It has been a while we have seen smartphone with Harman/Kardon sound (the last, I believe, was the HTC One M8). There is one now, though – if anyone’s craving for one and it is from Xiaomi. The smartphone maker (and maker of pretty much everything else) has collaborated with Harman/Kardon for its newest Mi phone, the Mi 11.
Sharing the spotlight with Sound by Harman/Kardon on the Mi 11, is the 5 nm process Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 and an impressive DisplayMate A+ certified 2K AMOLED curved flexible display.
Key spec-sheet details include up to 840 MHz Adreno 660 GPU, sixth-generation AI engine (AIE), 8 or 12 GB LPDDR5 RAM, 128 or 256 GB UFS 3.1 flash storage, a 120 Hz 6.81-inch 2K (3,200 x 1,440 pixels) AMOLED display with 480 Hz (!) touch sampling rate and HDR10+ support, Corning Gorilla Glass Victus, super thin under display fingerprint sensor, 100 MP tri-camera setup (108 MP OIS ASPH, 13 MP ultra wide-angle, 5 MP tele macro), 8K and 4K videoing, and 20 MP front-facing camera.
The device is juiced by a 55W flash charge 4,600 mAh battery that supports QC4+, QC3+ and PD 3.0, as well as 50W wireless charging and 10W reverse wireless charging, and it is of course, a dual SIM 5G device.
It further touts enhanced Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 5, Wi-Fi 4, dual band, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC, tri-frequency GPS (plus 5AGPS), and you know, the usual bunch of sensors you expect from a flagship device.
Interestingly, the Xiaomi Mi 11 is offered with and without charger. Even more interesting is, it appears that with or without charger, there’s no price difference, though. So I guess Xiaomi is showing Apple how doing good to the environment should be done: giving people the choice of not getting the charger if they already have one.
We cannot confirm if this is true. However, Lei Jun, co-founder of Xiaomi, had expressed in a video posted on Douyin that Xiaomi will not leave anything out (speaking in front of a super thin packaging in the video). So, this could be Xiaomi’s solution. Apparently, Xiaomi has proposed leaving the charger out a few years ago. Naturally, consumers weren’t amused and the company dropped the idea subsequently.
The precise launch date of the Xiaomi x Harman Kardon Mi 11 is not known, but Xiaomi is having a one-day initial sale on January 1st, 2021. As for pricing, the Mi 11 has a starting price of 3,999 yuan (about US$612). Surprisingly affordable, IMHO, considering what it has to offer.
Xiaomi & Harman/Kardon pic.twitter.com/tth7hfByqR
— 臧智渊Zhiyuan Zang (@zzyln) December 30, 2020
Images: Xiaomi [CH].
