Xiaomi unveiled the Redmi Note 11 series today and it is crowned by two Pro models – just don’t confuse them with the Redmi Note 11 Pro phones for China. The two global models are quite similar, they mainly differ in the choice of chipset, which decides whether they offer 5G or 4G connectivity.
The Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G picks the Snapdragon 695, a 6nm
sequel to the 690. It is paired with 6GB or 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 64GB or
128GB of UFS 2.2 storage. Note that both phones have hybrid card trays, meaning
you can put in a microSD card instead of a second SIM card.
The Redmi Note 11 Pro (4G) gets the Helio G96 chip instead.
It is fabbed on an older 12nm node and its two Cortex-A76 CPU cores are a
couple of generations behind the Snapdragon (with two A78-derived Kryos). Also,
its Mali-G57 MC2 GPU is no match for the Adreno 619. At least both models are
on par in terms of software - both will launch with MIUI 13 based on Android
11.
Chipsets (and connectivity) aside, the two phones share
almost everything else. This includes the 6.67” AMOLED display with 1080p+
resolution (20:9), 120Hz refresh rate and 360Hz touch sampling rate. The
display supports the DCI-P3 wide color gamut and has a typical brightness of
700 nits (1,200 nits peak). It is guarded by Gorilla Glass 5 while the rest of
the phone is rated IP53 for dust and splash resistance.
The main camera on the back uses the 108MP ISOCELL HM2
sensor, 1/1.52” in size with 0.7µm pixels and support for 9-in-1 binning
(2.1µm). This sensor supports zooming up to 3x natively, which comes in handy
as there is no dedicated lens. There is an 8MP ultrawide camera (118°) and a
2MP macro camera. The 4G phone also gets a 2MP depth sensor, but that's not much
to brag about.
There is a 16MP selfie camera punch holed into the AMOLED
display. As for the fingerprint reader, Xiaomi opted to mount it on the side.
Other items of interest on the sides are a 3.5mm headphone jack and dual
speakers.
Both models are powered by 5,000 mAh batteries, which
support 67W fast charging. They can go from zero to over 50% in just 15
minutes. The charger is included in the box, as is a USB-C cable. Additional
connectivity includes NFC, an IR blaster, Wi-Fi 5 (ac) and Bluetooth 5.1.
The Redmi Note 11 Pro and Note 11 Pro will become available
in February. The Pro model will start at US$ 300 for the 6/64 GB model and go up
to US$ 350 for the 8/128 GB option. The Pro 5G phone starts at US$ 330 (6/64 GB) and
goes up to US$ 380 ($8/128 GB).
For a quick comparison with last year’s models, there was no
Note 10 Pro 5G, but the Redmi Note 10 Pro has a Snapdragon 732G chipset, a
similar 6.7” 120Hz AMOLED (though with only 450 nits of typical brightness),
roughly the same camera setup and a 5,020mAh battery with 33W charging. The
Note 10 5G was a proper downgrade in terms of display (6.5” 90Hz LCD), camera
(48MP main, no ultra wide) and battery (5,000 mAh but only 18W charging). This
year the Redmi Note series won’t make you pick between a nice screen/camera and
performance/connectivity. And if you’re worried about the pricing, check out
the two non-Pro models.
