The Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra smartphone goes on sale in China on August 16 for about $760 and up. But I’m honestly not sure why Xiaomi didn’t call its latest flagship the Mi 120.
After all, the phone’s most distinctive characteristics include a display with a 120 Hz screen refresh rate, support for 120W fast charging, and an “AI super zoom” camera that can snap shots at up to 120X zoom level.
You should probably take that last feature with a grain of salt. This phone’s 48MP telephoto lens features 10X telephoto lens. In order to zoom in any closer than that you’ll have to rely on software. That means image quality will likely degrade the more you zoom.
But you can zoom all the way up to 120X if you’re willing to make that tradeoff. Few other phones have an option to get anywhere close to that. DXOMARK has some examples of what super zoom photographs look like on the Mi 10 Ultra, Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra, and Huawei P40 Pro, and overall the Mi 10 doesn’t come out on top… but it fares reasonably well.
As for the 120W fast charging, Xiaomi says you can take the Mi 10 Ultra’s 4,500 mAh battery from 0 to 41 percent by plugging it in for just 5 minutes. It takes just 23 minutes to fully charge the battery.
Things will go a little slower if you opt for wireless charging, which is also supported. Xiaomi offers a 50W wireless charging… which will still probably let you charge the battery more quickly than most wired chargers from other companies. The Mi 10 Ultra also supports 10W reverse wireless charging if you want to use the smartphone as a power bank for charging other phones or gadgets including smartwatches or wireless earbuds.
Here are some other key specs for the Mi 10 Ultra:
Display | 6.67″ OLED TrueColor curved display 19.5:9 aspect ratio, FHD+, 120 Hz refresh rate 240Hz touch sampling rate Color contrast ratio: 5,000,000:1 (typ) 800nit (HBM) / 1120nit (typ) Gamut: 100% DCI-P3, Color accuracy: ∆E <1.0, JNCD: <0.63 10-bit color depth TÜV Low-Blue Light Rheinland and HDR10+ certifications |
Color | Obsidian Black, Mercury Silver, Transparent Edition |
Dimensions | 162.4 x 75 x 9.5mm |
Weight | 222 grams |
Processor | Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 Kyro 585 CPU, Octa-core CPU, up to 2.84 GHz Adreno 650 GPU |
Storage & RAM | 8GB/12GB/16GB LPDDR5 RAM 128GB/256GB/512GB UFS 3.1 storage |
Cooling System | LiquidCool 2.0 vapor chamber + 6-stack graphite layer +graphene |
Rear Camera | 48MP ultra-clear primary camera1/1.32” super sensor, 2.4μm 4-in-1 Super Pixels Supports OIS, f/1.85, 8P lens 120x digital zoom telephoto lens 20MP ultra-wide angle 128° camera 12MP portrait lens Up to 8K 24fps video recording AI 2.0, Night mode 2.0, ShootSteady video, Vlog mode, 960fps macro slow-motion video |
Front Camera | 20MP 1.8mm hole punch selfie cameraHDR, AI portrait selfies, AI scene detection, portrait video 720p 120fps slow motion video |
Connectivity | Wi-Fi 6 5G MultiLinkMulti-functional NFC IR blaster USB Type-C |
Battery & Charging | 4,500mAh battery 120W wired and 50W wireless fast charging 10W reverse wireless charging |
Audio | Dual stereo speakers Hi-Res Audio certification AI noise reduction |
Security | In-screen fingerprint sensor Face Unlock |
OS | MIUI 12 based on Android 10 |
The phone is up for pre-order in China starting today and ships August 16th, with prices ranging from RMB 5,299 to 6,999:
- 8GB/128GB for RMB 5,299 (~$760)
- 8GB/256GB for RMB 5,599 (~$805)
- 12GB/256GB for RMB 5,999 (~$865)
- 16GB/512GB for RMB 6,999 (~$1,110)
via Mi Blog
I agree it should be called the Mi 120!
Well it’s the 10th anniversary phone so it has to be 10?
Many good things about this device.
What’s missing:
– No microSD slot (no DualSIM option either)
– No 3.5mm Headphone Jack (shame)
– USB-C 3.1 port (only 2.0)
– IP68 protection (only IP66 splashproof)
– And lastly, no AndroidOne OS for guaranteed long-term support
…so yeah, Planned Obsolescence is a built-in feature like every other phone out there 🙁
?
Seems to me the in-display front camera is the breakthrough feature here!
I copied and pasted the specs from their press release. Unfortunately, if you look at the picture, what you’ll see is a hole punch camera that’s “in” the display, not an under-glass camera. Actually, that might be fortunate, because all of the prototypes of under-glass cameras I’ve seen so far have been underwhelming.
It doesn’t have 10X “optical zoom”. The fixed focal length of one lens is 10X the fixed focal length of another lens on the camera. The “zoom” levels between 1X and 10X are obtained by digital manipulation – not by moving a lens.
I’ve changed the language to refer to the 10X as a telephoto lens, not an optical zoom lens.
Doesn’t calling it telephoto still imply a moving lens though? Are we in need to expand and updated the definition of “telephoto” to include the sort of trick of using two fixed lenses with different focal lengths that Sunny B explained?