Xiaomi expands the Mi11 lineup, announces the Mi Band 6, launch recap!

The new smartphones that see officialdom include the Mi 11 Lite, the Mi Lite 11 5G, and the Mi 11i. 

• The Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra is the pick of the smartphones and comes with a secondary display
• There is a Mi 11 Pro as well
• Xiaomi Mi Lite comes in 4G and 5G variants
• Xiaomi Mi 11i gets a 6.67-inch, 120 Hz Display
• The Mi Band 6 gets a 1.56" display and adds SpO2 tracking

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra unveiled with rear-facing display

For those unaware, we had talked about the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra a few months ago when a random YouTuber released a video detailing the features of the phone. The key takeaway from that video was the fact that the Mi 11 Ultra is a very imaging centric smartphone. And that has more or less turned out to be true. The phone features a triple camera setup that consists of a 50MP main camera, a 48MP periscope camera and a 48MP ultra-wide-angle camera with a 128° field of view. The camera relies on a new Dual Pixel Pro technology, supports 8K videos and should be able to achieve particularly strong results at night. The phone also gets a  rear-mounted display with a resolution of 126 x 294 pixels. This tiny AMOLED panel acts as an always-on display showing you notifications and also functions as a preview screen for selfies using the main camera.

Impressive hardware, 120 Hz display and Harman Kardon sound

The rest of the smartphone is also absolutely impressive: It is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 SoC and comes with up to 12 GB LPDDR5 RAM + 256 GB UFS 3.1 storage. The AMOLED display is in the tall 20:9 format and measures 6.81 inches across with a resolution of 3,200 x 1,440 pixels at 120Hz. The claimed brightness is 1700 nits and the display also supports 480Hz touch sampling rate. The Mi 11 Ultra also gets a 5,000 mAh battery that supports 67W fast charging and 10W reverse charging. Also worth mentioning is the Harman Kardon speakers and the fact that the phone is IP68 certified for ingress protection. As expected of a flagship, the Mi 11 Ultra also supports 5G and Wi-Fi 6 networks.

Mi 11 Pro: A better Mi 11?

The Mi 11 Pro, the second flagship-grade handset to be announced today is positioned below the Mi 11 Ultra. The phone comes powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 SoC. It features a 6.81-inch 2K display with support for 120H refers rate. The panel is an E4 AMOLED.

This phone also gets a triple camera array at the rear consisting of a 50MP primary, 13MP secondary and a third 8MP sensor. The front-facing camera can capture 20MP shots. The Mi 11 Pro also gets a 5000mAh battery that supports 67W wired and wireless charging with support for 10W reverse charging. The Mi 11 Pro is also IP68 rated and weighs 208g. There are three variants of the phone:

• Xiaomi Mi 11 Pro: 8+128GB  ¥4999 - $760 - EUR 646 - Rs 55,000
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Pro: 8+256GB  ¥5299 - $807 - EUR 685 - Rs 58,700
• Xiaomi Mi 11 Pro: 12+256GB  ¥5699 - $868 - EUR 736 - Rs 63,000

Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite and Mi 11 Lite 5G

Then we have the Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite devices which come in 4G and 5G avatars. Both these handsets are positioned below the flagships and come with decent specifications that include an FHD+ AMOLED display (6.55-inches), support for 90Hz refresh rate with 240Hz touch sampling and HDR10+ support on the 5G variant. 

The 4G and 5G models also differ in terms of SoCs: While the 5G variant gets the Snapdragon 780G, the 4G variant gets by with the Snapdragon 732G. Both devices also offer 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage, with an 8GB RAM variant also available on the 5G model. The 4G variant also gets an affordable 64GB variant.

Both these variants ship with the same 4,250 mAh battery that supports 33-watt fast-charging. The main cameras are also the same on both devices. There's a 64MP main camera on each, plus an ultra-wide 8MP cam and a 5-megapixel macro lens. As for the front cameras, the 5G variant uses a 20 MP sensor while the 4G variant only features a 16MP sensor.

Xiaomi Mi 11 Review

Both the devices are insanely thin at 6.8mm, with Corning's Gorilla Glass 6 in the 5G model and Gorilla Glass 5 on the LTE variant. At 159 and 157 grams respectively, both the phones are also pretty lightweight. There are slight differences in the wireless connectivity capabilities of the two devices. While the Mi Lite 11 5G supports Bluetooth 5.2 and WiFi 6, the 4G variant has to get by with Bluetooth 5.1 and WiFi 5. The colour options also differ.

Xiaomi Mi 11i

Xiaomi also came up with the Mi 11i  which features a 6.67-inch, 120Hz AMOLED display with FHD+ resolution. The phone is powered by a Snapdragon 888 SoC and comes with up to 8GB of RAM and offers users a choice of 128GB or 256GB of storage.

The camera setup on the Xiaomi Mi 11i includes the following cameras:

• 108MP main camera (sensor size 1/1.52" and f/1.75 aperture)
• 8MP ultra-wide-angle camera (f/2.2, 119°)
• 5MP tele-macro camera (f/2.4).
• 20MP selfie shooter

The Xiaomi Mi 11i is also quite slim at 7.8mm and weighs 196 grams. It gets a 4,520 mAh battery that can be charged at 33 watts. In terms of connectivity, there's 5G and WiFi 6 and of course, as with all the other models, there's NFC.

Mi Band 6 now also comes with a pulse oximeter

Let's also take a quick look at a wearable that made its debut today: the Mi Band 6 is official and first of all, it doesn't look much different visually than its predecessor, the Mi Band 5. The AMOLED display has grown in size once again and now measures 1.56 inches here with a resolution of 152 x 486 pixels, which translates to a pixel density of 326 PPI.

The pulse oximeter, also called SpO2 sensor, is also new. The battery capacity remains at 125 mAh, so it will be exciting to see how this will affect battery life given the significantly larger display. The Mi Band 6 will be available in Black, Orange, Yellow, Olive, Ivory and Blue colour options. Pricing information shall be updated soon. Which of today's Chinese devices excited or surprised you the most - and is there something you already know you're dying to buy?