6 things we want to see from Xiaomi’s 2022 flagship

Mi 11 is the first Snapdragon 888 mobile phone released anywhere. It was released in December 2020 and entered the global market in early 2021. Xiaomi’s flagship product offers many outstanding features, including a QHD+ 120Hz OLED screen, Harman Kardon tuned speakers and fast wired and wireless charging.

But this is not to say that there is no improvement, because Xiaomi definitely has some ways to do better. So this is what we hope to see from Mi 12.

1. Waterproof

Until this year, Xiaomi has been very opposed to providing comprehensive waterproof functions on its mobile phones. Both Mi 11 Ultra (see picture above) and Mi 11 Pro, which is only available in the Chinese market, bucked the trend and therefore provide IP68 water resistance. Unfortunately, the standard Mi 11 does not have an IP67 or IP68 rating.

However, we hope to see the standard Mi 12 with proper water resistance in 2022, as this feature becomes more and more common in the affordable flagship and mid-range market segments. For example, Samsung Galaxy S20 FE, Google Pixel 5, T-Mobile OnePlus 9 and Google Pixel 5a all offer IP67 or IP68 ratings.

2. Telephoto or periscope camera

One trend we see in 2020 and 2021 is that non-Pro flagship phones skip telephoto/periscope cameras. In this regard, Xiaomi 11 is no exception, adding OnePlus 9, Xiaomi 10 and Apple’s non-Pro iPhone and other mobile phones. On the contrary, we often see brands adopting cheaper macro, monochrome or depth sensors.

related: How optical, digital, and hybrid zoom work on smartphones

Our own Eric Zeman expressed regret about the Mi 11’s zoom quality in his review, so we would love to see a focused zoom camera come to Mi 12 to improve the problem. In addition, telephoto or periscope cameras can also achieve better image quality beyond the native zoom factor. Therefore, even if Xiaomi brings a 3x telephoto camera to the desktop, we can expect more than 3x effects due to the hybrid zoom technology.

3. Three years of operating system updates

Last year, Samsung announced that many of its mobile phones and tablets will receive three-year Android version updates, causing a huge sensation. These devices include all of its recent flagship products and various mid-range phones.

Unfortunately, Xiaomi has not made any such promises so far. But now is the time for the company to at least implement this policy on its flagship phones. After all, Oppo, Vivo and OnePlus have also announced their three-year policy for high-end mobile phones.

The standard version of Mi 11 is not the absolute cheapest Snapdragon 888 phone in 2021, priced at 749 Euros. But it is actually cheaper than the European Galaxy S21, and the cost is the same as the European S20 FE. Therefore, at least, the same price tag will be welcome news.

More reading: The best Snapdragon 888 phone you should consider

That being said, if Mi 12 does not bring any other changes on the list, we would be happy to see Xiaomi offer Mi 12 at a cheaper price. Even a 50 euro price reduction will bring a significant discount. Again, the Galaxy S20 FE shows that it can provide features such as a telephoto camera and waterproof, while still offering a competitive price tag.

5. Put the charger in the box

When Xiaomi launched Mi 11 in China earlier this year, it also revealed that users can choose a package with or without a charger. Most importantly, the prices of these packages are the same. Fortunately, all Mi 11 devices worldwide are equipped with chargers.

We hope to see a charger in the Mi 12 box, especially when companies such as Samsung and Google turn in the other direction. However, if the manufacturer does give up the included charger globally, we hope it will allow people to request it at a very small or even free price. After all, when the manufacturer charges a lot of fees for the adapter, it is difficult to take the manufacturer’s sustainability statement seriously.

6. Larger (not more) pixels

Xiaomi Mi 11 debuts 108MP main camera, continuing the trend established by Xiaomi Mi 10 series in early 2020. This allows a lot of resolvable details to be captured at full resolution in broad daylight, but it does come at the cost of smaller pixels (0.8 micron pixels). This means that only in terms of hardware specifications, low-light performance will be affected.

More photographic reports: Why camera sensor size is more important than megapixels

However, Xiaomi went in the other direction on the Mi 11 Ultra, providing a 50MP Isocell GN2 main camera with a larger sensor than the M11’s 108MP camera and larger 1.4-micron pixels. This makes brighter low-light images and videos out of the box. This also means that full-resolution photos should look cleaner and have less noise than the full-resolution photos of the 108MP sensor mentioned above.

In addition to better low-light functions, the 50MP camera of the Xiaomi 11 Ultra also brings better autofocus compared to the 108MP camera. Therefore, we are happy to see Mi 12 get a larger main sensor and fewer megapixels, just like Ultra devices.

What else do you want to see from Mi 12? Tell us by voting below.