Xiaomi’s Miia Ultra is a new premium Android phone that should have phones like the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra as the OnePlus 8 Pro quacks in its boots.
This phone takes the Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro as its base when upgrading various key components, resulting in a phone with class leading specs such as 120x maximum zoom and 120W charging. While the cost and availability are uncertain for UK and US customers, the Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra could end up being one of the best phones to be released this year.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Mi 10 Ultra, including its price, release date, specs and more.
Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra specs
Screen: 6.67-inch FHD + OLED with 120Hz refresh rate
Behind cameras: 48MP main, 20MP ultra wide, 48MP 5x telephoto, 12MP 2x portrait telephoto
Front camera: 20MP
Chipset: Snapdragon 865
FRAME: 8GB / 12GB / 16GB
Storage: 128GB / 256GB / 512GB
Battery: 4,500 mAh
Charging: 120W wired, 50W wireless, 10W reverse wireless
Size: 6.39 x 2.95 x 0.37 inches (162.38 x 75.04 x 9.45 mm)
Weight: 7.8 ounces (222g)
Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra price and release date
The Mi 10 Ultra was announced on August 11 in China as part of Xiaomi’s 10th anniversary celebration. It will be available from August 16 on mainland China, but there is no news on availability yet.
We do not expect the Mi 10 Ultra to go on sale in the US, as Xiaomi has yet to sell its devices in the region. The UK gets Xiaomi phones, but it has yet to see the regular Mi 10 series go on sale. That it’s not sure when, if ever, the Mi 10 Ultra will arrive.
There are four different RAM / storage combinations to choose from: 8GB / 128GB, 8GB / 256GB, 12GB / 256GB, and 16GB / 512GB. Its prices, with its rough USD / GBP conversions, are 5,299 yuan ($ 762 / £ 584), 5,599 yuan ($ 805 / £ 617), 5,999 yuan ($ 863 / £ 661), and 6,399 yuan ($ 1,007 / £ 771) respectively.
Considering that the Mi 10 Pro already sells for € 999 ($ 1,080, £ 870) in Europe, it is likely that the real price of the Mi 10 Ultra will be significantly higher when it goes on sale. We would expect something above the $ 1,300 to 1,400 mark.
Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra design
The Mi 10 Ultra is an attractive yet fairly conventional-looking 2020 Android phone. At the front you have a punch-hole camera, embedded in the upper left corner of a full screen screen. The left and right edges of the display curve over and around the sides, which makes it look nice, even if it is not always comfortable for users, and can lead to accidental screen taps.
The back is all about the camera module. Organized in a vertical line on the left, there are four sensors and a flash module enclosed in black, while the headline 120x zoom camera also gets a silver trim to help it see.
For colors, you can choose between Obsidian Black and Mercury Silver. There is also a Transparent edition, which is a somewhat misleading name. Instead of showing the components under the back panel of the phone, Xiaomi has instead traced them on the panel, giving a more abstract look to the internal parts, such as the NFC and wireless charging coils.
Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra display
Featuring a curved 6.67-inch AMOLED panel, the Mi 10 Ultra shares almost identical specs to the Mi 10 Pro, at a slightly smaller size than the 6.8 to 6.9 inches of the competition’s displays. Where it differs is that it gets a refresh rate of 120Hz, above the 90Hz of the Pro, a small vertical resolution increase and HDR10 + and 10-bit color for more vivid display of videos and such.
The 1080 x 2400 resolution means that the Mi 10 Ultra is still an FHD + phone, instead of the 4K displays seen on the S20 series, Note 20 Ultra and OnePlus 8 Pro. Since 4K plus 120Hz equals a short battery life, users may understand Xiaomi to go all out with the screen to allow the phone to last longer between attempts of the charging cable.
Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra camera
By going down the camera specifications, it may seem like the Mi 10 Ultras had a downgrade. It uses a 48MP sensor in its main camera, instead of the 108MP sensor of the Mi 10 Pro. While this gives a paperback disadvantage to the lower spec model, such as Samsung’s Galaxy S20 Ultra and Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, Xiaomi claims that the “four-in-one Super Pixel” pixel-binding tech in this camera will lead to excellent performance with low light. Besides, the enormous 108MP cameras have proven difficult to use on phones in the past, so going to 48MP is probably a more stable bet.
The Mi 10 Ultra’s 20MP ultra wide and 12MP 2x zoom portrait cameras are the same as those used on the Mi 10 Pro. The big difference is the new 48MP 5x zoom camera, which can apparently reach 120x maximum magnification. That’s a whopping 20% more than the 100x Space Zoom on the Galaxy S20 Ultra, the previous champion of smartphone zoom tech.
To convince potential customers of the quality of the sensors, Xiaomi gave a handset to DXOMark phone camera reviewers for evaluation, where it scored a chart-topping 130 points and beat the Huawei P40 Pro. DXOMark is not yet in a position to control the Note 20 Ultra, which we expect would do well. But nonetheless, it is an impressive achievement.
Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra specs
For its chipset, the Mi 10 Ultra uses the same Snapdragon 865 as the rest of the Mi 10 series. Xiaomi has decided not to use the Snapdragon 865 Plus, which might cost it some performance compared to newer Android flagships. Likewise, the 865-chip sub-6Ghz 5G means a given, with mmWave 5G also an option. But China is a sub-6GHz country, as India is most of the European nations where Xiaomi also sees a large number of sales.
For software, expect Xiaomi’s MIUI 12 version of Android 10. It’s not one of our preferred Android skins, as it adds so much to the top of the stock experience, but it’s still attractive to look at with a heavy focus on holding the device by running only the most essential apps.
For RAM and storage there are four options, the smallest is 8GB / 128GB and the largest is 16GB / 512GB. That hopefully means enough speed and space for whatever tasks you want the phone to use.
Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra battery
The 4,500 mAh capacity of the Mi 10 Ultra sounds like it’s the same cell of the Mi 10 Pro, but that’s not the case. The Mi 10 Ultra actually contains two cells with the same combined capacity. The reason for this is that the phone can support the new 120W Mi Turbo Charge standard, which Xiaomi claims will fill the phone in the edge in 23 minutes. That’s very fast compared to most other fast chargers around. Samsung’s 25W bricks and OnePlus’ 30W chargers are respectable, but they have nothing on this.
The head-spinning speeds don’t stop there. There is also 50W wireless charging featured on the Mi 10 Ultra, which can charge 100% in 40 minutes. The best wireless charging technology we’ve tried is OnePlus’ 30W wireless charging on the OnePlus 8 Pro, but again, Xiaomi has broken records.
Finally there is the 10W reverse wireless charging. This allows you to grab all the wireless earbuds, smartwatches or other compatible wireless charging accessories you have from the Mi 10 Ultra’s battery, which can prove a life saver in a pinch.
Xiaomi Mi 10 Ultra View
You can not respect Xiaomi otherwise for the tech it squeezes in the Mi 10 Ultra. The charging technology will be class-determining if we assume it works as promised, and the camera setting has great potential to beat the competition as well.
However, there are some visible downsides already visible. This will be a hard phone to get a grip on without having to buy an unlocked handset from an online auction site, which will probably make an expensive phone even more expensive.
Combined with Xiaomi’s decision to keep the phone’s display at an FHD resolution, and its chipset as the base Snapdragon 865, we can perhaps see that the phone is struggling compared to the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra and the upcoming OnePlus 8T. However, this is a wonderful phone to celebrate the 10 years of business, and we are envious to see how all these components work together in real life when we test it.
