Is Mi 11 Ultra the Best Premium Flagship Phone to Buy in India?

Mi 11 Ultra — launched last month in India and set to go on sale soon — is Xiaomi’s most expensive flagship ever, with a price tag of Rs. 69,990. It offers a lot for that money, with its specifications including a 50-megapixel primary camera sensor, a periscope lens with 5x optical zoom, and a quad-curved AMOLED display. There’s also, curiously, a tiny secondary display at the back. Are all these offerings enough to convince a customer who is looking for a high-end smartphone at Rs. 70,000 — and who might have their eyes on the OnePlus 9 Pro or the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra? We discuss this and other things about the Mi 11 Ultra on this week’s episode of Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast.

Host Akhil Arora speaks with Gadgets 360 deputy reviews editor Roydon Cerejo and reviewer Aditya Shenoy to understand the cons and pros of the Mi 11 Ultra. The smartphone was launched in India in a single 12GB RAM + 256GB storage variant. It is the company’s first attempt to enter a segment that goes up against the best of the best from the likes of Apple and Samsung.

For what it’s worth, Xiaomi has tried to go beyond the mid-range market and bring some of its high-end phones to India in the past as well. For instance, it launched the Mi 10 at a starting price of Rs. 49,999 in India last year. The Mi 11 Ultra, however, seems to be designed for the audience who was previously thinking of getting a new Samsung Galaxy S-series phone or a brand new iPhone.

The Mi 11 Ultra cameras offer up to 120x digital zoom. It has two AMOLED displays (although one of them is basically a gimmick). And it has the same amount of RAM and storage as you’ll get on the top-end OnePlus 9 Pro model, as well as the same Snapdragon 888 SoC. Both these phone also come at the same price — Rs. 69,999. While both are running on Android, there is a difference in the experience, since the Mi 11 Ultra runs on MIUI, which is what you’ll get on most Xiaomi phones.

Mi 11 Ultra Review: A Leap of Faith

Of course, there’s a lot more about the Mi 11 Ultra. If you’re wondering whether it’s a good pick or not, listen to the full discussion by hitting the play button above. You can also follow Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast, on Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and wherever you get your podcasts.

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