Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge 5G Review: Unbelievable Charging Speeds

Xiaomi is starting the new year with the launch of the Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge 5G, which it claims is India's fastest charging smartphone. While multiple manufacturers have been pushing faster charging as a selling point, Xiaomi is the first company to launch a smartphone capable of 120W fast charging in India. The 11i HyperCharge 5G is supposed to charge completely in just 15 minutes. So, is this phone just a one-trick pony, or can it take on the competition in other aspects as well? I put it to the test to find out.

Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge 5G price in India

The Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge 5G is available with 6GB or 8GB of RAM, and both variants have 128GB of internal storage. The base variant is priced at Rs. 26,999 in India, while the other one is priced at Rs 28,999. Xiaomi is offering a Rs. 1,500 early-bird discount, and SBI card holders can claim an additional Rs. 2,500 cashback at the time of launch.

Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge 5G design

The Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge 5G is a large phone and has a new design with flattened sides. It is still comfortable to hold in the hand as the corners are rounded, so they don't dig into your palms. The polycarbonate frame of the 11i HyperCharge doesn't feel cheap, but the weight of 204g is noticeable.

You get a big 6.67-inch display on the Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge 5G. It has a small hole-punch cutout near the top, and thin bezels all around. The side-mounted fingerprint scanner is well placed and my thumb rested on it naturally. The volume buttons are also within reach. While the right side has all the buttons, the left side is bare. The phone also features stereo speakers, a 3.5mm headphone jack, an IR emitter, and a USB Type-C port.

The Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge 5G has a matte finish on the back which hides fingerprints

The back panel of the Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge 5G is made out of glass which gives it a premium look. I had the Camo Green variant, which has a matte finish. The colour shines through when light hits the surface at the right angle. The camera module is big and is sure to grab a lot of attention.

While the glass back manages to hide fingerprints quite well, Xiaomi does bundle a transparent case in the box, along with the large 120W charger.

Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge 5G specifications

The Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge 5G sports a 6.67-inch full-HD+ AMOLED display with a 120Hz maximum refresh rate. It has a peak brightness of 1200nits and Corning Gorilla Glass 5 for protection. Xiaomi has picked the MediaTek Dimensity 920 SoC to power the 11i HyperCharge 5G. This is a new SoC and can also be seen powering the Vivo V23 Pro in India.

The internal storage is expandable using a microSD card in the the hybrid dual-SIM tray. Xiaomi also offers a memory extension feature that uses part of the internal storage as RAM. On my unit, this feature allowed me to add an additional 3GB of virtual RAM, and it is enabled by default. The Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge 5G packs in a 4,500mAh battery which is a slightly lower capacity than the one in the Xiaomi 11i 5G launched alongside it. These two models are identical other than their different battery capacities and maximum charging speeds.

Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge 5G has a side-mounted fingerprint scanner

In terms of software, the phone runs MIUI 12.5 on top of Android 11. My unit had the November Android security patch. MIUI has multiple customisations and I also noticed a large number of preinstalled apps. You can uninstall these apps which helps declutter the interface. When you swipe right from the homescreen, you'll see Xiaomi's ‘App Vault' by default. This can now be swapped to show the Google Discover news feed or disabled altogether.

Theming is possible on the 11i HyperCharge 5G, so you can customise the interface to your taste. Some of the other features include Dual Apps, which lets you run two instances of the same app, and Game Turbo, which lets you access all your games in one place, manage device performance, and block calls and notifications while gaming.

Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge 5G performance and battery life

The Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge 5G's AMOLED display is crisp, with good viewing angles and brightness. The high refresh rate makes scrolling and motion in supported games super smooth. The 120Hz setting isn't enabled by default though. The speakers are loud and stereo sound added to the overall video watching experience. I found the side-mounted fingerprint scanner to be quick, and it only needed one tap to unlock the phone. Multitasking was a breeze and I was able to switch between multiple apps without any hiccups.

I ran synthetic benchmarks to see how the MediaTek Dimensity 920 SoC fares compared to the competition. In the AnTuTu, the Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge 5G scored 4,26,791 points. It also scored 742 and 2240 points in Geekbench 5's single-core and multi-core tests respectively. In graphics benchmarking app GFXBench's T-Rex and Car Chase scenes, the 11i HyperCharge 5G scored 82fps and 21fps respectively. The Motorola Edge 20's (Review), with its Qualcomm Snapdragon 778G SoC, scored higher in each of these tests.

Xiaomi bundles a large 120W charger with the 11i HyperCharge 5G

I played Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) on the Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge 5G which defaulted to the HD graphics and ‘High' frame rate settings. The game was playable at these settings without any issues and I did not notice any stutter. After playing the game for 26 minutes, I noticed a six percent drop in the battery level which is very good. The smartphone wasn't warm to the touch either.

The Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge 5G offered good battery life and easily lasted beyond a day with my usage. In our HD video loop test, the phone ran for 15 hours and 57 minutes. Charging the phone was ridiculously quick with the supplied 120W charger. The 11i HyperCharge 5G got to 72 percent in just 10 minutes but then it took a total of 20 minutes to charge completely. I had to toggle Boost Charging Speed in the Settings to take advantage of the fastest possible charging speed with the 120W charger, which isn't enabled by default.

Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge 5G cameras

The Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge 5G has a triple camera setup consisting of a 108-megapixel primary camera with an f/1.89 aperture, an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle camera, and a 2-megapixel macro camera. For selfies, it has a 16-megapixel front shooter. The camera app is similar to what we've seen on other recent Xiaomi smartphones, and all the expected shooting modes are present, along with quick toggles for HDR and AI. The Macro toggle is still hidden in a sub-menu which makes it easy to miss.

Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge 5G sports a triple camera setup

Daylight photos taken with the Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge 5G were good. The phone was quick to accurately meter light and lock focus, however, it tended to boost sharpness and contrast in the final image. This caused a watercolour-like effect on objects in the shadows. The ultra-wide-angle camera offered a much wider field of view, and photos looked good on the phone's display, but there was a noticeable drop in image quality compared to shots taken with the primary camera.

Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge 5G daylight sample (tap to see full size)

Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge 5G ultra-wide-angle sample (tap to see full size)

Close-up shots were crisp, and the phone managed colours well. Subjects also had good separation from the background with a soft depth effect. Portrait mode photos had good edge detection and the phone allowed me to set the level of blur before taking a shot. Macros are captured at only 2-megapixel resolution but I was able to get very close to the subject.

Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge 5G closeup sample (tap to see full size)

Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge 5G portrait sample (tap to see full size)

Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge 5G macro sample (tap to see full size)

Low-light photos taken with bright light sources nearby turned out well, and objects at a distance were recognisable. However, colours were off. With Night mode enabled, the output had slightly better details and colour.

Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge 5G lowlight sample (tap to see full size)

Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge 5G Night mode sample (tap to see full size)

Selfies shot with the Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge 5G had good details, and the Portrait mode did manage good separation between the subject and the background. Low-light selfies were average.

Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge 5G daylight selfie sample (tap to see full size)

Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge 5G low-light selfie portrait sample (tap to see full size)

Video recording maxes out at 4K for the primary camera and 1080p for the selfie shooter. Stabilisation was good during the day, but at night, there was jitter in clips recorded when walking around. Overall, the cameras fared better in daylight compared to low-light conditions.

Verdict

The Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge 5G has made headlines for its super-fast charging capability, and this is the biggest selling point of this smartphone. It seems unreal that a smartphone's battery, that too one of a relatively high capacity, can be filled completely in just 20 minutes. I reckon this will be extremely handy for people who travel often. The only catch here is that you will need to carry the big 120W charger with you at all times.

The Xiaomi 11i HyperCharge 5G commands a premium for its 120W fast charging technology. It does not have any direct competition yet, so if you are willing to spend some money, go for it. If this one feature doesn't really matter for your usage, you could instead take a look at the regular Xiaomi 11i 5G which costs a fair bit less. It's nearly identical to the HyperCharge model, but supports 67W fast charging instead (which is still quite quick). The OnePlus Nord 2 (Review) and the Poco F3 GT (Review) are worth considering if you want more performance for the price.