Introduction
Now that the Pro moniker has gone mainstream, it's Ultra that has come to represent the cream of the crop, and the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra can wear that badge proudly. Limited to its home market last year, the ultimate Mi has gone global this time around, and we're happy to have it for review today.
We're torn whether it's the camera system's physical appearance that is more striking or the hardware inside. A simply massive raised area on the back looks bolted on, almost after the fact, it's hard to miss, and it's a great conversation starter even if it's not everyone's cup of tea.
But its size is warranted - the main camera packs the largest sensor used on a modern-day smartphone, and next to it - two more modules unmatched in their own fields, in one way or another. Oh, and yes, there's also a display here - because why not, but also because it can be useful.
There's a lot more than 1.1 inches of OLED on the front. The 6.81-inch Super AMOLED is all kinds of great - high resolution, high refresh rate, high brightness, HDR, a billion colors, you name it. Meanwhile, the Snapdragon 888 underneath is second to none as chipsets go this year and with 256GB of base storage, should we even mention the lack of expansion capability as a con?
Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra specs at a glance:
- Body: 164.3x74.6x8.4mm, 234g; Glass front (Gorilla Glass Victus), ceramic back, aluminum frame; IP68 dust/water resistant (up to 1.5m for 30 mins).
- Display: 6.81" AMOLED, 1B colors, 120Hz, HDR10+, Dolby Vision, 900 nits, 1700 nits (peak), 1440x3200px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, 515ppi.
- Chipset: Qualcomm SM8350 Snapdragon 888 5G (5 nm): Octa-core (1x2.84 GHz Kryo 680 & 3x2.42 GHz Kryo 680 & 4x1.80 GHz Kryo 680); Adreno 660.
- Memory: 256GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 12GB RAM, 512GB 12GB RAM; UFS 3.1.
- OS/Software: Android 11, MIUI 12.5.
- Rear camera: Wide (main): 50 MP, f/2.0, 24mm, 1/1.12", 1.4µm, Dual Pixel PDAF, Laser AF, OIS; Ultra wide angle: 48 MP, f/2.2, 12mm, 128˚, 1/2.0", 0.8µm, PDAF; Telephoto: 48 MP, f/4.1, 120mm, 1/2.0", 0.8µm, PDAF, OIS, 5x optical zoom.
- Front camera: 20 MP, f/2.2, 27mm (wide), 1/3.4", 0.8µm.
- Video capture: Rear camera: 8K@24fps, 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60fps, gyro-EIS, HDR10+ rec; Front camera: 1080p@30/60fps, 720p@120fps, gyro-EIS.
- Battery: 5000mAh; Fast charging 67W, 100% in 36 min (advertised), Fast wireless charging 67W, 100% in 39 min (advertised), Reverse wireless charging 10W, Quick Charge 4+, Power Delivery 3.0.
- Misc: Fingerprint reader (under display, optical); NFC; Infrared port.
Xiaomis don't normally have dust and water protection, but that's changed this year with the Mi 11s - both the Pro and the Ultra have an IP68 rating, and that's a most welcome development. Conversely, a staple of the brand's handsets, both affordable and expensive, the IR emitter remains. Stereo speakers have been making their way to the Xiaomi midrange, so it's only natural that the high-end models have them, and these have been tuned by Harman/Kardon, that couldn't hurt.
An increase in battery capacity compared to last year's model is another upgrade we can appreciate. On the other hand, they did downgrade the charging - instead of the Mi 10 Ultra's 120W, you only get 67W here. Tsk-tsk.
Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra unboxing
The packaging has lost the flair of the Mi 10 Ultra's presentation, and the Mi 11 Ultra showed up in a standard black box with copper lettering (or is it rose gold?). What's inside that?
Our EU-bound retail bundle includes the 67W charger - that's not the case in all markets with chargers coming as a free-of-charge option in some places (China, maybe other parts of Asia). It's a proprietary adapter with a USB-A output, so it won't please USB PowerDelivery die-hards. There is a USB cable included too.
A headset may be missing, but there is a USB-C-to-3.5mm dongle included so you can use your own. Also inside the box is a transparent soft silicone back cover. While the (free) protection is appreciated, the look and feel of the thing is no match for the phone itself.
Design
A smartphone camera system that's big enough to have its own gravitational field? Well, if there is one, it must be this one - it's that enormous.
Unquestionably polarizing, the colossal bump on the back of the Mi 11 Ultra is going to be the first thing you see on it, and you won't be able to look away for a while.
Spanning practically the entire width of the phone, the black window is home to three cameras - two of them with (large) conventional optics and a periscope for the telephoto. It wouldn't be an overly efficient use of space if that's all the hardware in there, no - there's also the laser autofocusing bits, triple LED flash, and, most importantly, a small rear-facing display.
The width of the assembly was likely dictated by that display - tiny as it may be at 1.1 inches in diagonal, it still takes up space. The thickness, on the other hand, we're willing to pin on the actual camera modules - big-sensor units with even moderately bright lenses can be pretty thick. We measured the bump to be sticking out of the back panel by about 3.7mm.
We've seen other formidable camera clusters, there's no denying that. Last year's Mi 10 Ultra, for one, had its four modules lined up vertically, practically reaching the midpoint on the back of the device. Good thing we had that one in Transparent Edition, so it was not the camera that got all the attention.
Mi 11 Ultra (left) next to the Mi 10 Ultra
Meanwhile, Samsung has made extra efforts this year to integrate the cameras in the design, making the Galaxy S21 Ultra's four units almost disappear, particularly on the Phantom Black colorway here.
Mi 11 Ultra (left) next to the Galaxy S21 Ultra
Moving past the camera assembly, it's worth pointing out that the back panel of the Mi 11 Ultra is ceramic. That's true of our (gorgeous) white review unit, as well as the black alternative. And regardless of attire, this Mi is IP68 rated - few Mis are.
It's glossy, and it picks up some fingerprints, but it's not as bad as glass backed phones and thanks to the white paintjob it's not too keen to advertise the smudges. We imagine the black one would show them more readily.
Perhaps the one eyesore on the Mi 11 Ultra in this colorway is the extra information below the Xiaomi logo in the bottom half - we've historically been huge fans of the dumpster in particular.
Over on the front, the Mi 11 Ultra is essentially identical to the vanilla Mi 11. That includes the curved slab of Gorilla Glass Victus over the 6.81-inch AMOLED display. It curves gently towards the sides, nowhere as dramatic as it was at the height of the edge screen trend, and there's an even fainter fade out towards the top and bottom - you can barely see it, but on the bottom, in particular, it makes for a really nice feel when swiping up.
There's a point to be made that the corner curves and radiuses have been picked with complete disregard for people with any amount of OCD - there is just something wrong about the way the black border looks. Just how bugged you're going to be by that detail will inevitably vary, and even if it does bother you, your brain will likely learn to ignore it over time. It was just one of the first comments we got at the office, so it's probably something that people notice.
The Mi 11 Ultra has an under-display fingerprint reader, and it's an optical one. It's placed reasonably - not too high, not too low, and there was no period for adjustment for this reviewer coming from a Galaxy S21. He also found the sensor quick and reliable.
The phone has an aluminum frame, polished to a mirror finish. It's very thin on the sides, and it bulges in the corners to help with impact protection.
The flattened bottom is home to the USB-C port, the card slot (two nano SIMs back to back, no microSD), the primary mic, and the 'main' loudspeaker - that last one looks especially nice with its grille resembling a sound wave.
Up top, there's what appears to be a plastic insert in the frame with openings for the second speaker (and a discreet Harman/Kardon logo), another mic and the IR emitter (Xiaomi keeps fitting these, and we don't mind one bit).
Bottom • Top
The Mi 11 Ultra measures 164.3x74.6x8.4mm and weighs 234g. It's a big phone, obviously, and the weight is never not felt. Realistically though, it's no different in heft than, say, an iPhone 12 Pro Max, or a Galaxy S21 Ultra, give or take 7-8g. A Find X3 Pro is some 40g lighter, however, and that's a tangible difference.
We're half wondering if Xiaomi could have come up with a better defined bottom ridge of the main camera so could you prop the phone with the index finger and get some of the weight off your poor pinkie. It sort of almost works as it is, but you don't feel entirely safe in this position.
Spectacular 6.81-inch AMOLED
The Mi 11 Ultra is equipped with a 6.81-inch AMOLED display, and it's probably in the running for best smartphone display on the market, period. It ticks nearly all boxes - high resolution, high refresh rate, extreme peak brightness, HDR capability, color accuracy - finding something to complain about it is practically impossible.
The panel on the Mi 11 Ultra has a 1440x3200px resolution in a 20:9 aspect ratio, and the pixel density works out to 515ppi. Key competitors at this absolute highest level, like the Galaxy S21 Ultra or Oppo Find X3 Pro all have comparable 1440p displays.
The refresh rate of the Mi 11 Ultra can be set to either High or Standard. Standard is your usual 60Hz mode where the phone won't attempt to adjust to content or activity and just stay locked at 60Hz.
High is the 120Hz capable mode and, according to the press materials, the Mi 11 Ultra is capable of dynamically switching between 30, 60, 90, and 120Hz, depending on what's being displayed and how you're interacting with the phone. The phone also features a 480Hz touch sampling rate for blazing-fast registering of touch input.
With the tools at our disposal - Android 11's native refresh rate counter and an in-house app we've had since HRR became a thing, we weren't able to see a 30Hz reading. We've been trying to get to the bottom of this whole auto-refresh rate switching, but we wouldn't call our efforts successful. Anyway, we did get 90Hz in two very specific situations - the task switcher, and when playing back video in a window, PiP style.
That aside, when in High mode, you'd be getting 120Hz throughout the UI and all system apps, as long as you're touching the display. Otherwise, it reverts to 60Hz when the picture goes static for battery-saving reasons. That's not a switch you can see with your eyes, but you can observe it if you've enabled the Android 11's FPS counter.
Video playing apps will almost certainly default to 60Hz as soon as you open them - Netflix, Prime Video, YouTube, the in-house Mi Video player - they all do that. A more nuanced approach we've seen on other devices is to keep the HRR for the app's UI and only switch down to 60Hz when viewing the actual video in fullscreen mode, but that's not the case on this Mi.
As for specific apps and games, these tend to vary wildly from phone to phone. On the Mi 11 Ultra, social apps generally observe the 120-60Hz behavior where they'll maintain 120Hz when you're swiping around and switch down to 60Hz when idling. We tried Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Pinterest - they all did that.
Games were all over the place. For a number of titles we know to have high frame rate support, the Android tool would report 120Hz for the display while the MIUI Game Turbo tool would be stuck at 60fps - indicating mostly that the Game Turbo tool wasn't reporting correctly, a deduction we confirmed by running GFXBench. Meanwhile, other games we've seen run in 120Hz on other phones would be kept in 60Hz on the Mi Ultra.
The Mi 11 Ultra's display supports HDR10+, but also Dolby Vision - you don't get that on the Mi 11 proper. Streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and YouTube do serve HDR content on the Mi 11 Ultra. The phone features native support for 10bit color, meaning it can show 1.07 billion colors vs. 16 million on most other phones, so you should be getting the smoothest possible tonal gradients with no banding and such.
Xiaomi quotes some outstanding figures for the Mi 11 Ultra's brightness, with a peak value of 1700nits in HDR content vs. the Mi 11's mere 1500nits. In general use, the high brightness mode (or when the phone is under direct light) should be able to go as high as 900nits.
Our testing confirmed the second number - we got 943nits. In regular ambient conditions and with the auto boost disabled, the Mi 11 Ultra's screen was good for up to 514nits.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, |
White, |
||
| 0 | 514 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 943 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 498 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 926 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 498 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 811 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 458 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 1023 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 822 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 493 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 774 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 477 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 816 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 525 | ∞ | |
| 0.038 | 871 | 22921:1 | |
| 0 | 492 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 806 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 504 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 1024 | ∞ | |
Color reproduction is handled in a rather complex way on the Mi 11 Ultra, as was the case on the Mi 11. There are three predefined Color schemes - Auto, Saturated, and Original color, with a temperature wheel and three temperature present on top of that. Then there's the Advanced menu, where you get a few more presets - Enhanced, Original, P3, and sRGB, plus a handful more sliders.
In practice, the Original mode returned essentially perfect results for sRGB calibration - we measured an average dE2000 of 0.6 for our set of swatches. That wasn't the case with the dedicated sRGB mode from the Advanced menu, go figure.
While Auto does cover the DCI-P3 color gamut, it offers so-so color accuracy and bluish whites. Fooling around with the color wheel did get us within an average dE2000 of 2.0 for the DCI-P3 test swatches and brought a neutral white. Again, the dedicated Advanced/P3 mode wasn't very close to target.
Display settings
Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra battery life
The Mi 11 Ultra has a 5,000mAh power pack inside, an upgrade over the 4,500mAh capacity of last year's model. The Mi 11 Ultra matches the Galaxy S21 Ultra in this respect, the two having bigger cells than the Find X3 Pro and OnePlus 9 Pro, each at 4,500mAh.
We clocked about 11 hours of Wi-Fi web browsing on the Mi 11 Ultra, virtually the same as on the Mi 11. We got the same voice call longevity as well, at 28 hours. In offline video playback the Mi 11 Ultra was good for 15 hours, an hour more than the Mi 11. Ultimately, the Mi 11 Ultra's endurance worked out to 95h - nowhere as good as the Galaxy, better than the Find X3 Pro and OnePlus 9 Pro.
Note: The web test was carried in 120Hz refresh rate, while video playback - at 60Hz as most video apps, including the Mi Video player, always default to 60Hz no matter what.
Our battery tests were automated thanks to SmartViser, using its viSerDevice app. The endurance rating denotes how long the battery charge will last you if you use the device for an hour of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. More details can be found here.
All test results shown are achieved under the highest screen refresh rate mode. You can adjust the endurance rating formula manually so it matches better your own usage in our all-time battery test results chart where you can also find all phones we've tested.
Charging speed
The bundled 67W charger might be a downgrade in terms of maximum output power compared to the Mi 10 Ultra's 120W unit, but how much wattage is too much wattage, really? In our testing, the Mi 11 Ultra took 37 minutes to reach a full charge starting from flat, while the battery indicator showed 89% at the half-hour mark, and we reckon that's anything but slow.
Both the OnePlus 9 Pro and the Find X3 Pro are slightly quicker in both disciplines, as is the Mi 10 Ultra. Meanwhile, the Galaxy S21 Ultra is nowhere near the Mi's numbers.
30min charging test (from 0%)
- Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra
100% - Oppo Find X3 Pro
100% - OnePlus 9 Pro
99% - Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
89% - vivo X60 Pro+
84% - Xiaomi Mi 11
83% - Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G
77% - Asus ROG Phone 5
70% - Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
58% - Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max
55% - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
54%
Time to full charge (from 0%)
- Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra
0:27h - Oppo Find X3 Pro
0:28h - OnePlus 9 Pro
0:32h - Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
0:37h - vivo X60 Pro+
0:42h - Xiaomi Mi 11
0:50h - Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G
0:50h - Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
1:04h - Asus ROG Phone 5
1:05h - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
1:11h - Apple iPhone 12 Pro Max
1:32h
Speaker test
The Mi 11 Ultra features stereo speakers, much like a lot of Mis in various price brackets. The high-end 11s do get Harman/Kardon branded ones to make you feel special.
The top speaker is ported both forward through a slit above the display and up through four circular openings in the frame. That means that there is some sound spilling out when on a voice call, but on the upside makes for a better balance between the left and right channels when playing movies or music.
The top gets the left channel in portrait mode, and channel output will adjust to match the orientation in landscape.
Bottom speaker grille is groovy • Harman/Kardon branding up top
The Mi 11 Ultra scored a 'Very Good' rating for loudness in our test, the same as the Mi 11 and the Mi 10 Ultra. It sounds better than both of them, however, with more presence in the lows, crisper treble and generally more pleasing vocals. The Mi 10 Pro, however, remains notably more bassy than all other Mis, without much sacrifice elsewhere. Comparing against most direct rivals, we'd say the Mi 11 Ultra wins comfortably.
Use the Playback controls to listen to the phone sample recordings (best use headphones). We measure the average loudness of the speakers in LUFS. A lower absolute value means a louder sound. A look at the frequency response chart will tell you how far off the ideal "0db" flat line is the reproduction of the bass, treble, and mid frequencies. You can add more phones to compare how they differ. The scores and ratings are not comparable with our older loudspeaker test. Learn more about how we test here.
MIUI 12 with Android 11
The Mi 11 Ultra runs on Android 11 with MIUI 12 on top - a bunch of updates arrived after we got the phone, ultimately bringing the version we reviewed to 12.0.6.0. The MIUI 12 launcher has been around for a while, and even if it uses a newer Android 11 base, you can't really tell that as it skins everything thoroughly.
The Mi 11 Ultra supports an Always-on display, and it can be truly always on, or set to show up according to a schedule, or only show for 10s after you summon it. A ton of AOD themes are available, with further customization in many of them so you can make it your own. The Always-on display also supports breathing light - the curved edges of the display will flash with colors upon new notifications.
Always-on display
The Ultra's rear display has similar functionality, only limited by its diminutive size. Themes are available for this one as well, it can show time and notifications, or even a motivational quote, and you can wake it with a double-tap. This one has a timeout, so it can't be kept on all the time.
Of course, its usefulness rests on the assumption that you're one of those people who leave their phones lying face down, a practice we don't wholeheartedly support.
Rear screen settings
Back to the main display - you unlock the Mi 11 Ultra using the under-display fingerprint scanner. The reader is easy to set up, we found it fast and reliable - since it's likely the same hardware as on the Mi 11, where we weren't all that impressed, it could be a matter of this being a different reviewer. This particular one comes from an ultrasonic daily driver, so he also appreciates the Mi 11 Ultra's ability to lower the brightness of its optical sensor in low ambient light conditions, so you don't get a blinding spot of white at night.
Naturally, 2D Face Unlock is available too, but it is far less secure than the fingerprint option.
Security options
The homescreens are business as usual - they are populated with shortcuts, folders, and widgets. The leftmost pane, if enabled, is Google's Discover.
MIUI 12 offers an app drawer, and it automatically organizes your apps into categories. The first is All, meaning it contains all apps and it's followed by Communication, Entertainment, Photography, Tools, News and Reading, Shopping, and Games. You can edit these categories or even disable them altogether.
You can also disable the app drawer entirely if that's not your thing.
Homescreen • Folder view • Discover • Settings • App drawer
The high-end phones running on MIUI 12 support a feature called Super Wallpapers. It's a type of dynamic wallpaper that zooms each time you pass a certain screen. While not something groundbreaking, it does provide a very coherent visual experience that is a feast for the eyes and, in the meantime - connects the parts of MIUI in a subtle yet striking way.
There are four Super Wallpapers available, and you get a choice of Home (Earth), The Red Planet (Mars), Faraway rings (Saturn), and Geometry.
Super Wallpapers
Another interesting feature is the Notification shade split into Notification Center and Control Center. Indeed, this is precisely what the iPhones do, and you even summon them in the same fashion - pull down from the left part of the screen for the Notification Center, pull down from the right for the Control Center.
If you are not fond of this new split - you can disable the Control Center, and the shade will revert to its normal looks and operation.
One thing worth noting - we couldn't find Notification history anywhere after digging through this build of MIUI. It's a native Android 11 feature, so it should be somewhere, right?
Notification options
The default task switcher has not changed much. It shows all of your recent apps in two columns. Tap and hold on a card for the split-screen shortcut, or just swipe it left or right to close it. There is a new Floating Windows button on top, a new option offered by MIUI 12. You can put a compatible app in a floating state, but you only have one floating window at a time.
We also appreciate a fairly recent addition to MIUI - the ability to set a classic horizontally scrollable task switcher with a rolodex of vertical cards. We can think of at least one reviewer here who's quoted the MIUI two-column task switcher as a dealbreaker for using Xiaomi phones.
Task Switcher options
Themes are a huge part of MIUI, and they are available on MIUI 12, too. You can download new ones from the Themes store, and they can change wallpapers, ringtones, system icons, and even the always-on display style.
Themes
Xiaomi enhanced MIUI 12 with a couple of additional privacy options. Now, when sharing stuff, like photos and videos, you can opt to remove location info and/or other metadata (incl. device info) and thus protect your privacy better. It will ask you the first time you choose to share stuff, but the setting is there in the menu if you change your mind afterwards.
MIUI also offers a Security app. It can scan your phone for malware, manage your blacklist, manage or restrict your data usage, configure battery behavior, and free up some RAM. It can also manage the permissions of your installed apps, allows you to define the battery behavior of selected apps, and applies restrictions only to the apps you choose.
Proprietary Gallery, Music, and Video player are included, and in some regions, the music and video apps may include paid streaming options. Mi Remote for the IR blaster is available, too.
The Notes app has been enhanced with even more Task checklists and subtask options.
Gallery • Privacy Settings • Security • Music • Video • Mi Remote
Synthetic benchmarks
The Mi 11 Ultra features the Snapdragon 888 chipset, the go-to silicon for a flagship in 2021. Manufactured on a 5nm process, Qualcomm's latest high-end effort has an octa-core CPU in a 1+3+4 configuration (25% performance increase over last year's), a powerful GPU (35% YoY bump), latest-gen AI engine and a built-in 5G-capable modem (yay).
Storage options on the Mi 11 Ultra are 256GB or 512GB (UFS 3.1) with the 'base' version being available with either 8GB or 12GB of RAM, while the 512GB variant is 12GB only. We have the 12GB/256GB version for review.
Our benchmarking revealed fairly conservative tuning on the Ultra compared to overachieving SD888 units we've accumulated in the meantime like the OnePlus 9 Pro and the vivo X60 Pro+. However, the Mi 11 Ultra's numbers are for the most part, well in line with the Mi 11 proper. We only spotted a pronounced difference in the multi-core test of the CPU-centric GeekBench, where the Ultra posted close to 10% lower scores than the non-Ultra, and an unusually low result for an SD888. On the other hand, the single-core test gives the Ultra the upper hand against its stablemate and also puts it at the head of the pack.
GeekBench 5 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- vivo X60 Pro+
3749 - Asus ROG Phone 5
3710 - OnePlus 9 Pro
3636 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
3518 - Xiaomi Mi 11
3489 - Oppo Find X3 Pro
3316 - Asus Zenfone 7 Pro
3302 - Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
3294 - Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra
3248 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
3244 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
3191 - Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G
2603
GeekBench 5 (single-core)
Higher is better
- vivo X60 Pro+
1143 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
1126 - OnePlus 9 Pro
1126 - Asus ROG Phone 5
1110 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
1109 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
1107 - Xiaomi Mi 11
1085 - Asus Zenfone 7 Pro
996 - Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
988 - Oppo Find X3 Pro
926 - Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra
901 - Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G
880
There's a small difference between the Mi 11s in Antutu 8 as well, the vanilla ahead of the Ultra here. The Mi 11 Ultra does manage to outscore the Find X3 Pro and the Galaxy S21 Ultra, in Exynos and Snapdragon trim alike. The OnePlus 9 Pro's figure is virtually the same as the Mi's.
AnTuTu 8
Higher is better
- vivo X60 Pro+
734811 - Asus ROG Phone 5
708216 - OnePlus 9 Pro
691055 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
688720 - Xiaomi Mi 11
668722 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
657273 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
657150 - Oppo Find X3 Pro
656467 - Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra
638497 - Asus Zenfone 7 Pro
602934 - Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
571312 - Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G
508760
In GFXBench, the Mi 11 Ultra posts average results for its hardware in offscreen testing. In onscreen runs, the 1440p display resolution means you'd get about half the fps numbers on the Mi 11s than on 1080p handsets with the SD888, but as the high-res competition goes, the Mi 11 Ultra is on par - they're all really tightly packed.
GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)
Higher is better
- Asus ROG Phone 5
122 - OnePlus 9 Pro
119 - vivo X60 Pro+
119 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
116 - Oppo Find X3 Pro
113 - Xiaomi Mi 11
111 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
109 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
107 - Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
94 - Asus Zenfone 7 Pro
90 - Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra
86 - Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G
80
GFX Manhattan ES 3.1 (onscreen)
Higher is better
- vivo X60 Pro+
105 - Asus ROG Phone 5
103 - Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
86 - Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra
78 - Asus Zenfone 7 Pro
78 - Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G
76 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
60 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
58 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
58 - Xiaomi Mi 11
57 - OnePlus 9 Pro
57 - Oppo Find X3 Pro
55
GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (offscreen 1080p)
Higher is better
- Asus ROG Phone 5
71 - vivo X60 Pro+
71 - OnePlus 9 Pro
70 - Oppo Find X3 Pro
70 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
69 - Xiaomi Mi 11
67 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
66 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
64 - Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
57 - Asus Zenfone 7 Pro
54 - Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra
51 - Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G
50
GFX Car Chase ES 3.1 (onscreen)
Higher is better
- vivo X60 Pro+
62 - Asus ROG Phone 5
59 - Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
51 - Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra
46 - Asus Zenfone 7 Pro
46 - Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G
42 - OnePlus 9 Pro
36 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
34 - Xiaomi Mi 11
33 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
33 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
33 - Oppo Find X3 Pro
33
GFX Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)
Higher is better
- vivo X60 Pro+
44 - Asus ROG Phone 5
43 - Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
34 - Asus Zenfone 7 Pro
31 - Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra
30 - OnePlus 9 Pro
27 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
25 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
25 - Xiaomi Mi 11
24 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
23 - Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G
20
GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (onscreen)
Higher is better
- vivo X60 Pro+
43 - Asus ROG Phone 5
40 - Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
34 - Asus Zenfone 7 Pro
31 - Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G
31 - Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra
30 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
24 - OnePlus 9 Pro
24 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
23 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
23 - Xiaomi Mi 11
22
GFX Aztek Vulkan High (offscreen 1440p)
Higher is better
- Asus ROG Phone 5
32 - OnePlus 9 Pro
31 - vivo X60 Pro+
31 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
29 - Xiaomi Mi 11
28 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
28 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
25 - Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
23
GFX Aztek ES 3.1 High (offscreen 1440p)
Higher is better
- Asus ROG Phone 5
28 - OnePlus 9 Pro
28 - vivo X60 Pro+
28 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
27 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
26 - Xiaomi Mi 11
25 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
25 - Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
22
Tightly packed even better describes the results in 3DMark Wild life.
3DMark Wild Life Vulkan 1.1 (offscreen 1440p)
Higher is better
- Asus ROG Phone 5
5744 - OnePlus 9 Pro
5701 - vivo X60 Pro+
5695 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
5691 - Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra
5676 - Xiaomi Mi 11
5673 - Oppo Find X3 Pro
5653 - Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
5547 - Samsung Galaxy Note20 Ultra 5G (Snapdragon)
4194
The Mi 11 Ultra recorded predictably high numbers in our benchmark testing, with an uncharacteristic hiccup under multi-core CPU load.
The phone does heat up significantly under sustained load, but we didn't observe notable thermal throttling and decreased performance after several Antutu runs, so you should be good.
Impressively specced triple camera, under-utilized display
The Mi 11 Ultra comes with some serious imaging hardware - it's got the most advanced camera system on a Xiaomi phone and possibly any phone, if your priorities align with Xiaomi's choices on this one.
The primary camera marks the debut of Samsung's latest high-end sensor, the GN2. Thanks to this substantial 1/1.12" imager, the Mi 11 Ultra dethrones the Nokia 808 PureView for biggest sensor on a smartphone (finally), though depending on where you stand, that title may still be held by the Panasonic Lumix LC1.
The GN2 has 8160x6120px (or 50MP) and each of them is 1.4µm across. A Tetrapixel color filter array on top (or Quad Bayer in Sony speak) means you get 4-in-1 binning, huge 2.4µm resultant pixels, and 12.5MP images by default. The sensor has bi-directional Dual Pixel autofocus so it can detect changes in patterns both horizontally and vertically, something we first saw on the Find X2 Pro (omni-directional AF Oppo called it, and in this context omni- is indeed bi-).
The lens that sits in front of the GN2 has 8 elements and an equivalent focal length of 24mm. The aperture is f/1.95 and that may sound like a little too dim next to the f/1.8 lenses of the Galaxy S21 Ultra, Oppo Find X3 Pro, and OnePlus 9 Pro but 1) making a faster lens for this large sensor would have likely pushed physical dimensions beyond what is already a questionable state, and 2) depth of field with a brighter lens on a sensor of these proportions would be impractically thin. What Xiaomi did manage to fit after all is optical stabilization, so that's nice.
The telephoto has been carried over from the Mi 10 Ultra, but for a customer outside of China it's as good as new - the old model never made it outside of its home country. It's a lot like the original Galaxy S20 Ultra's tele cam, which Samsung ultimately gave up on, only better. You get a 48MP Type 1/2" Sony IMX586 sensor with a Quad Bayer filter and 12MP binned photos. The lens is a 5x zoom stabilized periscope with an f/4.1 aperture. The Galaxy's aperture was a slightly brighter f/3.5, but its focal length was shorter at around 103mm, next to the Mi's 125mm equivalent.
Then there's another of them IMX586s, this one paired with an ultrawide lens. It's one of the ultrawide-est ones out there, with Xiaomi promising a 128-degree field of view. It's in fact so wide that the software distortion correction doesn't quite result in straight lines, but more on that later. The specs say the aperture on this is f/2.2, and it also has autofocus - of course the ultrawide has autofocus at this level.
The auxiliary bits around here include a laser autofocus emitter/receiver combo and a triple LED flash. But it's the extra display that's the star of the show. A tiny 1.1-inch OLED, lifted off a Mi Band 5, it offers a ton of potential despite its somewhat ill-suited 21:9 aspect. Sadly, a lot of potential remains wasted at this point, and we hope Xiaomi addresses this with a firmware update. What do we mean by that?
At the time of reviewing, in the context of camera use, the tiny display is only accessible in Photo mode. So you can take photos of yourself and company with the rear cameras, or have the people you're taking a picture of see a live preview. It takes a few taps too many to get there, but once you're used to it, it shouldn't be too much of a drag. So far so good. However, the display can't be enabled outside of Photo mode. So that's a no for Portrait mode and no for video recording. Why? WHY?
Under-utilized as it may be, the rear screen will do a decent job for framing your rear camera selfies, but you can still find a selfie camera on the front as well. It's the same one we saw on last year's model lineup and the Mi 11 we had more recently - it uses a 20MP Samsung S5K3T2 1/3.4" sensor with 0.8µm pixels and Quad Bayer color filter, and outputs at the nominal 20MP resolution. Xiaomi specifies an f/2.2 aperture but omits the focal length. Autofocus isn't available for selfies but that's fine.
Camera app
The camera app is a rather straightforward implementation, though it does have its quirks. First things first, basic operation for changing modes works with side swipes as expected, and you can also tap on the modes that you can see to switch to those directly. Up and down swipes don't work for switching between the front and rear cameras, only the toggle next to the shutter release does that.
You can add, remove, and rearrange modes in the main rolodex by going to the More tab and navigating to the edit button, and you can access that from the settings menu as well. The unused modes will still be in that More tab, but you can switch to a (less intuitive) pull-out pane that's summoned from a line next to the shutter release.
You activate the rear display (only in Photo mode, remember) by tapping the hamburger menu at the far end and then the rear display button. Inside that menu you'll also find additional options, including the Macro mode (why here?!), plus the shortcut to the settings. What you won't find is an option to set the output resolution for any of the cameras (not that we particularly care).
Next to that burger menu, you have a flash mode switch, an HDR switch, an AI toggle, Live Photo toggle, and a magic wand with beauty effects and filters.
On the near end, you have the camera zoom switch that operates in one of two fashions. The first one is simply tapping on one of the three dots that represent the ultra-wide, primary, and 5x zoom options. Or you can tap on the active magnification and reveal even more zoom modes - 2x, 10x, and 120x (because why stop at a sensible digital zoom magnification).
Camera UI
There's a nicely capable Pro mode, where you can tweak the shooting parameters yourself. You get to pick one of 4 white balance presets or dial in the light temperature with a slider, there's a manual focusing slider (with peaking as an option), and shutter speed (1/4000s to 30s) and ISO control with range depending on which camera you're using. That's right, best of all, you can access each of the three cams in Pro mode.
Long Exposure mode is available, and it has different presets - moving crowd, neon trails, oil painting, light painting, starry sky, and star trails.
Long Exposure • Long Exposure • Supermoon
Supermoon is available, too, and it uses between 5x and 60x digital zoom from the main camera and then touches up the blurry moonshot with AI moon patterns to give you a better-looking one. You can also apply some textures like airplanes, birds, trees, or hanging mountaineers. If this particular reviewer had a say in this, Supermoon mode would not exist.
Night mode is available on all three cameras. A sort of an auto Night mode is a new option that hides under 'Enhance image quality' within settings, and it is enabled by default. It works like on the iPhones - the phone decides whether to use Night Mode or not. We only found it to work on the main camera and it would display a pop-up with the projected duration of the shot, something you don't get in the actual Night mode. Xiaomi does not offer exposure settings for either Night Modes.
Settings
Finally, the Movie Effects mode reveals the special Hollywood modes that Xiaomi is so loud about - they include Magic Zoom, Slow Shutter, Time Freeze, Night time-lapse, and Parallel world. We covered those in detail on the vanilla Mi 11.
The Mi 11 Ultra has the Dual video mode renamed to Multicam and it gives you a grid of what all the cameras are seeing, front and rear (with added 2x and 10x magnifications), of which you choose 2 for side-by-side recording. That's another missed opportunity to utilize the rear display.
Movie effects • Movie effects • Parallel world • Multicam • Multicam
Daylight image quality
The Mi 11 Ultra's main camera got us some of the best 12MP images we've seen. Detail is excellently defined, both in straight lines and random textures, with very competent and natural processing - very 'photographic', and less 'smartphone' if that makes sense. Noise is, meanwhile, virtually non-existent.
Colors are vivid, particularly in outdoor and nature scenes, without going to extremes. Even opting for the AI-enhanced mode will only get you a measured bump in saturation.
Perhaps one area we're not entirely in agreement with the Ultra is exposure. We'd say that 1/2 to 2/3 of a stop brighter would look better in virtually all scenes we shot. And the images certainly have the reserve in highlight dynamic range to accommodate that - dynamic range itself is great.
Daylight samples, main cam (1x)
While the actual telephoto camera stands at 5x zoom, the main unit can give you very respectable 2x zoom shots. There's pronounced color fringing around contrasting edges, and detail isn't as fine as in 1x shots, but these are certainly miles better than what you'd get out of a Note20 Ultra or an S21 Ultra at 2x.
Daylight samples, main cam (2x)
The periscope 5x zoom camera takes wonderful photos, too. In broad daylight, it captures excellent detail and has nice micro contrast. It's not as clean as the main camera, and there are fine specs of luminance noise if you look up close, but these are mostly negligible.
Dynamic range is possibly the best you can expect on a zoom camera, and exposure was more on-point with this one than what we saw on the main unit. Colors are a good match for the primary unit's reproduction as well.
Daylight samples, tele cam (5x)
Moving on to the ultrawide, we're once again class-leading performance. Detail is abundant, sharpening is restrained, noise is nowhere to be found. Dynamic range is once again excellent, and exposure is accurate, no complaints here.
Daylight samples, ultrawide cam (0.5x)
If we have to name one 'issue' that would be the fact that even after the software correction is applied, images do retain a noticeable amount of barrel distortion and have a bulge to the edges - straight lines won't be straight with this one. That's probably an inevitable consequence of having one of the widest lenses on a smartphone coupled with a large sensor.
Daylight samples, ultrawide cam (0.5x), distortion correction: On • Off
The ultrawide's autofocusing capability lets you focus on nearby objects to place them in context and exaggerate perspective. It can't really focus all that close to justify the 'macro' mode, so if extreme close-ups are your thing, the Mi 11 Ultra can't quite deliver.
Daylight samples, ultrawide cam (0.5x), close-ups
With all three cameras having Quad Bayer/Tetrapixel sensors, the 50MP mode works on all of them - only the main cam takes 50MP images, the other two are at 48MP, but it's close enough.
We're used to expecting a significant hike in noise when shooting in the full-res modes, but that's not the case with the Mi 11 Ultra - there's barely an increase here on the main camera. There is some softness and a decrease in contrast, however. A marginal improvement in resolved detail can be observed in the right subjects - check out the floodlights in the first sample below, but it's hardly a difference that can justify the 3x file size.
Daylight samples, main cam, 50MP
All of that pretty much holds true for the telephoto and the ultra-wide cameras as well.
Daylight samples, tele cam, 48MP
Daylight samples, ultrawide cam (0.5x), 48MP
Low-light image quality
The Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra has a toggle in settings, called 'Enhance image quality' that enables an auto Night mode of sorts in Photo mode. The toggle is on by default. Predictably, this tends to produce photos that are closer to ones taken in Night mode than regular Photo mode ones.
These have wide dynamic range and well-preserved highlights, though similarly to daylight shots from the main camera, they do look underexposed to our eyes, and the shadows could use a boost. Certain types of street lights can result in a particularly inaccurate orange rendition of immediate areas, but those aside, white balance and color reproduction are on point. There's a lot of fine detail resolved, and noise is kept minimal.
Low-light samples, main cam (1x), Photo mode, auto Night mode enabled
Here are the same scenes captured in Photo mode with the auto enhancement disabled. You'll note a much narrower dynamic range, particularly evident in the clipped highlights.
Low-light samples, main cam (1x), Photo mode, auto Night mode disabled
And here's another set of photos of the same scenes, these shot in the dedicated Night mode. These are, to our eyes, the same as the first batch.
Low-light samples, main cam (1x), Photo mode, Night mode
The plain Photo mode shots have other issues besides the limited dynamic range, most notably a general softness and lack of detail in the darker areas. Night mode, whether auto or forced, resolves these and would be our preferred way of shooting.
With that quick comparison as a preamble, we went out to shoot some more, keeping the auto enhancement off for Photo mode, to better see the difference between the regular shot and the Night mode shot.
Low-light samples, main cam (1x), Photo mode, auto Night mode disabled
Here are the same scenes shot in Night mode.
Low-light samples, main cam (1x), Night mode
We didn't get that auto nigh mode pop-up on the other two cameras, so we're assuming that it's only available on the main camera. The Photo mode samples from the ultrawide corroborate that as they have visibly different processing and more clipped highlights than Night mode shots.
Even so, the Photo mode shots are possibly the best ultrawide low-light shots we've gotten so far. They are detailed, noise is well controlled, and colors are spot on, with less of that orange cast we saw on the main cam in certain situations.
Low-light samples, ultrawide cam (0.6x)
Night mode addresses the dynamic range issues and gives us much better developed tonal extremes and pulls out a lot of detail from the shadows. There's some of that notorious Night mode sharpening, but even that is handled with restraint.
Low-light samples, ultrawide cam (0.6x), Night mode
2x zoom at night is a doable, but the results are so-so. Even though it's sourced from the main camera, this zoom level doesn't get Night mode - not auto, not forced and, dynamic range is pretty narrow. The shadows do have some reserves, so you could push them post-shot, but the highlights are beyond salvation. On the positive side, sharpness and detail are actually quite good.
Low-light samples, main cam (2x)
At 5x zoom, the Mi 11 Ultra is without competition in shooting low-light scenes. It will get you excellently detailed photos bringing intricate column capitals closer like no other. Noise is kept reasonably low in the process. Dynamic range isn't quite as impressive, and point light sources will get clipped, but expecting anything more than that would be unrealistic.
Low-light samples, tele cam (5x)
It's Night mode's job to help with that and help it does. You'll be looking at improved development in both shadows and highlights, as well as a reduction in noise.
Low-light samples, tele cam (5x), Night mode
Once you're done with the real-world samples, head over to our Photo compare tool to see how the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra stacks up against the competition.
Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra against the Galaxy S21 Ultra and the Oppo Find X3 Pro in our Photo compare tool
Portrait mode
Portrait mode on the Mi 11 Ultra is handled by the main camera at a single magnification that we eyeballed to be around 1.4x zoom, or 33-35mm. Detail remains great despite the cropping action and dynamic range is nice and wide. Subject isolation is excellent, and while the default level at a simulated f/3.2 aperture is conservative, we found f/2.0 to be a sweet spot for our tastes, delivering convincing results.
Portrait samples
Selfies
The 20MP Tetrapixel selfie cam takes photos in its nominal resolution, as opposed to 4-to-1 binned images. So, while it will take decently detailed photos, they won't be as detailed as the number suggests. Colors and dynamic range are very good though.
Realistically, with the ability to frame photos using the rear display, the selfie camera should be relegated to video calls only.
Selfie samples
Subject isolation in selfie portrait mode is okay, but there can be a halo of sharpness around the subject, particularly where clothes meet the background.
Now, if only we could frame rear-camera selfies in Portrait mode using the rear display but we can't. You can use this one to frame only regular type of selfies - not such with artificially defocused background.
Selfie samples, Portrait mode
The thing is, though - with the rear camera setup you can enjoy selfies with a naturally defocused background.
The big sensor does have pretty shallow depth of field and makes for a pretty nice natural blur. As far as defocused backgrounds out of smartphone cameras go, this is as much as you can have, and we like it. The inherent light gathering capabilities of the rear camera also mean that it fares well in lower light as well. The one issue is that you might cause unwanted shake when squeezing the phone to press the volume button - we did get the occasional blurry shot.
Rear camera selfies, 1x
The ultrawide does offer immense coverage when it comes to selfies - almost too much, if your surroundings aren't all that picture-perfect. It's also not quite as good in dimmer conditions.
Rear camera selfies, 0.5x
What it's properly great at, however, is goofy framing and weird perspectives. It's not that you couldn't get these with another smartphone's rear camera, but it's this one that gives you the display to get the framing right.
Rear camera selfies, 0.5x
Daylight image quality comparison
The Mi 11 Ultra's ultimate cameraphone status in the Xiaomi lineup warranted comparison to the ultimate cameraphones Samsung has to offer. We mixed things up a bit for our own sanity's sake and set boundaries for our shootout.
We shot the Mi versus the Galaxy S21 Ultra for the main and ultrawide cameras, since it's the latest and greatest phone Samsung has to offer. For zooming in, we mostly compared the Mi against the Galaxy Note20 Ultra since they do have the same nominal 5x zoom capability, but we did sneak in a quick 10x-20x shootout with the S21 Ultra as well.
In the main camera images, there are notable differences between the Mi and the Galaxy. On a global scale, the Mi 11 Ultra's tendency to underexpose is easy to spot - it's about a stop darker than the Galaxy's more accurate (and more pleasing) result.
Colors are generally subjective, but neither phone will leave you wanting for pop, and the two are relatively close in their rendition.
On a pixel level, we'd say we prefer the Mi 11 Ultra's more natural results with foliage. The cleaner, better-defined straight lines and ever so slight edges in fine detail strengthen its case as well. Noise is missing in both phones' results.
Daylight comparison, main cam (1x): Mi 11 Ultra • Galaxy S21 Ultra
The gap in resolved detail widens on the ultrawide cameras, where the Mi has a more clear-cut advantage. That's both in absolute detail in and in the quality of its rendition - the twigs are finer, and there aren't such sharpening halos as on the Galaxy.
The Mi's underexposure is gone on this module, and the two phones offer a similar level of scene brightness.
The Mi's greatest flaw here is its inability to completely correct the barrel distortion, and in shots with straight lines along the edges, you'd be getting that bulging look. The Galaxy is nearly perfect in its distortion correction. Then again, the Mi does offer notably wider coverage.
Daylight comparison, ultrawide cam (0.5x): Mi 11 Ultra • Galaxy S21 Ultra
Switching over to the Note20 Ultra for a head-to-head at 5x zoom, we see a much better sharpness and detail in Xiaomi's photos and better contrast - there's generally more bite in the Mi's images. Dynamic range is comparable, which is a testament to the Note's smaller sensor and/or processing.
Daylight comparison, telephoto cam (5x): Mi 11 Ultra • Galaxy Note20 Ultra
We did entertain the idea for a 10x comparison against the S21 Ultra. After all, the Samsung has a much smaller sensor than the Mi for its 5x telephoto, and it's a 10MP one at that. Meanwhile, the Mi's 48MP Quad Bayer could be able to pull off some demosaicking trickery and deliver comparable images to the Galaxy.
And indeed, at 10x we'd still give the nod to the Galaxy, the Mi is about there in terms of detail. At 20x, it's essentially a toss-up. So while the Xiaomi doesn't technically have a 10x camera, it's capable of getting 10x-equivalent images as if it had one.
Daylight comparison, telephoto cam (10x): Mi 11 Ultra • Galaxy S21 Ultra
Daylight comparison, telephoto cam (10x): Mi 11 Ultra • Galaxy S21 Ultra
Low-light image quality comparison
In low-light, the Mi's basic Photo mode (with the auto Night mode disabled) returns images with notably different tonal development than the Galaxy's. The Mi exposes brighter (though still not bright enough for our liking), giving us better shadow detail, but the highlights get obliterated in the process. The Galaxy's even darker exposures preserve highlights better but look a little grim.
The S21 Ultra doesn't have the issues with the warm street lights that plague the Mi and delivers more accurate color in these particular conditions.
Low-light comparison, main cam (1x): Mi 11 Ultra • Galaxy S21 Ultra
Night mode essentially equalizes things between the two, and images have similar dynamic range and resolved detail. The Mi's less than stellar handling of certain lights persists.
Low-light comparison, main cam (1x), Night mode: Mi 11 Ultra • Galaxy S21 Ultra
Looking at the ultra wides, the Galaxy retains an advantage in Photo mode in terms of Dynamic range. Detail is comparable, while the Galaxy shots are slightly noisier.
Low-light comparison, ultrawide cam (0.5x): Mi 11 Ultra • Galaxy S21 Ultra
In Night mode, there's hardly anything to split the two phones' ultrawides.
Low-light comparison, ultrawide cam (0.5x), Night mode: Mi 11 Ultra • Galaxy S21 Ultra
Reaching for the Galaxy Note20 Ultra for the zoom comparison, the Mi 11 Ultra has the upper hand in Photo mode, particularly in darker and contrastier scenes. You can count on a higher level of detail out of the Xiaomi, and that's especially true for the darker areas.
Low-light comparison, telephoto cam (5x): Mi 11 Ultra • Galaxy Note20 Ultra
The Xiaomi maintains that advantage in Night mode as well, producing sharper and more detailed photos.
Low-light comparison, telephoto cam (5x): Mi 11 Ultra • Galaxy Note20 Ultra
Video recording
The Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra captures video at up to 8K24 with all of its cameras and all of them will also record at up to 4K60. Stabilization is available for all resolutions and frame rates. You can also choose between the h.264 and h.265 codecs unless you're shooting in 8K, which is h.265 only.
8K capture comes with a small crop compared to 4K but remains much wider than what the Galaxies would crop in 8K mode. The 130Mbps bit rate is also much higher than, say, on the S21 Ultra (80Kbps).
8K video quality from the main camera is indeed very good as phone 8K goes, possibly class-leading. You stand to gain some finer detail over 4K capture - not 4 times as much, but some. There's no dynamic range penalty for 8K over 4K either, and it's respectably wide in both modes. There are some compression artifacts in 4K that combine with the heavier sharpening to make for a gritty, granular look if you zoom in up close, but overall we'd consider this very usable footage, again, for what it is.
4K30 is encoded at a pretty high 62Mbps (using h.264), and it's using those extra bits nicely producing high-quality videos. Excellent detail, wide dynamic range, pleasing colors, there's hardly anything not to like about these.
The ultrawide camera's 4K footage is also among the best we've seen.
8K out of the ultrawide isn't quite as spectacular, and we wouldn't say it can justify the 2x file size. Looking from up close, the image is soft and mushy. Again, there's no drop in dynamic range or change in color reproduction between resolutions.
4K30 at the 5x zoom level is encoded at 50Mbps - lower than the other two cameras, but generally standard for 4K capture. We can't find fault with this one either.
Similarly to the ultrawide, the telephoto's 8K capture doesn't come with any notable quality benefits.
Stabilization is excellent across the board, including 8K. Walking will make it to the video as only a general floating action with no hard hitting steps, pans are handled without abrupt transitions and pointing the phone in one direction will result in nearly tripod-level footage.
The ultrawide camera fares even better with the shorter focal length making the floating less visible.
Stabilization at 5x zoom level is remarkably proficient as well - we haven't seen 5x footage that stable. There were no micro jitters, just a very gentle wave as the phone was ironing out our poor attempts to combat the wind.
We also tried the Steady modes. There's Steady video and Steady video PRO, and they're captured by the main camera and the ultrawide, respectively. Both lock you into 1080p at 30fps. Neither managed to stabilize footage while running particularly well - it's close to unusable in the regular Steady mode from the main cam, and barely okay from the ultrawide in PRO mode. Perhaps it'll look better with proper running shoes on.
Here's a glimpse of how the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra compares to rivals in our Video compare tool. Head over there for the complete picture.
Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra against the Galaxy S21 Ultra and the Oppo Find X3 Pro in our Video compare tool
Competition
With a projected list price of €1,200 for a 12GB/256GB version in Europe, the Mi 11 Ultra isn't really priced to sell, but it's not entirely unreasonable either. A Galaxy S21 Ultra can be had for as low as €1000, though matching the Mi's storage would add €100. The OnePlus 9 Pro runs for a little over €1000 for the 12GB/256GB version, and the Oppo Find X3 Pro is around €1150.
The Mi 11 Ultra is looking a lot better in India at INR70K, particularly against the Galaxy, which is a cool 50% more expensive. The OnePlus 9 Pro is evenly matched - INR70K for 12GB/256GB, as is the vivo X60 Pro+, another camera-centric offering.
Mi 11 Ultra (left) next to Galaxy S21 Ultra
The Mi takes better pictures and video than the Galaxy in virtually all scenarios in this battle of the Ultras. The Galaxy has the better selfie camera, but the Mi's rear display renders that a moot point. The S21 Ultra's display is slightly more adaptive than the Mi 11 Ultra's and marginally brighter, but that's hardly a decider. More important, perhaps, is that the Galaxy comfortably beats the Mi in the endurance race. Still, in India, all of that sounds like an easy win for the Xiaomi; in Europe - it'll take slightly more careful consideration, though we're still leaning towards the Xiaomi.
Realistically, none of the others can compete with the Mi 11 Ultra's camera prowess, but the OnePlus 9 Pro could make a case for itself when you stand to pocket €200+. It's more or less on par with the Mi in all areas, but the camera and since its setup isn't half bad in its own right, it's basically a matter of paying extra for the Mi's imaging chops or not. Now, if they're priced the same (as they are in India), the Mi easily takes the victory, we reckon.
The Oppo Find X3 Pro maxes out at 2x optical zoom, but has a microscope camera to try and steer you in its direction and it's an interesting juxtaposition with the Mi between distant and close-up shooting. The Find is also polarizing for its looks, but you could be one that finds its fluid camera bump prettier than the Mi's... less elegant solution. So this one gets settled on design and camera priorities.
The vivo X60 Pro+ is an interesting alternative going for Mi 11 Ultra money in India. This one too has a sizeable camera bump on its back, and while not quite as competent as the Mi, it will rarely leave you wanting. The leatherette back is a nice design touch next to the colder ceramic Mi, and the X60 Pro+ is the closest to being 'compact' here. The vivo is missing stereo speakers and an IP rating, however, and these come as standard on all the others on this list.
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G • OnePlus 9 Pro • Oppo Find X3 Pro • vivo X60 Pro+
Verdict
The Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra is the ultimate cameraphone, if the shapely camera assembly on the back wasn't enough of a giveaway. It captures photos and video as good or even better than any competitor and can only get better at it if Xiaomi opens up the rear display's full potential.
But it's not just the camera. Perhaps the phone's sheer heft could be the one dealbreaker, since the rest is hard to fault - a wonderful display, some of the finest speakers, good battery life and fast charging, and a posh ceramic build mean there's hardly any compromise involved. At launch pricing, depending on where you are, the Mi 11 Ultra ranges between a proper bargain and a reasonable value for money. We'd recommend it either way.
Pros
- Attractive curved-screen design, premium build with a ceramic back, and IP68 rating.
- The 6.81" OLED is thoroughly impressive - 1440p 120Hz, bright and color accurate.
- Rear display has great potential.
- Battery endurance is good for the class, blazing-fast charging.
- Great stereo speakers.
- MIUI 12 is one refined UI.
- Industry-leading photo and video quality across the board.
Cons
- It's one of the heaviest handset on the market, camera bump isn't exactly handsome.
- Under-utilized rear display - seemingly arbitrary restrictions limit its usefulness.
- Has a tendency to overheat under stress testing (not so much in real-world use).
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