Xiaomi Mi 10: Release date, rumours and specs

Xiaomi has been making waves over the past few years, with a more aggressive approach to international expansion and looking to get a real foothold in Europe.

The next flagship phone for 2020 will be the Mi 10 and the Mi 10 Pro, which the company has confirmed. But what will they offer?

Release date and price 

• Q1 2020 confirmed

Xiaomi often releases its phones in homeland China before holding a global event. Sometimes there are some variations - perhaps in naming - but in recent years we've seen some parity in these launches. 

There's currently no confirmed launch date, but Xiaomi confirmed that the Mi 10 would be launching in Q1 2020. We suspect there will be a launch in China, perhaps on 11 February, followed by an unveiling at Mobile World Congress 2020 in late February, likely to be 23 February, although nothing is confirmed. 

Leaked specs have suggested that the Mi 10 will be priced in the RMB3000 range (that's about £330), while the Mi 10 Pro will start at RMB3799, which is around £410. Those prices will likely be adjusted for global release, but they're still looking like good value for money - if they're true.

Design

There's been a couple of renders and now some hands-on photos of a device claiming to be the Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G. The design doesn't throw up too many surprises as this looks like an evolution from Mi 8 to Mi 9 to Mi 10. In fact, it could be Mi Note 10 from the rear, but the punch hole camera in the front does make it a little different from that previous device.

There's no fingerprint scanner, so we can assume that it's under the display, while there's also no 3.5mm headphone socket.

Display 

• 6.57-inch OLED display on both
• 90Hz refresh rate suggested

We've recently seen the Redmi K30 launch with a 120Hz display and that seems to be very much on trend, so we'd expect the Mi 10 to offer this faster refresh rate. Xiaomi has also been talking about a Redmi K30 running at 144Hz - would Xiaomi make that just on the Mi 10 to go one better than Samsung and Huawei?

According to the leaked specs that we've seen, that might not be the case. Weibo specs suggested that we'd see a 6.5-inch OLED display on both devices, but with a 90Hz refresh rate. We can't help feeling that Pro might come in with the 120Hz display instead to help differentiate. Leaked specs from an online store suggest the display is actually 6.57-inches, while a leaked screenshot suggested 6.4-inches. 

The leaked screenshot went on to say it was 2080 x 1080 pixels, which comes out as 17:9, which doesn't sound right for a 2020 phone, so we suspect they are wrong or fake.

It is widely believed that there will be a punch hole camera in the front display and that's supported by the supposed real life shots.

Hardware specs

• Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 + X55 5G
• Mi 10: 8/12GB RAM, 128/256GB storage
• Mi 10 Pro: 12GB RAM, 128/256/512GB storage
• 4500mAh battery, 5250mAh suggested

One of the confirmed details is that the Mi 10 will use the Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 platform. This was confirmed by Xiaomi itself at the launch of the new Qualcomm hardware - and Xiaomi also confirmed that it would be launching a range of 5G handsets, so we suspect this will be a 5G phone from launch, using the X55 modem. 

The two different versions of this handset should differentiate themselves with the hardware to a degree. While both with have the same core components, the Mi 10 Pro will have 12GB RAM, while the Mi 10 will start at 8GB, according to leaked specs. There will be options for 128, 256GB on the Mi 10, while the Mi 10 Pro will also offer 512GB storage.

A more recent leak suggested that there would be 16GB RAM, perhaps on an Explorer Edition - and there is a codename that passed through the CCC - China's certification body - which might suggest such an edition is in the works too.

Both are said to have a 4500mAh battery - something we've now head from several sources - although we've also seen 5250mAh being tossed around too.

The Mi 10 will have 40W wired and 30 wireless, while the Pro will have 66W wired and 40W wireless charging according to one leak. We've also seen a 65W charger appear in hands-on photos, while a 66W charging rate was part of the certification for these devices, so that part if probably fairly reliable.

Cameras

• Mi 10 Pro: 108MP main camera
• Mi 10: 64MP main camera

On the camera front, Xiaomi packs in impressive performance for the price. We've recently seen some interesting camera moves from Xiaomi, using Sony's new IMX686 64-megapixel sensor in the Redmi K30 as well as launching a 108-megapixel system in the Mi Note 10. It looks like the Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro might use these cameras again, respectively.

That will see the Mi 10 with the 64-megapixel Sony sensor, paired with 20, 12 and 5-megapixel cameras, although the exact configuration is not known.

The Mi 10 Pro will probably get the 108-megapixel camera, with 48, 12 and 8-megapixel cameras. Again, the arrangement is not yet known and we've seen different configurations suggested - currently it's hard to know either way what we'll be getting.

As we mentioned, there could be a punch hole camera in the display, and the leak from an online store suggests that this is a dual camera arrangement, with 32 and 8-megapixel sensors. Whether this is for depth or to provide a wide-angle is not known.

Xiaomi Mi 10 rumours: What's happened so far? 

There haven't been many, but here are all the rumours surrounding the Xiaomi Mi 10 so far.

31 January 2020: Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro leaks suggest the forthcoming phone will be a spec monster

A couple of leaks confirm the codenames for the Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro, while a screenshot claims to include some spec details for the forthcoming phone.

20 January 2020: Purported hands-on images show familiar lines from the Mi 10

A quick photo unboxing shows off what's said to be real life images of the Xiaomi Mi 10.

18 January 2020: Leaked poster suggests 11 February launch date for Mi 10

A dubious looking poster appears, claim the Mi 10 will launch on 11 February, but the design doesn't appear to match any other leaks we've seen.

15 January 2020: Xiaomi shows-off 144Hz display for Redmi K30 5G, will Mi 10 follow?

Xiaomi has shown off the Redmi K30 running the display at 144Hz, is this a precursor to the Mi 10 doing the same?

10 January 2020: Online store lists Mi 10, along with a range of specs

An online store has listed the Mi 10, revealing a range of specs for the phone, although there's nothing to verify those specs.

6 January 2020: Digital artist creates some Mi 10 renders based on leaked specs

Ben Geskin has produced some images of what the Mi 10 might look like based on the leaks so far.

3 January 2020: Xiaomi Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro specs leak leaving few surprises

A huge spec dump on Weibo gives us a good idea of what to expect from the Mi 10 series.

28 December 2019: Xiaomi Mi 10 could have a 4500-4800mAh battery

A leak via Weibo has suggested a huge battery capacity for the forthcoming Xiaomi phone.

3 December 2019: Xiaomi Mi 10 will be one of the first Snapdragon 865 phones

Xiaomi confirms that it will be one of the first phones to launch use the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 platform in the Mi 10.

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