Xiaomi announces Mi 11: first Snapdragon 888 device

Today, Xiaomi carried out the Chinese launch announcement of the new Mi 11 – the company’s new flagship phone for 2021. The new phone features a new, state-of-the-art OLED screen that marks all the marked features you would expect from a 2021 design, including 1440p resolution and 120 Hz refresh rates, presents the new SoC Snapdragon 888 at its heart – as well as comes in a new thinner, lighter and more elegant industrial design compared to its predecessors.

At the heart of the new Mi 11 is the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 SoC. The new 5 nm chip is the first to use Arm’s new Cortex-X1 cores, with Qualcomm also stating that the GPU’s great performance increases this generation. What is most different from the main design of the previous Snapdragon 865 is that the new S888 goes back to a monolithic SoC design that integrates the 5G modem back into the SoC – in turn, this means that there is more space for PCB components available inside the phone and suppliers can optimize their designs better.

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

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

In terms of design, the new Mi 11 is quite different from the Mi 10, being a much more elegant device than its predecessor. Xiaomi has managed to reduce the bezels of the device on all sides, still using a curved front and rear glass design that fits well on the palms of the hands. The new design is actually 0.9 mm thinner than its predecessor, now reaching 8.06 mm, and also reduces its weight by 12 g with 196 g – still relatively heavy, but not as much as its predecessor.

The most interesting feature of the Mi 11 has to be the new OLED screen. It has grown a little compared to its predecessor, filling 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 it is now a QHD class resolution of 3200 x 1440 – a first of Xiaomi’s OLED screen and a resolution that we haven’t seen used by the company since the days of LCD.

In addition, this is a state-of-the-art screen, featuring a refresh rate of 120 Hz, and is advertised as a new generation 10-bit panel that also features up to 8192 brightness levels – pointing to a new generation DDIC. The panel is also advertised as using a new, next-generation emitter material, and Xiaomi claims that the brightness reaches 1500 nits, which is a level above what we saw in 2020 phones.

Finally, like an icing on the cake, the panel features an impressive 480 Hz touch input rate, which is the highest we’ve heard in the mobile industry and, hopefully, results in excellent touch input and smooth scrolling .

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

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

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

Beside the main camera, there is an ultra-wide angle of 13 MP with 123 ° FoV and F / 2.4 aperture, as well as a telephoto module equivalent to 50 mm optical 5 MP 2x with f / 2.2. This last module looks a little dull – maybe we’ll see an eventual Mi 11 Pro with a stronger telephoto module.

Today’s announcement covers the Chinese phone variant, with global and European variants likely to follow in the coming weeks. Pre-orders for Chinese models start today with delivery of 1^st January, with the Mi 11 with a variant of 8 + 128 GB reaching ￥ 3,999.00 or $ 611. Western prices will certainly be different, but this is already a very promising start for the new flagship.

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