First Impressions: Xiaomi 11T Pro

Xiaomi recently unveiled its latest smartphone and successor to 2020’s Mi 10T Pro – the Xiaomi 11T Pro. 

The mid-range phone was announced alongside the standard Xiaomi 11T and the lightweight, colourful Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE. The key features that separate the 11T Pro from the 11T are the Pro’s faster charging, more advanced chipset and the addition of Harman Kardon sound. 

The three phones are among the first Xiaomi handsets to launch since the company announced that it would be dropping its “Mi” branding in August of this year. 

I got the opportunity to try out the phone in person at Xiaomi’s launch event in London. Here are my initial thoughts on the Xiaomi 11T Pro.

Design and display 

The Xiaomi 11T Pro is a slim smartphone that comes in three colours: Meteorite Gray, Moonlight White and the more iridescent Celestial Blue. I got my hands on Meteorite Gray – a grey/black shade with an almost mirror-like shine to it ideal for anyone looking for a sleek, neutral option. 

While the rear of the phone looks nice, it also seems to be prone to fingerprint smudges so I wouldn’t recommend you use it without a case if that’s something that will bother you. 

The phone is also lightweight, though not as much so as the regular 11T or the feather light 11 Lite 5G NE. 

The screen is a 6.67-inch flat AMOLED display with support for TrueColor and a peak brightness of 100 nits. I found the screen to be sharp and vibrant and HD video looks great viewed on it. 

The display includes support for Dolby Vision, while the dual speakers are tuned by Harman Kardon and take advantage of Dolby Atmos. 

The display also features a 120Hz AdaptiveSync refresh rate and a 480Hz touch sampling rate. While it’s difficult to test the faster touch sampling rate without playing a game, the 120Hz refresh rate makes scrolling feel incredibly smooth when compared with the same display running at 60Hz. 

While you can switch between the two refresh rates manually, the addition of AdaptiveSync means the phone will also lower the refresh rate automatically when it isn’t needed to save battery. 

Performance and battery 

One of the specs that sets the 11T Pro apart from the 11T is its Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 chipset, which should offer fast performance, better battery life and advanced photography features. 

It’s difficult to determine how well the phone performs from a hands on, but in my short time with the phone it seemed snappy and responsive. 

The phone is available in 8GB/128GB, 8GB/256GB and 12GB/256GB configurations and includes support for 5G, Bluetooth 5.2 and Wi-Fi 6. 

Battery life is also tough to gauge at a glance, though according to the Xiaomi expert I spoke to, the 5000mAh battery should last you around one day. 

Of course, this all seems less crucial with 120W HyperCharge on board. Xiaomi claims the advanced fast charging tech can juice up the 11T Pro from 0% to 72% in 10 minutes and from 0% to 100% in just 17. 

However, that’s only if you use the USB Type-C port as wireless charging is actually not supported on this phone. 

Camera 

The 11T Pro features three cameras on its rear – a 108-megapixel (f/1.75) wide angle lens, an 8-megapixel (f/2.2) 120-degree ultra-wide angle lens and a 5-megapixel (f/2.4) 2X telemacro lens for capturing detail up close. 

The main camera is capable of taking photos that are clear and detailed, but I found the images to be a little sharper and the colours not as vibrant as I’d like. This could be down to the lighting in the building I was in however, so I’d want to test the camera in natural lighting, too. 

The 108-megapixel mode proved handy for capturing detail, allowing you to zoom in and crop images down without losing anything important. The results are clear, but do feel a little over-sharpened and less natural up close. 

The telemacro lens is particularly impressive, allowing you to get very close to your subject and pulling intricate patterns out of fabrics and different textured surfaces. 

The 11T Pro can also record 4K HDR10+ video in over one billion colours, according to Xiaomi, with one interesting feature being Audio Zoom. This cranks up the volume of your video as you close in on your subject. 

That isn’t even to mention the built-in Vlog mode or the Movie Effects which range from an Inception-inspired reflection effect to the ability to clone yourself two or three times in one video without downloading any additional apps or editing software.