Xiaomi has finally announced the Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro for the global markets. The Snapdragon 865 5G powered duo was supposed to be revealed last month but it was postponed after MWC 2020 was cancelled. The international Mi 10 variants are similar to the models that were launched in China but it comes with different variant options.
Mi 10 Pro
The Mi 10 Pro features a 6.67″ AMOLED TrueColour DotDisplay that comes with a punch-hole on the top left corner. It pushes a Full HD+ resolution of 2340×1080 pixels resolution and has a contrast ratio of 5,000,000:1. It has a 90Hz refresh rate and a 180Hz touch sampling rate. Similar to its predecessor, the Mi 10 Pro also gets an in-display fingerprint sensor.
Under the hood, it runs on the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 5G platform which supports dual-band 5G and WiFi 6. For the global market, it is offered in a single variant with 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 256GB of UFS 3.0 storage.
For taking pictures, the Mi 10 Pro comes with a 108MP main camera that has a large 1/1.33″ sensor with OIS and a 20MP ultra-wide-angle lens. Similar to the Mi Note 10, there are two telephoto cameras but it uses a different sensor configuration.
There’s an 8MP telephoto camera with OIS that can do 10x hybrid zoom and up to 50x zoom in digital and a 12MP portrait lens that has 2x optical zoom. The Mi 10 Pro is also capable of shooting 8K videos at 30fps as well as 4K videos up to 60fps. For selfies, the punch-hole camera uses a 20MP sensor that can shoot videos up to 1080p
Stereo speakers are becoming very common for flagship smartphones (except for Huawei) and Xiaomi has up the ante by offering two 12mm x 16mm symmetrical speakers with Hi-Res audio certification. Xiaomi claims that the size of its speakers is larger than what you get on a Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra and on the iPhone 11 Pro Max.
With a symmetrical setup, in theory you should be getting balanced volume from both left and right channels. The Mi 10 Pro has also received the highest score for DxOMark Audio and it is one point higher than the gaming-centric Huawei Mate 20 X.
The device also gets NFC, IR Blaster but there’s no 3.5mm headphone jack. Unlike other flagships, another feature that’s missing is IP68 dust and water resistance.
Powering the Mi 10 Pro is a 4,500mAh battery that supports a powerful 50W wired charging and 30W wireless charging which can be used in reverse. According to Xiaomi, you can get a full charge on the cable in just 45 minutes.
What’s interesting is that Xiaomi is bundling a 65W charging brick in the box, which you can use to charge up your USB-C PD powered laptops. The flagship device will be shipped with MIUI 11 that’s based on Android 10.
Mi 10
The standard Mi 10 looks identical to the Mi 10 Pro but there are some differences in the camera and battery department. Upfront, you still get a similar 6.67″ AMOLED Full HD+ display with a 90Hz refresh rate and it also runs on the same class-leading Snapdragon 865 processor with 5G.
Similar to the Pro model, it also comes with 8GB of LPDDR5 RAM but you do get the option of either 128GB or 256GB of UFS 3.0 storage. The punch-hole camera on the display is also a 20MP shooter but the rear quad-camera setup is slightly different.
You still get a 108MP main camera but the ultra-wide-angle shooter uses a 13MP sensor. Unlike the Pro model, there’s no telephoto camera. Instead, the standard Mi 10 comes with a 2MP macro camera and a 2MP depth sensor.
Although it loses out in the camera department, the Mi 10 comes with a larger battery at 4,780mAh and it also supports 30W fast wireless charging. However, for wired charging, it settles for a lower 30W which is still pretty powerful for today’s standards.
The rest of the hardware features remain unchanged including NFC, infrared blaster and an asymmetrical speaker system. However, the spec-sheet states that the sound chamber is slightly smaller at 1.0cc versus the Mi 10 Pro’s 1.2cc.
Pricing and availability
In Europe, the Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro as follows:
Mi 10 Pro
8GB RAM+ 256GB storage – EUR 999 (about RM4,828)
Mi 10
8GB RAM + 128GB storage – EUR 799 (about RM3,862)
8GB RAM + 256GB storage – EUR 899 (about RM4,345)
The Mi 10 Pro comes in either Alpine White and Solstice Grey, while the standard Mi 10 is offered in either Twilight Grey or Coral Green.
At EUR 999 for the Mi 10 Pro, this is double the price of the top-spec Mi 9 (EUR 499 for 6GB RAM + 128GB) that was launched a year ago. To recap, the Mi 9 is priced at RM1,699 in Malaysia for the 6GB RAM + 64GB storage model and RM1,999 for the 6GB RAM + 128GB storage variant.
Do note that the European pricing is often more expensive and you can expect the Mi 10 series to be priced lower when it’s released in Malaysia. It is also worth pointing out that Xiaomi does offer higher-spec variants in China with up to 12GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.
If the Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro are just too expensive, there’s also a cheaper Mi 10 Lite 5G model that’s priced at EUR 349 (about RM1,687).
