Xiaomi Mi Note 10 Lite, flagship quality at an accessible pricing

6/6/2020

Six months after the release of the widely acclaimed camera-centric Mi Note 10, Xiaomi has launched a cheaper model: the Mi Note 10 Lite, featuring most of the same specifications of the regular Mi Note 10 at the cost of much worse cameras.

The Mi Note 10 was the first mainstream production phone to launch with a 108 MP sensor, and was hailed for its photography chops as it debuted at the top of DxOMark's leaderboard. Six months later, Xiaomi is back with another phone in this series—the Mi Note 10 Lite. This time, though, the camera hardware isn't that impressive.

The Mi Note 10 Lite sports the same 6.47-inch FHD+ AMOLED display on the regular Mi Note 10. That's a theme with the phone, in fact, as it shares virtually identical hardware with the Mi Note 10. The same Snapdragon 730G, 5260 mAh battery, and 30 W fast charging.

Besides the display, the Mi Note 10 Lite also retained the 5,260mAh battery capacity found on the Mi Note 10. The new device will include a 30W fast charging adapter in the box. Another core component kept consistent with the Mi Note 10 Lite is the usage of a Qualcomm Snapdragon 730G processor, with close-to-flagship performance found on the flagship Mi Note 10 series.

Where the Mi Note Lite does differ from the Mi Note 10 is in the most important department: cameras. While the Mi Note 10 features a huge 1/1.33" 108 MP ISOCELL Bright HMX, the Mi Note 10 Lite goes with the smaller, lower-res 1/1.7" 64 MP IMX686. The ultra-wide-angle shooter is downgraded from a 20 MP unit to an 8 MP sensor, and the two telephoto lenses are ditched in favor of a 5 MP macro lens and 2 MP depth sensor.

The Mi Note 10 will come in color options of Nebula Purple, Glacier White and Midnight Black. Xiaomi has yet to announce the local pricing and availability of the Mi Note 10 Lite, but we do know that they intend to have it out around mid-May 2020, at the following global price tags:

€349 for the 6GB + 64GB version (~S$538)
€399 for the 6GB + 128GB version (~S$615)
We'll update once we are notified of the local purchasing details.