Xiaomi recently launched its two new smartphones in India in its latest Xiaomi 11i series, one of which is the Xiaomi 11i 5G featuring 67W fast charging while the Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge 5G remains to be the fastest charging Xiaomi smartphone in India featuring a ming boggling 120W HyperCharge fast charging technology charging the phone fully in just 15 minutes. About the Xiaomi 11i 5G, it has the Dimensity 920 SoC, 108 MP triple cameras, 120 Hz AMOLED DotDisplay, dual Stereo speakers, and more. We just got the phone, here’s what we have to say about Xiaomi 11i 5G in our review.
Xiaomi 11i 5G Specifications
- Display: 6.67-inch AMOLED display, Full HD+ resolution, 120 Hz refresh rate, 360 Hz touch sampling rate, HDR10
- Design: Corning Gorilla Glass 5, IP53 rating
- Software: Android 11, MIUI 12.5
- CPU: 6nm MediaTek Dimensity 920 5G SoC. up to 2.5 GHz octa-core processor (2x Cortex-A78 + 6x Cortex-A55)
- GPU: Mali-G68 MC4
- Memory: 6 GB or 8 GB LPDDR4x RAM
- Storage: 128 GB internal storage, expands up to 1 TB via microSD card
- Main Camera: Triple cameras (108 MP primary + 8 MP ultra-wide + 2 MP macro), 108 MP f/1.9 Samsung HM2 sensor. dual native ISO, LED flash
- Selfie Camera: 16 MP f/2.45
- Others: In-display fingerprint scanner, dual symmetrical Stereo speakers, Dolby Atmos support
- Cellular: 5G network, dual SIM, dual standby support
- Battery: 5,160 mAh single-cell battery
- Charging: 67W fast charging
- Price: ₹24,999 (6 GB + 128 GB), ₹26,999 (8 GB + 128 GB)
- Availability: 12th January 2022 on mi.com, Mi Home stores, Flipkart, and other offline retail outlets
- Offers: ₹1,500 off (new year offer), up to ₹2,000 off (SBI Card cashback), Flipkart Smart Upgrade program, ₹4,000 off exchange offer (Redmi Note users)
Design, Display, & Build
Xiaomi boasts its latest HyperCharge tech in the Xiaomi 11i Series, for the first time in India, Xiaomi has brought a 120W faster charger and the Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge 5G is the first smartphone to support it, but that’s not the case with the Xiaomi 11i 5G, it rather comes with support for 67W charging which is still faster than many smartphones, if not the fastest in its lineup.
The Xiaomi 11i 5G has a whole bunch of features and is a substantial upgrade to last year’s Mi 10i, most notably its design, fast charging, and AMOLED display. In addition to that, another major upgrade is the chipset, Xiaomi 11i 5G equips MediaTek’s latest Dimensity 920 5G CPU, a significant upgrade from its predecessor.
Moving to its design, the smartphone offers a fantastic design with an AG-Matte finish on the back that flaunts gradient colors and comes with flattened sides and rounded corners. The overall design is neat, the phone feels great in the hands, and looks premium. The Xiaomi 11i 5G comes in Camo Green, Pacific Pearl, Purple Mist, and Stealth Black.
The backside has a protruding triple camera setup on the top left side, unlike the Mi 10i which used the center. There’s Xiaomi 5G branding at the bottom while the fingerprint scanner is on the side, not under the screen despite being AMOLED. It offers an IP53 rating which means the phone is water-resistant.
On the front side, the Xiaomi 11i 5G offers a 6.67-inch AMOLED display with a Full HD+ resolution, 120 Hz refresh rate, and 360 Hz touch sampling rate, the same is found on its HyperCharge edition. Other features include dual SIM with 5G functionality, dual standby, Global 8 5G bands support, and dual symmetrical Stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos support.
The right side has volume control and a side-mounted fingerprint scanner embedded in the power button. The left side has nothing, the bottom side has a USB Type-C port for charging, a microphone, a triple-slot 5G SIM tray with a dedicated microSD card slot, and a Stereo loudspeaker. The second speaker and microphone are at the top side alongside a 3.5 mm port and an IR blaster.
Software & User Interface
Xiaomi 11i 5G runs on the Android 11 out-of-the-box with MIUI 12.5 skin on top, while some new smartphones have already moved to the new Android 12 operating system. The security patch level we recorded on the phone is dated 2021/11/01.
There are several additions in the UI that makes the MIUI 12.5 more intuitive, the MIUI 12.5 seems to be identical to the MIUI 12, it’s loaded with features, new icons, new wallpapers, and the new Settings page.
The user interface is clean, runs fast, and feels smooth, it’s due to its 120 Hz AMOLED display which gives the responsiveness. No major bloatware is found on the phone, a few Mi apps you all see installed.
If we talk about the apps or the bloatware on the phone, you do get a few apps from Xiaomi pre-installed on the phone. The apps that we usually saw on other Xiaomi phones – Netflix, Prime Video, Amazon, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Zili, all are not present on the Xiaomi 11i which can be great for bloatware haters, and it also gives you a clean and fuss-free UI.
The performance of the UI is amazing and works flawlessly in our usage. The MIUI 12.5 is optimized for performance and battery, it’s now smoother and better as compared to older MIUIs. There are new themes that you can make use of, new wallpapers as well. Other features like Game Turbo and Ultra Battery Saver are in addition to the regular features you will find on the MIUI 12.5.
Hardware, Performance, & Gaming
This time, Xiaomi has picked up a MediaTek chip instead of a Qualcomm for the Xiaomi 11i 5G, the predecessor equipped with a Snapdragon 750G which is weaker if we compare it to the current chip on the Xiaomi 11i 5G. Xiaomi 11i Series is the first to equip the MediaTek Dimensity 920 5G SoC in India, the Xiaomi 11i 5G equips a 6nm MediaTek Dimensity 920 5G octa-core SoC capped at 2.5 GHz at max. The CPU is another major highlight of the phone aside from fast charging capability.
About the CPU, the Mediatek Dimensity 920 is a fast upper-midrange SoC manufactured in a 6nm process consisting of 2+6 core configurations, two high-performance ARM Cortex-A78 cores clocked at 2.5 GHz, and six power-efficient ARM Cortex-A55 cores clocked at 2.0 GHz. Furthermore, the chip integrates a quad-core ARM Mali-G68 MC4 GPU for gaming, graphics applications, and GPU-intensive tasks.
Specs on both smartphones are the same, the HyperCharge Edition also includes the same level of performance you see on the Xiaomi 11i 5G. The octa-core CPU is paired with up to 8 GB RAM LPDDR4X and 128 GB UFS 2.2 storage (the highest offering among its two variants). The base variant offers 6 GB RAM with the same 128 GB storage option, and the storage can be extended up to 1 TB via a microSD card.
About the hardware and performance of the Xiaomi 11i 5G, you can easily say that it’s as fast as the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 SoC found in some flagship smartphones. The performance is at par with similar chips so you can expect a fast performance out of it. The same goes with its gaming, if you are planning to game on it, you will be surprised with its results, it has a good GPU that runs many games, if not all, at high to max graphics settings.
Pricing & Variants
The price for the Xiaomi 11i 5G with 67W fast charging is ₹24,999 for 6 GB RAM and 128 GB storage variant whereas, for its 8 GB RAM variant, the price is ₹26,999. The Xiaomi 11i 5G (along with Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge 5G) is from 12th January 2022 on mi.com, Mi Home stores, Flipkart, and other offline retail outlets. The offers include ₹1,500 off as a new year offer along with up to ₹2,500 off with SBI Cards. Other offers include the Flipkart Smart Upgrade program and ₹4,000 off on exchange (Redmi Note users).
Cameras
On the camera’s front, the Xiaomi 11i 5G comes with a triple camera setup with 108 MP as the main camera. The 108 MP f/1.9 camera is the primary camera utilizing the Samsung HM2 sensor (the same we saw on the predecessor Mi 10i) while the other two cameras are – 8 MP ultra-wide-angle and 2 MP macro camera alongwith an LED flash. The selfie camera on the front side of the smartphone is 16 MP f/2.45.
The triple camera may not sound compelling as we have seen Redmi and other Mi phones with a quad setup, so far the Xiaomi 11i 5G has the main lens, wide-angle lens, and a macro lens that fits in the segment. No portrait or telephoto lens is found, hardware OIS isn’t available, you will find EIS. Although if we look at the camera performance, it seems reliable given the price.
More into the camera features, it offers a Dual Native ISO which helps in reducing noise and produces clean images, in low light situations as well. Some camera features are available on the phone – VLOG, Long Exposure, Night Mode, Time Lapse, Super Slow Motion (960fps), along with all the standard modes that you have seen in the MIUI camera app. Some features such as Dual Video, Movie Effects, Magic Clone aren’t available.
The photos appear to be good in the daylight as well as in low light, the images look quite clear. Selfies turn out to be decent from its 16 MP camera. For its video capabilities, it can record up to 4K at 30 fps but not in 60 fps although it records in 1080p at 60 fps. You can record slow-motion videos at 120 fps, 240 fps, and 960 fps. You can also record wide-angle videos which is a great feature.
Xiaomi 11i 5G Camera Samples
Battery Runtime & Charging
One of the surprising things about this phone is its fast charging, capped at 67W, this phone can charge up to 50% in just 13 minutes, now that’s sounds crazy until you hear about its HyperCharge Edition. The HyperCharge Edition offers 120W super-fast charging, almost doubled, and it takes about 15 minutes to charge from 0% to 100%. You can expect the Xiaomi Mi 11i 5G to charge fully in under 30 minutes which is still faster than most smartphones in this category.
Moving to its battery size, the Xiaomi 11i 5G packs a 5,160 mAh battery that lasts longer than its predecessor. The Mi 10i has a 4,820 mAh battery versus the 5,160 mAh on the Xiaomi 11i 5G. The battery on its HyperCharge variant is dual cell as compared to the single cell on the Xiaomi 11i 5G. You can assume two different batteries charging at 60W at the same time on the HyperCharge Edition, but sadly, the Xiaomi 11i doesn’t support 120W, even if you plug it in, the phone will charge at 67W max.
Verdict
There are a bunch of impressive things about the phone that will amaze you, the Xiaomi 11i 5G has a 67W fast charging support, a 120 Hz AMOLED display, faster performance with its new Dimensity 920 5G octa-core processor, premium Gorilla Glass 5 design, dual Stereo speakers with a dedicated 3.5 mm jack, and a featured-pack MIUI 12.5 interface. With such specs and features, the smartphone can be considered, but do have a look at the Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge 5G before you make up your mind. The price starts at ₹24,999 for its 6 GB RAM and 128 GB storage while the HyperCharge Edition with identical specs and features with an addition of 120W super-fast charging is priced at ₹26,999 for its 6 GB RAM and 128 GB storage.
Strength
- Glass Design | Looks Attractive
- 120 Hz AMOLED display
- Fast 6nm Dimensity 920 SoC | Good gaming performance
- 67W Fast Charging Support | 50% in 13 minutes
- Good Daylight Photography | Impressive Night Shots
- Featured-Pack MIUI 12.5 Interface
- Dual Stereo Speakers
- Global 5G bands support
- Dedicated microSD card slot
- IR Blaster
- 3.5mm Audio Jack
Weakness
- No Android 12 out-of-the-box
