The Xiaomi Mi 11 will make its way to the rest of the world after being on the Chinese market for about six weeks. It is a flagship series of phones, and the Mi 11 model would be a competitor of the Galaxy S21 handset, for example.
Announced at 749 Euros, it might end up in the USA with an MSRP of around 799 USD, which is not a bad deal, even if the Chinese launch price of $610 was, of course, more attractive. That said, these international price variations are the norm, so don’t be surprised by the difference.
This time around, Xiaomi tops for a much better 6.81-inch display with a higher resolution (3200×1440) and a 120Hz refresh rate, instead of last year’s 90Hz. Unfortunately, we don’t know if there’s a variable refresh rate (VRR) or not. On the one hand, it seems likely because these 120Hz panels often come with that option. However, we’ll stay conservative because this may be a cheaper model without a VRR controller.
The 4600 mAh battery is slightly smaller than last year’s, but the charging speed should get a considerable boost, going from 30W to 55W. In many ways, I think that faster charging is a viable alternative to a bigger battery for many users who go from home to work and do not have huge power access constraints.
The camera setup still features a 108MP primary camera, but the new f/1.85 aperture is a significant downgrade from last year’s f/1.69, which lifted the Mi 10’s series Primary camera to be one of our best-ranked primary camera of 2020 – that’s according to our Uber HW Camera benchmark.
Perhaps this change was necessary to accommodate the new 5MP 50mm telephoto camera for portrait and Bokeh. The 13MP Ultrawide camera is “wider” than the Mi 10’s, with 123-degrees instead of 117 degrees, but the overall quality should be comparable in the center.
Other than that, the price segment is identical to the Mi 10, so it looks to me like a suitable replacement, and you should start seeing the Mi 10’s price slide further.
Display aside, the most significant difference with the Mi 10 (Snapdragon 865) is that Mi 11 features the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor platform. We’ve covered the vast performance leap between the two, and from that point of view, the choice is evident.
The design of the Xiaomi Mi 11 is clean and classic. I can’t imagine that people would object or praise it loudly, but I’m curious to see how it feels in hand and whether fingerprints are visible.
The camera module in the back has a new arrangement that looks pleasing, and the punch-hole selfie camera is as discreet as technology will allow, without degrading the imaging performance.
The price is attractive, and we theorize that it should be an excellent alternative to the Galaxy S21, which is the gold standard at the $799.99 price range, with a considerable following and probably more available accessories like cases.
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