Xiaomi has been making waves over the past few years, with a more aggressive approach to international expansion and looking to get a real foothold in Europe.
The next flagship phone for 2020 is the Mi 10 and the Mi 10 Pro, which the company has announced and will land running MIUI 11 running on Android 10. But what will they offer?
Release date and price
- 13 February 14:00 CST online China launch event
- 27 March global launch
- UK availability to be confirmed
Xiaomi unveiled the Mi 10 series via an online event in China for the Chinese market. There was a European event planned for 23 February, but following the cancellation of Mobile World Congress 2020, that event was postponed. Xiaomi then globally launched the devices online on 27 March.
The prices in the China start at 4299 yuan for the Mi 10, while the Mi 10 Pro will start at 4999 yuan. In Europe, the Mi 10 will cost from €799, while the Mi 10 Pro will cost from €999.
Pre-orders in many regions will start on 28 March, with general availability around 15 April. Full UK release details are still to be confirmed.
Xiaomi Mi 10
Design
- 162.58 x 74.80 x 8.96mm, 208g
- Mi 10: Grey and Green; Pro: White, Grey
Both the Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro have the same overall design, an evolution the Mi 9 design and close to the design we saw on the Mi Note 10, which offered the same layout of those cameras on the rear. The display curves to the edges, very much in the style of Samsung, while there's a conventional metal frame and glass back construction.
There's no notch, with Xiaomi moving to a single punch hole design in the display, this time off to the left-hand side. One thing to note about the design is that this phone tops 200g - so it's on the hefty side.
There's no mention of waterproofing in the specs, but there is a liquid cooling system designed to keep the phone cool and running in optimum conditions, called LiquidCool 2.0, claiming up to 10.5c temperature reduction.
There's also a dual speaker arrangement which should offer better stereo performance than previous Mi handsets.
Display
- 6.67-inch OLED display, 19.5:9 aspect
- 2340 x 1080 pixels, HDR10+ support
- 90Hz refresh rate
Xiaomi uses a Samsung AMOLED display for the Mi 10 and the Mi 10 pro. It is curved at the edges, with a punch hole in the top left corner for the front camera.
It measures 6.67-inches on the diagonal, with a Full HD+ resolution (2340 x 1080 pixels) and a 19.5:9 aspect ratio. There's little in the way of bezels, resulting in a good looking device.
Xiaomi has opted for a 90Hz refresh rate, rather than the 120Hz that you'll be getting from the OnePlus 8 or Samsung Galaxy S20+, while the company says it is using a 180Hz sampling rate - to detect touches. Sure, the numbers might not be up at Samsung's levels, but we doubt that makes a real difference in the overall experience.
There's support for HDR10+, so compatible movies should look good. We've got high hopes for this display, it sounds great.
Hardware specs
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 + 5G
- Mi 10: 8/12GB RAM, 128/256GB storage
- Mi 10 Pro: 8/12GB RAM, 256/512GB storage
- 4500mAh battery (Pro), 4780mAh battery (Mi 10)
The Xiaomi Mi 10 will use the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 platform and offer 5G on both handsets. There are a couple of RAM and storage options, starting at 8GB/128GB for the Mi 10, and 8GB/256GB for the Mi 10 Pro. Both have the option of 12GB RAM, although not all variants will be available in all areas. Xiaomi has confirmed LPDDR5 RAM and UFS3.0 storage.
When it comes to the battery, it appears as though the Mi 10 might have a slightly larger battery, based on the specs. It's reported as 4780mAh, whereas the Mi 10 Pro is reported as 4500mAh, but we'll keep an eye on this to see if these details are accurate.
The Mi 10 will come with a 30W charger, supporting 30W wired and wireless charging rates and offering 10W reverse wireless charging. The Mi 10 Pro comes with a 65W charger and will offer 50W wired charging, 30W wireless charging and 10W reverse charging.
Whichever way you look at it, both Mi 10 models seem to have plenty of power on offer.
Cameras
- Mi 10 Pro: 108MP main, 8MP telephoto, 12MP telephoto, 20MP ultra-wide
- Mi 10: 108MP main, 2MP macro, 2MP depth, 13MP ultra-wide
- 20MP front camera on both
The headline feature on the Mi 10 is the 108-megapixel main camera. This has a large 1/1.33in sensor, optical image stabilisation and boasts that it has 1.6µm pixels after pixel combining, so it's 0.8µm natively. There's an f/1.69 aperture, and while the sensors both look the same, it seems that the Mi 10 Pro has an eight element lens and the Mi 10 has a 7 element lens. There might be some difference in performance, but it's mostly going to be the same.
It is capable of shooting 8K video.
Then the camera arrangement takes a bit of a diversion, with the Mi 10 Pro having what is effectively two telephoto lenses, one offering 2X optical zoom and identified as a portrait lens and the other claiming 10X hybrid optical - with a 50X digital zoom. Finally there's a 20-megapixel ultra-wide camera.
While the Mi 10 gets that 108-megapixel main camera, it moves to a 13-megapixel ultra-wide. The two additional lenses are to be macro and for depth sensing - so there's quite a big difference in the offering between these two phones.
Both phones have the same 20-megapixel front camera.
Xiaomi Mi 10 rumours: A timeline of the leaks before launch
Here are all the rumours running up to the launch of the Xiaomi Mi 10.
9 March 2020: We now know the Xiaomi Mi 10 global launch date
Xiaomi has confirmed when it will be launching the Mi 10 series for the rest of the world.
13 February 2020: Xiaomi Mi 10 launch in Europe delayed thanks to MWC cancellation
With the cancellation of Mobile World Congress, the launch of the Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro globally will be delayed.
10 February 2020: Xiaomi Mi 10 series will be unveiled on 13 February
Xiaomi has confirmed that the Mi 10 series will be unveiled on 13 February in China, as well as sharing a European event on 23 February in Barcelona.
31 January 2020: Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro leaks suggest the forthcoming phone will be a spec monster
A couple of leaks confirm the codenames for the Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro, while a screenshot claims to include some spec details for the forthcoming phone.
20 January 2020: Purported hands-on images show familiar lines from the Mi 10
A quick photo unboxing shows off what's said to be real life images of the Xiaomi Mi 10.
18 January 2020: Leaked poster suggests 11 February launch date for Mi 10
A dubious looking poster appears, claim the Mi 10 will launch on 11 February, but the design doesn't appear to match any other leaks we've seen.
15 January 2020: Xiaomi shows-off 144Hz display for Redmi K30 5G, will Mi 10 follow?
Xiaomi has shown off the Redmi K30 running the display at 144Hz, is this a precursor to the Mi 10 doing the same?
10 January 2020: Online store lists Mi 10, along with a range of specs
An online store has listed the Mi 10, revealing a range of specs for the phone, although there's nothing to verify those specs.
6 January 2020: Digital artist creates some Mi 10 renders based on leaked specs
Ben Geskin has produced some images of what the Mi 10 might look like based on the leaks so far.
3 January 2020: Xiaomi Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro specs leak leaving few surprises
A huge spec dump on Weibo gives us a good idea of what to expect from the Mi 10 series.
28 December 2019: Xiaomi Mi 10 could have a 4500-4800mAh battery
A leak via Weibo has suggested a huge battery capacity for the forthcoming Xiaomi phone.
3 December 2019: Xiaomi Mi 10 will be one of the first Snapdragon 865 phones
Xiaomi confirms that it will be one of the first phones to launch use the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 platform in the Mi 10.