Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Mobile

Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge hands-on: Fastest charging phone ever, but does it last?

By

Xiaomi’s first non-flagship device of the year boasts a fast-charging tech that’s never been seen on mainstream smartphones. The Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge comes equipped with 120-watt fast charging, making it the fastest charging device currently on the market. But what about the display, build, camera, and overall experience of the smartphone?

I’ve spent 48 hours with the Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge, and here are my first impressions.

Design and display

Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge display switched on.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge features a 6.67-inch Full HD+ 120Hz AMOLED display that sports a hole-punch cutout to house the 16-megapixel selfie shooter. The 11i Hypercharge misses out on the Adaptive sync variable refresh rate that was present on its predecessor, the Mi 10i. The new smartphone can only switch between 60Hz and 120Hz, but its 360Hz touch sampling rate is still fast and responsive, if not as granular.

The brightness peaks at 1,200 nits, with a typical brightness rated for 700 nits. It’s been raining in Delhi for two days, so I haven’t had the chance to test the legibility in direct sunlight, however, the display works fine indoors, and you will enjoy reading and watching content on it.

As a somewhat unique feature, it comes with a 3.5mm headphone jack, so you can plug in your favorite wired headphones – I love using my AKG K371-BT for Spotify sessions. If you are more of a speaker person, there’s good news for you, too, since the 11i sports dual speakers.

Durability

Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge back.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The phone’s display lies under the protection of Corning Gorilla Glass 5. It features a glass body with a frosted back panel on my Camo Green review unit. It doesn’t attract smudges as easily as glossy glass backs and feels premium in the hand. The power button lies on the right edge alongside the volume rockers above it. The fingerprint sensor, which works very well, is built into the power button and is easy to reach. The power button also lets you double-tap to perform actions or take a screenshot.

The 204-gram weight is something to be noted if you hold your phone for longer durations. The smartphone is IP53 rated – meaning that it is protected against dust, and spraying water won’t compromise its capabilities, but you can’t take it to the beach with you.

Overall, it feels solid in the hand, and having an IP rating gives me confidence as a user. You also get an infrared sensor to control your home appliances, which could be a godsend to change channels when the cafe you are sitting in is blasting music you dislike on the TV. IR blasters are another increasingly rare feature for phones on the U.S. market.

Specs and performance

Coming to the raw prowess, the Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge is powered by the Dimensity 920 system on a chip with VC liquid cooling. It is paired with 6GB/8GB RAM and 128GB/256GB UFS 2.2 storage. The on-page specs translate to a satisfying day-to-day performance, but I have noticed a few frame drops in the UI in my time with the device. However, there are no lags to be worried about. It runs Android 11 with MIUI 12.5 Enhanced on top.

Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge cameras.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The optics on the Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge are showcased by a 108MP Samsung HM2 sensor with a 0.7μm pixel size. It offers a fast-phase detecting autofocus solution and pixel-binning technology to capture images. As I said before, it’s been raining at my place for the past two days, so I haven’t been able to go out and shoot pictures on the phone, but the indoor performance is average. You also get an 8MP ultra-wide-angle camera and a 2MP macro shooter, which I haven’t been able to take advantage of yet either.

Battery and charging

The smartphone packs a 4,500mAh battery under the hood that supports 120W fast charging, and surprisingly (for 2022), we get the fast charger in the box. Xiaomi claims it can charge the 11i Hypercharge from zero to full in 15 minutes. But as you can guess, these stats are for ideal conditions.

With Wi-Fi and Bluetooth turned on, and the screen switched off, I managed to get it from 9% to 100% in 17 minutes and 50 seconds. The device didn’t heat much, but notably, the room temperature in Delhi was around 13 degrees Celcius (55 degrees Fahrenheit), so I wouldn’t expect much overheating at the moment. I’ll also discuss the fast-charging details and safety standards in a separate story coming soon.

Overall, the fast-charging feature is crazy fast, but standby battery drain means so much that it hasn’t lasted for more than a day. but I’m still just 48 hours in, so it could get better with time and as the phone optimizes apps for the battery.

A solid device

So far, the Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge seems like a solid upper-midrange device with some neat features, though 120W fast charging isn’t a game changer so far, and battery life could be better. However, it’s too soon to say if it’ll be better or worse than other devices in the same price range. That judgment will come after more comprehensive analysis.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Prakhar Khanna
Prakhar Khanna
Mobile Writer
Prakhar writes news, reviews and features for Digital Trends. He is an independent tech journalist who has been a part of the…
iPhone 11 owners may be due a free screen replacement
iphone 12 pro design critique 11 screen hand

Apple will swap out the display on some iPhone 11 handsets for free after it acknowledged that a “small percentage” of the devices are failing to respond to touch.

The iPhone 11 devices eligible for a free screen replacement were manufactured between November 2019 and May 2020.

Read more
This one trick will charge your iPhone’s battery faster
trick charge iphone battery faster charging

We've all been there -- you're about to leave the house and your phone is seriously running out of battery. You'll probably just plug your phone in and get as much juice as you possibly can in a small amount of time. Fast charging makes that a simple task, if your phone's battery is really low — but when your iPhone already has a decent charge, you'll find it charges pretty slowly no matter what you plug it into.
There's a way, however, to get your iPhone to 100% that extra bit faster — and it's hidden in your Settings app.

To charge your phone to 100% quicker, open up the Settings app, head to the Battery Health section, then toggle off the Optimized Battery Charging switch. That seems counterintuitive, but it really works — here's why.
Best fast chargers for iPhone and Android
Turns out, it's actually not all that healthy for your phone's battery to continuously charge straight to 100%, and sit at 100%, all of the time. According to Apple, batteries can age more or less depending on factors like charging patterns and temperature -- and the more they age, the less charge they can actually hold. Leaving your phone at 100% on a charger for hours and hours on end accelerates that degradation. In other words, the real-world effects of quickly charging your battery and leaving it at 100% over and over again are actually tangible. Even if that impact won't be felt for a year or two into the phone's life.
Use this feature sparingly — but when you need it, it's wonderful to have the option.

Read more
The iPhone 12 Pro’s flat design is great, but it can’t beat the 11 Pro
iPhone 11 Pro in Midnight Green with an iPhone 12 Pro in Pacific Blue in hand showing off camera modules.

The iPhone 11 Pro is one of the most perfectly proportioned, delightfully curvy, and exceptionally pleasing-to-hold smartphones ever made. I’ve used it every day since it was released in 2019, and have compared it to the majority of other big-name phones released since then. Although some have come very close to matching it — the Huawei P40 Pro springs to mind — nothing has beat it.

Apple’s new iPhone 12 Pro doesn’t look like the 11 Pro. It looks more like the iPhone 4 and iPhone 5, with its squared-off sides and slablike design. There’s no question it’s a pretty phone. Good-looking even. But is it an improvement? I don't believe so.
New design surprises
As sure as night follows day, an S version has followed every iPhone since the iPhone 3G, yet the iPhone 11 series’ look was retired after a single year, despite it being significantly different from the iPhone XS before it. The real reason behind the decision will probably never be known, but it may have been a combination of things including increased competition, a plethora of similarly curvy phones available, a desire to change the design to interest new buyers, and technical requirements for integrating 5G antennas and other technology.

Read more