Samsung have always traditionally been the first company to launch a phone with the flagship Qualcomm chipset for the year.
Xiaomi threatened to beat them last year but didn’t quite make it. However, this year they managed to squeeze out a release just before year-end.
This is a Chinese launch, and for the standard Mi 11 with no other variants which is likely how they managed to get it out so early.
It will be interesting to see if Xiaomi manage to do the UK/EU launch before the Samsung Galaxy S21 (I doubt it).
Xiaomi Mi 11 vs Xiaomi Mi 10 – Not that different
The phone itself isn’t massively different than the Xiaomi Mi 10 which launched at the start of this year.
The two significant differences are:
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset vs Snapdragon 865
- The screen sounds like it should be much better (and was already great with the Mi10) with 6.81-inches running at 3200×1400 120Hz. They are then claiming 1500 nits (peak) brightness. In comparison, the Mi10 had 6.67 inches running at 2340×1080 90hz with 500nits brightness.
The camera specification looks almost identical, but the Mi11 drops the depth sensor. However, the SD888 has a significantly improved ISP so we should see some camera improvements overall.
The battery is actually smaller at 4600 mAh vs 4780 mAh, however the charging has been improved with 50W PD3.0 vs 30W PD2.0 then 50W wireless charging vs 30W.
No Wifi 6E & new AIoT Router AX6000
This is not that important, but the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 features support for the new WiFi 6E standard which uses the new 6Ghz channel as well as 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz.
The official blog post from Xiaomi makes no mention of Wifi 6E, rather just normal WiFi 6. It is possible it is a minor slip up, but it looks like they won’t support it.
Xiaomi also launched the brand new AIoT Router AX6000 which also only used WiFi 6 (there are still no routers with WiFi 6E)
Xiaomi Mi 11 Specification
A quick overview of the full spec:
- Dimensions: 164.3 x 74.6 x 8.1 mm
- Dual SIM
- Display: 6.81 inches 120Hz AMOLED 3200×1400 with 1500nits peak brightness
- OS: Android 11, MIUI 12.5
- Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 (5 nm)
- RAM: 8GB/12GB
- Storage: 128GB/256GB UFS 3.1
- Rear Camera:
- 108 MP, f/1.9, 26mm (wide), 1/1.33″, 0.8µm, PDAF, OIS
- 13 MP, f/2.4, 123˚ (ultrawide)
- 5 MP, f/2.4, (macro)
- Front Camera: 20 MP, 27mm (wide), 1/3.4″, 0.8µm
- Wifi – Up to WiFi 6
- Bluetooth – 5.2
- Battery – 4600 mAh, 55W power delivery, 50W wireless, 10W reverse wireless
- Other – Includes NFC, no mention of IP rating.
Xiaomi Mi 11 Price and Availability
Pricing for the Xiaomi Mi 11 begins at CNY3,999 (£454)and goes up to CNY4,699 (£533) for the largest memory option. The first flash sale is scheduled for January 1, 2021.
Sites like Giztop are already taking pre-orders starting at $799 (£593) for the base model. This will be shipped at the start of January.
Xiaomi Mi 11 UK Launch Date & Price
The Mi 10 launched at CNY4299(£488) then landed in Europe at €799 (£725) so this should give you some sort of idea of the mark-up you will see when the Mi 11 lands in the UK.
It should launch for less than last year, which is fair considering the specs are not changing significantly.
Assuming the same 48.5% price increase from China to Europe the UK/EU price should be around £675 or 745-Euros.
No launch date has been announced, the Mi 10 was launched just before MWC 2020 on the 13th of February. It is currently expected to launch late January or early February.
Posted by Mighty Gadget Blog: UK Technology News and Reviews
