Xiaomi Mi 6 review: Social climber

Performance

Xiaomi Mi 6 utilizes the latest Snapdragon 835 chip by Qualcomm. It packs an octa-core Kryo 280 processor (4x2.46GHz and 4x1.9GHz), Adreno 540 GPU, and 6 gigs of RAM in the case of Mi 6.

Unlike most of the current flagships, the Mi 6 is sticking to 1080p resolution, which will surely give it an edge over the competition in the graphics tests.

GeekBench 4 is always a good start for our benchmarking routine. Apple is still king in the single-core processing, but the new Kryo 280 core is the best performer among the Android crowd right now.

GeekBench 4 (single-core)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7
  3488
• Xiaomi Mi 6
  2026
• Samsung Galaxy S8
  1945
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  1943
• Huawei P10
  1927
• Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
  1915
• LG G6
  1733
• Sony Xperia XZs
  1724
• Xiaomi Mi 5s
  1682
• Sony Xperia XA1
  800

But Apple has to step down when all four high-speed Kryo 280 cores work together. The Snapdragon 835 has one of the most powerful processor to date, sharing the first place with Samsung's Exynos 8895 Octa.

GeekBench 4 (multi-core)

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S8
  6175
• Xiaomi Mi 6
  6132
• Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
  6106
• Huawei P10
  6069
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  5837
• Apple iPhone 7
  5654
• LG G6
  4209
• Xiaomi Mi 5s
  3987
• Sony Xperia XZs
  3979
• Sony Xperia XA1
  3554

As far as graphics are concerned, our recent tests often showed the Adreno 540 as one of the best GPU on the mobile scene right now. GFX's offscreen tests confirm that, putting the GPU inside the Mi 6 on top of the charts.

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7
  43
• Xiaomi Mi 6
  41
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  41
• Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
  39
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  39
• Samsung Galaxy S8
  36
• Sony Xperia XZs
  32
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  30
• LG G6
  26
• Xiaomi Mi 5s
  26
• Huawei P10
  22
• Huawei P9
  10
• Sony Xperia XA1
  6.2

GFX 3.1 Car scene (1080p offscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 6
  25
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  25
• Samsung Galaxy S8
  25
• Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
  23
• Sony Xperia XZs
  20
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  17
• Xiaomi Mi 5s
  16
• LG G6
  16
• Huawei P10
  14
• Huawei P9
  6.5
• Sony Xperia XA1
  3.7

Having the advantage of the lower 1080p resolution, the Mi 6 GPU does even more impressive on the onscreen benchmarks. It is bested only by the iPhone 7, which runs on even lower 750p screen.

GFX 3.1 Manhattan (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7
  60
• Xiaomi Mi 6
  41
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  41
• Sony Xperia XZs
  34
• Huawei P10
  30
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  29
• Xiaomi Mi 5s
  26
• Samsung Galaxy S8
  23
• Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
  18
• Sony Xperia XA1
  15
• LG G6
  12
• Huawei P9
  11

GFX 3.1 Car scene (onscreen)

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 6
  25
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  25
• Sony Xperia XZs
  21
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  17
• Xiaomi Mi 5s
  16
• Huawei P10
  16
• Samsung Galaxy S8
  13
• Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
  12
• LG G6
  8.5
• Sony Xperia XA1
  7.9
• Huawei P9
  7.1

Basemark's X and ES3.1 tests show us a different perspective. Both apps feature on- and off-screen tests, and thus give a better understanding of the GPU performance. The Mi 6's Adreno 540 is slightly behind the Mali-G71 MP20 GPU inside the Galaxy S8 series, but still an admirable performer.

Basemark X

Higher is better

• Samsung Galaxy S8
  42370
• Huawei P10
  39433
• Xiaomi Mi 6
  38541
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  38507
• Xiaomi Mi 5s
  36240
• Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
  34951
• Sony Xperia XZs
  33815
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  33110
• LG G6
  30507
• Huawei P9
  16942
• Sony Xperia XA1
  9714

Basemark ES 3.1 / Metal

Higher is better

• Apple iPhone 7
  1547
• Samsung Galaxy S8
  1189
• Xiaomi Mi 6
  861
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  842
• Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
  817
• Huawei P10
  716
• Sony Xperia XZs
  623
• Xiaomi Mi 5s
  588
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  580
• LG G6
  541
• Huawei P9
  341
• Sony Xperia XA1
  191

Finally, we ran BaseMark OS II compound benchmarks - they gauge CPU, GPU, RAM, Web, and OS performance. Here, the Xiaomi Mi 6 aced every single stress test and thus occupies the top spot in the charts. The Snapdragon 835 chip may not be an equal to the latest Exynos SoC, but having a 1080p screen helped the Mi 6 score better than the Galaxy S8 lineup.

Basemark OS II

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 6
  4402
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  4127
• Huawei P10
  3393
• Samsung Galaxy S8
  3272
• Sony Xperia XZs
  2606
• Xiaomi Mi 5s
  2507
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  2444
• Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
  2364
• LG G6
  2291
• Huawei P9
  2190
• Sony Xperia XA1
  1367

Basemark OS 2.0

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 6
  3547
• Apple iPhone 7
  3416
• Samsung Galaxy S8
  3376
• Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
  3319
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  3174
• Huawei P10
  2910
• Sony Xperia XZs
  2386
• Xiaomi Mi 5s
  2378
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  2180
• LG G6
  2126
• Huawei P9
  2068
• Sony Xperia XA1
  1351

The popular Antutu 6 benchmark also thinks that the Mi 6 belongs on top of our chart due to the same reasons it bested every device in the Basemark OS tests.

AnTuTu 6

Higher is better

• Xiaomi Mi 6
  177326
• Apple iPhone 7
  174532
• Samsung Galaxy S8
  174435
• Samsung Galaxy S8+ (SD 835)
  168133
• Sony Xperia XZ Premium
  144223
• LG G6
  143639
• Sony Xperia XZs
  133574
• Xiaomi Mi 5
  131758
• Xiaomi Mi 5s
  131666
• Huawei P10
  126629
• Huawei P9
  98069
• Sony Xperia XA1
  60707

For what the Xiaomi Mi 6 lacks in pixel count, it makes up in performance. There is nothing that Mi 6 can't handle right now and it should be performance-proof for at least a few years post any 1440p smartphone lifecycle. Even better, there is not a single app or game to lag on the Mi 6 for whatever reason, something we can't say for the Galaxy S8 of the LG G6.

But does it run cool? Yes, it does. During the week we spent with the Mi 6, it has never reached anything beyond a warm state no matter for how long we ran benchmarks or played Angry Birds Pop. Pokemon Go has the power to make it a little bit hotter when played for long, but once again - nothing to really worry about. Both Qualcomm and Xiaomi did a good job with the chip and the phone's thermal-spreading design.