I tested the Xiaomi 13T Pro for a week — 3 shocking ways it beats iPhone 15 Pro Max

The Xiaomi 13T Pro has challenged the inner brand snob in me that reared its ugly little head when the Beijing-based tech giant reached out to Mashable with a review unit.

I always thought I was brand agnostic, but the truth is, I found myself turning my nose up at the 13T Pro because Xiaomi is not one of the top three U.S. smartphone giants: Apple, Google, and Samsung. However, it's time to get my head out of the sand. Looking beyond my backyard, and from a global perspective, Xiaomi is nipping at the heels of major players like Samsung and Apple.

And considering the phone's — er — regional origins, I questioned whether our American readers could even purchase the Xiaomi 13T Pro. As it turns out, they can, but they must order it from third-party sellers (e.g., Amazon).

Despite my reservations, I decided to give the Xiaomi 13T Pro a chance. Now that I've spent a week with the Xiaomi 13T Pro, I'm actually surprised by its performance. And in a few cases — few being the operative word here — it even beats my iPhone 15 Pro Max.

But before we dive in, let's break down the Xiaomi 13T Pro's price and specs.

Xiaomi 13T Pro price and availability

The Xiaomi 13T Pro we tested has a price tag of $699 on Amazon and comes with the following specs:

• 12GB of RAM
• 512GB of storage
• MediaTek Dimensity 9200+ processor

Compare this to my iPhone 15 Pro Max, which sets you back a whopping $1,599 via Apple's official website. Here are its specs:

• 8GB of RAM
• 1TB of storage
• A17 Pro chipset

Now that you've got a brief overview of both phones' internals, let's talk about the mind-blowing ways the Xiaomi 13T Pro beats the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

1. Xiaomi 13T Pro beats iPhone 15 Pro Max in battery life

When it comes to Android phones, we typically use PCMark 10 to test battery life. However, the problem with this is that PCMark 10 does not support iOS. As such, I had to come up with a different way to test both phones' energy efficiency. Consequently, I decided to launch a TikTok rundown test. With both phones' brightness set to the max, I kept the app on a TikTok loop until they ran out of juice.

Here are the runtimes for both phones:

Xiaomi 13T Pro: 11 hours and 5 minutes

iPhone 15 Pro Max: 10 hours and 50 minutes

Both phones have excellent battery lives, but the Xiaomi 13T Pro managed to beat the iPhone 15 Pro Max by 15 minutes. This isn't a significant delta, but to be honest, I wasn't expecting the Xiaomi 13T Pro to even touch the iPhone 15 Pro Max's battery endurance. However, I shouldn't be too surprised. After all, the Xiaomi 13T Pro has a bigger battery (5,000 mAh vs. 4,441 mAh).

2. Xiaomi 13T Pro has ultra-fast charging

The Xiaomi 13T Pro actually comes with a beastly 120W charging brick (the iPhone 15 Pro Max doesn't come with a charging brick at all).

Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

The problem, however, is the charging brick that comes in the box isn't compatible with North American wall outlets. It looks like it was designed for the EU. In any case, I do have a non-Xiaomi 120W charging brick that I used to fast-charge the 13T Pro, and like Xiaomi claims, it charged to 100% in less than 20 minutes.

Although the iPhone 15 Pro Max finally ditched the Lightning port in favor of USB-C, you're still getting 20W charging speeds. I'm able to charge the iPhone 15 Pro Max to 50% in about 30 minutes, which is a lot slower than the Xiaomi 13T Pro.

3. Xiaomi 13T Pro has an in-display fingerprint scanner

One thing I loved about my iPhone SE 2022 is the fingerprint scanner — and I miss it on the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

Face ID has never been my steez. I always seem to miss the "Face Unlock" window, particularly if the phone is sitting too far from my face, which ends up prompting me to input my passcode. With the Xiaomi 13T Pro, on the other hand, I can simply scan my fingerprint for seamless logins.

As a bonus, I also prefer the keyboard haptics on the Xiaomi 13T Pro. Texting on it feels clickier and delivers more tactile feedback; it's damn-near addicting.

I still recommend iPhone 15 Pro Max over Xiaomi 13T Pro

Although the Xiaomi 13T Pro conquered a few battles, the iPhone 15 Pro Max won the war. The new Action Button is elite. I can customize it to trigger any app or action I want. For now, I have the Action Button set up to launch the Notes app since I use it so frequently. But hey, next time, I may configure it to launch an iMessage window to text a friend I often communicate with.

The iPhone 15 Pro Max also has a far better display. When I place the two phones side-by-side, the iPhone 15 Pro Max's 6.7-inch display is conspiciously more attractive than the Xiaomi 13T Pro's 6.67-inch panel. It's more colorful, more vivid, and sharper.

Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

This is evident whether I'm playing Genshin Impact or watching Selling Sunset on Netflix. However, it's worth noting that the 13T Pro can emanate better luminance (2,600-nit peak brightness compared to the iPhone 15 Pro Max's 2,000 nits).

And most importantly, the iPhone 15 Pro Max's cameras are, as you might have guessed, far better than the Xiaomi 13T Pro. I tested the selfie camera on both phones and the iPhone 15 Pro Max's 12MP front-facing camera produced better realistic, more true-to-life photos compared to the Xiaomi 13T Pro's 20MP shooter.

Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable

It also goes without saying that the A17 Pro inside the iPhone 15 Pro Max is an absolute beast of a chipset. I'd even argue it has too much power. Plus, I could never give up iOS, which has a clean, minimalist, slick interface, for the clunky MIUI software that's underpinned with Android.

Finally, if you're an American resident, I'd be cautious about purchasing a Xiaomi 13T Pro. You could, in theory, purchase a model from a third-party seller (you can't buy one directly from Xiaomi), but double check if your carrier offers satisfactory coverage for the marginalized Android phone.