Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra review: best smartphone right now over the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra? Amazing camera, top-end performance, superfast charging
- The M11 Ultra’s triple cameras are among the very best in the industry, able to capture really professional-looking photos
- Its camera bump might put some off though, as might the battery life, but it can be charged at crazy-fast 67W speeds and has a gorgeous screen
Xiaomi has a reputation in Asia as a maker of above-average phones that, while not quite at the level of the top phones put out by Samsung, Huawei and Apple, are sold at much lower prices, which made them arguably the better buy. But the Beijing-based tech giant has been aiming higher over the past two years, and the Mi 11 Ultra is its most convincing foray into the premium tier of flagships yet.
Design and hardware
The first thing anyone will notice about the Mi 11 Ultra is its gigantic camera bump, which jarringly protrudes out of the phone’s body.
That doesn’t mean it looks bad – I actually think the phone has a powerhouse machine vibe that I like. Plus, there’s a good reason for that camera module bulk: it houses the brand new 50-megapixel Samsung Isocell GN2 camera sensor, whose 1/1.12-inch image sensor size is the largest in the smartphone space.
To put things in perspective, the GN2 image sensor is 183 per cent larger than that on the iPhone 12 Pro Max, and is just a shade smaller than the 1-inch sensors used in Sony’s compact mirrorless cameras.
The second camera also got a big upgrade: a 48-megapixel ultrawide camera that features more details than the 12- or 16-megapixel ultrawide lens used by Apple and Samsung. Finally, the third camera in this giant module is a 48-megapixel Periscope zoom lens.
As if this triple camera array isn’t enough to justify the camera bump, Xiaomi also added a 1.1-inch screen next to the trio of lenses. This second screen can serve as a camera viewfinder, which means selfie lovers can snap self-portraits with the main camera system. Other than selfies though, I found very little use for the second screen, as it shows the time, notifications and not much else.
Around the front, the Mi 11 Ultra’s 6.8-inch OLED screen is as gorgeous as it is massive. It packs Quad HD resolution and refreshes at 120Hz – the same gaudy numbers found in Samsung’s best phones. It’s a brilliant, near bezel-less screen that won’t disappoint.
Software and features
The Mi 11 Ultra runs Xiaomi’s MIUI 12 on top of Android 11. The software is fast and responsive with some quirky changes to core Android, like different app layouts in the multitasking window, and additional features like the ability to run any app in a floating window.
