Xiaomi has been making waves over the past few years, with a more aggressive approach to international expansion and looking to get a real foothold in Europe.
The next flagship phone for 2020 will be the Mi 10 and the Mi 10 Pro, which the company has confirmed. But what will they offer?
Release date and price
- Q1 2020 confirmed
Xiaomi often releases its phones in homeland China before holding a global event. Sometimes there are some variations – perhaps in naming – but in recent years we’ve seen some parity in these launches.
There’s currently no launch date, but Xiaomi confirmed that the Mi 10 would be launching in Q1 2020. We suspect there will be a launch in China followed by an unveiling at Mobile World Congress 2020 in late February.
Leaked specs have suggested that the Mi 10 will be priced in the RMB3000 range (that’s about £330), while the Mi 10 Pro will start at RMB3799, which is around £410. Those prices will likely be adjusted for global release, but they’re still looking like good value for money.
Design
There’s currently little to go on in terms of the design. We’re expecting it to be an evolution of the Mi 9 models, but currently there’s nothing to reveal the design. We’ve seen some great renders, but nothing official.
Display
- 6.57s-inch OLED display on both
- 90Hz refresh rate suggested
We’ve recently seen the Redmi K30 launch with a 120Hz display and that seems to be very much on trend, so we’d expect the Mi 10 to offer this faster refresh rate. According to the leaked specs that we’ve seen, that might not be the case.
Weibo specs suggested that we’d see a 6.5-inch OLED display on both devices, but with a 90Hz refresh rate. We can’t help feeling that Pro might come in with the 120Hz display instead to help differentiate. Leaked specs from an online store suggest the display is actually 6.57-inches.
It is widely believed that there will be a punch hole camera in the display.
Hardware specs
- Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 + X55 5G
- Mi 10: 8/12GB RAM, 128/256GB storage
- Mi 10 Pro: 12GB RAM, 128/256/512GB storage
- 4500mAh battery
One of the confirmed details is that the Mi 10 will use the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 platform. This was confirmed by Xiaomi itself at the launch of the new Qualcomm hardware – and Xiaomi also confirmed that it would be launching a range of 5G handsets, so we suspect this will be a 5G phone from launch, using the X55 modem.
The two different versions of this handset should differentiate themselves with the hardware to a degree. While both with have the same core components, the Mi 10 Pro will have 12GB RAM, while the Mi 10 will start at 8GB, accoridng to leaked specs. There will be options for 128, 256GB on the Mi 10, while the Mi 10 Pro will also offer 512GB storage.
Both are said to have a 4500mAh battery – something we’ve now hear from several sources – but the charging rates will be different. The Mi 10 will have 40W wired and 30 wireless, while the Pro will have 66W wired and 40W wireless charging. That’s superfast.
Camera
- Mi 10 Pro: 108MP main camera
- Mi 10: 64MP main camera
On the camera front, Xiaomi packs in impressive performance for the price. We’ve recently seen some interesting camera moves from Xiaomi, using Sony’s new IMX686 64-megapixel sensor in the Redmi K30 as well as launching a 108-megapixel system in the Mi Note 10. It looks like the Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro might use these cameras again, respectively.
That will see the Mi 10 with the 64-megapixel Sony sensor, paired with 20, 12 and 5-megapixel cameras, although the exact configuration is not known.
The Mi 10 Pro will probably get the 108-megapixel camera, with 48, 12 and 8-megapixel cameras. Again, the arrangement is not yet known.
As we mentioned, there could be a punch hole camera in the display, and the leak from an online store suggests that this is a dual camera arrangement, with 32 and 8-megapixel sensors. Whether this is for depth or to provide a wide-angle is not known.
Xiaomi Mi 10 rumours: What’s happened so far?
There haven’t been many, but here are all the rumours surrounding the Xiaomi Mi 10 so far.
10 January 2020: Online store lists Mi 10, along with a range of specs
An online store has listed the Mi 10, revealing a range of specs for the phone, although there’s nothing to verify those specs.
6 January 2020: Digital artist creates some Mi 10 renders based on leaked specs
Ben Geskin has produced some images of what the Mi 10 might look like based on the leaks so far.
3 January 2020: Xiaomi Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro specs leak leaving few surprises
A huge spec dump on Weibo gives us a good idea of what to expect from the Mi 10 series.
28 December 2019: Xiaomi Mi 10 could have a 4500-4800mAh battery
A leak via Weibo has suggested a huge battery capacity for the forthcoming Xiaomi phone.
3 December 2019: Xiaomi Mi 10 will be one of the first Snapdragon 865 phones
Xiaomi confirms that it will be one of the first phones to launch use the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 platform in the Mi 10.