Today Xiaomi held the Chinese launch announcement of the new Mi 11 – the company’s new mainstream flagship phone for 2021. The new phone features a new super-high-end OLED screen that ticks off every checkmark feature that you’d expect from a 2021 design, including 1440p resolution and 120Hz refresh rates, features the new Snapdragon 888 SoC at its heart – as well as comes in a new thinner, lighter, and more stylish industrial design compared to its predecessors.

Xiaomi Mi Series
  Mi 10 Mi 11
SoC Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 
1x Cortex-A77 @ 2.84GHz
3x Cortex-A77 @ 2.42GHz
4x Cortex-A55 @ 1.80GHz

Adreno 650 @ 587MHz
Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 
1x Cortex-X1 @ 2.84GHz
3x Cortex-A78 @ 2.42GHz
4x Cortex-A55 @ 1.80GHz

Adreno 660 @ 747MHz
DRAM 8GB LPDDR5-5500 8/12GB LPDDR5-6400
Display 6.67" AMOLED
2340 x 1080 (19.5:9)

90Hz Refresh


 
6.81" AMOLED
3200 x 1440

120Hz Refresh

480Hz Touch
HDR10+ / 10-bit panel
Size Height 162.58mm 164.3mm
Width 74.80mm 74.6mm
Depth 8.96mm 8.06mm
Weight 208g 196g
Battery Capacity 4780mAh (Typical)

30W Charging
4600mAh (Typical)

55W Charging
Wireless Charging 30W 50W
Rear Cameras
Main 108MP 1/1.3" 0.8µm
4:1 Binning to 27MP / 1.6µm


f/1.69 w/ OIS
108MP Module

f/1.85 w/OIS
Telephoto - 5MP

50mm eq.
f/2.2
Extra
Telephoto
- -
Ultra-Wide 13MP 1.12µm

f/2.4
117° FoV
13MP

f/2.4
123° FoV
Extra 2MP Depth Camera

2MP Macro Camera
-
Front Camera 20MP 0.8µm
f/2.3
f/2.2
Storage 128 / 256GB
UFS 3.0
128 / 256GB
I/O USB-C
Wireless (local) 802.11ax (Wifi 6),
Bluetooth 5.1
Cellular 4G + 5G NR NSA+SA Sub-6GHz
Special Features Under-screen fingerprint sensor
Full-range stereo speakers
Splash, Water, Dust Resistance No rating
Dual-SIM 2x nano-SIM
Launch OS Android 10 w/ MIUI Android 11 w/ MIUI
Launch Price 8+128GB: 799€
8+256GB: 899€
?

At the heart of the new Mi 11 lies the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 SoC. The new 5nm chip is the first to use Arm’s new Cortex-X1 cores, with Qualcomm also claiming large GPU performance boosts this generation. What’s more different from the previous Snapdragon 865 flagship design is that the new S888 reverts back to a monolithic SoC design that integrates the 5G modem back into the SoC – in turn this means that there’s more PCB component space in available inside the phone and vendors can optimise their designs better.

The new Mi 11 also features either 8GB or 12GB of the new LPDDR5 memory at its full 3200MHz speed (6400MT/s), and comes in either 128GB or 256GB storage variants, although we’re missing details on the specifications of the modules used here.

In terms of design, the new Mi 11 is quite a departure from the Mi 10, being a much sleeker device than its predecessor. Xiaomi has been able to reduce the bezels of the device on all sides, still using a curved front and back glass design that fits well into your palms. The new design is actually 0.9mm thinner than its predecessor, now coming in at 8.06mm, and also shaves 12g off its weight at 196g – still relatively heavy, but not as much as its predecessor.

The most exciting feature of the Mi 11 has to be the new OLED screen. It’s grown a bit compared to its predecessor, filling in the space in place of the bezels, going from 6.67” to 6.81”, but the most important aspect of the phone is the fact that this is now a QHD class resolution at 3200 x 1440 – a first from Xiaomi OLED screen and a resolution we haven’t seen used by the company since back in the LCD days.

Furthermore, this is a bleeding-edge display, featuring a 120Hz refresh rate, and is advertised as being a new generation 10-bit panel that also features up to 8192 brightness levels – pointing out to a new generation DDIC. The panel also is advertised as using a new next-generation emitter material, and Xiaomi claims it goes up to 1500 nits brightness, which is a notch above what we’ve seen from 2020 phones.

Lastly, like a cherry on top of the cake, the panel features a staggering 480Hz touch input rate, which is the highest we’ve heard of in the mobile industry, and hopefully results in outstanding touch input and scrolling fluidity.

 

Other features of the new design includes a redesigned camera setup, which transitions from a completely vertical camera arrangement to a new rounded square element with three camera modules.

Instead of having a large camera bump edge and a single glass element protecting the whole camera arrangement, Xiaomi uses a three-step glass element, each thicker than the other, protecting the three cameras modules. It looks quite interesting and gives off a much more organic feel compared to other rectangular or more symmetric camera arrangements out there.

Unfortunately for today’s announcement the Mi 11’s camera specifications were quite sparse. What we do know is that the main camera is again a 108MP module, similar to that of its predecessor, but we don’t know if it’s the exact same sensor, or a newer iteration. What we do know is that the optics are definitely different as the aperture now lands in at f/1.89 instead of f/1.69 – an actual positive change in my view as the optics of the Mi 10 was one of its main weaknesses.

Alongside the main camera there’s a 13MP ultra-wide angle with a 123° FoV and F/2.4 aperture, as well as a 5MP 2x optical 50mm equivalent telephoto module with f/2.2. That latter module sounds a bit lacklustre – maybe we’ll see an eventual Mi 11 Pro with a stronger telephoto module.

Today’s announcement covers the Chinese variant of the phone, with the global and European variants certainly to follow in the next few weeks. Pre-orders for the Chinese models start today with delivering going out the 1st of January, with the Mi 11 with an 8+128GB variant coming in at ¥3999.00, or USD $611. Western prices are certainly set to be different, but that’s already a quite promising start for the new flagship.

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  • s.yu - Monday, December 28, 2020 - link

    The bold font doesn't seem to serve any purpose as it doesn't fit any particular pattern.
  • skavi - Thursday, December 31, 2020 - link

    It’s all the specifications that are particularly notable/interesting according to the author.
  • s.yu - Thursday, December 31, 2020 - link

    So LPDDR5 5500 to 6400 isn't interesting, but 6.67" to 6/81" is, while 2340 x 1080 to 3200 x 1440 isn't, and a slight aperture shrink is...
  • eastcoast_pete - Monday, December 28, 2020 - link

    Never mind the missing specs of the camera modules; no rating for water and dust resistance for a supposed flagship phone with no microSD card slot, apparently no headphone jack and a likely high price tag is a poor value proposition. Xiaomi phones used to be really good value, but they apparently have learned from Apple and Samsung, and probably P.T. Barnum ("There's a sucker borne every minute").
  • ads295 - Monday, December 28, 2020 - link

    They've learnt much more from OnePlus, then. These two were always expensive
  • s.yu - Tuesday, December 29, 2020 - link

    Wow, you've come late to the party. There was a time when OnePlus was the value proposition, but that disappeared alongside the headphone jack and their loyalty to their fanbase of "power users"a few years ago.
  • DaveLT - Monday, December 28, 2020 - link

    Xiaomi has had no SD card slot since the very first Mi product.
    3.5mm was later deleted after apple did and in fairness so did Samsung
  • eastcoast_pete - Monday, December 28, 2020 - link

    Not so, at least not for their less expensive models in the past. My Mi Max 2 had both (microSD slot and a 3.5 mm jack). Great phone for the money in its time.
  • s.yu - Tuesday, December 29, 2020 - link

    I believe the last value flagship from Xiaomi with a headphone jack would be the K30Pro.
  • CarryBeat - Friday, January 1, 2021 - link

    My Mi9T pro has one, and all of their redmi smartphones has one

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