Today, the entire history of Xiaomi smartphones is divided into two eras: before and after Mi 11 Ultra. For the first time in its history, the company presented not just «the same flagship», only cheaper than others.» To the manufacturer’s credit, during the entire presentation we never heard the phrase «flagship killer», the word awesome was never uttered, and even the same old (thanks Jobs) amazing.The new Mi 11 Ultra just doesn’t need it.Instead, Xiaomi uses the beautiful phrase «King of Android», which is more appropriate.10 years ago, the editors of gg used the phrase «king of the hill» in relation to the Galaxy SII Looks like there’s a new tech king in our Android kingdom today, and for a couple of reasons.
For nearly a decade, the agenda for the Android smartphone market has been dictated by Samsung. The first years of its competition were the flagship models of HTC. Then there was a period when the smartphone camera began to define its key advantages, and for a short period of time LG appeared on the stage in the bright spotlight with its G2 and G3 models. In 2019, Huawei seized the initiative with the P30 Pro, which put Samsung’s camera technology to the test, beating them at night and using the trump card in the form of an optical periscope zoom. Last year, due to sanctions and the loss of Google services, Huawei faded into the background (but not yet given up, as you know). Instead, other tech companies began to push the market: OPPO with its ultra-fast charging in the Reno4 Pro, vivo with its optical stabilization in the X50 Pro using an external stabilizing suspension, and even ZTE, which introduced the Axon 20 5G with an under-screen front camera. All of this has shaken Samsung’s technological position, despite its apparent success in opening up a new market for flexible-screen smartphones — the Galaxy Fold, which proved «it worked,» and the Galaxy Z Flip, which came out even more convincing for a promising segment that, will undoubtedly grow in the future.
Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra was the first smartphone from the company to use several new technologies at once, instantly bringing it to the throne of Android.
Reason one: matrix ISOCELL GN2 1/1.12 «
It’s hard to believe, but smartphone camera matrices are already approaching «full frame» — the ISOCELL GN2 matrix installed in Mi 11 Ultra has a 1 / 1.12 «form factor, approaching the cherished dimensions of 36 × 24 mm and the name fullframe. The paradox of the situation that the manufacturer of the matrix is Samsung, which does not use it (yet) in its smartphones.We can only guess about the reasons for this situation, during the presentation it was said that Xiaomi had invested $ 200 million in the development of this matrix. It would have been logical for Samsung to keep the most advanced technology for itself first, and only then sell it on the free market, but, apparently, Xiaomi had to meet halfway.
The results were not long in coming: Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra immediately topped the DxOMark rating. The size of each of the 50 million pixels is 1.4 microns. The GN2 uses Dual Pixel Pro technology for faster focusing. Each pixel is divided into two LEDs not vertically, but diagonally (whatever that means). Xiaomi did not hesitate to use a snippet of Samsung’s video explaining this technology in its presentation.
Among other things, it became available to shoot video at up to 1920 frames per second (previously the record for phone cameras was 960 frames per second). However, it is still necessary to clarify in what resolution the shooting takes place at such a speed.
Reason Two: Fast Charging in 36 Minutes (Including Wireless)
67 W charging allows you to charge your smartphone in 36 minutes. The most interesting thing is that this also applies to wireless charging (which has always been twice as slow as wired, here it was announced at 39 minutes). It remains to be seen how much this will affect battery wear, but Xiaomi is talking about using a new generation of batteries — silicon-oxygen anode batteries (silicon-oxygen anode battery).
To finish everyone off, Xiaomi has also introduced an 80W vertical wireless charging stand. However, its deliveries will be delayed for now.
Third reason: 120Hz display with Dolby Vision
Of course, you won’t surprise anyone with a resolution of 3200×1440, the Gorilla Victus coating is also already used in smartphones (the first was the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra), as well as a 120-Hz display. But Dolby Vision in smartphones was introduced for the first time. I am far from thinking that this will greatly affect the perception of the picture (at least it is hard to believe that the difference can be seen by eye), but the psychological moment with world leadership is obvious. Here you can also add a second display, which carries more image function than the utilitarian one. It doesn’t make much sense, but it makes the smartphone stand out, making it recognizable from a distance of three meters (a rule introduced by Motorola in the days when it was a leader in phone design). Ideologically, this second screen carries the same load as the second screen on the Galaxy Z Flip. That is, it displays messages when the smartphone is face down and can be used to take selfies.
The retinue of the king
In addition to Mi 11 Ultra, Xiaomi has introduced several other important innovations, you can read more in a separate news prepared by the gg team:
- Mi 11 Pro (will not be sold in our market)
- Mi 11 Lite and Mi 11 Lite 5G (prices already announced in Ukraine)
- Xiaomi Mi Smart Projector 2 Pro (prospects for its appearance are still unclear)
- Xiaomi Mi Band 6: a new version of the most popular fitness bracelet (there will be another version with NFC)
in dry balance
The smartphone market is undergoing tectonic changes, changing the landscape and forcing out the old leaders. Chinese companies are now exerting incredible pressure to control the lion’s share of the smartphone market. On the heels of Xiaomi are vivo and OPPO, as well as Huawei, which does not plan to give up. We have already seen a similar picture once, when two decades ago, the Korean dragons Samsung and LG went on a crusade (and won) against Japanese companies — primarily Sony and Panasonic (and also Toshiba, Hitachi, Sharp, etc.). Japanese companies had no chance of winning this war in the consumer market because Korean companies were more aggressive in everything — in advertising, in technology, and (perhaps most importantly) in pricing. We are already living in a decade of Chinese companies, and their pressure on the market and presence in our lives will only increase. Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra will certainly go down in history as one of the key milestones of this process.
The king is dead! Long live the king!