Value for money: What are the best Xiaomi smartphones?

1

Xiaomi 14 Ultra

6.73" AMOLED screen, 2K resolution (3200 x 1440), brightness up to 3000 nits, 120Hz refresh rate, support for Dolby Vision, HDR10` and HDR Vivid. 4nm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 processor, LPDDR5X RAM, UFS storage 4.0. 5300 mAh battery, 90W fast charging, 80W wireless charging and 10W reversible charging. Four cameras with SONY LYT-900 main sensor, with variable aperture and 8-lens optical stabilizer. 50MP, 75mm SONY IMX858 telephoto lens with OIS, SONY IMX858 50MP 120mm telephoto lens with OIS, SONY IMX858 122º wide angle. All cameras have support for Ultra RAW. Dual 5G, USB 3.2 Gen 2, WiFi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, Hi-Res stereo speaker, Dual GPS , IP68 certification, on-screen fingerprint reader, infrared sensor.

Premium
2

Xiaomi 13 Ultra

Professional camera system with IMX989 Leica 8-element lens with variable aperture, 50MP sensor in its 4 cameras, with HyperOIS. 32 MP front camera 6.73" WQHD AMOLED screen with 120Hz refresh rate. Dolby Atmos stereo speakers. Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor. 5000 mAh battery with 90W fast charge and 50W Qi. IP68.

3

Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra

Unprecedented technology. 6.81" 2K AMOLED screen at 120Hz, triple 50MP camera with 5x optical and 120x digital zoom, 5000mAh battery with 67W fast charge, Wi-Fi 6, BT 5.2, 5G, NFC, IP68, ceramic body.

4

Xiaomi 13 Pro

Professional camera system with 8-element Leica lens with 50MP sensor in its 3 cameras, with HyperOIS. 6.73" WQHD AMOLED screen with 120Hz refresh rate. Dolby Atmos stereo speakers. Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor. 4820 mAh battery with 120W. IP68.

5

Xiaomi 13

Professional camera system with Leica lens with 50MP main sensor with HyperOIS. 6.36" E6 AMOLED screen with 120Hz refresh rate. Dolby Atmos stereo speakers. Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor. 4500 mAh battery with 67W. IP68.

6

Xiaomi 12T Pro

Premium phone with a professional-level photographic section. 200 MP camera, 6.67\" AMOLED FHD screen with 120 Hz and its 5,000 mAh battery with 120W charge. Snapdragon 8 Gen 1.

7

Xiaomi 12 Pro

Great design with a state of the art camera system. 8 256GB smartphone, 6.73” 120Hz AMOLED screen, Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, triple 50MP camera, 4600mAh, 120W Xiaomi HyperCharge

8

Xiaomi 12

Premium phone in a compact body. 6.28\" 120Hz AMOLED screen, Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, 4500mAh battery, NFC, 8 256GB

9

Xiaomi 12T

Younger brother of the 12T Pro with the latest from Mediatek. 6.67″ AMOLED screen at 120 Hz, 108MP main sensor, 5000 mAh and 120W fast charge, MediaTek Dimensity 8100 Ultra, 5G, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.3 and NFC.

10

Xiaomi 11T Pro

Professional camera with 120W ultra-fast charging. 6.67\" FullHD AMOLED screen, Snapdragon 888, supports up to 12GB of RAM, triple rear camera with 108MP. 5000 mAh battery with 120W fast charge.

11

Xiaomi 12X

High end without wireless charging. 6.28\"FHD DotDisplay at 120Hz, 8 128GB/8 256GB Snapdragon 870, 50MP camera, NFC, 5G.

12

Xiaomi 11T

Professional camera and great performance. 6.67\" FHD 120Hz AMOLED screen, Mediatek Dimesity 1200, 108MP main sensor, 5000mAh and 67W super fast charge, 5G, WiFi 6, NFC.

13

Xiaomi 12 Lite

A phone with style. 6.55\" AMOLED FullHD screen, Snapdragon 778G, triple rear camera with 108MP main sensor and 4300mAh battery with 67W fast charge.

Since its birth in 2010, the brand Xiaomi has been breaking the patterns of the mobile industry with its proposal of devices with excellent features at a fair price.

To achieve this, its founder, Lei Jun, opted for a very aggressive pricing strategy: selling smartphones practically at cost price. This way users could have access to cellphones with a performance comparable to that of a Samsung Galaxy S or an Apple iPhone, but paying much less.

One of the best examples of this achievement was in 2013 with the Xiaomi Mi 2S model, whose acceptance in China was such that its sales were above the most important cellphones of the moment: the Galaxy S4 and the iPhone 5. Since then, the best Xiaomi phones have put the brand in the top 5 of sales in its country of origin.

How to choose the best Xiaomi cellphone?

It’s important to make it clear that the best high-end Xiaomi phone isn't always the right device for everyone.

As a user, the first thing you should do is answer a simple question: What are you going to use the phone for? Your decision depends on that.

You should choose the phone thinking about whether you only use social networks; if you want to play, if you want to watch content, or if your activities and routine need a large capacity battery.

Here's a list of what to consider when selecting the best Xiaomi for your needs.

Display

Currently, Xiaomi has two technologies for its displays: IPS LCD and AMOLED. These have different features and meet specific user needs.

IPS LCD screens are more accessible and can be found in low-end and mid-range phones. Among the advantages that this type of panel offers is its good viewing angles and, depending on the category, you can find HD+ or Full HD+ resolution. 

On the other hand, it’s worth mentioning that their energy consumption is not as efficient as that of AMOLED screens and that, in general, their color display is closer to reality. This type of panel can have certifications such as HDR and offer high refresh rates.

Meanwhile, AMOLED screens are present in the best mid-range and high-end Xiaomi phones. Due to their physical characteristics, AMOLED panels allow the creation of thinner designs. Among their most significant advantages are a display of super-vivid colors, a much more efficient use of energy, and, in some models HDR10+ and Dolby Vision certifications; additionally, they can display the DCI-P3 cinematic color gamut and reach refresh rates of over 120 Hz.

In short, if you want to play games and consume a lot of content on streaming platforms such as Netflix, Disney+, and HBO Max, among others, you should opt for a Xiaomi mobile with AMOLED type screen.

On the other hand, if you only use your cellphone to browse social networks or to communicate through messaging or phone applications, an IPS LCD panel will be more than enough.

Processor

Along with RAM, which we’ll talk about later, this is another of the most important points when choosing one of the best Xiaomi phones for you. In the same way, as with the screen, the decision depends directly on what you want to do with the device.

Currently, all processors –regardless of their range– are designed to fulfill the most common tasks that all users perform, such as surfing the Internet and social networks, taking pictures, and using messaging applications.

But if you want to go further and use your mobile for gaming, watching movies or series with better quality, or using your smartphone to create content, you should choose a mid-high-end or high-end processor.

When choosing one of the best Xiaomi mobiles, check which chipset it’s equipped with. For reference, the manufacturer Qualcomm divides its processors as follows: the 400 series (now discontinued); the 600 series were used in the low ranges, the 700 in the mid-range and in some affordable high-end phones, and the 8 series in the high-end and premium.

Mediatek, on the other hand, has the Helio series chips for low-end and mid-range phones, and the Dimensity for high-end phones.

RAM Memory

In terms of performance, the RAM is the processor's partner. The combination of these two elements determines the fluidity of the cellphone and its multitasking capacity (having several applications open at the same time and switching between them quickly).

So if you use the phone for work and productivity, you’ll need a good combination of RAM and processor. Currently, most low-end phones have a minimum of 4 GB of RAM, mid-range phones have versions of 6 GB or 8 GB and in the high-end, we can find variants of 8 GB or 12 GB.

Of course in the RAM memory section, there are also different generations. The best Xiaomi mobiles are equipped with the latest, which is LPDDR5, while mid-range and low-end models have the LPDD4 version. The former has data transfer speeds of up to 6,400 Mbps and the latter 4,200 Mbps.

ROM Memory

The ROM memory is what we know as the storage or internal memory of the cellphone. The larger its capacity, the more applications we can install and the more photos and videos we can store on the smartphone.

Of course, the more storage space a cellphone has, the higher its price will be. Fortunately, there are many applications and services that offer free cloud storage to back up your smartphone's multimedia content. Google, for example, provides 15 GB of space just by having a Gmail account.

Most brands, including Xiaomi, offer different versions of their phones with different storage capacities. In the mid-range, 128 GB is already practically standard, while in the high-end, models with up to 256 GB or 512 GB of capacity can be found.

Generally, the versions with the largest storage capacity are also the ones with the most RAM.

Finally, it’s important to note that, in the vast majority of cases, Xiaomi doesn’t allow the installation of apps on external memory (as other brands, such as Samsung, can do). This makes the fact of how much memory the model has become very important when choosing one or the other.

Camera

Nowadays, most smartphones have cameras capable of capturing good pictures. Obviously, the better the range, the better results you will get.

The best mid-range and high-end Xiaomi mobiles are equipped with processors that have a good ISP (image signal processor), which in conjunction with the processor's capability and its artificial intelligence, capture very sharp photos, with good white balance, adequate contrasts, and an excellent level of details and textures.

Of course, the higher the range, the better the quality of the components. In the best Xiaomi mobiles you can find main camera systems composed of three or four lenses, with sensors that can even reach 200 megapixels, but going through options of 108, 64, 50, or 48 megapixels. These options include, in some models, wide-angle, ultra wide-angle, macro or even telephoto lenses, which allow you to zoom in without losing quality.

Among the most recent models that attract attention at the photographic level, there is the Xiaomi 12S Ultra (only available in China), the first of the Chinese brand that worked its camera in collaboration with the German optics manufacturer Leica.

Battery

The battery is one of the aspects that most users take into account before deciding on a new cellphone. This component has evolved a lot since we saw the first smartphones and as the use of these has taken on a more important role in our daily lives.

The development of higher-capacity batteries, and therefore longer battery life, has been one of the most important challenges for brands, which have faced the dilemma between creating thinner and lighter designs or larger, thicker, and heavier mobiles to fit a higher-capacity battery.

Currently, the most powerful batteries reach 6,000 mAh and in the case of the best Xiaomi phones you can find various capacities. For a regular user a battery with a power of between 4,000 and 5,000 mAh is more than enough to reach the end of the day without any problem.

Note that models with processors manufactured with 6 nm or 4 nm technology and AMOLED screens are usually more efficient in the use of energy. With this, the best Xiaomi phones are capable of providing up to 31 hours of autonomy on a single charge.

Fast charging

Faced with the impediment of equipping their phones with higher capacity batteries to privilege design and weight, the brands found themselves in the urgent need to improve the charging technology of their phones so that, when necessary, the user can connect the smartphone to the current just a few minutes to get a significant amount of charge.

The development of fast charging has reached such a degree that currently, the best Xiaomi mobiles have a capacity of 120 Watts, which allows their batteries of just over 4,600 mAh to go from 1% to 100% in less than 20 minutes.

It’s worth mentioning that as part of the development of fast charging technologies, brands have designed security systems that constantly monitor the state of charge while the mobile is connected to the current in order to detect drastic temperature rises and then modulate the charging power, for example. For this reason, it’s very important that you always use the charger included in the box, which generally has a microprocessor that is in constant communication with the mobile's chip to obtain this data.

Security

A few years ago, fingerprint readers were incorporated into cell phones to increase their security. This issue has become particularly relevant due to the amount of sensitive data we store on these devices, from photographs and family contacts to banking applications.

This type of technology was exclusive to high-end mobiles for a couple of years, however, nowadays, you can find it in all smartphones regardless of their category. Of course, the best Xiaomi mobiles use the most recent technology in this section: the incorporation of this sensor below the screen.

On the other hand, many Xiaomi smartphones have facial recognition. However, this system is not as complex as the one found in other brands, so our recommendation for convenience and security level is always to activate the fingerprint sensor.

Where to buy them?

AliExpress

AliExpress is one of the main online stores worldwide and is undoubtedly the best option to search for and buy mobiles online. Among its advantages is that it has an official store of the Xiaomi brand, where you can find good prices, different versions of their phones, and the tranquility of making a safe purchase.

AliExpress ships worldwide and although their delivery times depend on the region, it’s important to say that they are slower compared to other online stores. However, this is compensated by the attractive prices they offer. Not only that but AliExpress also has a money-back guarantee that the user can claim through a buyer protection program that extends for up to 75 days.

It’s worth emphasizing that within the description of each product, the store indicates the shipping service it will use and the estimated delivery date.

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