A couple of months back, Samsung announced a new ultra high resolution 108 MegaPixel sensor for smartphone cameras. At the time we didn't know where this sensor would first show up, but now we have our answer: Xiaomi. This week the company is introducing the industry’s first smartphones with a five-module (penta) camera setup, including the 108 MP sensor from Samsung. Dubbed the Mi Note 10 and Mi Note 10 Pro (and in China, the Mi CC9 Pro/Mi CC9 Pro Premium Edition), these new phones are aimed specifically at photographers, with Xiaomi taking an upper-mid-range platform and giving it one of the most extensive camera arrays on the market.

Without any doubts, the key feature of Xiaomi’s Mi Note 10 and Mi Note 10 Pro devices (and their Chinese equivalents) is their five-module rear camera featuring Samsung’s ICOCELL bright HMX 108 MP wide-angle 1/1.33-inch sensor with a 4-axis OIS, 4-in-1 pixel binning, and a 7-piece lens assembly (an 8-piece in case of the Pro model). In addition to the gargantuan 108 MP sensor, the camera array also has a 20 MP 117º ultra-wide-angle module, a 12 MP telephone module, a 5 MP telephoto module for 10x hybrid and 50x digital zoom, and a 2 MP macro camera. The whole camera setup is equipped with a quad-LED dual-tone flash. And along with the main camera, the smartphones come with a 32 MP 'waterdrop' selfie camera.

To view high-quality photos, the flagship smartphone camera is paired with a 6.47-inch SAMOLED display featuring a 2340×1080 resolution, a 19.5:9 aspect ratio, 600 nits peak brightness, the DCI-P3 color gamut, and HDR10 support.

Meanwhile, at the heart of the Xiaomi’s Mi Note 10 and Mi Note 10 Pro smartphones is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 730G SoC, which is one of Qualcomm's upper-mid-range SoCs and features two Kryo 470 Gold cores, six Kryo 470 Silver cores, and Adreno 618 graphics. That SoC is accompanied by 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of storage in case of the regular model, as well as 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage in case of the Pro model. The handsets are powered by a non-removable Li-Po 5260 mAh battery.

Rounding out the package, the new phones feature 4G/LTE, Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.0, a USB 2.0 Type-C connector, an under-display fingerprint reader, as well as all the other essential features that we come to expect in late 2019. However as these aren't full flagship-level phones, you won't find much in the way of advanced features: the phones aren't listed as dust and water resistant, there's no wireless charging, and they do not have a microSD card slot (which is a bit odd given the target audience).

The Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Family
  Mi Note 10 Mi Note 10 Pro
Display SAMOLED
6.37"
2340x1080
600 nits
HDR10
Corning Gorilla Glass 5
SoC    
RAM 6 GB 8 GB
Storage 128 GB of NAND flash
 
256 GB of NAND flash
Local Connectivity Wi-Fi  802.11ac Wi-Fi
Bluetooth Bluetooth 5.0
Data/Charging USB 2.0 Type-C
Audio 3.5-mm jack
stereo speakers
active noice cancellation
NFC Yes
LTE Yes
Navigation  A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS, GALILEO
Rear Camera Main 108 MP, f/1.69, 25mm
1/1.33"
0.8µm
PDAF, Laser AF, OIS
Ultrawide 20 MP, f/2.2, 13mm
1/2.8"
1.0µm
Laser AF
Telephoto 12 MP, f/2.0, 50mm
1/2.55"
1.4µm
Dual Pixel PDAF, Laser AF, 2x optical zoom
Telephoto 2 5 MP, f/2.0
1.0µm,
PDAF, Laser AF, OIS, 5x optical zoom
Macro 2 MP, f/2.4
1/5"
1.75µm
Main Lense Assembly 7 pieces 8 pieces
Front Camera 32 MP, f/2.0, 0.8µm
Battery Capacity 5260 mAh
Expected Life ? ?
SIM Size Nano SIM + Nano Sim
Sensors accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass
Biometric Security Fingerprint Yes
Facial Recognition - -
Dimensions Height 157.8 mm | 6.21 inches
Width 74.2 mm | 2.92 inches
Thickness 9.7 mm | 0.38 inches
Weight 208 grams
Colors Midnight Black
Aurora Green
Glacier White
Protection Drop ? ?
Splashes - -
OS Google Android 9.0 with MIUI 11
Launch Countries China, Europe initially
Price €549 €649

Xiaomi's Mi Note 10 smartphone will be available in Midnight Black, Aurora Green, and Glacier White in Europe starting mid-November for €549. The Mi Note 10 Pro model will be priced at €649.

Related Reading:

Sources: Xiaomi, GSMArena

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  • ToTTenTranz - Thursday, November 7, 2019 - link

    Will you be receiving a Mi Note 10 for review?
  • Ryan Smith - Thursday, November 7, 2019 - link

    To be determined.
  • eva2000 - Thursday, November 7, 2019 - link

    Dam. Early leaked specs said this Mi Note 10 would also have microSD card slot so thought it would be my next phone. I still can't consider any phone without a microSD card slot myself.
  • Death666Angel - Thursday, November 7, 2019 - link

    Interesting. May I ask what sort of data you keep on your phone that 256GB isn't enough? :)
  • close - Thursday, November 7, 2019 - link

    I'll take a guess solely based on what other people answered to my same question:
    -at least 500GB of lossless audio at any time (less than that gets boring, also works great with those BT headphones);
    -all RAW photos (maybe if this is bought by actual photographers it makes sense?)
    -4K movies (I have nothing!)
    -something else along those lines that will make you scratch your head and wonder why most of that can't just as easily go on a USB OTG stick or if such a phone is even the best place for it...
  • s.yu - Thursday, November 7, 2019 - link

    I think part of that's mine, but I rarely use BT headphones, and in this model's case, even the full res JPGs are over 70MB.
    I don't know how you justify lack of storage with a USB OTG stick because not many people carry those around these days, it doesn't stay on the phone or else it takes up a port in use which is now more and more commonly the only port on the phone, unless you shuffle files around each time so you could unplug it as quickly as possible.
  • shabby - Thursday, November 7, 2019 - link

    4k60fps video takes up space, it's no wonder google disabled that option on their phones with a paltry 64/128gb.
  • s.yu - Thursday, November 7, 2019 - link

    Following that argument Xiaomi should disable 108MP JPG, not to mention DNG, unless they have expandable storage.
  • BedfordTim - Thursday, November 7, 2019 - link

    Disabling the jpg makes sense as the lens resolution is only 27MP. On the other hand the DNG is useful as the sub pixels contain the hdr and while balance data.
  • BedfordTim - Thursday, November 7, 2019 - link

    Rats no edit. Ignore the bit about white balance. These things only have a 27MP Bayer mask.

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