Right on the heels of Apple’s announcements we have Xiaomi with their flagship 11 series. In keeping with its recent releases, Xiaomi has been pushing the envelope with its 108MP camera tech, especially for video recording.
Xiaomi 11T Pro and 11T
Both phones share the same camera system – a main “pro-grade” 108MP wide-angle camera, an 8MP, 120° ultra-wide-angle camera, and a 5MP, 2x telemacro camera that can focus from as close as three centimetres away.
The killer feature? It’s called One-Click AI Cinema, which Xiaomi touts to bring cinema-like quality to your recordings. In essence, it is a suite of computational videography effects – like Time Freeze (a selected area freezes), Magic Zoom (a selected area zooms in) – that can be enabled with a simple click. Audio Zoom recording lets you control the pickup distance of the microphone so, you have a comprehensive library of audio and visual tricks to create videos with.
Where the two phones differ is mainly in their processors. The 11T Pro gets the Snapdragon 888 while the 11T gets the MediaTek Dimensity 1200-Ultra. As such, the 11TPro is able to record in 8K and HDR10+ while the 11T can record up to 4K and HDR.
Both share essentially the same displays – 6.67″, FHD+ (2,400 x 1,080) 120Hz AMOLED DotDisplay, HDR10+, 1000 nits of peak brightness, up to 480Hz touch sampling rate and covered by Gorilla Glass Victus. Although the specs seem to suggest that they are the same displays, only the 11T Pro display has been listed on their site with P3 and Dolby Vision support and rated A+ by DisplayMate.
The other reason to pony up for the 11T Pro: it is also Xiaomi’s first smartphone with the 120W HyperCharge tech to launch globally. HyperCharge features dual charge pumps to maximise wattage intake, a dual-cell battery structure to double input, Multiple Tab Winding (MTW) tech to improve thermal control, Graphene application on Li-ion battery for better conductivity and Mi-FC technology to reduce trickle charging time.
The potential dangers of high-speed battery charging are bound to worry people, so Xiaomi says they have implemented 34 charging and battery safety features, and real-time temperature monitoring, just to name a few. Xiaomi’s solution also carries a TÜV Rheinland Safe Fast-Charge System Certification.
What stands out is the fact Xiaomi says you need only 17 minutes to charge a battery to full power. While both the 11T and 11T Pro are equipped with a 5,000mAh battery, the 11T doesn’t get HyperCharge. However, the 67W wired turbo charging needs only 36 minutes to fill the battery, which isn’t bad either.
Both phones get Dolby Atmos supported speakers, but the 11T Pro will get Harmon Kardon branded ones.
Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE
Equipped with a Snapdragon 778G, the 5G capable 11 Lite 5G NE is the ultra-thin and lightweight variant. It measures 6.81mm thin and weighs 158g. It also sports 1.88mm thin bezels to complete the look. Despite the slim form factor, they managed to include a substantial 4,250mAh battery with 33W fast charging capabilities as well.
The 11 Lite uses a 6.55” AMOLED DotDisplay and supports Dolby Vision, HDR10+ and P3 colour gamut. The camera system is a little more modest compared to its fellow entrants; it sports a combination of a 64MP main camera, an 8MP ultra-wide-angle camera, and a 5MP telemacro camera. It is also equipped with AI-powered features like One-click AI Cinema, cinematic video filters, and a new Vlog mode.
The 11 Lite 5G NE will be available in Truffle Black, Bubblegum Blue, Peach Pink, as well as a brand new colour called Snowflake White.
Pricing & Availability
The Xiaomi 11T Pro (from €649) and Xiaomi 11T (from €499) will be available in Meteorite Gray, Moonlight White, and Celestial Blue. The Xiaomi 11T comes in two configurations – 8GB+128GB, 8GB+256GB – while the Xiaomi 11T Pro is available in three – 8GB+128GB, 8GB+256GB and 12GB+256GB.
The Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE (from €369) will come in three variants – 6GB+128GB, 8GB+128GB, 8GB+256GB. Local prices and availability will be announced at a later date.
