Xiaomi Mi 4 review: Dragons forever

Performance

Xiaomi Mi 4 runs on the fastest Snapdragon 801 chipset currently available on the market with a quad-core 2.5GHz Krait 400 processor, overclocked Adreno 330 GPU and 3GB of RAM. The Mi 4 comes with a 1080p display, which means the smartphone should be on par with the current crop of flagships and even top the ones sporting 4K screens.

Our first test explores the raw CPU power and Xiaomi Mi 4 passed it with flying colors. It is on par with the S801-based HTC One (E8), Oppo Find 7 and Samsung Galaxy S5.

GeekBench 3

Higher is better

• HTC One (E8)
  3229
• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  3214
• Oppo Find 7
  3178
• Xiaomi Mi 4
  3175
• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  3011
• Oppo Find 7a
  3093
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3 S800
  2937
• Sony Xperia Z2
  2856
• LG G3
  2687
• Sony Xperia Z1
  2638
• HTC One (M8)
  2367
• LG G2
  2243
• Huawei Ascend P7
  1895
• Samsung Galaxy S4 S600
  1869
• Xiaomi Mi 3
  1837

Then we ran the AnTuTu compound test, which in addition to the CPU calculations, throws in GPU and RAM routines, too. The Xiaomi Mi 4 gets another excellent mark here, beating the Xperia Z2 and matching the Galaxy S5.

AnTuTu 4

Higher is better

• Oppo Find 7
  38484
• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  38119
• HTC One (E8)
  37921
• HTC One (M8)
  37009
• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  36018
• LG G2
  35444
• Xiaomi Mi 4
  35298
• Xiaomi Mi 3
  34972
• Oppo Find 7a
  33344
• Sony Xperia Z2
  33182
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3 S800
  31109
• Sony Xperia Z1
  30850
• LG G3
  30482
• Samsung Galaxy S4 S600
  27613
• Huawei Ascend P7
  25812

We tried out the anti-cheat version of the popular Basemark OS II benchmark and we found the Xiaomi Mi 4 doesn't use any tricks to climb up the scoretable. Its overall rating in this benchmark is the best we've seen to date.

Basemark OS II

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 4
  1324
• Xiaomi Mi 3
  1289
• Oppo Find 7
  1212
• HTC One (E8)
  1146
• HTC One (M8)
  1126
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  1082
• Sony Xperia Z2
  1080
• Oppo Find 7a
  1057
• LG G3
  945
• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  915

The single core performance is on par with the latest Snapdragon 801 devices, while the multi-core is a hair below the S801 gang, but still a great result. One thing's for sure, you shouldn't worry about any performance hiccups with this one.

Basemark OS II (single-core)

Higher is better

• Oppo Find 7
  2606
• Oppo Find 7a
  2580
• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  2579
• HTC One (E8)
  2579
• Xiaomi Mi 4
  2573
• HTC One (M8)
  2428
• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  2415
• Xiaomi Mi 3
  2400
• Sony Xperia Z2
  2253
• LG G3
  1787

Basemark OS II (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  15096
• Oppo Find 7
  10391
• Oppo Find 7a
  10256
• HTC One (E8)
  10219
• Galaxy S5 (Snapdragon 801)
  10063
• Sony Xperia Z2
  10044
• HTC One (M8)
  9860
• Xiaomi Mi 4
  9508
• Xiaomi Mi 3
  9007
• LG G3
  8337

The Adreno 330 is a wide-spread GPU core, embedded within the Snapdragon 800 and Snapdragon 801 chipsets. It runs on a higher frequency over the S801, so we've expected slightly better results than the Xiaomi Mi 3. It turns out the Mi 4 is absolutely on par with its predecessor as it is with the S801-powered flagships out there such as the Galaxy S5. Xperia Z2, Find 7.

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• HTC One (M8)
  28.4
• Oppo Find 7a
  28.4
• HTC One (E8)
  28
• Oppo Find 7
  28
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  27.8
• Xiaomi Mi 4
  27.6
• LG G3
  27.6
• Xiaomi Mi 3
  27.4
• Sony Xperia Z2
  27.2
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3 S800
  26.3
• Sony Xperia Z1
  23
• LG G2
  22
• Samsung Galaxy S4 S600
  17.1
• Huawei Ascend P7
  12.3

GFX 2.7 T-Rex (onscreen)

Higher is better

• HTC One (M8)
  30.1
• HTC One (E8)
  29.9
• Oppo Find 7a
  28.8
• Sony Xperia Z2
  28.7
• Xiaomi Mi 4
  28.2
• Xiaomi Mi 3
  28.2
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  28.1
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3 S800
  26.7
• LG G2
  23.1
• LG G3
  20.6
• Oppo Find 7
  19.9
• Huawei Ascend P7
  12.4

The Open GL ES3.0 Manhattan test puts the Xiaomi Mi 4 among the best devices we've tested so far and it is once again on par with the Xiaomi Mi 3.

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• HTC One (E8)
  12.3
• LG G3
  11.9
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (801)
  11.8
• Sony Xperia Z2
  11.7
• Xiaomi Mi 4
  11.6
• Xiaomi Mi 3
  11.6
• Oppo Find 7a
  11.4
• HTC One (M8)
  11.1
• Oppo Find 7
  11.1
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3 S800
  9.9
• Sony Xperia Z1 Compact
  9

GFX 3.0 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• HTC One (E8)
  12.9
• Sony Xperia Z2
  12.2
• HTC One (M8)
  11.9
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  11.7
• Xiaomi Mi 3
  11.5
• Oppo Find 7a
  11.4
• Xiaomi Mi 4
  11.3
• Samsung Galaxy Note 3 S800
  10
• LG G3
  7.4
• Oppo Find 7
  6.7

The BrowserMark 2.1 tests HTML 5 performance, while Mozilla's Kraken 1.1 is JavaScript-centric. The Xiaomi Mi 4 did great on Kraken, but somewhat below average on the compound BrowserMark 2.1 test.

Kraken 1.1

Lower is better

• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  4911
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (801)
  6043
• Xiaomi Mi 4
  6137
• Oppo Find 7
  6363
• HTC One (E8)
  6460
• Xiaomi Mi 3
  6586
• Oppo Find 7a
  6660
• Sony Xperia Z2
  7041
• LG G3
  7610
• HTC One (M8)
  10296

BrowserMark 2.1

Higher is better

• Oppo Find 7
  1452
• Samsung Galaxy S5 (S801)
  1398
• Samsung Galaxy Alpha
  1364
• HTC One (E8)
  1362
• Oppo Find 7a
  1327
• LG G3
  1254
• Sony Xperia Z2
  1224
• HTC One (M8)
  1069
• Samsung Galaxy S5 mini
  861
• Xiaomi Mi 4
  744
• Xiaomi Mi 3
  706
• Gionee Elife S5.5
  432

While we tested the performance of the Xiaomi Mi 4 we noticed it tends to heat up quite badly at the back when under load. Even worse, the heating seems to affect performance. Several runs on one and the same benchmarks produce progressively worsening results most probably due to automatic throttling down. You may need to take extra care to keep your Mi 4 cool in the hot summer months so that it runs at its full potential.

Even with this downside, the Xiaomi Mi 4 and its Snapdragon 801 chipset deliver excellent performance and provide hiccup-free gaming and blazing-fast Android + MIUI experience just as its predecessor - the Xiaomi Mi 3. This means that if the upgraded chipset is your sole reason for upgrade from the Mi 3, might as well keep your Mi 3 for yet another year. It's an equally good performer for all practical purposes.