Xiaomi gained large shares of the smartphone market with its affordable but well-equipped smartphones and now the company is targeting the premium market. Along with a slew of other devices, it has just announced its latest flagship pair during its Sept. 15 launch event, the Xiaomi 11T and 11T Pro.
As you may have noticed, the 11T and 11T Pro have lost the nickname “Mi” that used to come with many Xiaomi flagship and sub-flagship ships. This is in line with the brand change announced by Xiaomi earlier this year, as the company is now focusing on its main brand. But that doesn’t change the fact that the 11T series is effectively a follow-up to the excellent Mi 11 (and Mi 10T) flagship line, with small but thoughtful adjustments to the formula.
Differences marked in bold in this table.
A first comparison between the 11T and the 11T Pro shows us the incredible resemblance of the two phones, with each other, but also with the Mi 11i. The design reveals no significant difference between the two. Both come in the same three colors (Celestial Blue, Meteorite Gray with a brushed metal look, and Moonlight White), with the same design elements, such as a huge range of three cameras at the top left of the glass bottom, with a conical edge curving gently at the sides. There, they both have a fingerprint sensor built right into the power button instead of on the screen, which Xiaomi has done with many other previous phones. On the front is a 6.67-inch, 120Hz flat AMOLED display with a 16MP perforated hole selfie shutter. The main configuration of the camera consists of a 108MP telephoto lens, an 8MP width with a 120 ° field of view and a 5MP telemacro with 2x zoom for both phones.
Xiaomi 11T Pro white.
However, in terms of hardware, some minor derivations are notable. The 11T comes with a MediaTek Dimensity 1200 processor, while the 11T Pro has a Snapdragon 888. The RAM and storage levels (8 + 128 / 256GB) are the same between the two, although the model of High end offers LPDDR5 RAM as compared to LPDDR4x. Another big difference is the loading speed. While the 11T charges at a respectable 67W (giving you a full charge in 36 minutes), the 11T Pro increases the speed, with the same 120W HyperCharge known for the Mi Mix 4. Xiaomi claims that this will allow the 11T Pro charges from 0 to 100 in just 17 minutes (though a review by Anandtech claims it may be a bit overdone). Both 11T phones have a 5,000 mAh battery, making the 11T Pro the first commercial device to offer a 120W charge at this battery size.
The 11T and 11T Pro are also the first to enjoy Xiaomi’s new commitment with three major Android updates and four years of security patches, which is great to watch. Unfortunately, they are still running Android 11 (MIUI 12.5), which means that the first Android 12 update (which will be released this month or next month) will arrive fairly soon in its life cycle.
Compared to the Mi 11, the 11T Pro provides nothing more than smaller adjustments, given the short time between the two, it’s no wonder. The 120W charge is one of the most impressive improvements, but there are also changes you may not love if you like big screens. The screen is getting a little smaller, 6.67 inches versus 6.81 inches, and the resolution has been reduced to FHD +. Considering that the battery is bigger in the new model and that you won’t have to plan your charging day with the super fast 120W charger, however, you will definitely win in the battery department.
The Xiaomi 11T will start at € 499 while the 11T Pro will have a minimum price of € 649. For the latter, there will be an early discount for pre-orders, where the phone will only cost € 599 for a limited time. It will be applicable in Germany, Italy and France, with more details to follow later.
Xiaomi also announced the budget-level Redmi 10 to its global audience after showing it in China just before. For less than $ 200, the phone certainly looks impressive. Its design language is heavily inspired by its more expensive sister models, with the same punch camera centered on the front and a triple camera set on the top left of the back. However, it looks bulkier and bigger. Like the 11T series, the Redmi 10 also has the fingerprint sensor built into the power button.
While the Redmi 10 is one of the first economical phones with a refresh rate of 90Hz, the rest of the hardware is decidedly cheaper. It runs on the Helio G88, one of the latest MediaTek input processors introduced this year, along with 4GB of RAM and up to 128GB of eMMC 5.1 storage. There’s a headphone jack, support for microSD and USB-C cards, though they are framed within what modern phones are expected to provide. What’s more impressive is the addition of a 50MP primary sensor capable of producing high-resolution images and a 5,000 mAh battery, though the Redmi series has always been known for its good or great range.
The Redmi 10 has an Android 11-based MIUI 12.5 out of the box. You can buy it from October 1. It will be available in two variants: a 4 GB + 64 GB version for € 179.90 and an alternative of 4 GB + 128 GB for € 199.90.
The company also announced the Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE (short for New Edition), but it’s nothing more than a minor overhaul of an earlier model, the Mi 11 Lite 5G. The only notable differences we could spot are the new colors, the 20MP selfie shutter and the change from the Snapdragon 780G to the 778G. Therefore, we would like you to sign up for our review of the Mi 11 Lite 4G variant or the announcement of the Mi 11 Lite 5G for more information. The 6 + 128 GB will cost you € 369, while the 8 + 128 will cost you € 399.
We will update this post once Xiaomi shares more details about pricing and availability.