becomes genuinely impressive. The panel reaches 1,800 nits during HDR content, supports Dolby Vision, and is protected by Corning's Gorilla Glass Victus. Colors are vivid, contrast is deep, and the screen performs equally well whether you're streaming video or gaming. The always-on display mode has quirks, but otherwise this is one of the best screens available in the mid-range category.
Where the phones diverge again is processing power. The Pro+ runs MediaTek's Dimensity 7200 Ultra, while the Pro uses Qualcomm's Snapdragon 7s Gen 2. In real-world testing, the Pro+ pulls ahead in both daily tasks and demanding games, though the Pro still handles most workloads competently. The Pro+ comes in 8GB/256GB, 12GB/256GB, and 12GB/512GB configurations depending on region, while the Pro maxes out at 12GB/256GB. There's one peculiar limitation: the Pro uses Wi-Fi ac instead of the newer Wi-Fi 6 standard, a cost-cutting measure that feels shortsighted for a device in this price tier.
Battery capacity tells an interesting story. The Pro+ houses a 5,000mAh battery with 120W charging, while the Pro squeezes in 5,100mAh but only 67W charging. In practice, the difference is negligible—the Pro+ doesn't actually deliver its full 120W charge unless you manually enable a boosted mode. Both phones easily last a full day of use, and both charge quickly enough that the distinction matters less than it appears on paper.
The camera situation is frustrating. Both phones mount the same 200MP main sensor with optical image stabilization, and both produce solid daylight photos with good detail and color accuracy. But they're hampered by identical auxiliary cameras: an 8MP ultra-wide and a 2MP macro that are essentially useless. The 16MP selfie camera also underperforms. Worse, Xiaomi artificially caps 4K video recording at 30 frames per second despite the hardware being fully capable of 60fps. This isn't a technical limitation—it's a deliberate choice that undermines the camera's potential.
The real problem, however, lives in software. Both phones ship with MIUI 14 running on Android 13, not Android 14. Xiaomi promises an Android 14 update in the first quarter of 2024, but the company made similar promises for the Redmi Note 12 series last year and didn't deliver until Q2 2023. The wait for current software is likely to be measured in months, not weeks. Beyond the version number, MIUI 14 arrives bloated with pre-installed apps and services that have no business on a mid-range device. The interface itself is customizable but visually heavy, lacking the refinement competitors have achieved. Update longevity also differs: the Pro+ receives three major Android updates and four years of security patches, while the Pro gets only two major updates and three years of patches. If extended software support matters to you, the Pro+ is mandatory.
Xiaomi's strategy has shifted. These phones no longer chase the value-for-money crown that made the Redmi Note series legendary. Instead, they're positioned as mid-range alternatives to Samsung's Galaxy A54 and Google's Pixel 7a—phones with premium design and solid hardware but compromised by software choices. The Pro+ is the more compelling device if you can accept the software delays: its design is genuinely beautiful, its performance is snappier, and its durability rating is higher. The Pro offers better value and a larger battery, but its flat design and slower processor feel like concessions rather than choices. Either way, you're buying into a software experience that lags behind what you'd get from competitors, and that's a trade-off worth acknowledging before you commit.
Citações Notáveis
Xiaomi is instead chasing after the likes of the Galaxy A54 and Pixel 7a with these phones, and that strategy may ultimately haunt the brand.— Android Central reviewer
Xiaomi really needs to overhaul its interface, and the brand continues to drag its feet in this area while other manufacturers make tangible strides forward.— Android Central reviewer
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why does Xiaomi make these two phones look so different if they're in the same series?
It's a deliberate strategy. The Pro+ is their statement—a design that competes with flagships. The Pro is meant to offer a flatter alternative for people who prefer that aesthetic. But it reads less as thoughtful variety and more as if they're hedging their bets.
The software situation sounds genuinely frustrating. Why would they ship Android 13 in 2024?
Cost and timeline. Getting Android 14 certified and stable takes time, and Xiaomi chose to launch these phones before that work was done. They promised Q1 updates, but their track record suggests you shouldn't hold your breath. It's a choice that prioritizes launch dates over user experience.
If I don't care about software updates, which phone should I buy?
The Pro+. Its design is objectively better, the processor is faster, and you get IP68 protection instead of IP54. The Pro's only real advantage is a slightly larger battery and lower price, but if you're already spending mid-range money, the extra investment in the Pro+ pays dividends in how the phone feels in your hand.
What about the cameras? The specs look identical.
They are identical, and that's part of the problem. The main 200MP sensor is genuinely good in daylight. But the ultra-wide and macro cameras are afterthoughts—they're there to pad the spec sheet, not to take good photos. And Xiaomi's artificial 30fps cap on 4K video is inexplicable when the hardware can do 60fps.
Is there anything these phones do better than their competitors?
The AMOLED screens are legitimately excellent—vibrant, bright, responsive. And if you value design, the Pro+ is one of the best-looking mid-range phones available. But those strengths get undermined by software that's a year behind and bloated with apps you didn't ask for.