Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5g Test

TechRadar Verdict

With a sleek design, an splendid 90Hz AMOLED brandish, and a near-flagship level of performance from its Snapdragon 780G flake, the Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite is ane of the best phones available for the money. It's an extremely well balanced device, with few of the glaring compromises that ordinarily back-trail such an affordable telephone, though it faces a potent challenge from its competitors.

Pros

+
Slim, stylish blueprint
+
Decent performance
+
Capable master camera

Cons

-
Ultra-wide photographic camera not up to much
-
MIUI still a picayune too bloaty
-
Battery isn't the biggest

Two-infinitesimal review

Xiaomi has dislocated even us with the sheer number of mid-priced smartphones it'south released over the past 12 to eighteen months. The Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite, the Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 10 Pro, and the Xiaomi Poco F3 all lurk around the $400 / £300 price bespeak.

The Xiaomi Mi eleven Lite 5G might represent a small jump up in price, simply it could be the classiest mid-ranger of the lot. Well, it was for six months, until the Mi 11 Low-cal 5G NE came out. This device has a better chipset, comes in a new color, and has a few more camera modes - and that's it.

As an affordable alternative to the flagship Xiaomi Mi 11 (and the luxury yacht that is the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra), the Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite is meant to reflect the line's bold 2021 blueprint refresh, equally well as gesture at some of its technical advancements, but for a far more pocket-friendly price tag.

Information technology manages to do just that with a sleek design that's as skinny as it is light. It might have a plastic frame, but the Mi 11 Lite 5G'southward glass dorsum looks and feels reassuringly expensive.

We're likewise impressed at how fast the Xiaomi xi Lite 5G proves to exist. Past using a new Snapdragon 780G chip, the phone approaches 2020 flagship levels of speed. Mobile gamers on a budget will want to have note.

While a 90Hz display might seem like yesterday'due south specs, closer inspection reveals the Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G to have a splendidly vibrant AMOLED panel. It comfortably outdoes entry-level 120Hz displays.

The Mi 11 Light 5G'due south camera system doesn't perform any Pixel-like miracles, only it is led by a capable 64MP main sensor. Xiaomi's smart image processing ensures bright, balanced shots in expert lighting, and passable nighttime shots. Information technology'due south a shame the 8MP ultra-wide is so mediocre, though.

Elsewhere, the Mi 11 Lite 5G's stamina is solid rather than spectacular, while MIUI continues to print with its customization options and frustrate with its bloat.

Overall, the Xiaomi Mi 11 Light 5G is a pregnant step forwards from the Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite and Xiaomi Mi 10T Low-cal in three key areas: operation, design, and brandish. This automatically makes information technology ane of the best phones available at the cost.

Xiaomi Mi eleven Lite 5G price and release date

Announced March 29, 2021, released April 16
Only out in the Great britain - unlikely to come to The states or Commonwealth of australia
Pricing £399 (roughly $550 / AU$755)

The Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G was appear on March 29, 2021, and information technology landed in UK shops in Apr afterwards a off-white caste of delay and uncertainty.

It costs £399 (around $550 / AU$755) for the sole model, which gives you 8GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage.

This places the Xiaomi Mi 11 Low-cal 5G into direct competition with the OnePlus Nord range, also as the Pixel 5a / Pixel 4a, the Samsung Milky way A52 5G, and even Xiaomi's own Poco F3. It's a competitive field alright.

Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G — (Image credit: TechRadar)

Design

Shiny plastic rim and bold, visually appealing glass rear
Extremely thin and low-cal at 6.8mm/159g

The Xiaomi Mi xi Lite 5G'due south blueprint is a considerable improvement over the generic Xiaomi Mi 10 Lite, while information technology wisely keeps a couple of the bolder elements of the Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite.

Xiaomi has smartly done abroad with the dated teardrop selfie camera of the Mi 10 Lite, and has shifted its punch-hole alternative over to the left hand corner, similar the full-fat Xiaomi Mi 11. The surrounding bezels are fairly minimal, albeit slightly thicker around the chin, which is a telltale sign of a more than affordable telephone.

Another indicator of the telephone'southward lower price tag is the thick blackness plastic buffer between the flat screen glass and the shiny plastic rim. The latter seems like less of a compromise than ever, given that even so-called flagship phones such every bit the Samsung Galaxy S21 and the OnePlus 9 are rediscovering the cost-cutting joys of plastic.

It'southward when y'all flip the phone onto its front that the Xiaomi Mi 11 Calorie-free 5G actually makes its statement though. The satin-finish drinking glass rear, assuming colors (our Mint Green model looks suitably fresh), subtle withal reflective logo, and distinctive photographic camera module await and experience like they vest to a much more expensive phone.

This is a seriously piece of cake phone to live with too. At just 6.8mm thick and weighing a scant 159g, it's blissfully unassuming when sabbatum in a trouser pocket. Don't get us incorrect, it's not a truly minor phone similar the iPhone 12 mini. Yous're still getting a large 6.55-inch display, and the total-sized footprint that entails. But information technology feels like sugariness relief after the heft of the Xiaomi Mi 10T Low-cal.

Like that latter phone y'all'll take to have a fingerprint sensor embedded in the power push button on the right manus edge. It's a less overtly premium option than the in-brandish solutions ordinarily favored for flagship and mid-range phones, only to this writer'south mind it'southward preferable to the rear-mounted budget alternative. You can admission the phone without picking it upwards, for one thing.

Xiaomi'due south implementation is suitably fast and reliable, even if nosotros prefer the recessed button of the Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite and Sony'south Xperia range.

Display

six.55-inch 1080 x 2400 AMOLED screen
90Hz refresh rate
800 nits peak effulgence, 500 nits typical

The Xiaomi Mi xi Lite 5G packs a 6.55-inch display with a 1080 x 2400 resolution and a 90Hz refresh charge per unit.

That'due south smaller and technically less fluid than the Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite before it (which was half dozen.67-inches and 120Hz), non to mention the much cheaper Poco X3 NFC. But the Mi 11 Lite has the added benefit of existence an AMOLED panel. And not just any AMOLED, only one with 10-scrap colour depth back up, which is capable of outputting 1.07 billion colors (64 times more than its predecessor).

You also get the usual AMOLED benefit of being able to output true blacks, which really comes into its ain with the ever-on display and subtle edge notification lighting animations.

On residuum, nosotros'd have this more comprehensive combination over the seemingly faster LCD culling. 90Hz is still plenty smoothen enough, and you won't even notice the shortfall unless you have a 120Hz phone to hand for a directly comparison. In fact, side past side, we found the Mi 11 Calorie-free's display to feel more responsive than the 10T Lite'south, at least in part thank you to its 240Hz impact sampling rate.

A top brightness of 800 nits tells you that this isn't a pinnacle level OLED (you can almost double that with the Samsung Milky way S21 Ultra), but a typical brightness of 500 nits makes for comfortable viewing. Information technology'southward ready for HDR10+ content besides.

This is a dead apartment brandish, which again hints towards a lower price tag, just it does do good from Corning Gorilla Glass vi for extra toughness. Some considerably more expensive phones, similar the Oppo Observe X3 Neo, are however using Gorilla Glass v.

Camera

64MP main sensor takes practiced shots in daylight
8MP ultra-broad is pretty bad
2x zoom shots ingather in, but look quite adept
Nighttime way a mixed bag compared to predecessor

The Xiaomi Mi 11 Calorie-free 5G has a triple photographic camera setup on the dorsum, which is one fewer than both the Xiaomi Mi ten Calorie-free and the Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite earlier it.

Not that we're lament - in both cases, two of those were nigh-on useless depth and macro sensors. Here you just have the single 5MP macro sensor to ignore.

Your primary attending will be on the 1/i.97-inch 64MP broad sensor, which features an f/i.79 aperture and a 6-element lens system. By default, this captures 16MP shots through using a 4-in-1 pixel binning technique.

These shots can await cracking in good lighting. On a couple of sunny spring days, we were able to capture some genuinely striking shots of flowers bursting with vibrant color, with that broad discontinuity yielding buckets of natural bokeh.

Xiaomi's AI assistant more often than not does well at picking out the appropriate scene contour, and the color balance - while on the punchier side of natural - rarely rings imitation. The visitor'south image processing game is stiff.

The 8MP 1/iv-inch ultra-wide sensor really isn't up to anything like the aforementioned standard, whether yous're talking virtually detail levels or color balance. Shots taken with this secondary sensor tend to wait murky and distinctly lacking in particular, with bags of mushy dissonance towards the edges.

Whatsoever zoom you apply will be entirely cropped from that principal sensor, with no dedicated telephoto lens to speak of. 2x shots actually expect pretty expert here, however, cheers to the affluence of pixels at its disposal.

At that place'southward a portrait mode, but it's not the most convincing example we've ever used. The defocused background effect looks ever so slightly weird, almost like a painting, and our subjects failed to popular like they practice on more expensive phones.

Xiaomi's 20MP selfie camera isn't too bad, however, with a fair amount of detail in adept lighting.

Nighttime way is a bit of a mixed pocketbook here. We're not expecting corking results from an affordable phone, but when nosotros took a handful of identical depression calorie-free shots on the Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G and the Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite, we often preferred the cooler results of the latter. The Mi 11 Lite'due south shots looked sickly xanthous by comparing.

Still, the darkest - and thus most challenging - shot of the bunch was much brighter and better exposed on the Mi 11 Lite. Make of that what you will.

The phone's video offer is pretty stiff for an affordable telephone, with 4K at 30fps or 1080p at upwardly to 120fps. The 4K footage we took looked nice and stable, with electronic paradigm stabilization (EIS) readily applied, dissimilar on the Mi 10T Calorie-free.

Camera samples

Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G camera sample — Xiaomi's prototype processing renders both flowers and sky well. (Prototype credit: TechRadar )

Specs and functioning

Snapdragon 780G approaches 2020 flagship levels of functioning
Together with stereo speakers, it's a peachy affordable gaming phone

The Xiaomi Mi eleven Lite 5G uses a higher grade of processor than the plain Mi eleven Lite that'due south bachelor in some territories.

Where the 4G-but model uses a Snapdragon 732G like the Poco X3 NFC, this 5G model that we're testing adopts the new Snapdragon 780G. Despite what the name might suggest to you, this is a considerably more capable chip that's been built using the same processing engineering science and architecture as the flagship Snapdragon 888.

It represents a huge leap over the Snapdragon 750G used by the Xiaomi Mi 10T Calorie-free as well. An average Geekbench 5 multi-core score of 2,922 for the Mi 11 Low-cal 5G absolutely trounces both the Mi 10T Lite (1,931) and the Poco X3 NFC (ane,755).

In fact, it gets impressively close to the Oppo Find X3 Neo (iii,147), which is a much more than expensive contemporary device running on the Snapdragon 865. That was the go-to flagship chip of 2020.

The only thing that makes us start to question the value proposition of the Xiaomi Mi xi Lite 5G in performance terms is when we compare it with the Poco F3, which packs the superior Snapdragon 870 (and a 120Hz display) for less money. But the difference isn't huge, and the Xiaomi wins out in other ways, such as that sleek design.

Paired with a salubrious 6 or 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM, the Snapdragon 780G supplies a fast and fluid experience. Everything here, from home screen navigation to app switching, feels shut to flagship level.

The true gap betwixt the Xiaomi xi Lite 5G's Snapdragon 780G and the flagship brigade would appear to pertain to its Adreno 642 GPU, which falls a little shy of the Adreno 650 in the Snapdragon 865 and the Snapdragon 870. A 3DMark score of 3,120 falls effectually 2,500 points short of phones running the Snapdragon 888, like the OnePlus 9 and the Xiaomi Mi 11 itself.

Still, gaming operation is strong. Even with the graphical settings cranked upwardly to max, League of Legends: Wild Rift runs at a solid 60fps, with simply the odd dip. PUBG Mobile runs well at HDR Graphics and Farthermost Frame Rate, likewise, which are the same max settings nosotros cranked the OnePlus nine to.

Talking of gaming, yous'll do good from proper stereo sound here, courtesy of a pair of speakers. You'll be able to install all your games, music, and movies onto a standard 128GB of internal storage, and there's besides a microSD menu slot for expansion purposes.

Software

Runs Android eleven with MIUI 12 on elevation
Bloated and sometimes unintuitive interface
Loads of useful customization options

The Xiaomi Mi 11 Light 5G runs MIUI 12 on superlative of Android 11, just like its big brother the Xiaomi Mi 11. And while it's notwithstanding not the about tasteful custom Android skin on the market place, it's one of the amend all-round performers.

Information technology nonetheless suffers from way likewise much bloat though. If we have to write nearly our puzzlement at the presence of Xiaomi'southward own Mi Browser alongside Google Chrome one more time… well, allow'south confront it, we're going to have to. It'south here, and information technology's but as pointless equally e'er.

Xiaomi'southward own suite of apps stretches to include its own Music, Video, Gallery, Security, and Themes provisions. You also get a Cleaner for tidying upward those retention-hogging apps and files, which is handy, though we object to being shown a full page advertisement every time nosotros do so. Those ads rear their ugly heads when installing apps, as well.

Talking of apps, the likes of Amazon Shopping, Facebook, TikTok, and LinkedIn come pre-installed as standard, whether you desire them or non. And they're all bundled into a More Apps binder through which Xiaomi also tries to push a bunch of iffy games at you lot.

Bloatware aside, MIUI has grown to become a powerful interface. The ability to split the notification pane into dual drag-down menus - i for notifications, the other for control shortcuts - is welcome, as is the fact that it'due south totally optional.

Indeed, customization is MIUI 12'south biggest asset. The Themes store is total of bespoke looks for your home screen, and some of the live 'super wallpapers' are actually rather impressive. We went with a rings of Saturn theme that seems to dive into a fresh bending every fourth dimension we unlock the phone.

This power does seem to come at the expense of clarity, however. Navigating MIUI's Settings menu can be a counter-intuitive nightmare, with sure everyday options seemingly having gone walkabout.

Wondering where the pick to alter the screen's fourth dimension-to-sleep is? Information technology'due south not in Display, where you might expect it. It'due south in the separate 'Always-on display' carte. While several other options turned out to be roughly where we expected, nosotros still somehow contrived to overlook them several times. In that location's just something fundamentally opaque about Xiaomi'due south menu pattern.

Battery life

4,250mAh battery isn't the biggest, but lasts a full twenty-four hours
33W charger arranged in

The Xiaomi Mi eleven Lite 5G comes with a 4,250mAh battery. That's non small by any ways, but it is a fair fleck more compact than the 4,820mAh Mi 10T Lite prison cell, and way less than the five,160mAh battery of the Poco X3 NFC.

Of course, the Xiaomi Mi xi Light 5G doesn't have to worry about running a flat-out 120Hz LCD display. Its 90Hz AMOLED is a far more economical component, in theory.

Thankfully the phone lasts well enough in practise, also. A lite twenty-four hour period with iii hours of screen-on time would tend to get out united states of america with a salubrious 50% still in the tank. A more intensive period with four hours of screen time dropped that amount to 35%.

Media consumption will drain that bombardment rather faster, of grade. Our usual bombardment test, which involves a 90-infinitesimal 720p looping video playing with the screen brightness cranked to the max drained 11% of a full charge. That's improve than your average 120Hz phone, merely however non exactly astonishing.

Yous go a 33W charger in box, which isn't a item stand out, simply it'south still notably better than Samsung'due south and Apple'south finest can muster. Half an 60 minutes of charging got us from 20% to 82%, which bodes well for those impromptu top-upwards situations.