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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  • BedfordTim - Thursday, November 7, 2019 - link

    The resolution is for hdr processing and de-noising. The big sensor is because in optics bigger is better. The effective resolution is only 27MP.
    If you don't care about the camera then there are plenty of options with big batteries.
  • s.yu - Thursday, November 7, 2019 - link

    This is...literally yesterday's news, not to mention the HMX debuted in Mix Alpha, not this.
  • MamiyaOtaru - Thursday, November 7, 2019 - link

    https://www.theonion.com/fuck-everything-were-doin...
  • oRAirwolf - Thursday, November 7, 2019 - link

    Hilarious
  • Holliday75 - Thursday, November 7, 2019 - link

    Pretty soon we'll have cell phones with more cameras than a Threadripper has cores.
  • prime2515103 - Thursday, November 7, 2019 - link

    Graphic says the main camera is f1.69 but the chart says 1.7. lol

    So, is this 108MP camera for printing wallpaper with your photos on it (wallpaper for actual walls, not for your computer desktop)?
  • s.yu - Thursday, November 7, 2019 - link

    No, really just for decent 27MP, and it delivers. Most of its advantage directly stems from that additional, and effective resolution. No 10-12MP output could compete on that front, but perhaps Apple with deep fusion could be on par, but then again this is single shot and that's a burst and there will be tradeoffs especially since iP11's merge isn't as reliable as Pixel 3's(Pixel 4's performance so far is questionable).
  • s.yu - Thursday, November 7, 2019 - link

    What I meant about the Pixel 4 is that it may end up a partial regression as Note10+ to S10+. We'll see soon.
  • theblitz707 - Saturday, November 9, 2019 - link

    omg please review the camera compare it to 48mp 40mp pixel's and samsungs 12mp. i wanna see a detail comparison. Also please in your review. Mention the color accuracy of each photograph, like which is the most realistic etc.
  • s.yu - Sunday, November 10, 2019 - link

    Are you new here? Anandtech's smartphone reviews always include original full res samples from the reviewed model as well as direct competitors, you'll see everything yourself.
    Color accuracy is often but not always mentioned. I never trust AWB though and always exercise my own judgement in LR.

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