The Xiaomi Mi 11 Review: A Gorgeous Screen and Design

Camera - Zoom with no Telephoto

The camera setup of the Mi 11 is rather simple in that we’re only really dealing with to modules: the 108MP main camera, and the 13MP ultra-wide unit. This creates an interesting situation in that we’re dealing with a flagship device without a dedicated optical telephoto, which is becoming a bit of a rarity nowadays, but also not exactly unique – Samsung’s S20 and S21 series also had no such unit and relied on the 64MP secondary sensor. Xiaomi here has the opportunity to use the ultra-high-resolution main camera for crop magnification.

[ Mi 11 ] [ Mi 10 Pro ]
[ S21U(S) ] [ S21U(E) ]
[ S21(E) ] [ S20+(E) ]
[ Note20U(S) ] [ iPhone 12 Pro ]
[ Mate40 Pro ] [ Pixel 5 ]
[ X-T30 ( )( ) ]

Starting with the first scene here, there’s a few different unique aspects to the camera. In the predefined zoom stages in the camera UI, 2x, 5x and 10x, we’re seeing different resolution results. At 2x and 5x, unfortunately it looks like Xiaomi is still doing digital upscaling of the 27MP binned sensor input. This is alright at 2x, however the quality is a bit disappointing at 5x.

At 10x, however, the phone produces a 12MP picture. This isn’t a native crop but still a up-scaled result, but it’s out of the 108MP of the camera. Comparing the full frame 108MP picture to the 10x result actually ends up not much different in terms of details, however there’s large differences in exposure and metering.

[ Mi 11 ] [ Mi 10 Pro ]
[ S21U(S) ] [ S21U(E) ]
[ S21(E) ] [ S20+(E) ]
[ Note20U(S) ] [ iPhone 12 Pro ]
[ Mate40 Pro ] [ Pixel 5 ]
[ X-T30 ( )( ) ]

This method of zooming in can be extremely competitive when we compare the Mi 11 against all other devices which feature a more traditional 12MP class sensor setup, the Mi 11 here for example destroys the iPhone 12 Pro’s camera setup, and also does better than the 64MP unit of the S21.

Lower zoom levels are also surprisingly good, albeit don’t compete with some of the optical modules in the line-up.

[ Mi 11 ] [ Mi 10 Pro ]
[ S21U(S) ] [ S21U(E) ]
[ S21(E) ] [ S20+(E) ]
[ Note20U(S) ] [ iPhone 12 Pro ]
[ Mate40 Pro ] [ Pixel 5 ]
[ X-T30 ( )( ) ]

In scenarios where more dynamic range is required, this method of zooming doesn’t fare as well as the 0.8µm pixels of the sensor don’t have sufficient capability to capture the dynamic range throughout the scene. Periscope modules such as on Huawei’s phones or the S21 Ultra are much higher quality.

[ Mi 11 ] [ Mi 10 Pro ]
[ S21U(S) ] [ S21U(E) ]
[ S21(E) ] [ S20+(E) ]
[ Note20U(S) ] [ iPhone 12 Pro ]
[ Mate40 Pro ] [ Pixel 5 ]
[ X-T30 ( )( ) ]

In some situations, the phone produces fuzzier telephoto pictures than usual, the OIS really needs to be highly performant to be able to keep up with the minute movements required to get a sharp 108MP capture needed for better quality telephotos.

[ Mi 11 ] [ Mi 10 Pro ]
[ S21U(S) ] [ S21U(E) ]
[ S21(E) ] [ S20+(E) ]
[ Note20U(S) ] [ iPhone 12 Pro ]
[ Mate40 Pro ] [ Pixel 5 ]
[ X-T30 ( )( ) ]

In this scene, the phone’s exposures in the telephoto ranges really didn’t do well, but admittedly it’s also a very demanding scene and few phones were able to generate a satisfactory result.

Doing The Best With a Simple Solution

In general, the Mi 11’s telephoto and zoom capabilities are above average – even though the phone has no telephoto module whatsoever. The 108MP main sensor and its default 27MP resolution is generally sufficient for the general use-case 2x magnification pictures without too much noticeable detail loss, while at longer focal lengths the module switches over to from out of the native 108MP capture modes. It’s satisfactory and adequate solution, although it doesn’t compete with the more advanced telephoto module solutions.