Xiaomi 11T Pro Review

 If camera quality is a priority, you’re probably better off with a Google Pixel 6. The Xiaomi 11T Pro can take great photos, but it isn’t all that consistent. However, it has a larger screen and loud stereo speakers – which are huge positives if you care as much about gaming and the video streaming experience as photography.


Design and Screen

  • Fairly typical looking Xiaomi device
  • IR blaster, but no headphone jack or IP68 rating
  • Gorilla Glass Victus on the front

Nowadays, on first glance it’s often difficult to tell apart entry-level phones from higher-end models such as the Xiaomi 11T Pro. This is particularly true of Xiaomi’s recent Androids, all of which seem to have cameras made to look oversized and techie.

However, there’s a difference. Where a phone such as the Xiaomi Poco X3 Pro comes with a plastic back and sides, the Xiaomi 11T Pro has a glass rear.

Xiaomi has done something a little unusual with this particular finish, however: it has a brushed aluminium effect underneath the glass. I see plenty of plastic phones faking it as glass ones, but the Xiaomi 11T Pro is a glass phone pretending to be aluminium – despite glass being seen by most as a higher-end finish over metal.


This isn’t your only option. The Xiaomi 11T Pro is also available in white and blue, and those versions don’t have the aluminium sheen.

The Xiaomi 11T Pro’s sides are plastic, much like those of the OnePlus 9. That phone is a little more stylish than this Xiaomi; a little less anonymous. But in one sense the 11T Pro actually competes with the higher-end OnePlus 9 Pro since it has a larger screen. As with so many Xiaomi phones, the Xiaomi 11T Pro appears to be made for value-conscious phone buyers.

If you want a more deliberate sense of style from a Xiaomi, check out the step-up Xiaomi Mi 11. That’s right, while the Xiaomi 11T Pro sounds like it should be higher-end than the Mi 11, it’s actually a step below.

There are some neat sections to the outer hardware. The Xiaomi 11T Pro display is covered by Gorilla Glass Victus – Corning’s top-end toughened glass. It’s a tier above the glass used in the OnePlus 9 Pro.

The type of glass on the back isn’t specified, and is likely to be a cheaper Gorilla Glass alternative. However, I’d suggest you use the phone as I have, with the silicone case attached. Xiaomi also applies a screen protector in the factory, which is always welcome.


As is usual for a phone at this level, the Xiaomi 11T Pro doesn’t have a headphone jack, and water-resistance is a basic IP53. This means it should be fine in a bit of light drizzle, but you still need to be careful.

One of the key characteristics here is both a draw and a reason to be turned off. The Xiaomi 11T Pro is, like so many Xiaomi phones, quite large. It has a big screen, and not one that curves around the sides to minimise the phone’s footprint.

The Xiaomi 11T Pro features a 6.67-inch screen, like many Xiaomi phones including the Poco X3 Pro, the Xiaomi 11T, and the Redmi Note 10 Pro.

There are many affordable Xiaomi devices with great screens, but the 11T Pro does have a few advantages. First, as mentioned, it’s protected by Gorilla Glass Victus, where lower-end models use a step-down grade of glass. This screen is also brighter than most.


Performance

  • Top-end specs, including the Snapdragon 888
  • Impressive gaming performance
  • It runs Android 11 with the company’s MIUI on top

The Xiaomi 11T Pro is a phone for people who care about performance, but don’t want to spend a fortune on a high-end processor. It comes with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 CPU, like several of today’s most expensive phones.

Those not fussed about having a Qualcomm chipset should also consider the Xiaomi 11T. It includes a MediaTek Dimensity 1200 processor and costs £100 less at the 256GB storage level.

I’ve had a good time with some of these high-powered MediaTek phones, such as the OnePlus Nord 2, and would be perfectly happy with the standard Xiaomi 11T. However, the 11T Pro is certainly more powerful.


I wouldn’t call the Xiaomi 11T Pro’s stamina exceptional, but I’m entirely happy with it. This phone can outlast plenty of flagship phones, because they do often take a slight hit to battery capacity in order to slim down the frame by 0.5-1mm.

The main attraction here isn’t the battery itself, but the charging speed. This is one of the few phones to deliver 120W charging, which Xiaomi calls HyperCharge.

It can power up the phone in under 20 minutes, which is sensational.

Unfortunately, our Xiaomi 11T Pro didn’t come with a cable, so the 120W adapter was only able to draw around 60W from the supply using a cable from another Xiaomi phone. Xiaomi’s system requires the right kind of cable as well as the original adapter.

Even my lower-spec Xiaomi cable provides great results, though, taking the phone from 30% to 70% in just 10 minutes.

The Xiaomi 11T Pro doesn’t support wireless charging. That may be a deal-breaker for some, but at this level you’re unlikely to see ultra-fast wireless charging anyway, so any solution it did have would look ultra-slow next to the wired alternative.