Xiaomi Mi series have improved with great innovations in the last 5 years. Mi models with current design trends and the best hardware of their era have undergone a number of differences over time. Today, Xiaomi’s main models promise users a unique experience. Let’s take a look at all the flagship Xiaomi models that have been introduced since 2018.
Table of Contents
Beginning of Xiaomi Mi Series Evolution | Mi 8
With the Xiaomi Mi 8, a major change in design has begun in Xiaomi’s flagship models. The design lines of the previous model, the Mi 6, were quite ordinary. the 16:9 screen no longer satisfied the users. The Xiaomi Mi 8 had a dual camera setup positioned upright on the back, offering an unbeatable experience with a much larger screen compared to its predecessor. The Xiaomi Mi 8’s screen is 6.21 inches, growing 1.06 inches relative to the Mi 6. It is also Xiaomi’s first flagship model with a notch. The front and back design of the Mi 8 was largely similar to the iPhone X.
Xiaomi Mi 8 has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset. RAM/Storage options have big differences compared to Mi 6. The Xiaomi Mi 8 is available in 4 variants, including 6/64, 6/128, 8/128 and 6/256 GB. The Mi 6 has 4/64, 6/64 and 6/128 GB of RAM/storage options. With the new model, the RAM upper limit in the variants reached 8 GB and the storage upper limit reached 256 GB.
The Mi 8 is quite similar to its predecessor when it comes to battery and charging speed. The battery capacity is only 50 mAh higher than the Mi 6’s 3350 mAh battery. It does not have any novelty in charging power, it charges with 18W.
Xiaomi Mi 9 | First model to use under-display fingerprint scanner
The Xiaomi Mi 9 was introduced in February 2019 and went on sale 1 months later. This model has a much longer screen, better camera setup and better material quality than the Mi 8. The 6.39-inch FHD Super AMOLED display with a 19:5:9 ratio adopted the water drop notch form instead of the large notch on the Mi 8. The rear side has more oval edges and the number of rear cameras has been increased to three.
The camera resolution increased by 4 times to 48 MP. Using the Sony IMX 586 camera sensor, the Mi 9’s day and night shooting performance is much better than its predecessor. This model comes with an ultrawide camera sensor. The new camera sensor allowed you to shoot wide-angle shots of 117 degrees. There were no improvements to the telephoto camera sensor. On the hardware side, the Xiaomi Mi 9 is powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 platform.
The biggest difference of this chipset from Snapdragon 845 was that it was switched to 7nm and offered much higher graphics performance. This model, introduced by Xiaomi in 2019, has 5 different RAM / storage options: 6/64, 8/64, 6/128, 8/128, 8/256 GB. The battery capacity is 3300mAh, down 100mAh from its predecessor. However, this model charges much faster than the Mi 8. Mi 8’s 18W charging power has been replaced by 27W. In addition, the wireless charging feature started to be used with the Mi 9 series. Xiaomi Mi 9 supports 20W wireless charging.
Xiaomi Mi 10 & Mi 10 Pro | More elegant than predecessor
With the Xiaomi Mi 10 series introduced in 2020, the global sale of Pro models started. Xiaomi Mi 9 has a Pro model, but it was only sold in China. Xiaomi Mi 10 is a model that successfully covers the shortcomings of Mi 9. The screen reached 6.67 inches with Mi 10 and switched to curved design. The notch form was replaced by a hole. Moreover, the High refresh rate was offered for the first time with the Mi 10 series. The device with a 90Hz refresh rate is much smoother than the previous model.
The number of rear cameras increased to 4 with the Mi 10 series. Mi 9 has a telephoto sensor while Mi 10 does not. The resolution of the main camera has increased from 48MP to 108MP. In addition, the performance of wide-angle shots has been improved and macro shots are possible with the new sensor.
With the Mi 10 series, there has been a big increase in video quality. With the support of OIS, the shakes in video recordings have been greatly reduced and the maximum resolution has been increased to 8K.
On the battery side, after the Mi 9 with a low battery with a capacity of 3300mAh, the large 4780mAh battery of the Mi 10 attracted great attention from users. The charging power has increased to 30W both wired and wirelessly. In addition, the 5W reverse charging function has been added. Using the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 platform, the Mi 10 family got 5G support with this chipset. Mi 10 model has 8/128 GB, 6/256, 8/256 and 12/256 GB RAM/storage options while Mi 10 Pro has 8/256, 12/256 and 12/512 GB variants.
The Mi 10 Pro and Mi 10 are quite similar models, but the camera setup of the Mi 10 Pro is much more advanced. Mi 10 Pro has two telephoto sensors instead of macro and depth sensors. Mi 10 Pro’s first telephoto sensor has 3.7x optical zoom and 5x hybrid zoom capabilities, while the second telephoto sensor can do up to 2x optical zoom.
Xiaomi Mi 11 & Mi 11 Pro
The Xiaomi Mi 11 family, introduced in January, has much simpler and more elegant design lines compared to the previous generation. The new models are much thinner and have a higher screen-to-body ratio compared to the Mi 10 family. Mi 11 and Mi 11 Pro are equipped with 6.81 inches AMOLED display with 120Hz refresh rate and HDR10+ support. Mi 11 Pro also supports Dolby Vision feature compared to the standard model. The screen resolution has been upgraded FHD to QHD.
On the hardware side, these models using the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 5G platform are powered by the Adreno 660 graphics unit and use the UFS 3.1 storage standard. Mi 11 has 6/128, 8/128, 8/256 and 12/256 variants while Mi 11 Pro lacks 6/128 GB variant.
With the Mi 11 series, the triple rear camera setup was started again. The standard Mi 11 model has a 108MP OIS-supported main camera, a 13MP resolution 123-degree ultrawide secondary camera and a 5MP macro camera sensor. On the other hand, The Xiaomi Mi 11 Pro features a main camera sensor with 50MP resolution, an OIS-supported 8MP periscope telephoto camera sensor and an ultrawide camera sensor with 13MP resolution.
The front camera has a resolution of 20MP, since the Mi 9 series, but with this series, 60FPS video recording at 1080p was offered with the front camera. On the battery and charging side, there are big differences compared to the previous model. The standard Mi 11 has a 4600mAh battery and supports 55W fast charging. The Mi 11 Pro has a 5000mAh battery and supports 67W wired/wireless fast charging. Additionally, both models feature 10W reverse charging.
Xiaomi 12 & Xiaomi 12 Pro
The standard member of the Xiaomi 12 family, is inspired by the compact size of the Mi 9. After the giant models, small design form started to be adopted again with this series. Xiaomi 12 has a 6.28-inch FHD AMOLED display. The display supports a 120 Hz refresh rate, and features HDR10+ and Dolby Vision. The screen brightness reaches peak 1100 nits. The Xiaomi 12 Pro has a 6.73-inch QHD LTPO AMOLED display. The Pro model can reach peak brightness up to 1500 nits.
The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 chipset used in Xiaomi 12 models has big differences compared to previous chips. The Snapdragon 8 Gen 1 has been upgraded to ArmV9. The new architecture is faster and more efficient than the ARMv8. Future Android versions and applications will be developed according to the ArmV9 architecture, the Xiaomi 12 series is already standing up to a new era. The Standard and Pro models also have 8/128, 8/256 and 12/256 GB RAM/storage options.
The Xiaomi 12 features a 50 MP Sony IMX707 main camera sensor with OIS support on the back. The telephoto macro camera sensor was used in this model for the first time in the world. This camera sensor features superior technology that combines optical zoom and macro photography. The last camera on the back is a 123-degree ultrawide camera sensor.
The Xiaomi 12 Pro, on the other hand, offers unique photo quality with a camera setup that is much superior to the standard model. The triple camera setup is all 50 MP resolution. In addition to the main camera with OIS support, there is a high-quality telephoto camera sensor and a 115-degree ultrawide camera sensor. The Xiaomi 12 Pro can zoom up to 2x optical. With the Xiaomi 12 series, the front camera has been improved.
Selfie camera resolution increased from 20 MP to 32 MP. On the battery and charging side, the standard model has a 4500 mAh battery. Supports 67W wired and 50W wireless fast charging. The Xiaomi 12 battery reaches 100% in 39 minutes. The Xiaomi 12 Pro has a 4600 mAh battery. On the charging side, it supports 120W fast charging wired, with the battery reaching 100% in just 18 minutes.
Xiaomi 13 & Xiaomi 13 Pro
The Xiaomi 13 series went on sale globally with the MWC 2023. Free from the problems of the Snapdragon 8 Gen 1, the Xiaomi 13 series, which uses the new Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 with much higher performance, is the best in its class. In addition to the 8/128, 8/256 and 12/256GB variants, the 12/512GB variant is now available. The 128GB variants use UFS 3.1, while the 256 and 512GB variants use UFS 4.0 technology.
The Xiaomi 13 is equipped with a 6.36-inch 120 Hz AMOLED panel and can reach a peak brightness of 1900 nits. The Xiaomi 13 Pro has a 6.73-inch 120Hz LTPO AMOLED panel. Both models support Dolby Vision and HDR10+. The biggest difference of the Xiaomi 13 series from the 12 series is that the camera lenses are now being developed in collaboration with Leica. The standard model comes with a 50+10+12MP camera setup, while the Pro model has a 50.3+50+50MP camera setup.
Standard and Pro models have optical zoom capavbility of up to 3.2x. On the battery and charging side, the Xiaomi 13 has the same features as its predecessor, the Xiaomi 12. The Pro model is equipped with a 4820 mAh capacity battery, which is 220 mAh higher than the 4600 mAh battery of the Xiaomi 12 Pro. On the charging side, it supports 120W wired and 50W wireless fast charging. Xiaomi 13 detailed review shows other things.
Conclusion
Xiaomi’s flagship models, which are sold globally, have undergone major changes in 5 years. It is clear that the deficiencies in the past devices have been eliminated with the Xiaomi 13 series. How do you like the development of Xiaomi’s flagship devices? Don’t forget to mention it in the comments.
