Xiaomi launches the Redmi 13: a budget camera phone with a headline-grabbing primary camera
(Image credit: Xiaomi)
The 108MP camera phone may now be old news, being initially popularized by the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G back in 2020. But since then we've seen 108MP primary cameras trickle down to ever-cheaper handsets, and now Xiaomi has included a 108MP snapper in its latest budget offering, the Redmi 13 - a sub-$200 phone.
The exact sensor is Samsung's ISOCELL HM6. At 1/1.67" in size, it's significantly smaller than some of the 108MP chips in high-end handsets, though it's still capable of 3x on-sensor lossless zoom and uses 9-in-1 pixel binning in its default shooting mode.
The primary camera is flanked by a 2MP macro camera, but being a budget phone, there's no ultrawide module and video is capped at 1080p. The Redmi 13 does get a selfie camera upgrade though: a 13MP front-facing module replaces the 8MP chip in last year's Redmi 12.
The selfie camera sits within a large 6.79" IPS LCD display running at 1080x2460 resolution, giving a pixel density of 396ppi. The 90Hz screen is protected by Gorilla Glass and is capable of up to 550-nit brightness.
(Image credit: Xiaomi)
The Redmi 13 is powered by a 5030mAh battery and is capable of 33W fast charging - another upgrade over the 18W charging speed offered by the Redmi 12. The phone runs a Mediatek Helio G91 Ultra 8-core chipset and is available in storage/RAM configurations of 128GB/6GB, 128GB/8GB and 256GB/8GB. Storage can be expanded using the onboard microSD slot, compatible with cards up to 1TB. There's also a 3.5mm headphone jack, and the Redmi 13 has IP53-rated dust and water protection.
Four color options are available: Midnight Black, Sandy Gold, Pearl Pink and Ocean Blue, with prices starting from $180/€200.
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Ben is the Imaging Labs manager, responsible for all the testing on Digital Camera World and across the entire photography portfolio at Future. Whether he's in the lab testing the sharpness of new lenses, the resolution of the latest image sensors, the zoom range of monster bridge cameras or even the latest camera phones, Ben is our go-to guy for technical insight. He's also the team's man-at-arms when it comes to camera bags, filters, memory cards, and all manner of camera accessories – his lab is a bit like the Batcave of photography! With years of experience trialling and testing kit, he's a human encyclopedia of benchmarks when it comes to recommending the best buys.
