[REVIEW] Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G YES: The new version of the brand’s thinnest and lightest smartphone is a success

Traditionally, the lighter and smaller version of the flagship is labeled with the word Lite. This year, Xiaomi has introduced no fewer than three Lite variants. Specifically, these are Xiaomi 11 Lite, Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G, and Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE. We’re currently testing the latest version and sharing our impressions with you.

In the detailed review, as usual, we’ll look at the phone’s performance, build quality, cameras, and battery life. Our personal hands-on experience and a summary of the pros and cons of this model won’t be missing.

Where to buy Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE?

We purchased the smartphone from the international retailer Edwaybuy. Available from the German warehouse at the currently best price on the market. The seller offers a full 2-year warranty on smartphones.

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Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE Global Version

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Updated 8. 11. 2021 at 11:09

TIPExpress delivery from a German warehouse without customs duty and VAT.

This product will be delivered express from the local German warehouse. Shipping from Germany usually takes 7-10 days, and the delivery is handled by a courier. When it arrives, you won’t pay any additional fees—no customs duty or VAT.

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You need to know this before you buy.

Before you buy, we just want to point out that we’re linking to the German version of the Edwaybuy website. This is so that payment goes through in euros, since on the English version you can only shop in dollars and, given the exchange rate, the prices aren’t as good.

If you don’t speak German, just like us, you can use Google Translate to translate the website.

1. First register your account via this link. If you already have an account, you just need to sign in.
2. Add the product to your cart via the "IN DEN WARENKORB" button (add to cart).
3. In the cart, under RABATTCODES, you can apply a discount coupon:
4. Then click the "zur Kasse gehen" button, which means Continue to checkout. You’ll be redirected to a page where you’ll enter your address (without diacritics) and choose a payment method. Available is payment via PayPal only. In this step, just to be safe, you can enter the coupon again (if you didn’t enter it earlier) and you’ll also see the shipping amount.
5. Confirm your order with the Place Order Now button.

Technical specifications

Why another Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite model?

With the Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE, many people ask why there’s another model here when the Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G had already been announced earlier — it looks the same and has almost identical specs. The reason is a shortage of chips, which made the Snapdragon 780G processor unavailable, so the manufacturer went with the more affordable Snapdragon 778G, which is only slightly weaker.

Another difference is Gorilla Glass 5 instead of the 6 version in the first Lite 5G version, plus the weight of the entire device, which has been reduced by another 1 grams. The remaining specs are identical, but the manufacturer had to choose a new model name because the smartphones use different processors.

What’s in the box with Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE

We received Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE in the traditional white box typical for the 11 series models. On top, there’s a cardboard package containing a transparent silicone case, paper documentation, and also a reducer from the 3.5 mm jack to USB-C for connecting headphones. The adapter is a nice touch, since it isn’t part of the standard accessories we usually find with every smartphone.

The smartphone is traditionally wrapped in a transparent film, and underneath it you’ll find a charging cable with a USB-C connector and a power adapter.

Build quality and placement of the elements

Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE is one of the lightest smartphones (158 g) and also one of the few fairly compact phones today. Its dimensions are 160.53 x 75.73 x 6.81 mm. For comparison, the Xiaomi 11T Pro we recently tested has dimensions of 164.1 x 76.9 x 8.8 mm and weighs 204 g. The difference is especially noticeable in thickness and weight.

Build quality is good, even though the back cover is plastic. It isn’t glossy, which is a positive for fingerprints. However, we’re a bit disappointed by the fairly sharp edges, which make it less comfortable to hold. We had the phone available in blue, but there are several other color options – black, pink, and white. So, with this smartphone, Xiaomi is clearly also targeting the fairer sex.

When it comes to the placement of the controls, the bottom edge includes the charging port, the main speaker, the microphone, and a SIM card slot. This is a so-called hybrid slot that can support 2 SIM cards or 1 SIM card and a memory card. The maximum capacity of the memory card can be up to 1 TB. On the top side, you’ll only find another microphone and an IR sensor.

The left side is traditionally blank, while the right side has a dual-button setup for volume control and a button to unlock the smartphone with an integrated fingerprint reader. The back features a slightly protruding camera module that looks very similar in design to the standard model from Xiaomi 11. The module rises above the level of the back cover by up to 1.77 mm.

AMOLED display with a refresh rate of 90 Hz

The display measures 6.55″ diagonally and has a resolution of 2400 x 1080 px. Its refresh rate doesn’t reach the level of flagship models, but even 90 Hz is more than enough for a visibly better and smoother display compared to typical 60 Hz screens.

However, the refresh rate is again set to a lower value, 60 Hz, so if you want to use the full potential of the display, you need to change the frequency manually in the settings. The cutout for the front selfie camera is located this time in the top-left corner of the display.

The cutout is among the smaller ones, so it isn’t as distracting. We’re personally very satisfied, because we like the placement on the left side more than when the cutout is in the center. The display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5.

Overall, the display leans slightly toward warmer shades, which gives white a slight hint of yellow. If you prefer cooler colors, or want to adjust the colors to your preferences, there are color scheme settings available. Support for technologies like Dolby Vision or HDR 10+ is also included.

The smartphone also has 360° light sensors that help with automatic brightness adjustment. There are also features like Reading mode, Dark mode, and a so-called Sun mode. There’s also the so-called always-on display—translated as an active display—that shows the time and notifications even on the locked screen. However, we’re again faced with a pointless setting: the always-on display shows only for 10 seconds, with no way to change this time interval.

Enough power

Even though Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE is classified as a mid-range smartphone, it doesn’t lack enough performance. Inside, there’s a Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G processor. It’s an 8-core chip made using a 6 nm process. It consists of Kryo 670 cores, with a maximum clock speed of 2.4 GHz. It’s paired with an Adreno 642L graphics chip, and in our case, 8 GB of LPDDR4X RAM.

You get the following memory versions: 6 + 128 GB, 8 + 128 GB, and 8 + 256 GB. The internal storage is UFS 2.2. As with the other smartphone reviews you’ll find on our site, we also tested Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE in the well-known AnTuTu benchmark (version 9). Here we achieved a solid score of 510 236 points.

The overall performance of the smartphone is sufficient, and throughout the testing period we didn’t notice any performance issues. Responses are naturally a bit slower than in flagship models, but it’s not really appropriate to compare smartphones from different categories. A typical user looking for a mid-range smartphone will definitely be satisfied with both performance and system smoothness.

Fast fingerprint reader

The fingerprint reader in the unlock button is still a more reliable solution than an in-display fingerprint scanner. The one you’ll find in the 11 Lite 5G NE model is among the best you can currently find in smartphones and can easily hold its own against flagship models.

Unlocking is extremely fast, accurate, and reliable. We only had issues unlocking with a fingerprint when our hands were wet. As for other unlocking options, there’s also face unlock, which works well and quickly, and unlocking via a Bluetooth device.

Cameras and the quality of their output

Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE has a trio of main cameras, and we were very curious about the quality of their output. First, let’s take a look at the specs of each camera. Unfortunately, on Xiaomi’s official page you won’t find any information about the sensors. The manufacturer only publishes the model code, so we can’t say for sure whether these are exactly the same sensors as in Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G. However, they’re most likely the same.

Based on the specs, it’s a pretty decent set of features. In this price range, of course, you won’t get a proper periscope lens—something usually found only in the top smartphone models. During testing, we were lucky with nice autumn weather, but we also had cloudy, gloomy days. On sunny days, when the lighting conditions are ideal, the output from the main camera is very good. As we’ve come to expect from Xiaomi, the color reproduction is true-to-life, which keeps the atmosphere intact. Sharpness and dynamic range are at a solid level, and with the smartphone you can take really nice photos.

In worse lighting conditions, the main camera is surprisingly still very good, and the overall output is genuinely decent for the mid-range class.

The ultra-wide camera, on the other hand, is noticeably worse—especially in poorer lighting conditions, for example on a cloudy day. Under such conditions, photos taken with the ultra-wide lens are significantly darker, less sharp, and noise starts to appear. But with good light, it works quite reasonably.

Night photos and video

Of course, there’s a Night mode that slightly brightens the photos—you can see this especially in darker areas where details are less visible in photos taken without Night mode.

When recording video, you can use a maximum resolution of 4K at 30 fps. Other options include 1080p at 60 fps, or 30 fps and 720p at 30 fps. There’s no optical stabilization, but at least digital stabilization is available, including at the maximum resolution. Video quality is good, especially with sufficient light. In worse lighting, slight noise starts to show up.

Macro and zoom

Macro is hard to shoot with many smartphones due to focusing at a fixed, set distance. However, the tele-macro lens in Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE can automatically focus from 3 to 7 cm, making macro photography really easy. The quality isn’t bad, so even with lower resolution, you can still take nice macro shots.

There’s no dedicated zoom lens, so the smartphone creates a 2-times zoomed photo using the main 64 MPx sensor. Since it’s a high-quality sensor, the zoomed photos are also of adequate quality.

Battery, charging, and endurance

A smaller phone body means the manufacturer couldn’t fit a battery with a very high capacity. Don’t expect a 5000 mAh battery like you get with flagship models in the 11 line. Still, we didn’t lose out much, because Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE has a 4250 mAh battery, which is completely sufficient.

During intensive testing, we almost drained the battery within a single day—but we were using the smartphone really often. With normal use on workdays, we had no problem getting up to 2-day battery life. In the box, you get a 33 W charging adapter, and charging goes as follows:

• from 18 to 50% – 14 minutes and 45 seconds
• 75% – 29 minutes and 11 seconds
• 90% – 38 minutes and 34 seconds
• 100% – 57 minutes and 11 seconds

Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE: Final evaluation

Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE is a very pleasant refresh of Xiaomi’s latest 11 smartphone series. If you’re looking for a thin, smaller, and lighter smartphone, you’ll definitely be happy. You’ll appreciate enough performance, a good main camera, a quality fingerprint reader, and the option to expand storage with a microSD card.

The downsides include an always-on display that turns off after 10 seconds with no option to change the setting and only 33 W charging. Given today’s 120 W charging trend, we would at least like to see 67 W charging in this model, which would significantly reduce charging time.