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Beijing-based Xiaomi announced its latest smartphone collection, featuring two flagships and a budget-friendly 'Lite' model, on February 26. Usually known for its dominance in the budget segment, the company took a significant chance at capturing the premium flagship market by debuting its Xiaomi 13 series.
As its name suggests, the Xiaomi 13 Lite features a toned-down set of specifications compared to its flagship siblings. However, it isn't any less powerful than its competitors in the same price bracket. One of the most suitable alternatives to the 13 Lite is Apple's iPhone SE 2022 (3rd gen), which allows fans to grab a premium iOS phone at an affordable rate.
The 2022 iPhone SE is a good choice for small-handed individuals, while the Xiaomi 13 Lite is a complete semi-flagship with premium qualities
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As per the announcement, the Xiaomi 13 Lite will be available to purchase in India, the UK, and Europe, and its starting price is £449/€499 (roughly $530) for the 8/128 GB variant.
Considering the company's previous trends, the idea of a US release is far-fetched for now. However, fans from the US can order an international version.
The iPhone SE 3, on the other hand, was launched in most regions worldwide in early 2022 and is readily available. It starts at $429/£449/€449 (64GB storage).
Processor
The Xiaomi 13 Lite runs on the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1 chipset, featuring the following octa-core CPU architecture:
- 1x A710 at 2.4GHz
- 3x A710 at 2.36GHz
- 4x A510 at 1.8GHz
The primary CPU core can clock processing speeds up to 2.4GHz, ensuring a smooth performance in most use cases. The CPU is also supported by an Adreno 644 GPU, which takes care of the graphical rendering aspect.
While it isn't the best mobile phone for gaming, the 13 Lite can handle light to medium gaming without any performance drops. It should also be able to tackle multi-tasking with ease.
The iPhone SE 2022 runs on the A15 Bionic chip, one of the latest Apple silicon for mobiles. Like the Snapdragon 7 Gen 1, the A15 is slightly outdated, considering Apple's silicon processors set industry standards. It is a performance beast, offering clock speeds of up to 3.22GHz. In addition, the A15 Bionic is backed by a 4-core Apple GPU.
Here's the hexacore CPU architecture featured in the latest iPhone SE phones:
- 2x3.22 GHz Avalanche
- 4x1.82 GHz Blizzard
Android and iOS have their share of pros and cons. The iPhone SE features a cleaner, performance-centric user interface than the Xiaomi 13 Lite, which runs an Android 12 skin, MIUI 14. However, many fans prefer the customizable Android experience that iOS devices lack.
From the looks of it, the iPhone SE 3 is the clear winner in the processor category. However, the Xiaomi 13 Lite is not disappointing and is a robust competitor.
Display
The iPhone SE series is known for its ergonomic design and small display size. The SE 3 follows the same trend, offering a 4.7-inch Retina IPS LCD with the highest brightness of 625 nits, which isn't very impressive.
The Xiaomi 13 Lite has a massive 6.55-inch FHD+ AMOLED display with support for up to 120 Hz refresh rate and brightness of up to 1000 nits. Users who love to play mobile games or watch content will want to go with Xiaomi's 13 Lite.
Cameras
One of the essential features of a smartphone in today's world is its camera. Users with a knack for mobile photography will find the Xiaomi 13 Lite more reliable, considering its triple rear camera setup and dual front camera.
The 13 Lite offers a 50 MP wide-angle, 8 MP ultra-wide angle, 2 MP macro sensor, and useful photography features to capture and produce excellent pictures. It also has a dual-sensor setup, featuring a 32 MP ultra-wide and an 8 MP depth sensor, for its selfie camera.
The iPhone SE 2022, on the other hand, offers a single camera setup - a 12 MP wide-angle sensor - which can produce good pictures when coupled with the latest iOS camera-centric features. The selfie camera is a 7 MP wide-angle, producing satisfactory results.
While Apple is known for its premium mobile cameras, the iPhone SE 2022's refined single-camera setup isn't enough to beat Xiaomi's latest flagship killer in this segment.
Battery and other features
The iPhone SE 2022 features an impoverished battery life by today's standards. Apple tried to compensate for it with fast charging features (20W), but 2018 mAh is insufficient. Furthermore, the phone is stuck with a lightning port, which will soon become outdated, with Apple's plan to adopt Type-C across all its devices from 2023.
The Xiaomi 13 Lite offers a 4500 mAh battery and clubs it with a 67W charger, meaning users will not have to worry much about charging their smartphone.
The 13 Lite and the SE 2022 offer storage variants of up to 256GB and have only one RAM variant (8GB on 13 Lite and 4GB on SE). Both phones support up to 5G network connectivity.
Conclusion
While the Apple iPhone SE 2022 is a good deal for those who want a lightweight and easy-to-go phone, the Xiaomi 13 Lite is undoubtedly a better pick in the affordable range due to its excellent display, premium camera, and better battery life.
