Xiaomi is on a roll this month: The company just launched a true successor to the Poco F1 last week, and before that, it raised the value-for-money bar yet again with the new Redmi Note 10 series. Now the manufacturer is wrapping up March 2021 with a new addition to its flagship series, the Mi 11 Ultra — an absolute beast of a phone with incredible charging speeds and a camera combination that's unheard of. There's also the Mi 11 Lite for those who are more budget-minded, an new Mi Band, and a new projector with Android TV and Google Assistant.

Mi 11 Ultra

We've already heard more than a bit about the Mi 11 Ultra ahead of launch, and now the flagship is finally official. It introduces quite some novelties and innovations. The camera array on its ceramic back is among the most prominent we've ever seen and takes up about a quarter of the back. There's a good reason for that: Instead of something unobtrusive like an LED notification light, Xiaomi chose to go with a 1.1-inch OLED display for notifications and selfie previews. It sits next to not one but three high-resolution cameras: A Samsung-Xiaomi developed 50MP wide-angle is joined by a 48MP ultra-wide angle and a 48MP telephoto with 5x optical zooming capabilities — a combination we've yet to see in other phones. All of them are capable of capturing 8K video, and the new GN2 primary camera has the biggest sensor currently available in the industry, according to Xiaomi.

SPECS

Front display

WQHD+ 6.81” AMOLED Quad-curved DotDisplay

20

9, 3200 x 1440, 515 ppi, Contrast ratio: 5,000,000:1 (typ)

Brightness

HBM 900 nits (typ), 1,700 nits peak brightness (typ)

120Hz refresh rate, 480Hz touch sampling rate, AdaptiveSync

30Hz/ 60Hz/ 90Hz/ 120Hz

Color gamut

DCI-P3, 1.07 billion colors Dolby Vision®, HDR10+ 360° ambient light sensor 2.0 Corning Gorilla Victus (front)

Back display

Rear 1.1” AMOLED Display 126 x 294, 450 nits peak brightness Supports always-on display, notification alerts, rear selfie preview Super power saver mode

Software

MIUI 12 based on Android 11

CPU

Snapdragon 888

RAM & Storage

12GB + 256GB (LPDDR5 RAM + UFS 3.1 storage)

Battery

5,000mAh, 67W wired turbo charging, 67W wireless turbo charging, 10W reverse charging

Rear cameras

50MP wide angle camera - 1/1.12" sensor size, 1.4μm pixel size, 2.8μm 4-in-1 Super Pixel - f/1.95, 8P lens, 85˚ FOV - Supports OIS, dToF laser focus - Dual Pixel Pro, Dual Native ISO Fusion, Staggered-HDR - 8K video recording, Night mode 48MP ultra-wide angle camera - 128° FOV, f/2.2 - 0.8μm pixel size, 1.6μm 4-in-1 Super Pixel - 1/2.0” sensor size, PDAF, 7P lens - Supports macro shooting - 8K video recording, Night mode 48MP telephoto camera - 5x optical zoom, 10x hybrid zoom, 120x digital zoom - 1/2.0” sensor size, 0.8μm pixel size, 1.6μm 4-in-1 Super Pixel - f/4.1, Supports OIS, PDAF - 8K video recording, Night mode

Front camera

20MP front camera (f/2.2, 0.8μm pixel size, 1.6μm 4-in-1 Super Pixel, 78˚ FOV, FF)

Connectivity

Dual SIM, Wi-Fi 6/6E, Bluetooth 5.2, USB Type-C, IR blaster, NFC

Bands

5G: n1/n3/n5/n7/n8/n20/n28/n38/n40/n41/n77/n78/n79

4G

LTE FDD: B1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/17/20/28/32/66

4G

LTE TDD: B38/40/41/42

3G

WCDMA: B1/2/4/5/8

2G

GSM: 850 900 1800 1900 MHz

Miscellaneous

Dual speakers, in-screen fingerprint reader

Measurements

164.3mm x 74.6mm x 8.38mm, 234g

Colors

Ceramic White / Ceramic Black

Price

8GB+256GB: ¥5999 (~$915), €1199

12GB+256GB

¥6499 (~$990)

12GB+512GB

¥6999 (~$1070)

Xiaomi could've called it a day at that point and rest on its laurels, but the company also included a novel silicon-oxide 5,000mAh battery with a self-developed supercharge technology that allows for up to 67W wired and wireless charging, making for a full charge from 0 to 100 in 36 minutes (according to Xiaomi's marketing, that is).

Wired charging is right on-par with the OnePlus 9's 65W support, and while the wireless capabilities are stopping short of the 80W technology Xiaomi announced in 2020, they're incredible nonetheless. Xiaomi says it also didn't go for its 120W charging technology because it didn't want to make the phone thicker. The company also decided to finally add an IP68 certification to one of its phones as the topping of the cake.

The rest of the phone also fits the general premium look and feel. It comes with a quad-curved 120Hz 6.81-inch 3200x1440 display with Gorilla Glass Victus, the Snapdragon 888, 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, dual speakers, USB Type-C, Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2, and an in-screen fingerprint reader.

The Mi 11 Ultra starts at ¥5999 (~$915) in China and €1199 in Europe, so you can expect a similar USD price. Exact prices and availability dates will be revealed later.

Mi 11 Lite 5G and Mi 11 Lite

Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G in Truffle Black.

Xiaomi wouldn't be Xiaomi if it didn't also launch more budget friendly phones. It's introducing the Mi 11 Lite 5G and the Mi 11 Lite (4G only) that share the design language established with the regular Mi 11. They're just a little weaker on the chest and can be considered high-end rather than flagship. The 5G variant comes with the brand-new Snapdragon 780G Qualcomm just announced while the 4G version has to make do with the 732G also found in the Poco X3 and the Note 10 series. The phones also trade the Mi 11's 108MP camera for a 64MP sensor accompanied by an ultra-wide and a telemacro. Their 6.55-inch OLED screens are a tad smaller than the Mi 11's and "only" support a refresh rate of up to 90Hz.

But for once, the Lite in the name doesn't mainly refer to the hardware specifications. The phones weigh just 159g/157g, and Xiaomi claims the 5G version is the slimmest 5G-capable handset out there.

SPECS

Display

6.55” AMOLED DotDisplay (2400 x 1080 FHD+) 10-bit color depth with TrueColor and DCI-P3 90Hz refresh rate, 240Hz touch sampling rate HDR 10+ support

Software

MIUI 12 based on Android 10

CPU

Snapdragon Lite 5G: Snapdragon 780G / Lite 4G: Snapdragon 732G

RAM & Storage

Lite 5G: 6GB+128GB, 8GB+128GB (UFS 2.2 + LPDDR4X)

Lite 4G

6GB+64GB, 6GB+128GB (UFS 2.2 + LPDDR4X)

Battery

4,250mAh, 33W fast charging, 33W In-box charger

Rear cameras

64MP main camera - 1/1.97” sensor size, 0.7μm 4-in-1 to 1.4μm, f/1.79 aperture, 6P lens, Contrast Autofocus 8MP ultra-wide angle camera - 1/4” sensor size, 1.12μm f/2.2 aperture, 5P lens 5MP telemacro camera - 1.5” sensor size, 1.12μm, f/2.4 aperture,4P lens, Contrast Autofocus, 3-7cm Single-tone flash

Front camera

Lite 5G: 20MP / Lite 4G: 16MP

Connectivity

Lite 5G: Dual SIM,Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC

Lite 4G

Dual SIM, Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.1, headphone jack

Bands

Lite 5G:

5G NR

n1/n3/n5/n7/n8/n20/n28/n38/n40/n41/n77/n78/n66

4G LTE FDD

1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8/12/13/17/20/28/32/66

LTE TDD

38/40/41

3G WCDMA

1/2/4/5/8

2G GSM

2/3/5/8

Lite 4G

4G LTE FDD

1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/17/20/28/32/66

LTE TDD

38/40/41 (120M)

3G WCDMA

1/2/4/5/8 4x4 MIMO (Only 4G, B3, B7)

Miscellaneous

Side fingerprint sensor, dual speakers

Weight

Lite 5G: 159g / Lite 4G: 157g

Colors

Lite 5G: Truffle Black, Mint Green, Citrus Yellow (glass back)

Lite 4G

Boba Black, Peach Pink, Bubblegum Blue (glass back)

Price

Lite 5G: 8GB+128GB: ¥2299 (~$350),

8GB+256GB

¥2599 (~$400)

While these seem like considerable downgrades compared to the other phones in the series, Xiaomi is all but certain to offer the hardware at a more than competitive price — and judging these specifications by themselves, the phones should be more than capable anyway. It's just a bummer that Xiaomi decided to go with Android 10 for these devices. Android 11 has been out for half a year now, and most other phones launching these days already run the latest version.

Mi 11 Lite in Peach Pink.

The Mi 11 Lite 5G will start at ¥2299 (~$350) in China. In Europe, prices start at €369 (Mi 11 Lite 5G) or €299 (Mi 11 Lite). Availability is still to be announced.


Xiaomi has also announced the Mi 11i, which is mostly identical to the regular Mi 11. Its screen is just a tad smaller at 6.67 inches, and it trades an in-display fingerprint reader for a side-mounted one. The battery is also a bit smaller at 4,520mAh, though that probably won't make much of a difference in usage time given the smaller screen. It will start at €649 in Europe.

Then there's the Xiaomi 11 Pro, meant for the Chinese market. It's pretty similar to the Mi 11 Ultra, coming with the same battery, the same charging speed, and the same processor. But there are some differences in the camera setup, with a primary 108MP camera and less powerful secondary sensors. It's also got an IP68 rating.

The company has also made the Mi Smart Band 6 official with an almost bezel-less screen and introduced the Mi Smart Projector 2 Pro that doubles as a Google Assistant speaker — read our full coverage here.