Xiaomi Mi 10: Without good software, a lot of megapixels won't help

Xiaomi advances into new megapixel spheres with its Mi models. But the manufacturer forgets an important point for good smartphone photos: the software.

As already the Mi 10 Pro, the Mi 10 also shows some weaknesses in our test, which other manufacturers managed to avoid. This goes again to show that most of the time high Megapixel numbers in smartphone cameras are more marketing than offering a real increased value.

Even though the images delivered by the Xiaomi Mi 10 are not bad and it even shows an outstanding low-light performance, the coarse graininess and slight blurriness mar the overall impression. We even attest the front camera with the better performance here.

Other than that, a very good smartphone

Buyers who don't put so much value into taking pictures with the smartphone will hold a very good smartphone in their hands with the Xiaomi Mi 10: The workmanship is excellent, the performance at a good level, and 5G is already supported as well. In addition, we really liked the OLED touchscreen. Not only did it display a very good image, but it also gave very pleasant feedback to input.

So at a price of about 750 Euros (~$818), it offers a lot, even if we don't completely understand why it lacks a storage card reader. There is also no 3.5-mm audio port. But mainly, our high expectations on a 108-MP camera were disappointed, as we already mentioned in the beginning.

Considering the high price that Xiaomi now charges for its top smartphones, this is particularly annoying. We would have preferred a smaller sensor that works together with better software. However, some users who like to experiment could get their money's worth, if they manually install the GCam app from Google on the Mi 10. Our experiments with the Mi 10 Pro showed some significant improvements of the recordings when using that.

Source(s)

You can find more information on this in our Notebookcheck review on the Xiaomi Mi 10Xiaomi Mi 10 Smartphone Review: More Megapixels.