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The Xiaomi Mi 11 flagship launches worldwide, Snapdragon 888 and improved 108MP camera in tow

By Eugene Jeong

Updated: Feb 08, 2021, 9:42 AM

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The Xiaomi Mi 11 flagship launches worldwide, Snapdragon 888 and improved 108MP camera in tow

Xiaomi launched its new Mi 11 smartphone in China earlier this year, opening the era of Snapdragon 888-powered flagships. A month later, it’s arriving globally, bringing cutting-edge specs across the board starting at €749—and yes, there is a charger included.

Sleek design and 120Hz, QHD+ AMOLED display

There’s little surprising about the new launch considering that we’ve seen the same phone launched in other markets, but the Mi 11’s design is still pretty impressive. It’s got the company’s name written all over its waterfall curves and distinctive camera module, and it features a frosted glass back available in two color variants, Midnight Grey and Horizon Blue.

The Mi 11 features a sleek design with frosted glass and waterfall curves

Speaking of the design, the display really stretches to the edges, with only the corners showing a hint of bezel. The screen itself is a 6.8-inch AMOLED panel set at 1440p, Quad HD+ resolution. It also features a 120Hz refresh rate—down from the Mi 10T Pro’s 144Hz, though we’d bet good money no one can tell the difference. Gamers will also be happy to know that the display has ultra-fast 480Hz touch sampling for precision controls.

The display also includes an in-display fingerprint sensor that can also detect your heart rate—we’ll be looking forward to how well this lifestyle feature works in real life. Bonus perk: Gorilla Glass Victus lines the device’s front, providing a little extra piece of mind against scratches and cracks.

As far as performance is concerned, the blazingly-fast Snapdragon 888 should provide ample speed to rival or exceed every other smartphone currently in existence. Backing up the powerhouse SoC are 8GB of RAM, 128 or 256GB of storage, and an Adreno 660 GPU. All in all, sluggish is one thing this phone should not be.

Improved 108MP camera, plus AI-powered video modes

Xiaomi has been a pretty big player in the smartphone camera race, and it’s brought out the biggest and best it has to offer, including the same 108MP main camera resolution and 1/1.33” sensor size as the Galaxy S21 Ultra. Unlike Samsung’s flagship, though, Xiaomi’s offering skips on packing five different lenses and instead sticks to a more sensible three, a time-tested combination of main camera, ultra wide-angle, and telephoto.

Xiaomi is touting a number of major improvements on its latest flagship camera system

The company is also touting the phone’s camera software, which includes an improved Night Mode (on the main, ultra wide-angle, and selfie cameras) and a number of snazzy, AI-powered video modes, which do everything from erasing unwanted objects from footage to giving your videos cinematic colors. We’ll be eager to see if these software additions make a significant difference. Though Xiaomi’s previous 108MP cameras didn’t exactly wow us, smartphone tech evolves quickly, and this latest effort looks quite nice indeed.

Beyond visuals, Xiaomi has reportedly given the Mi 11 a big boost for audio as well, touting dual, Harman Kardon-tuned speakers for "cinematic sound". There's no headphone jack, however (no surprise there).

5G is another feature fast becoming commonplace, and the Mi 11 includes enough 5G bands to take advantage of most major carrier’s networks. It’s unknown if Xiaomi will release a different variant for mmWave, though this seems unlikely.

55W fast charging, outlet adapter included in the box

Of course, one of the biggest concerns following the addition of newer, more power-hungry technologies is battery life, and this is another set of specs where Xiaomi has brought its A-game. The Mi 11 packs a fairly sizable 4,600mAh battery cell to keep the show on the road, and it’s got 55W fast charging, 50W wireless charging, and 10W reverse wireless charging for all the flexibility you’re likely to ever need.

The Mi 11 has a large power cell with ultrafast charging both wired and wireless

Even further, Xiaomi is bucking the trend and including an outlet adapter in the box, unlike, well, you know who. The company did skip the charger in China by default, but it did also include one free of charge if requested, giving a lot more credibility to its environmental concerns claim. In the global market, not only is a 55W, fast charger included, but it’s of the gallium nitride (GaN) variety, boasting enhanced efficiency and a smaller size compared to conventional chargers with similar charging capabilities.

The Mi 11 isn't the boundary-pushing device Xiaomi sometimes releases, but all in all, the company' latest flagship looks to be a value-packed device that manages to include all of the trendiest features of the current smartphone game. We’ll have to see if it can really challenge the likes of Samsung or OnePlus in real life, but on paper, the Mi 11 is a solid effort.