Xiaomi Mi 10 5G review

Major cutbacks in the camera department

We'll try to do our best to focus on the positives here, even though there is no real way of ignoring the facts. Namely, that Xiaomi focused its downgrades for the Mi 10 on the camera department. A fact that stings considerably since the Mi 10 Pro has such a great and versatile camera setup. Regardless of the reasoning, it is what it is.

Before we get into discussions of actual photo and video quality, we should list exactly what the Mi 10 has to work with in the camera department, what has changed, compared to the Pro and what is still there.

The main 108MP snapper has been carried over from the Mi 10 Pro, mostly unchanged. The only thing that it seems to be missing is the Laser autofocus, having to settle for just PDAF instead.

The 108MP module Xiaomi chose and how it is leveraging it on the Mi 10 does deserve some clarification, though. What we are looking at here is a Samsung Bright S5KHMX ISOCELL 1/1.33, 0.80 µm sensor, positioned behind an f/1.69 lens. It has a reported focal length of 24mm.

This all sounds vaguely reminiscent of the 108MP snapper of the S20 Ultra. However, there is a key difference in color filter setups between the two and the way they combine pixel data. The Ultra has a slightly different HM1 variant of the sensor, complete with Nonacell technology (9-in-1 pixel binning). In contrast, the Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro have a Tetracell (4-in-1 pixel binning) filter. The same goes for the Mi Note 10. Though, it is noteworthy that while the Mi Note 10 produces mathematically-sound 108/4 = 27MP stills, while the Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro end up with 25MP ones. Perhaps there is some extra cropping done to alleviate some edge imperfections - we can't be sure.

Unfortunately, that's about the only bit of the Mi 10 Pro's camera setup that Xiaomi left intact for the vanilla Mi 10. It gets no dedicated telephoto snapper, instead relying on a crop from the main camera for zooming.

Sure, there is a dedicated ultra-wide angle camera on the Mi 10. It is both lower-res and dimmer than the one on the Pro, sitting at 13MP and f/2.4. Still, it allows for some extra bit of versatility in shots, so we'll take it.

Same goes for the 2MP, f/2.4 dedicated macro camera. Perhaps, it would have been a bit superfluous if the ultrawide wasn't fixed-focus. Since that is not the case, it is a nifty addition, with definitely its resolution standing out as the most limiting factor. That aside, it actually does have autofocus and manages to go in really, really close to subjects.

Finally, the 2MP, F/2.4 depth sensor completes the necessary four camera count to populate a similar-looking camera array to the one on the Mi 10 Pro. It's there to assist with portrait shots. Nothing more, nothing less. Oh, and one last little detail - the Triple-LED dual-tone flash on the Mi 10 Pro has been swapped for a Dual-LED module on the regular Mi 10.

Camera app

The camera app is a rather straightforward implementation. You swipe from side to side to change modes, and you can also tap on the ones that you can see to switch to those directly, though they don't all show up in one screen. Up and down swipes don't work for switching between the front and rear cameras, only the toggle next to the shutter release does that.

Main and selfie camera UI

On the near end, you have the rear camera switch that operates in one of two fashions. The first one is simply tapping on the circle with the active magnification to cycle between zoom levels - 1x, 2x, ultra-wide 0.6x - leaving out the macro mode. The latter has its own dedicated toggle on the left-hand side of the UI.

Main camera UI options

On the opposite end of the viewfinder, you have a flash mode switch, an HDR switch, an AI toggle and a magic wand with beauty effects and filters. Behind a hamburger menu, you'll find some more options, plus the shortcut to the settings. What you won't find is an option to set the output resolution for any of the cameras.

Camera settings menu

It is worth noting that in order to get to the dedicated video capture settings menu, you have to flip over to video mode in the camera UI first. Same goes for other on-screen toggles and controls, as well as options in the hamburger menu, which all change according to the mode you are currently in.

Video capture UI

Just like stills, the video capture portion of the camera app also offers filters. There are Beauty and real-time bokeh, as well. Though, with simple sliders, instead of the plethora of options offered while taking photos.

Portrait mode

Speaking of options, Portraits actually get their own dedicated entry in the mode selector. Rightfully so, since you can tweak plenty of parameters. Including the intensity of the blur, via a simulated aperture slider, as well as toggle some studio-style effects. The 108MP photo mode gets its own dedicated mode, as well. Understandably, one missing most of the advanced options of the other photo modes.

108MP mode

Video recording comes with a couple of extra party-tricks to check out. One is the track fast-moving object mode, which lets you manually tap on an object in frame then tries its best to crop and stabilize the frame as you pan and follow it around at a rapid speed. It mostly works as advertised.

Video vlog effects

The Vlog menu has a total of 7 video effects on offer. These try to guide you through getting a particularly interesting or dramatic shot and can be quite involved in some cases. Follow the instructions close enough, though, and you can end-up with a really pro-looking short clip for your social media.

Pro mode

Last, but not least, there is a fully flushed-out Pro mode in the camera app. White balance comes with four presets to choose from, as well as a manual option. Aperture is a simulated value between zero and 100. Shutter speed goes from 1/4000, all the way to 30 seconds. ISO has a range of 50 to 6400. And you get access to any of the tree main cameras from the LENS menu, as well as 108MP mode on the main camera. There's also a focus peaking toggle up top, as well as a metering mode selector.