Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra Review: Flagship Features

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra can be seen as a parody of luxury phones like the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra and iPhone 12 Pro Max. It has similar features, but with one extra addition: a massive rear camera bump that includes a 1.1-inch secondary display.

Why this phone has a second screen is unclear, as rear displays are not common. While some may argue that extra features are unnecessary, it does give the phone a unique look. However, the large camera bump makes it difficult to use—cases don’t protect it well, and it doesn’t sit flat on wireless chargers. The secondary screen’s features are often inconvenient, like accidental music controls popping up.

The Mi 11 Ultra is similar to the Mi 11, with the main differences being a larger camera bump, better cameras, faster charging, and a higher price. The standard Mi 11 might actually be a better deal given its features and price.

Despite its flaws, the Mi 11 Ultra is still a solid phone, especially with its impressive camera system, Snapdragon 888 processor, and excellent display with 2K resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. The charging speed is another strong point.

After using the phone for a while, initial excitement faded as its design and flaws became more noticeable. It’s a good phone but doesn’t quite make it to the top of Xiaomi’s offerings.

Feature	Details
Released	📅 April 02, 2021
Weight	⚖️ 234g
Dimensions	📏 164.3 x 74.6 x 8.4 mm
OS	📱 Android 11, upgradable to Android 13, MIUI 14
Storage	💾 256GB/512GB, no card slot
Display	📺 6.81″, 1440×3200 pixels, AMOLED, HDR10+, 120Hz
Main Camera	📸 50MP (wide), 48MP (telephoto), 48MP (ultrawide)
Selfie Camera	🤳 20MP
Processor	⚡ Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G
RAM	💻 8GB/12GB
Battery	🔋 5000mAh, 67W wired & wireless charging
Charging Time	⚡ 100% in 36 min (wired), 39 min (wireless)
Audio	🔊 Stereo speakers, Hi-Res audio, Tuned by Harman Kardon
Connectivity	🌐 5G, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC, USB Type-C
Water Resistance	🌊 IP68 dust/water resistant (up to 1.5m for 30 min)
Colors	🎨 Ceramic White, Ceramic Black
Price	💶 ~1500 EUR
Tests	📊 AnTuTu: 688720, GeekBench: 3191, GFXBench: 33fps
SAR	⚠️ 1.08 W/kg (head), 0.81 W/kg (body)

Price and availability of Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra is priced at £1,199 / AU$1,799 (around $1,600). It’s more expensive in the UK than in Australia, making it a better deal in the latter country.

At this price it competes with Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra ($1,199 / £1,149 / AU$1,849) and iPhone 12 Pro Max ($1,099 / £1,099 / AU$1,849). Unlike Samsung and Apple, Xiaomi has not released a phone at this high price globally, so this is new territory for them.

Design of Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra is a very large phone, especially with its huge rear camera bump. Phone’s dimensions are 164.3 x 74.6 x 8.4mm, but the bump adds extra thickness, pushing it over 10mm. It weighs 234g, making it heavy like a gaming phone.

Phone has a power button and volume rocker on the right and a USB-C port at the bottom. There’s no 3.5mm headphone jack and no microSD card slot for expandable storage. The glass back uses tough Corning Gorilla Glass Victus and the phone is IP68-rated for water and dust resistance.

The rear camera bump is hard to miss, housing three large lenses and a small display. It makes the phone difficult to fit in smaller pockets, so you might need a backpack instead. The included case doesn’t protect the bump fully, which makes it vulnerable to damage.

While the bump offers some fun features like using it to hook the phone onto a laptop or as a grip in landscape mode, it can be more annoying than useful.

Display of Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra has a large 6.81-inch display with a 1440 x 3200 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate, making it one of the best-looking screens on a phone. It also supports HDR10+, has a brightness of 1700 nits, and uses AMOLED technology.

There’s an in-screen fingerprint scanner, but it can be a bit finicky, often requiring you to lift and replace your finger.

The rear 1.1-inch display, which is similar to the Xiaomi Mi Band 6, serves three functions. It acts as an always-on display to show the time and battery, but it turns off quickly. It’s also a viewfinder for taking photos with the rear cameras, though it’s hard to see on such a small screen. Finally, it controls music, but this feature is inconsistent and can be annoying, as it’s easy to accidentally skip or pause songs when holding the phone normally or when it’s in your pocket.

Camera of Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra has a large 6.81-inch display with a 1440 x 3200 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate, making it one of the best-looking screens on a phone. It also supports HDR10+, has a brightness of 1700 nits, and uses AMOLED technology.

There’s an in-screen fingerprint scanner, but it can be a bit finicky, often requiring you to lift and replace your finger.

The rear 1.1-inch display, which is similar to the Xiaomi Mi Band 6, serves three functions. It acts as an always-on display to show the time and battery, but it turns off quickly. It’s also a viewfinder for taking photos with the rear cameras, though it’s hard to see on such a small screen. Finally, it controls music, but this feature is inconsistent and can be annoying, as it’s easy to accidentally skip or pause songs when holding the phone normally or when it’s in your pocket.

Performance of Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra features a Snapdragon 888 chip and 12GB of RAM, making it powerful enough for most tasks. In our benchmark tests, it scored well at first but repeated tests showed the score dropped after a while, likely due to the phone overheating during use.

While the phone handles regular tasks fine, the heat buildup may cause performance issues, especially for power users who game or edit videos for long periods. However, we didn’t notice major problems when playing games like COD: Mobile or PUBG.

The phone also has dual stereo speakers, so the audio quality is great for music, movies, and calls.

Software of Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra runs Android 11 with Xiaomi’s MIUI interface, which offers lots of customization options. It looks good and lets you personalize your phone’s appearance, but MIUI can also be buggy. Issues include glitches in the swipe-down menu, duplicate notifications and random “phantom” notifications. There’s also pre-installed bloatware and a security scan pop-up that can interrupt other tasks.

We also experienced slow typing responses at times, especially in apps like Notes and WhatsApp. While some users like MIUI, others find it frustrating. If you’re tech-savvy you can install a custom OS to fix these issues.

Battery life of Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra has a 5,000mAh battery but it struggles to last a full day, especially with heavy use. With lighter use, you’ll usually have 10%-20% charge left by the end of the day but with normal use, it often drains completely. The phone’s power consumption increases when it gets hot.

Charging, however, is fast. The 67W wired charging can fully charge the phone in about 30 minutes, and it also supports 67W wireless charging, which is the fastest for a phone. But the large camera bump makes wireless charging awkward, as the phone doesn’t sit flat. There’s also 10W reverse wireless charging to power other devices like watches or earbuds.

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Pros and Cons of Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra

Pros	Cons
+ 📸 Great cameras	– 🔥 Overheating
+ ⚡ Fast charging	– 📷 Big camera bump
+ 🌟 Nice display	– 💰 Expensive
+ 🚀 Strong performance	– 🐞 MIUI bugs
+ 🔋 Wireless charging support	– 📏 Bulky design

Conclusion

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra has great features like fantastic cameras, a powerful processor and a good screen. However, its huge camera bump and rear display, which doesn’t add much, make the phone awkward to use. The bump often gets in the way and at such a high price, it’s hard to recommend the phone despite its strong specs.

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