Xiaomi announces Redmi Note 11 series with iPhone-style flat sides

Xiaomi has announced the Redmi Note 11 series, continuing its popular line of budget-friendly handsets that sell in huge numbers in India and various other markets.

There are four phones in total, but they only differentiate themselves in a few specific areas. All of them have what Xiaomi describes as a “trendy flat-edge body” — in other words, yes, it looks like an iPhone — and most of the specs are shared across at least two models. Here’s how it all breaks down:

• The Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G is the highest-end model and has a Qualcomm Snapdragon 695 processor with 5G support. The screen is a 6.67-inch 120Hz 1080p OLED panel, there’s a 5,000mAh battery with 67W fast charging, and a 108-megapixel main camera backed by an 8-megapixel ultrawide and a 2-megapixel macro camera. It’s also the only phone in this lineup not to have a 2-megapixel “depth camera,” which is probably not a big loss.
• The Redmi Note 11 Pro is essentially identical to the Pro 5G, but it uses a MediaTek Helio G96 processor that only supports up to LTE connectivity.
• The Redmi Note 11 has a Snapdragon 680, a smaller 6.43-inch 90Hz 1080p LCD, a 50-megapixel main camera, 33W fast charging, and only goes up to 6GB rather than 8GB of RAM.
• The Redmi Note 11S has the same screen and 33W fast charging as the Note 11 but the same Helio G96 processor, 108-megapixel main camera, and option for 8GB of RAM as the Note 11 Pro.

All of these phones have 5,000mAh batteries, side-mounted fingerprint sensors, headphone jacks, and up to 128GB of onboard storage.

Xiaomi was unable to provide pricing information in advance of this launch, which is obviously critical for such a wide range of products and SKUs that are all intended to be affordable and price-competitive. For context, last year’s equivalent Redmi Note 10 Pro — which had a similar screen and camera — cost about $260 when it was launched in India.

The Redmi Note 11 and 11S will go on sale this month, while the Note 11 Pro and Pro 5G won’t be available until February.