Xiaomi Mi 10 vs Mi 10 PRO: review of new generation 5G phones

Will Xiaomi Mi 10 and Mi 10 PRO will be the best phones to choose in 2020? Let’s check the capabilities and design of these phones.

Xiaomi Mi 10 and Mi 10 PRO are one of the most popular smartphones in the Chinese market right now. On the release date – 14th of February there have been sold 26,37 million € worth of Xiaomi Mi 10 smartphones in 60 seconds. While sales of Xiaomi Mi 10 PRO smartphones reached the same sum faster in 55 seconds.

What features make Xiaomi Mi 10 and Mi 10 PRO smartphones so popular? First of all, it should be noted, that Xiaomi Mi 10 PRO has amazing photography, video and audio capabilities. On DXOMARK tests Xiaomi Mi 10 PRO got top scores in photo, video and audio categories. In these tests, Xiaomi Mi 10 PRO overtook flagships like Huawei Mate 30 Pro 5G, Honor V30 Pro and iPhone 11 PRO MAX. One of the reasons, why Xiaomi Mi 10 PRO did so well in the photo and video tests is its 108 MP camera.

Moreover, Xiaomi Mi 10 and Mi 10 PRO have 5G antennas. So, with these upgrades, Xiaomi Mi 10 and Mi 10 PRO can receive internet connection of the new generation – 5G. For example, iPhone 11, iPhone 11 PRO and iPhone 11 PRO MAX do not have antennas for 5G networks. Also, Mi 10 and Mi 10 PRO are upgraded with Wi-Fi 6 specs, which can receive 630-680 megabits per second. Therefore, Mi 10 models have also one of the fastest Wi-Fi speeds in the market.

Also, Xiaomi Mi 10 and Mi 10 PRO are powered by Snapdragon 865, which is the latest 5G Chipset of Qualcomm.

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The Main Differences

As you can see in the table above, the main differences between standard Xiaomi Mi 10 and PRO version are:

• Standard Xiaomi Mi 10 has a larger battery (4780 mAh vs 4500 mAh). So standard Xiaomi Mi 10’s battery is larger by 280 mAh. In this way, Xiaomi Mi 10 has more battery life by 1 hour and 28 min (on daily use), than Xiaomi Mi 10 PRO (9 hours 57 minutes vs 11 hours 25 minutes – estimated on daily use).
• Likewise, standard Xiaomi Mi 10 is cheaper, than Xiaomi Mi 10 PRO. Price differences ranging about €130-170. So you will have to pay more for Xiaomi Mi 10 PRO.
• Xiaomi Mi 10 PRO has an excellent camera performance (top-rated by DXOMARK tests). And has a 10x hybrid optical zoom on the telephoto lens and 2x optical zoom on the portrait lens. While standard Xiaomi Mi 10’s camera is inferior not only to Xiaomi Mi 10 PRO but also to Xiaomi Mi Note 10.
• PRO version of Xiaomi Mi 10 has an astonishing stereo speakers (top-rated by DXOMARK tests). These speakers are louder, have a higher quality of sound and more bass than standard Xiaomi Mi 10 speakers.
• You can choose a 512GB storage model of Xiaomi Mi 10 PRO.
• Xiaomi Mi 10 PRO has a 50W fast charging feature and you will fully charge Xiaomi Mi 10 PRO in 45 minutes. When standard Xiaomi Mi 10 will be fully charged in 58 minutes with 30W fast charging.
• Moreover, Xiaomi Mi 10 PRO has a little bit more nits of Peak Brightness, than standard Xiaomi Mi 10. But you feel no difference with the naked eye, so this difference is not important.

Design

Both phones Xiaomi Mi 10 and Xiaomi Mi 10 PRO have the same design. Except, that they have different variations of colors. Xiaomi Mi 10 has 3 variations of colors – Ice Blue, Titanium Silver Black and Peach Gold. While Xiaomi Mi 10 PRO has 2 variations of colors – Pearl White and Starry Blue.

Xiaomi Mi 10 and Xiaomi Mi 10 PRO are 5,1 mm longer, than Xiaomi Mi 9, also 4,6 mm longer, than iPhone 11 PRO MAX and 4,5 mm longer than Huawei Mate 30 Pro 5G.

Regarding the width of Xiaomi Mi 10 and Xiaomi Mi 10 PRO design, it is similar to Xiaomi Mi 9 (Mi 10 and Mi 10 PRO design is only 0,1 mm wider) and Huawei Mate 30 Pro 5G design (Xiaomi Mi 10 and Xiaomi Mi 10 PRO design is 1,7 mm wider). Mi 10 and Mi 10 PRO design is narrower by 3 mm in comparison with iPhone PRO MAX.

The thickness of the Xiaomi Mi 10 and Xiaomi Mi 10 PRO design is the same as Xiaomi Mi 9, and similar to other phones, like Huawei Mate 30 Pro 5G and iPhone 11 PRO MAX.

Weight of Xiaomi Mi 10 and Xiaomi Mi 10 PRO is 208 g. It is similar to Huawei Mate 30 Pro 5G weight (198 g). Mi 10 and Mi 10 PRO weight 35 g more, than Xiaomi Mi 9, but are lighter than iPhone 11 PRO MAX (226 g).

The front and back of Xiaomi Mi 10 and Xiaomi Mi 10 PRO are covered by Gorilla Glass 5. And it is a downgrade in comparison with Xiaomi Mi 9 because the front of Xiaomi Mi 9 is covered by Gorilla Glass 6. Other flagships, like iPhone 11 PRO MAX and Huawei Mate 30 Pro 5G also use Gorilla Glass 6 for both front and back.

So at this point, Xiaomi Mi 10 and Xiaomi Mi 10 PRO are inferior regarding the latest flagship phones. In spite, that Gorilla Glass 6 and 5 have the same scratch resistance, but Gorilla Glass 6 is better on surviving multiple falls from greater heights. The Gorilla Glass 6 is up to 2x times better on surviving multiple falls from 1-meter height. So Xiaomi Mi 10 and Xiaomi Mi 10 PRO has a lesser possibility to survive a fall, than other flagships covered in Gorilla Glass 6.

Display

As you can see from the table above Mi 10 and PRO version has almost identical displays. The only difference is Peak brightness. PRO version can reach 40 nits more, than standard Mi 10. Nits of brightness will make pictures/videos to look far better on a sunny day or in the bright room. But 40 nits difference is not a big deal, you will not feel a difference.

For example, iPhone PRO MAX can reach an 800 nits max brightness on standard (in HDR – 1200 nits). While Xiaomi Mi 9 could reach 620 nits of brightness. So Xiaomi Mi 10 improved a lot at this part.

Xiaomi Mi 10 in comparison with Mi 9, has more screen to body ratio ~89.7% vs ~85.2%. So Mi 10 screen to body ratio is ~4.5% higher, and you can feel the difference. That means, that you will have about 5% more screen on the front in comparison with the device body. For example, iPhone PRO MAX has a ~83.7% screen to body ratio, Mi 10 is better at this aspect. Meanwhile, Huawei Mate 30 Pro 5G has an even higher screen-to-body ratio – ~94.1%.

This high screen to body ratio on Xiaomi Mi 10 is achieved by screen curves on the phone edge. Many people do not like a curved screen on the phones, because of accidental touches. But Xiaomi solved this problem – you can turn off accidental touches responsiveness of curved screen in Mi 10 and Mi 10 PRO settings. Also, punch hole for selfie camera does impact for screen to body ratio. Because it takes less space on display, than waterdrop notch or other selfie camera designs.

Furthermore, Mi 10 display has a 90 Hz refresh rate. That means scrolling and animation will be more fluent. Also, the phone will be able to reach 90 frames per second on games or videos. Noteworthy, that Xiaomi Mi 9 display is running on 60 Hz. While iPhone PRO MAX and Huawei Mate 30 Pro 5G are, also, locked on 60 Hz.

180Hz touch-sensing function on smartphone lets your phone to sens a touch on 180Hz display refresh rate. By this, Xiaomi Mi 10 display reaction to touching will feel more fluent and fluid. iPhone PRO MAX also has this function. But Huawei Mate 30 Pro 5G does not have.

Performance

*12GB RAM are available on Xiaomi Mi 10 for 256GB storage models. On XIaomi Mi 10 PRO 12GB RAM are available for 256GB and 512GB storage models.

As mentioned before, Xiaomi Mi 10 is powered with the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chipset. The performance of the phone is truly increased by this chipset – on AnTuTu benchmark Mi 10 scores about 550 000 with 8GB of RAM model and about 600 000 with 12GB of RAM models. So with these scores, Xiaomi Mi 10 is the top one android phone in AnTuTu ranking.

To see improvement of the Xiaomi Mi series, it has to be noted, that Xiaomi Mi 9 scores 447 988. So Xiaomi Mi 10 performance is increased approximately by one third.

If we took Huawei Mate 30 5G Pro into comparison, its AnTuTu benchmark result is about 470 000. So Mi 10 has a better performance.

Mi 10, with its Snapdragon 865 chipset and 90 Hz screen, is a perfect smartphone for gaming and video watching. Although, because there is still no global version of Mi 10, many games do not support 90 Hz for Mi 10 yet.

Noteworthy, that Mi 10 series has a UFS 3.0. While Mi 9 used UFS 2.1. UFS 3.0 makes 2 times faster write/read speeds over UFS 2.1, while at the same time lowering power consumption. This means, that Xiaomi Mi 10 is loading/copying video games, apps, and other files much quicker than Xiaomi Mi 9. Huawei Mate 30 5G, also, has a UFS 3.0.

Camera

Both Mi 10 and Mi 10 PRO have quad lens main cameras. The main lens of both phones is 108 MP and capable to record 8K videos.

Pro model of Xiaomi Mi 10 has a 20 MP ultra-wide lens, while standard model has 7 MP less – 13 MP ultra-wide lens. Moreover, Mi 10 PRO has an 8 MP telephoto lens, which supports 10x hybrid optical zoom and 12 MP portrait lens with 2x optical zoom. While the standard version has only 2 MP macro and 2 MP depth lenses. So with a PRO model, you will 10x hybrid optical zoom using the telephoto lens and 2x optical zoom using the portrait lens, standard Xiaomi Mi 10 does not have these capabilities.

According to the DXOMARK tests, Xiaomi Mi 10 PRO model tops all other phones with its camera. It scores 124 and left behind flagships like Huawei Mate 30 Pro 5G, Honor V30 Pro, Huawei Mate 30 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro Max and Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ 5G.

So, Xiaomi Mi 10 PRO has stunning photography and video recording capabilities with the main camera. Photos are detailed, zoomed photos have a high quality. Texture rendering, night performance, and corner sharpness are almost perfect on this phone. Also, Mi 10 PRO records impressive 4K videos with perfect video stabilization. The downside of Mi 10 PRO camera is that in portrait mode you can lose a focus sometimes and colors can be oversaturated, especially red color. Furthermore, 4k video recording sometimes stutters. But, in my opinion, these problems are minor, which will be wiped out in the upcoming software updates.

It needs to be mentioned, that Mi 10 can record 6K videos upscaled to 8K with 30 FPS and 320kbps audio bitrate. But these videos can be recorded only up to 6 min without Electronic and Optical Image Stabilization.

Regarding selfie camera, PRO and standard Xiaomi Mi 10 have the same 20 MP selfie camera. Which performs pretty well, although there is no Electronic Image stabilization and can record only in 1080p and 30 FPS.

Battery

The main differences, regarding battery, between Mi 10 and Mi 10 PRO are, that Xiaomi Mi 10 has a bigger battery – by 280 mAh and, that PRO version has a 50W fast charging – 20W more, than standard Xiaomi Mi 10.

For example, Xiaomi Mi 9 has a 3300 mAh battery, so an improvement on the Mi 10 battery is big enough. While Huawei Mate 30 Pro 5G has a 4500 mAh battery, same as PRO version of Xiaomi Mi 10. And iPhone PRO MAX has an even smaller capacity of the battery – 3969 mAh.

On PCMark benchmark, Mi 10 PRO battery life was evaluated to 9 hours 57 minutes and Mi 10 battery life was measured to 11 hours 25 minutes. Both phones were tested on 90Hz mode. So standard Xiaomi Mi 10 has more battery life by 1 hour and 28 minutes.

As Xiaomi declares, Xiaomi Mi 10 PRO fully charges in 45 minutes using the 50W Fast charging function. As tests show, Xiaomi Mi 10 PRO was fully charged with 65W fast charging head in 45 minutes 7 seconds. So, we could truly say, that PRO model charges in 45 minutes and a couple of seconds more. On the testings, the screen was often turned on to check the status of the battery.

Regarding Xiaomi Mi 10 30W Fast charging, according to the Xiaomi, it fully charges in 57 minutes. On the testing, Xiaomi Mi 10 was fully charged in 58 minutes 17 seconds with a 30W fast charging head. It as a little bit more, than Xiaomi declared, but it is close enough.

There is an issue with battery draining overnight. Both models Mi 10 and Mi 10 PRO loses about 9-10 % of its battery on standby overnight (in about 7 hours). But these problems will be fixed on the latest updates.

Sound

Xiaomi Mi 10 PRO has astonishing stereo speakers. A dual symmetrical stereo and 7 Magnetic sounding unit make wider and louder sounds. According to DXOMARK tests, Xiaomi Mi 10 PRO has the best audio quality of all tested smartphones – it got a result of 76.

In comparison with standard Xiaomi Mi 10, PRO version loudspeakers sound far better – Xiaomi Mi 10 PRO stereo speakers are louder, have a higher quality of sound and more bass.

So Xiaomi Mi 10 PRO stereo speakers are far better, than standard Xiaomi Mi 10 loudspeakers.

Xiaomi Mi 10 vs Xiaomi Mi 10 PRO in a nutshell

Xiaomi Mi 10 PRO price is about €650 – 780. When Xiaomi Mi 10 price is approximately €520 – 610. So the price difference between standard and PRO version is about €130-170. Is Xiaomi Mi 10 PRO worth its price?

I would say yes. Because with a PRO version you will get the best main camera and stereo speakers capabilities. These abilities beat performance of most of latest flahgships’ camera’s and audio (according to DXOMARK). And you will lose only 1 hour and 28 minutes of battery life in comparison with the standard Xiaomi Mi 10 model.

Putting all software bugs (which eventually will be fixed) aside, Xiaomi Mi 10 PRO is a top smartphone in the market now. A true Xiaomi flagship and it’s worth its money.

If the leading camera and stereo speakers’ performance, does not matter to you then choose the standard Xiaomi Mi 10 model. You will have the best gaming execution, larger battery, and 90 Hz display mode.

And if gaming performance and 90 Hz display are not important to you as main camera capabilities and you do not have enough money for PRO version of Mi 10, then choose Xiaomi Mi Note 10. Because its main camera is better than the standard Xiaomi Mi 10 (but worse, than Xiaomi Mi 10 PRO main camera). Although Xiaomi Mi 10 Note is powered by the older generation Snapdragon, so it will be much slower.

Deals

There are exclusive deals for Xiaomi Mi 10 and Xiaomi Mi 10 PRO Global on Banggood and Gearbest. You can check them below.

This site contains affiliate links to products. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links at no extra cost to you.

Xiaomi Mi 10 128GB

Banggood coupon: BGMI10128
€619.04 from Banggood with coupon

Gearbest coupon: GBMI10SALE
€658 from Gearbest with coupon

*shopping guides for Banggood or Gearbest (click on the names of shops)

Xiaomi Mi 10 PRO 256GB

Gearbest coupon: GBMI10PRO8256
€791.20 from Gearbest with coupon

*shopping guide for Gearbest (click on the name of the shop)

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