Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G review

Android 10 and MIUI 11

Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro boots MIUI 11 out of the box. The new launcher is based on Android 10 and revolves around a clean interface, a powerful always-on screen, advanced Dark mode, smart notification sounds, and improved system apps.

The Mi 10 Pro supports Always-on display, and you can schedule it or leave it on/off all the time. MIUI 11 has a ton of themes you can choose from and make it yours. You can customize may of those. The AOD also supports breathing light - the curved edges of the display will flash with colors upon new notifications.

Always-on (ambient) screen and notifications

You can unlock the screen via the improved under-display fingerprint scanner. The reader is easy to set up and works fast. The accuracy is superb, too, and overall, it is excellent for your daily unlocking.

You can also set up face unlock in addition to it - it is equally fast as the Mi 10 Pro wakes up the moment you pick it up.

Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro has a Dark mode - it will switch all system colors from white to black, and this way, you can save some battery juice by making the best use of the power-efficient AMOLED. With MIUI 11 it has been improved, and now more apps support Dark mode, and the icons and their colors have been redesigned to suit it better.

Dark mode

MIUI 11 supports nature alarm and notifications, which sound different depending on the time of the day. Nature sounds have been tailored for alarms and notifications and are far less stressful through the day.

Nature-inspired notifications

There is no app drawer in MIUI, so all your apps are just sitting there on your homescreen, but you can still add them to folders. Of course, you can always install a third-party launcher if you miss the app drawer.

Here are the default home screens on Mi 10 Pro. There's a weather widget in the upper right corner across from a large clock widget. There is a Google pane, the leftmost one.

MIUI 11 has refined looks with less clutter, and you easily spot the Xiaomi efforts towards minimalistic design in the new Settings app.

Lockscreen • Homescreen • Homescreen • Tools • Google Discover • Settings

The task switcher has not changed. It shows all of your recent apps in two columns. Tap and hold on a card for the split-screen shortcut, or just swipe it left or right to close it.

Notifications • Toggles • Recents • Split Screen

Themes are supported on the Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro, if that's your thing.

Themes

MIUI also offers a Security app. It can scan your phone for malware, manage your blacklist, manage or restrict your data usage, configure battery behavior, and free up some RAM. It can also manage the permissions of your installed apps and allows you to define the battery behavior of selected apps and applies restrictions only to the apps you choose.

MIUI also offers proprietary Gallery, Music, and Video player. In some regions, the music and video apps include paid streaming options.

MIUI 11 has a new document viewing app, which supports all popular formats and make easier viewing docs on your phone no matter from what app they were opened. It makes for a seamless experience.

There is also a new Notes app that now supports Tasks.

Security app • Security app • Gallery • Music • File Manager • Mi Remote

We're reviewing the global version of the Mi 10 pro, and we saw ads whatsoever. In some markets though, ads may occur, but we cannot shed more light on this.

Performance and benchmarks

The Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro is employs Qualcomm's latest and greatest Snapdragon 865 chip. It features Qualcomm's X55 modem that adds full-fledged 5G connectivity.

The Snapdragon 865 has a new octa-core processor with a familiar core configuration - 1x2.84 GHz Kryo 585 Gold (Cortex-A77 derivative) & 3x2.42 GHz Kryo 585 Gold (Cortex-A77 derivative) & 4x1.8 GHz Kryo 585 Silver (Cortex-A55 derivative).

The Adreno 650 is part of the Snapdragon 865, and it brings the gaming possibilities to another level.

The Snapdragon 865 chip supports LPDDR5 RAM, and the Mi 10 Pro is available with 8GB LPDDR5 RAM, though there are regional editions with 12GB. The storage options are 256GB (globally) and 512GB (limited), and the storage is of the UFS 3.0 kind.

Finally, the Snapdragon 865 is fabricated on TSMC's 7nm manufacturing process, same as the Snapdragon 855.

We've put the Mi 10 Pro through all the benchmark tests and the scores are in. Nothing surprising out of those - they paint a beautiful picture of a powerful smartphone with cutting-edge performance.

The updated 8-core processor is an excellent performer and a good upgrade over the S855 CPU.

GeekBench 5.1 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G
  3331
• Huawei P40 Pro
  3197
• Realme X50 Pro
  3175
• LG V60 ThinQ 5G
  2942
• Sony Xperia 5
  2825
• OnePlus 7T Pro
  2803
• Redmi K20 Pro/Mi 9T Pro
  2732
• Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G (60Hz, 1440p)
  2728
• Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G (120Hz, 1080p)
  2697
• Xiaomi Mi 9T
  1703

GeekBench 5.1 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Realme X50 Pro
  911
• Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G (60Hz, 1440p)
  910
• Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G
  905
• Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G (120Hz, 1080p)
  904
• Huawei P40 Pro
  780
• OnePlus 7T Pro
  773
• LG V60 ThinQ 5G
  764
• Sony Xperia 5
  750
• Redmi K20 Pro/Mi 9T Pro
  744
• Xiaomi Mi 9T
  542

The Adreno 650 is the best mobile GPU right now, and it thrives under 1080p screens as Xiaomi's. The GFX test recognized the screen as 90fps-capable, and the Mi 10 Pro scored over 60fps wherever possible.

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G (120Hz, 1080p)
  101
• Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G
  88
• Xiaomi Mi 9
  60
• Realme X50 Pro
  60
• Redmi K20 Pro/Mi 9T Pro
  60
• LG V60 ThinQ 5G
  60
• Huawei P40 Pro
  59
• Sony Xperia 5
  59
• Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G (60Hz, 1440p)
  57
• OnePlus 7T Pro
  57
• Xiaomi Mi 9T
  34

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G
  75
• Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G (120Hz, 1080p)
  74
• Realme X50 Pro
  60
• LG V60 ThinQ 5G
  59
• Redmi K20 Pro/Mi 9T Pro
  57
• Xiaomi Mi 9
  56
• Huawei P40 Pro
  52
• Sony Xperia 5
  52
• Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G (60Hz, 1440p)
  42
• OnePlus 7T Pro
  40
• Xiaomi Mi 9T
  24

GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Realme X50 Pro
  45
• Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G (120Hz, 1080p)
  43
• LG V60 ThinQ 5G
  43
• Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G
  42
• Redmi K20 Pro/Mi 9T Pro
  36
• Xiaomi Mi 9
  35
• Sony Xperia 5
  33
• Huawei P40 Pro
  31
• Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G (60Hz, 1440p)
  25
• OnePlus 7T Pro
  24
• Xiaomi Mi 9T
  13

Finally, the Mi 10 Pro aced AnTuTu 8 compound test and for now, occupies the first spot in our all-time chart.

AnTuTu 8

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro 5G
  595246
• Realme X50 Pro
  592447
• Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G (60Hz, 1440p)
  528631
• Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G (120Hz, 1080p)
  514485
• Huawei P40 Pro
  496356
• OnePlus 7T Pro
  493901
• LG V60 ThinQ 5G
  485908
• Redmi K20 Pro/Mi 9T Pro
  437823
• Sony Xperia 5
  416601
• Xiaomi Mi 9T
  257146

The Xiaomi Mi 10 Pro has the best of chipsets right now, and it offers a blazing-fast processor. Not only that, but the Adreno 650 seems like an overkill for a 1080p screen. It's a good thing that thanks to the 90Hz refresh rate, many HRR-compatible games should be able to easily reach 90fps instead of getting capped at 60 fps and gaming should be super smooth.

The phone gets warm after long benchmark sessions, but we didn't notice a noticeable drop in the performance.

So the conclusion is simple - the Mi 10 Pro is one of the fastest Android smartphones to date and its performance is flawless.