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Introduction
Maybe it's time to admit that we can't keep up with the naming schemes of some manufacturers, Xiaomi included. The new Mi 10T Pro, which is the subject of this review, is quite different from its predecessor in many ways. For example, the Mi 9T Pro was just a re-brand of the Redmi K20 Pro - a very successful and sought after model. But the successor, the Mi 10T Pro, is a brand new device with little to no resemblance to its siblings.
That doesn't take away the fact that for its price, the Mi 10T Pro packs a punch. It may not strike us as the "flagship killer" the Mi 9T Pro was last year and some of this year's alternatives. Still, it definitely falls in the "mainstream" or "affordable" flagship category with premium specs and a relatively low price tag.
It packs everything you'd expect from a 2020 flagship - Snapdragon 865 SoC, 108MP main camera aided by a macro and ultra-wide although, there's no proper telephoto. However, one would argue that cropping from the 108MP main sensor would probably net better results than a cheap 2x zoom camera.
There's also a significant increase in battery capacity over the last generation jumping to 5,000 mAh and last, but not least, a high-refresh-rate display - a 144Hz one at that.
Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro 5G
- Body: 165.1x76.4x9.3mm, 218g; Glass front (Gorilla Glass 5), glass back (Gorilla Glass 5), aluminum frame.
- Display: 6.67" IPS LCD, 1080x2400px resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio, 395ppi; HDR10+, 144Hz refresh rate.
- Chipset: Qualcomm SM8250 Snapdragon 865 (7 nm+): Octa-core (1x2.84 GHz Kryo 585 & 3x2.42 GHz Kryo 585 & 4x1.80 GHz Kryo 585); Adreno 650.
- Memory: 128GB 8GB RAM, 256GB 8GB RAM; UFS 3.1.
- OS/Software: Android 10, MIUI 12.
- Rear camera: Wide (main): 108 MP, f/1.7, 26mm (wide), 1/1.33", 0.8µm, PDAF, OIS; Ultra wide angle: 13 MP, f/2.4, 123˚, 1.12µm; Macro: 5 MP, f/2.4, AF; LED flash, HDR, panorama.
- Front camera: 20 MP, f/2.2, 27mm (wide), 1/3.4", 0.8µm; HDR.
- Video capture: Rear camera: 8K@30fps, 4K@30/60fps, 1080p@30/60/120/240/960fps; gyro-EIS; Front camera: 1080p@30fps, 720p@120fps.
- Battery: 5000mAh; Fast charging 33W, Power Delivery 3.0.
- Misc: Fingerprint (side-mounted); NFC; stereo loudspeakers; IR blaster; .
That's still a controversial upgrade because some users - some of us included - would prefer an OLED panel even if that means a lower refresh rate. Also, the full-screen design had its fair share of fans.
Coming from the Mi 9T Pro, Xiaomi can probably justify the price hike with other features such as faster charging at 33W with support for Power Delivery 3.0, stereo loudspeakers, faster UFS 3.1 storage starting at 128GB instead of 64GB. On the other hand, some features like the 3.5mm audio jack and the under-display fingerprint reader will be missed dearly.
In any case, let's dive deep to see how the phone holds up in our testing and see if we can find any deal-breakers because the preliminary verdict suggests it's a solid bargain and a worthy successor to the Mi 9T Pro.
Unboxing the Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro
The handset comes in a generous package containing not only the 33W-compatible charger and the corresponding USB-A to USB-C cable but also offers a matte, Xiaomi-branded silicone case along with a USB-C to 3.5mm dongle. That's something we haven't seen in a while, so kudos to Xiaomi for including one. Maybe they feel bad for axing the audio port from the Mi 9T Pro?
One interesting thing to note here is that the provided case has antibacterial properties thanks to its silver ions. After contact, the case can eliminate 99% of the bacteria, and this is tested by TÜV SÜD PSB Products Testing (Shanghai).
Design and ergonomics
Like the hardware it offers, the Mi 10T Pro's build is nothing short of premium. Sure, it's equipped with Gorilla Glass 5 on the front and back instead of GG6 but let's not forget the price tag. The glass sheets are held together by an aluminum frame, and the color we got is called Cosmic Black but looks more like a gunmetal gray of sorts. It reminds us of the Piano Black paint job of last year's Mi 9. There are no special gradients but the surface does a mirror-like reflection, and fingerprints/smudges are quite visible.
While we are still on the back, we can't miss mentioning the humongous camera bump and a few quirks about it. The first thing you'll notice is how thick it is. It's protruding a lot, and the current design makes the main 108MP sensor look bigger than it actually is. Perhaps with the OIS module, the sensor needs a little bit more space to move around. And under the main cam, we see four more cutouts - one for the ultra-wide, one for the macro, one for the LED flash, and one that's there for aesthetic reasons only. You can say it's the fake exhaust vents of smartphones. Still, the most annoying thing about the camera module is the bump. When placed flat on its back, the phone would wobble heavily.
The back is slightly curved to provide a more comfortable and secure grip while the gap between the frame and the glass sheet is barely noticeable. No matter the curve, it's still a slippery phone, but the good news is that it doesn't feel top-heavy, quite the opposite, which in turn means that it tends to stay in your hand.
Speaking of the frame, it matches the color of the back glass perfectly. It's rounded to the sides while the top and bottom are flat. The top accommodates the IR blaster, the secondary microphone, and a small hole for the echo chamber. The bottom has the secondary speaker grille, the SIM card tray and the USB-C connector. The volume rocker and the power key, which doubles as a fingerprint reader, are placed on the right side of the frame. The power button sits in a subtle ridge, which is easy to use. We didn't have any issues with the placement. To our surprise, we can say the same for the volume rocker as well. Users with average-sized hands won't have to adjust the grip to reach it.
The display is protected by a Gorilla Glass 5 sheet. The bezels aren't the thinnest ones around, especially the chin.
We feel some may be disappointed to see the Mi 9T Pro successor with a punch-hole camera design instead of a hidden pop-up selfie camera. Sure, mechanical components that move come with their durability considerations, but the trade-off is well worth it as you get an unobstructed viewing experience.
To sum things up - the design of the phone is excellent with a good choice of materials (as far as premium feel and looks go) and the only thing that needs a bit of trimming is the camera bump on the back - figuratively and literally speaking.
One of the best LCDs, the HRR is just part of the reason
Arguably one of the best LCDs on the market. The tall 20:9 6.67-inch display with 1080 x 2400px resolution impresses with high brightness, HDR10+ support and 144Hz refresh rate. This is perhaps one of the most advanced LCD panels to step in our office mostly because of its adaptive sync support. But more on that later.
Regardless of what camp you support - HRR IPS LCD or "OLED above all", the facts are that this display here can go head to head with OLED competitors. The maximum recorded brightness is around 500 nits depending on which color mode you choose while at Max Auto, the display hit 630 nits - enough to provide comfortable viewing e xperience on a bright sunny day. So the only thing you will be missing coming from an OLED are the really deep blacks. Not to say that this LCD doesn't have high contrast and deep black levels, it's just that it's not OLED-grade. Mostly because there are some small backlight halos around the punch-hole camera in the upper-left corner of the display and around the top and bottom bezels. It can only be seen with white and bright backgrounds.
| Display test | 100% brightness | ||
| Black, |
White, |
||
| 0.432 | 512 | 1185:1 | |
| 630 | :1 | ||
| 0 | 404 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 823 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 522 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 854 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 379 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 797 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 496 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 803 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 525 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 635 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 453 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 643 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 516 | ∞ | |
| 0 | 854 | ∞ | |
The included color presets are quite a few and a bit confusing too. The default one is Auto, which is recommended, and adjusts the display's color calibration to match the surrounding environment and for obvious reasons, we didn't put that to the test because your mileage with this feature turned on may vary a lot. Anyway, the Saturated mode expectedly offers colors that are a bit over the top and blue-ish whites. The average dE2000 in this mode is 4.7. The Original color preset brings the value down to just 2.3 with whites being just a little off, again leaning towards blue.
Display settings and presets
Now the complication comes with the Advanced mode where you are allowed to choose between Enhanced, Original, P3 and sRGB. We've tested the P3 mode against the DCI-P3 color gamut and the sRGB against the sRGB color gamut. The average dE2000 at P3 is acceptable at 3.8 and the sRGB mode has similar accuracy at 3.8.
Now off to the fun part - the hertz. Xiaomi advertises adaptive refresh rate technology called Smart AdaptiveSync Display. And although this is probably not the correct term for this feature as the words "adaptive sync" would suggest more granular control over refresh rate. Still, the Mi 10T Pro has more steps than most. Depending on the content, the steps are 30, 48, 50, 60, 90 and 144Hz. We found that the software successfully detects video's frames per second and adjusts accordingly. Usually you'd see YouTube and Netflix videos running at 48-50Hz, but if you put on a 60Hz video on, the screen will adapt again. It works with local files too. Our only issue is the MEMC feature that can't be turned off. This is a feature that can be found on modern TVs. It inserts are black frame between each one so that it can boost the frame rates for added smoothness. For example, when viewing 24fps content, the screen will boost that to 48Hz. The results aren't always great and this produces a smearing effect. OnePlus did it with its OnePlus 8 Pro but also provided the option to turn that off.
We couldn't find that option on the Mi 10T Pro and we hope to see it in a future update because in our opinion, this ruins the viewing experience.
Back to the adaptive sync - the system can detect static image and animations. As soon as you stop interacting with the display, the refresh rate is adjusted to 60Hz and sometimes 50Hz and when you touch the display, it shoots back up to 144Hz or the maximum allowed depending on your settings. And yes, we checked, it works in Chrome too.
Excluding the MEMC thing, this is by far of the best, if not the best, adaptive sync solution with smart detection of the content and plenty of refresh rate steps in-between.
Last, but not least, the HDR10+ is a feature that not all streaming service platforms support but we checked and HDR10 is available on YouTube and Netflix. It's not amazing given that the backlight zones are big but it does make movies and videos look better.
Battery life
Given just the size of the battery, we were expecting excellent screen-on and off-screen runtimes. But it seems that the overall optimization of the system can get most of the 5,000 mAh battery. We mostly give credit to the fairly granular control over refresh rate, which proves to preserve the battery throughout the day. We weren't able run the web browsing test with at 144Hz as it defaults back to around 50-60Hz and, of course, there's also no point in testing the video playback time at 144Hz too.
Our battery tests were automated thanks to SmartViser, using its viSer App. The endurance rating above denotes how long a single battery charge will last you if you use the Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro for an hour each of telephony, web browsing, and video playback daily. We've established this usage pattern so that our battery results are comparable across devices in the most common day-to-day tasks. The battery testing procedure is described in detail in case you're interested in the nitty-gritty. You can check out our complete battery test table, where you can see how all of the smartphones we've tested will compare under your own typical use.
Anyway, in both tests, the device scored impressive runtimes while the standby score propelled the handset to a more than respectable overall score of 118h.
Charging
The handset comes bundled with a proprietary 33W-rated charger but the Mi 10T Pro is also compatible with the Power Delivery 3.0 standard. Thanks to the so-called MMT parallel charging, the 5,000 mAh battery topped-up in just two minutes shy of an hour, which is pretty impressive for 33W. In the first 30 minutes, however, you will be getting 61% of the charge in return.
30min charging test (from 0%)
- Realme X50 Pro 5G
95% - Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro
61% - Xiaomi Poco F2 Pro
60% - Samsung Galaxy S20 FE (25W)
57% - Xiaomi Mi 10 5G
53% - Samsung Galaxy S20 FE (15W bundled)
37%
Time to full charge (from 0%)
- Realme X50 Pro 5G
0:38h - Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro
0:58h - Xiaomi Poco F2 Pro
1:05h - Samsung Galaxy S20 FE (25W)
1:10h - Xiaomi Mi 10 5G
1:12h - Samsung Galaxy S20 FE (15W bundled)
1:35h
Speaker test
A very welcomed upgrade over the Mi 9T Pro are the speakers. The earpiece doubles as a second loudspeaker and we found it to be just as loud as the bottom-firing one. The handset produces a well-balanced audio with clear vocals but lacks fullness and bass. The maximum loudness isn't impressive but we find it sufficient.
Use the Playback controls to listen to the phone sample recordings (best use headphones). We measure the average loudness of the speakers in LUFS. A lower absolute value means a louder sound. A look at the frequency response chart will tell you how far off the ideal "0db" flat line is the reproduction of the bass, treble, and mid frequencies. You can add more phones to compare how they differ. The scores and ratings are not comparable with our older loudspeaker test. Learn more about how we test here.
Audio output quality
We've recently discontinued our audio output quality test.
The reason for that is that most phones that arrived for testing were already excellent in this regard. Whatever difference there was, it was marginal and probably indistinguishable to anything but our lab equipment.
MIUI 12 based on Android 10
Arguably the best part of having a Xiaomi phone is the MIUI. And we are not talking about the user experience as this is strongly subjective. We are talking about updates. Even the low-end and mid-range phones receive more than two major MIUI updates after its launch and most often than not, the next MIUI version is packed with most of the features that the latest Android version has. Case in point, MIUI 12 already offers a couple of features intrinsic to the Android 11 such as one time app permissions. Even though most Xiaomi phones are running MIUI 12 based on Android 10.
But enough about that as we have a lot to cover with the new version of MIUI. The first thing to notice here is the revamped notification shade or should we say, the separation of the notification shade from the quick toggles. Swiping down from the upper-left part of the notification shade will open up all the notifications while swiping from the right opens up the so-called Control Center. This functionality is straight up from iOS and we find it pretty cool. We also see this being implemented by more than one OEM. The best part is that you don't have to reach for the top bezel, the swiping action can be performed from the center anywhere on the display as long as you are on the home screen.
Control center and notification shade
We would be lying if we said it's not confusing when you start using the new Command Center but we can definitely see how this is considerably more convenient. Additionally, the notification cards can be customized to appear in a typical Android fashion or adopt the MIUI looks. The Command Center, on the other hand, is rather limited in terms of customizations. Most of the quick toggles can be re-arranged, added or removed but there are four, highlighted toggles that can't be re-arranged or customized. That's the mobile data, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and flashlight. You can't swap the flashlight for the airplane mode, for example. The Wi-Fi and Bluetooth have small triangle icons in the lower-right corner of the switch and when you tap on it, the system opens up a new dialogue where you can manage your Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connections on the fly. We find this to be really neat and useful. In any case, if you find this to be too complicated, MIUI 12 still gives you the option of using the good old notification shade.
Another noticeable difference are the transition animations, which aren't excessive or slow - quite the opposite. They give the impression of the system working super fast and smooth. The 144Hz refresh rate really does help with that too.
That's not necessarily new but we believe starting with MIUI 12, Xiaomi wants to bring the option of choosing between a simplified home screen and one with an app drawer. While not all MIUI 11-powered smartphones have the app drawer, it will probably come baked in to all MIUI 12 devices. It's hidden within the Home screen settings. And the app drawer itself is a bit different. You have the search bar at the bottom of the display so you can easily reach it and there are app categories, which can be customized, removed or added. Customization of the app drawer's background is also an option along with the scroll bar, which can be default or A-Z type of scroll bar.
Home screen, recent apps, app drawer
Since the display is LCD, the Always-on display feature isn't available and even though you won't benefit from the dark system theme, you might like the black aesthetics of it more and also ease some of the strain on your eyes when using the phone at night.
While we are still on the display settings, the available refresh rate options are 60, 90 and 144Hz, with the latter consuming the most energy. There's also a pretty useful toggle called Sunlight mode in the Brightness level sub-menu, which can boost the display's brightness even if the brightness control has been set to manual. A strong light source or very bright environment is required to trigger the feature.
Display settings
A few words about the haptic feedback - it's nothing short of amazing. The haptic engine inside is very precise and strong if it needs to be. There's a slider in the Sound and vibration settings menu that gives you granular control over how strong you want it to be. Subtle and pleasant vibrations give you tactile feedback when you perform a gesture or interact with certain UI elements in the system. So kudos to Xiaomi for not cheaping out with an inferior vibration motor on this rather affordable flagship.
Setting up the fingerprint reader is simple and fast while the fingerprint reader itself is really accurate and snappy. You can even set it up to unlock the phone with a touch or a press of the button. Going for the last option is advisable because we often find ourselves with accidentally locked smartphones from all the accidental touches of the side fingerprint when handling the device. It's a bit annoying and that's the biggest downside of the side-mounted fingerprint scanners.
Fingerprint reader settings
The battery settings menu has been enhanced with a couple of new features. For instance, the Ultra battery saver mode will restrict pretty much everything on the phone, including the energy-sipping 5G connectivity. Only the cellular and network connections won't be affected. The phone enters into a simplified mode that allows you to use only a couple of apps of your choice. Animations are disabled and almost all of the phone's features too.
Battery settings
More granular control over apps is also a thing on MIUI 12. Each app can be set to always run in the background, let the system decide which processes are important and keep them on, restrict some of the background activity (push notifications may be affected) or kill the app completely as soon as you close it. Might be useful for rogue apps, which you still need on the system.
The only new feature under the Additional settings tab is the "Clear speaker" option, which plays a sound at maximum level for 30 seconds. You can use this if you find the speaker jammed with dust or water, Xiaomi says you should run this multiple times if needed.
Forgive us if we missed some features you would like to read about. MIUI 12 is packed with obscure and not so obscure features so it's really hard to cover them all in one page. But the whole user experience is nothing short of fluid, versatile and somehow mature too. MIUI 12 is Xiaomi's best MIUI iteration yet and it's really clean, snappy and good-looking. The 144Hz refresh rate and the excellent haptic feedback are just some small details that add to overall user experience.
Performance
It may not be the Plus variant but if that allowed Xiaomi to cut some costs, we are definitely on board with that decision. After all, the difference between the Snapdragon 865 and 865+ aren't big and the former is still a relevant chipset in late 2020. It packs an octa-core CPU (1x2.84 GHz Kryo 585 & 3x2.42 GHz Kryo 585 & 4x1.80 GHz Kryo 585) and an Adreno 650 GPU taking care of the graphically-intensive tasks. The chipset is built on the 7nm+ EUV technology allowing for a low power consumption.
And unlike its predecessor, the Mi 10T Pro's base variant offers 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage while the beefier version bumps up the storage to 256GB. And while the storage is doubled, it's also a lot faster than before now employing the latest UFS 3.1 standard. Unfortunately, there's no microSD card slot.
As far as actual performance is concerned, it's nothing short of excellent rivaling phones that are a lot more expensive with the same or similar chipsets. The benchmarks are here to attest.
GeekBench 5.1 (multi-core)
Higher is better
- OnePlus 8
3399 - Xiaomi Poco F2 Pro
3332 - Xiaomi Mi 10 5G
3322 - Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro
3311 - Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
3296 - Realme X50 Pro
3175 - Redmi K20 Pro/Mi 9T Pro
2732 - Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p)
2703
GeekBench 5.1 (single-core)
Higher is better
- OnePlus 8
919 - Xiaomi Poco F2 Pro
916 - Realme X50 Pro
911 - Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
906 - Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro
901 - Xiaomi Mi 10 5G
895 - Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p)
886 - Redmi K20 Pro/Mi 9T Pro
744
AnTuTu 8
Higher is better
- Realme X50 Pro
592447 - Xiaomi Mi 10 5G
578056 - OnePlus 8
564708 - Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro
563961 - Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
543986 - Xiaomi Poco F2 Pro
538221 - Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p)
500114 - Redmi K20 Pro/Mi 9T Pro
437823
GFX 3.1 Car scene (1080p offscreen)
Higher is better
- Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
52 - OnePlus 8
52 - Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro
51 - Xiaomi Poco F2 Pro
51 - Realme X50 Pro
51 - Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p)
50 - Xiaomi Mi 10 5G
50 - Redmi K20 Pro/Mi 9T Pro
42
GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro
46 - OnePlus 8
46 - Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
45 - Realme X50 Pro
45 - Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p)
42 - Xiaomi Mi 10 5G
42 - Xiaomi Poco F2 Pro
40 - Redmi K20 Pro/Mi 9T Pro
36
Aztek Vulkan High (onscreen)
Higher is better
- Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
30 - OnePlus 8
30 - Realme X50 Pro
30 - Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro
29 - Xiaomi Mi 10 5G
29 - Xiaomi Poco F2 Pro
28 - Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p)
26
3DMark SSE Vulkan 1440p
Higher is better
- OnePlus 8
6720 - Xiaomi Poco F2 Pro
6660 - Samsung Galaxy S20 FE
6605 - Xiaomi Mi 10 5G
6490 - Realme X50 Pro
6472 - Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro
6412 - Galaxy S20+ (120Hz, 1080p)
6354 - Redmi K20 Pro/Mi 9T Pro
5000
Triple camera setup with a 108MP main sensor
The main camera that does the most of the heavy lifting uses Samsung's Bright HMX sensor measuring 1/1.33" in size and featuring 0.8µm pixels in size. Since the sensor supports native 4-in-1 pixel binning technology, the actual pixel size is 1.6µm and the actual resolution of the stills is 25MP, not 27MP as we expected. The sensor is aided by a fairly large f/1.69 aperture and optic image stabilization. And when we say "heavy lifting", we mean that due to the lack of proper telephoto, the phone crops from the main 108MP sensor. Arguably, the cropped 2x images come out better than from most of the budget telephoto units. But more about that later.
The ultra-wide features an upgraded, compared to the Mi 9T Pro, 13MP sensor coupled with an f/2.4 aperture and 1.12µm pixels. The advertised viewing angle is 123˚, which is pretty wide.
The third camera is a dedicated 5MP unit with f/2.4 aperture and more importantly, autofocus. This does a great deal for macro photography.
The selfie cam is the same 20MP, 1/3.4" unit with f/2.2 aperture and 0.8µm pixels. In the Mi 9T Pro, this camera was attached to the motorized pop-up mechanism.
Camera menus
We found the slightly altered default camera app of MIUI 12 to be super easy and straightforward. What we liked the most are the important additional settings found in the so-called hamburger menu placed in the upper-right corner of the viewfinder. The general settings menu can be accessed from the hamburger menu and the first thing you should probably do before you get into shooting is disabling the watermark.
Camera menus
You can also re-arrange the camera modes from there because the Night mode, for example, is hidden in the More tab. Oh, and to our surprise, the Macro mode is in the hamburger menu in the standard Photo mode. We guess the dedicated macro camera isn't getting its own camera mode.
Daylight samples
Main camera
As one would guess, the phone produces great daylight photos at 25MP. Subjects come out sharp with quite a lot of detail, even fine detail can be seen from afar. Colors are natural-looking, definitely not over the top and the dynamic range is wide - no clipped highlights. Turning on the AI will boost the colors and make the images a bit more contrast-y looking.
25MP daylight samples
25MP daylight samples with AI on
However, there's noticeable softness in the dark parts of the scenes as well as noise. It becomes more apparent in indoor shots, even with good lighting. Softness can also be observed towards the left edge in the majority of photos. Still, the edge softness isn't severe so probably wouldn't attract unwanted attention and it could be due to our particular unit too.
25MP daylight samples
The 108MP samples are not impressive by any means. They offer similar processing but with noticeably more noise, hardly any gain in detail while sharpness drops. We can't see a reason for you to shoot in the 108MP mode.
108MP daylight samples
2x zoom
Since the 2x zoom mode still uses the main camera, the same pros and cons that we've mentioned above apply. And, of course, zooming in on those photos amplifies some of the issues. But our main complaint is how the software handles the cropping. Instead of cropping out from the 108MP resolution, the software crops from the binned 25MP resolution and then upscales back to 25MP. The same goes for the 108MP mode - the software crops from the center and then upscales to 108MP losing all the detail and sharpness in the process.
25MP mode 2x zoom
That's why we tried cropping from the original 108MP photos and compare them to the ones cropped from the 25MP. To our surprise, the ones that were cropped from the 25MP sensor and then upscaled back to 25MP look better. They offer better clarity and higher amount of detail.
2x zoom: upscaled 25MP crop • non-upscaled 108MP crop
Going beyond 2x and 3x zoom isn't advisable. Here's a 5x zoom sample to attest for our words.
2x zoom and 5x zoom
Now that we took a more critical and closer look at the zoom photos, a proper telephoto unit would have been better.
Ultra-wide camera
We weren't expecting flagship-grade ultra-wide camera performance but we can't say we are satisfied with the performance of this one either. The images come out rather soft with lacking detail - notice the grass and the foliage. The narrow dynamic range is also an issue judging by the clipped highlights in the majority of the scenes.
Ultra-wide daylight samples
Colors do look nice, on the other hand, and are slightly punchier than on the main camera without AI turned on. The lens correction is doing a fine job too, especially considering the wide 123-degree field of view. No excessive color fringing or edge softness too, which are both prominent issues with ultra-wide cameras at this price range.
Macro camera
Pleasantly surprised by the macro camera. The autofocus helps a lot and in most photos, the subject comes out in focus. The amount of detail and sharpness captures is pretty impressive for a small 5MP sensor, while colors are natural and contrast is good. Definitely one of the good macro cameras out there that make sense to some extent.
Macro samples
Low-light samples
Main camera
The first thing to notice is the wide dynamic range without having to turn on the dedicated Night mode. There's definitely some HDR at work here because there's a fair amount of detail in the shadows while the highlights are rarely clipped - only around strong light sources. Sharpness is okay for the most part and contrast is good. Noise is kept to a minimum even around the darker areas of the image. You can definitely depend on the standard Photo mode if you are in a hurry and don't wish to wait for the Night mode to finish.
Low-light samples
Which, by the way, improves the overall quality of the images quite a bit. It brings out even more detail out of the shadows without introducing additional noise. The light sources are well-contained and gone are the clipped areas around the lamps. In fact, you can see some fine detail on the buildings' facade. Subjects look considerably sharper while color and contrast remain unchanged.
Night mode samples
All in all, we would recommend taking the few extra seconds and wait for the Night mode as it proves to be appropriate for the majority of the situations.
2x zoom
Understandably, the drawbacks of the night shots are amplified when shooting low-light 2x zoom photos but not as much as we would expect. Strangely, the Night mode produces far inferior 2x zoom shots that lack detail, lose sharpness and are straight up foggy-looking. Which is good news since you don't have to wait for the Night mode - the standard 2x zoom photos look far better.
2x zoom: Normal • Night mode
Zoom shots are definitely usable and would look great on social media platforms.
Ultra-wide camera
There's no Night mode for the ultra-wide camera so there's nothing that can fix the apparent issues. The samples taken with the ultra-wide snapper look soft, muddy, with no detail and narrow dynamic range. Light sources are often blown out along with a small area around them while noise can be seen in uniform backgrounds.
Low-light ultra-wide samples
Once you are done with the real-life photos, take the time for some pixel-peeping using our photo compare tool.
Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro 5G vs Mi 10 5G and the Realme X50 Pro 5G in our Photo compare tool
Portraits
The edge detection is doing okay most of the time and can handle more complex backgrounds. Nonetheless, fine detail around the subject is often blurred out - notice Will's earrings and his hair. Detail is good, though, the skin tone is natural and colors are pleasant overall. Maybe a bit more sharpness wouldn't hurt when there's no sufficient lighting. And the camera shoots in 12MP for some reason.
Portraits
Selfies
Selfies are looking sharp with plenty of detail even in challenging lighting conditions. Noise can be seen only under close inspection and the skin tone of the subject is natural. Interestingly, switching over to portrait mode, the resolution drops down to 5MP - similar to the main camera's Portrait mode - but retains the good clarity of the photos. The edge detection is excellent and we even find it more adequate than the one on the main camera.
Selfies: Normal • Portrait
Other shooting modes
Here's a sample shot using the so-called Clone feature, which lets you clone a person in a single photo. The mode is super easy to use but the downside is the rather uninspiring image quality. The resolution drops to 12MP.
Other shooting modes: Long exposure • Long exposure • Clone
The long exposure mode lets you catch professional-looking low-light photos. That's, of course, if you are looking from afar. We tried out the Neon Trails sub-mode, which turned out to be pretty neat only to be plagues by the low-quality and lower resolution.
Video
Although we pointed out a couple of small issues with the stills, the videos, on the other hand, look amazing. The phone can even do 8K at 30fps since the main 108MP camera and the Snapdragon 865 chipset allow it.
We are hard-pressed to find any issues with the 8K video. Colors are punchy, dynamic range is wide - notice the detail in the shadows - it plays smoothly, contrast is great and there's no noise. Sharpness and detail are impressive.
Similar things can be said about the 4K video with some rather small differences. For instance, the 2160p footage offers somewhat punchier colors and higher contrast losing some of that detail in the shadows. Notice the sky, the grass and the cars, the colors are definitely juicier. Expectedly, sharpness and detail are slightly less impressive compared to the 8K.
Zooming 2x times is also an option in both recording modes - 4K and 8K. The latter made us say "wow", however. The amount of detail on the 2x zoomed 8K video is downright amazing. Not that the 4K looks bad but the difference is day and night.
The ultra-wide camera can also capture 2160p videos, although less impressive. The dynamic range seems to be narrower losing quite a bit of detail in the shadows, clips are generally soft and lack detail. Colors are punchy and there's plenty of contrast, though. Still, if you are looking for that added dramatic effect of the ultra-wide camera, the videos are usable.
When it comes to stabilization, the phone can do so only in 4K and Full HD. Stabilization can be turned off if you are using a tripod to make the field of view wider but in this case, we would recommend opting for the 8K video then. Shooting videos without a tripod requires competent EIS and the phone offers one in 4K.
It starts to look choppy only when you compare it side by side with the so-called Steady video mode, which caps at 1080p and offers smooth, gimbal-like stabilization.
Here's a non-stabilized 8K footage to draw comparison.
To see how the Mi 10T Pro fares against some of its competitors, take a look at our video compare tool.
2160p: Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro 5G vs Mi 10 5G and the Realme X50 Pro 5G in our Video compare tool
Competition
Even though the Mi 10T Pro packs some serious guns for its price, it faces quite a bit of competition both, from the inside and from the outside. Around the €600 price point, the flagship killers start to creep in along with so-called "mainstream flagships" from more reputable brands like Samsung. And by inside competition, we mean options from Xiaomi itself.
Mi 10T Pro 5G and Mi 10 5G
Since the vanilla Mi 10 series launched, the Mi 10 5G's price has dropped significantly, now asking a little over €500. And for some, this might be the better option. The vanilla Mi 10 comes with a similar camera setup and performance, supports wireless and reverse wireless charging, arguably better OLED display (although capping at 90Hz), under-display fingerprint scanner and asks €100 less than the Mi 10T Pro.
Xiaomi Mi 10 5G • Xiaomi Poco F2 Pro
Another phone under the Xiaomi umbrella that's worth considering is the Poco F2 Pro. A solid option for just a couple of bucks shy of €400. That's a great deal for a handset with flagship-grade SoC and a big OLED panel with full-screen design. If you aren't going for the hertz and you don't mind the inferior camera performance, the Poco F2 Pro might be the more sensible solution. Still, in our books, the Mi 10T Pro strikes a better feature/price ratio and is worth the extra dollar.
Mi 10T Pro 5G and Mi 10 5G
The next Chinese competitor is the Realme X50 Pro 5G. One of the first devices with Snapdragon 865 released in early 2020. It's just a tad more affordable than the Mi 10T Pro once again packing an HRR OLED screen. It wins the camera race by a little with its versatile setup (has telephoto) but loses the battery endurance race. The stupid-fast 65W charging might make up for that.
Realme X50 Pro 5G • Samsung Galaxy S20 FE 5G
And finally, the freshly released Galaxy S20 FE packs some premium specs with a price tag hovering around €600 - that's exactly how much the Mi 10T Pro costs. Who would have thought that Samsung will outgun Xiaomi in the non-premium territory. The S20 Fan Edition packs a 120Hz Super AMOLED panel, the same chipset, all main focal lengths with true, 3x zoom telephoto camera, IP68-certified premium build, wireless and reverse wireless charging and under-display fingerprint reader. It may not be better In the battery department but it sure does give the Mi 10T Pro a run for its money when it comes to camera quality. A great value Samsung smartphone that's hard to argue with.
Verdict
If Xiaomi came out with the Mi 10T Pro a month ago, it would have been an easy recommend. Not that it's not right now but Samsung's newest addition to the Galaxy S20 family keeps us from recommending Xiaomi's contender right away. It all boils down to priorities - if it's battery, the Mi 10T Pro is the answer, but if it's feature set and display, go with the Fan Edition.
In any case, there's very little to complain about here as the Mi 10T Pro strikes an excellent balance feature and price-wise. A worthy successor to the Mi 9T Pro from last year and improving upon it. Adds a fluid 144Hz display, bigger battery, faster charging, better camera experience, throws in a set of stereo speakers and doubles the storage.
Even though prices are constantly going up, Xiaomi can still make your every penny worth. And the MI 10T Pro can do that.
Pros
- One of the best LCDs in the game with 144Hz refresh rate.
- Solid build.
- Long battery life and fast charging.
- Excellent main camera performance, a macro camera that makes sense.
- Stereo speakers setup.
- Good price/performance ratio.
- Mature, feature rich and smart MIUI 12 with granular control over refresh rate.
- IR blaster, notification LED and 8GB/128GB base memory configuration.
Cons
- The ultra-wide camera isn't up to the task, a true telephoto camera is also preferable.
- An OLED panel, even with lower refresh rate, is preferred by a lot of users.
- That camera bump on the back is huge.
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