Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G review

Design and handling

The Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro may break many of the maker's rules, but one thing cannot go amiss - the glass sandwich design. The market demands it, the users like, it and there is no worthy successor just yet. And the Xiaomi obliges by these rules, so lo and behold the dual-glass Mi 10 Pro.

Two Gorilla Glass 5 pieces, symmetrically curved, and an aluminum frame sandwiched in between - the unwritten rule about the flagship design gets yet another excellent execution by Xiaomi. We are glad to see a matte glass panel on the back.

Let's take a closer look to the front. It is all about the 6.67" OLED screen, curved on its longer edges. It is not like Huawei's overflow shape even though the wavy frame does suggest so. But the protective Gorilla Glass 5 is identical to the rear Gorilla Glass 5 in terms of size, shape, and curves. And we love symmetry, so we really like the Mi 10 Pro already.

The screen itself has impressively thin bezels, and its slopes are not that steep for your palm to get in the way of using it, or worse - be responsible for mistouches. There is a small punch hole for the selfie camera around the top left corner, but this cutout doesn't get in the way when watching videos, and it is almost invisible as it's quite small.

The OLED seems very bright and its colors - lively, but we'd expect nothing less from an OLED. It also supports a 90Hz refresh rate, and, indeed, everything looks silky smooth. The fingerprint reader is below the screen around the bottom, and it is of the latest generation optical scanners, meaning it's as fast and accurate as the conventional sensors. Everything happens in an instant, and that's the most important thing.

There is no notification LED on the Mi 10 Pro, but you can use the AOD screen if you are ready to pay the price in battery life. The earpiece is very thin, barely noticeable, and etched into the metal frame. It doesn't feature a boost in loudness to act as a second speaker, but we'll talk more about that in a bit.

The back of the Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro is a sight for sore eyes. The first thing you will notice is the omission of the huge black blob that holds them cameras. Instead, the Mi 10 Pro has one vertical setup consisting of three snappers - the 8MP 5x, the 12MP 2x, and the 108MP primary (top to bottom). Last, outside this arrangement is the 20MP ultrawide shooter.

The triple setup protrudes quite a bit, but it is still not as nearly huge as on many of the competitors.

There is also a triple-LED dual-tone flash and it's outside everything, flush with the back.

And the back is smooth thanks to the matte finish. We have the Solstice Grey version, which is, well, obviously blueish. The color is uniform, but when light gets caught between the different layers of paint, it is refracted across the entire back in a cool but not flashy way.

The frame is quite thin on the longer sides, but yet sharp enough to provide adequate grip, so we are happy with it. Holding the phone without the case is pleasant and it feels secure enough even in long shooting sessions.

The longer sides are pretty bare, the volume and power keys are of only interest.

The top and bottom, on the other hand, are full of goodies. For starters - the stereo speakers. There are two identical grilles on both ends, and the speakers behind those are equal in size and sound, also very loud and with exceptional audio quality. Oops, that was supposed to be the surprise of our speaker-test section, so, yeah, spoiler alert!

We are glad to see real stereo speakers, and we applaud Xiaomi for making the time and finding the space to fit these speakers.

The top also offers an IR blaster, while the bottom has the USB-C port and the SIM slot. There are mics on each side, too.

The Mi 10 Pro is well-built smartphone, feels solid and grippy, and it is splash-proof. We would have liked it better with complete water protection, but it is what it is. Maybe next time, though we somehow doubt that.

The Mi 10 Pro also feels incredibly thin in hand, but without any compromise in the grip - the frame provides for a good grip and pleasant handling. Overall, we wouldn't change one bit on the Mi 10 Pro. Maybe bump up the water resistance a bit but that's just us.