Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge Review: Super-fast charging, but is that all?

“Support. Does this mean that I will have to buy a 120W charger to get a full fast charging experience?”

Fortunately, no. Xiaomi has packed a 120W fast charging adapter with the cable inside the box. 

“Well, that is great. But charging at 120W. Is that safe? Will the phone not heat up and cause damage in the long run?”

It has been a few days since I got the device for my Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge review and so far, there has not been a single instance where I had to worry about the phone’s fast charging capabilities. Yes, the phone does get warm slightly to the touch but nothing alarming. Xiaomi told me that it has deployed industry-leading measures and added 34 protection features to ensure that users have a no-concern charging experience. On top of it, there are nine real-time thermal monitoring sensors that keep a check on the device's temperature. In case the temperature shoots up, the phone controls the charging speed accordingly. I got to tell you though that it doesn’t always charge at 120W. You will need to manually enable the Boost Charging Speed toggle in the Battery settings. 

“Okay. So if I do not enable this Boost Mode you just mentioned, how long will it take to charge the battery completely?”

Xiaomi claims that the Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge, with Boost Charging Speed toggle disabled, will still charge completely in under 20 minutes. A company representative told us that the exact time taken with boost charging disabled is 18 minutes. In my experience, it took about 26 minutes on average. With Boost Charging enabled, the phone’s average charging time was about 21 minutes, which is still insane, especially for the price you pay.

“Yes, indeed. But what about battery health? Doesn’t fast-charging hamper your device’s battery health in the long run?”

Umm… this is kind of tricky and I will tell you what Xiaomi told me. The company claims that the device’s battery will offer up to 80 percent of its performance even after 800 charge cycles, which is higher than the industry standard of 60 percent over 500 charging cycles. There is no way to time travel and verify this claim unless you live in the Marvel Universe with the Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge but for now, we have to believe what the company claims. 

“Hmm. Interesting. How long does the battery last on a daily basis?”

There is a 4,500 mAh battery in this device. Depending on your use case, it should ideally last a day at least. I played a lot of Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) and Asphalt 9 Legends during my Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge review period. The phone lasted for about 6-7 hours on a single charge, which is still okay considering the battery is topped up again within 20-odd minutes. But if you are someone who is always on the go and might not have access to a charging socket, I would suggest picking the standard Xiaomi 11i between the two. That one has a 5,160 mAh battery and comes with 67W fast charging support.

“You mentioned BGMI. How was your gaming experience on the Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge?”

For the most part, it is quite good. BGMI on this device supports Smooth Graphics with Extreme frame rate, which is up to 60fps. Switch to Balanced graphics and the frame rate supported is Ultra (about 40fps). I say quite good for the most part cause I experienced some frame drops and lag in between after the phone’s battery was around 20 percent. This was not every time but multiple times. I did not enable the power saving mode, by the way, and am assuming that the phone must be throttling the MediaTek Dimensity 920 processor’s performance to conserve a bit of battery life. Rest, it is quite good. For the casual gamer in you, the phone might not disappoint. It also does not heat much and the maximum temperature of the device after playing BGMI for about 40 minutes was 38 degrees, which is quite normal.

With regards to the software, there’s MIUI 12.5 Enhanced on top of Android. It does come with some bloatware pre-installed but you can easily uninstall them. Xiaomi has not announced the exact timeline but has promised to provide the MIUI 13 update for Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge soon after its release in India.

“And what about the mic quality? Is it good?”

I am among the set of casual gamers who does not use a pair of wired earphones while playing any game. I relied on the phone’s loud dual-speakers and microphones to chat with my friends while playing BGMI. Compared to Xiaomi Mi 11X (Review), which was my previous device for playing BGMI, this one “sounded better”, according to a fellow teammate during a match. For calls too, the person on the other side did not complain about the audio and said my voice was crisp and clear. In case you would want to know, there is a 3.5mm headphone jack for using wired earphones.

“Okay. Other than the battery and the performance unit? What else do you think is good about the Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge?”

There are a few more things to like about the Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge. For instance, its design. While design is a completely subjective matter, many people who saw the device really liked my Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge review unit’s Camo Green colour. You get three more shades and among those, I would probably pick the Black one over Purple and Pearl. Some extra points to Xiaomi for the matte finish on this one. The phone has flat edges and despite weighing over 200 grams, the glass body does not feel as heavy in hand. 

“Do the flat edges hurt while playing games or just while casually using the phone?”

It doesn’t. I am someone who uses the flat-edged iPhone 13 Pro (Review) without the case. That iPhone is heavier but a lot more compact. In comparison, the Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge is taller and a bit narrow as well. Others who held the phone did not highlight any concerns around the in-hand feel either. It still cannot be used single-handedly and if you feel that the flat frame is a problem, slap on that transparent case provided in the box for a better grip. I used this one without the case and did not experience any issues, even while consuming video content for hours on Instagram and YouTube.

“This reminds me. How good is the display?”

At 6.67-inch, the screen is quite tall and offers an immersive experience with minimum bezels. The chin is thicker, yes, but overall, the flat display is surrounded by fairly thin bezels. It’s an AMOLED panel with a Full HD+ resolution so it offers vibrant colours and good viewing angles. The screen is also ample bright and while viewing HDR content, it can get as bright as 1200 nits. Basically, you will not struggle to read the on-screen content while using the device both indoors and outdoors. The screen on this one has a 120Hz refresh rate support, which means that it refreshes up to 120 times every second depending on the task on the screen. There is a tiny cutout as well for the 16MP front camera.

“There is a 108MP camera on the phone as well, right?”

Yes. Xiaomi is using the same Samsung ISOCELL HM2 sensor that was used on the Mi 10i (Review). However, the image signal processor (ISP) is different so the performance differs slightly. You get detailed 12MP pixel-binned images with close to neutral colours in most cases. Dynamic range is also quite good but there were times when the software boosted the blues and increased the sharpness as well. I found the Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge camera performing quite well in low light. It exposes the shadows well and does not overblow the highlights. There is also very limited noise in the darker portion of images clicked using the main camera.

“So like the Mi 10i, this one too has a quad-camera setup?”

No, it does not. While the Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge camera module might have four circles and an LED flash inside the module, one of them is a dummy design. This could have been done for giving the camera module a symmetric look or a plain marketing trick, I suppose. But other than the 108MP main camera, you do get a decent 8MP ultrawide camera for shooting those landscape shots. There is a 2MP macro camera as well which is best not used. You want macro images? Shoot using the 108MP mode and crop the image to get a better image in comparison. The 16MP front camera clicks decent selfies too but smoothens out the skin and messes up with the skin tone. If you like beautified selfies, you might like this one. Here, check some of the sample images clicked for our Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge review.

“So other than the fast charging, there is a lot more to the Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge.”

Yes, certainly. While the device does have a best-in-class charging experience, it also offers a premium design, in my opinion. The display is also quite good and so is the main camera performance. If you are a gamer, there are better alternatives, including the like iQOO 7 and Xiaomi’s own Mi 11X. This doesn’t mean that one cannot play games on the Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge. The MediaTek Dimensity 920 SoC is quite capable of handling day-to-day tasks but you get better performance for gaming on smartphones with Snapdragon 870 SoC in the price range.

“Who do you think should buy the Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge?”

Quite simple, actually. At a starting price of Rs 26,999 for the base 6GB RAM variant, those who want the ultimate fast charging experience and a phone with a flat frame can certainly opt for this phone. It is also among the smartphones under Rs 30,000 to feature a headphone jack. If these features are a must, then the Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge is certainly the one to go for. You want more RAM? There is an 8GB RAM variant, which is priced at Rs 28,999.

“And the ones who should not buy this?”

Again, quite simple. Those who want the best-in-class gaming performance can look elsewhere. The phone’s front camera is also not among the best and you might want to look at some of the Realme and iQOO phones around the same price range. Not saying that the Xiaomi 11i Hypercharge has a bad front camera but there are better alternatives for selfie-lovers.