Xiaomi’s global Mi 11 has a Snapdragon 888 for €749

Xiaomi is announcing the international version of its Mi 11 flagship phone today after an earlier release in China. No wild waterfall displays or sci-fi wireless charging here — this device is very much in keeping with the Mi series’ MO of offering high specs at a competitive price.

The Mi 11 has a Snapdragon 888 processor, making it the first phone to launch with Qualcomm’s latest high-end chip (though Samsung’s Galaxy S21 series beat it to market outside China). The 888 has 5G connectivity built in, of course, and the phone has 8GB of RAM and 128GB or 256GB of storage.

The screen appears to be the same panel — or very similar — to what’s found in the Galaxy S21 Ultra. It’s a slightly curved 6.8-inch 1440p OLED with a refresh rate of 120Hz and peak brightness of 1,500 nits, matching Samsung’s phone spec-for-spec. I don’t have the S21 Ultra to compare side-by-side, but I can tell you that the Mi 11’s screen is extremely good.

The Mi 11 has a 108-megapixel primary camera backed by a 13-megapixel ultrawide and a 5-megapixel “telemacro” camera. The selfie camera is 20 megapixels and tucked inside a small holepunch cutout at the top left of the screen.

The battery is 4,600mAh and can be charged at up to 55W with a cable and up to 50W wirelessly. The Mi 11 also features reverse wireless charging at up to 10W. It runs MIUI 12, based on Android 11.

Xiaomi hasn’t provided a full list of regions or launch dates just yet, but says the Mi 11 will be priced at €749 (~$900) for the 8GB/128GB model. XDA Developers notes the 8GB/256GB model will retail for €799 (~$960). Stay tuned for a full review.