What are the Xiaomi phones with the best camera?

With just over 10 years in the mobile market, Xiaomi is a Chinese brand currently recognized for its product design, performance, and price. They offer an excellent cost-benefit ratio for users, who have seen how the brand has evolved over time to steal the attention always fixed on brands like Samsung or Apple.

A factor that has a considerable impact on the user's purchase decision is the camera. Xiaomi has paid special attention to this characteristic in recent years, in order to seriously compete with other brands for the spot of the phone with the best camera and thus, try to attract more customers.

Photography competition in the mobile world is fierce. Nonetheless, Xiaomi has invested more than enough in research and development and has made major partnerships to fight head-to-head against the iPhone and Samsung's Galaxy S series.

How to choose a Xiaomi smartphone with a good camera?

There are many factors to take into account when choosing a Xiaomi mobile with a good camera. Clearly, the ones that stand out the most in this section are the high-end ones, but don't worry! You can find a mid-range phone that offers outstanding results, with a more balanced price, and without the need to invest a huge amount of money.

Most users look at the number of megapixels a camera sensor has and relate it as the main element of its quality. Although it's an important feature, there are other factors that you should pay attention to, such as the quantity and quality of the lenses, the size of the sensor, the technologies it integrates, the mobile processor, and even the RAM memory.

Below we tell you what you should consider in each of these sections.

Megapixels

A few years ago, camera manufacturers started a “war” to see which brand had the camera with the most megapixels. This made users think that the quality of a photograph depended directly and solely on the number of megapixels of the sensor. The reality is completely different because even though it is important, the number of megapixels has to do with the physical size of an image when printing, i.e., a sensor with more megapixels allows one to physically print a larger photograph.

However, with technological advances have come other types of technologies for cameras. Additionally, chipsets with better components and more complex image signal processors (ISPs) have made it possible to get more out of a sensor's megapixels.

Among these new technologies is pixel binning. With this function, smartphones with very large sensors, such as 108 or 200 megapixels, group their pixels to create a larger one. This can be done with different groups, such as 2×2 (grouping four pixels into one) or 3×3 (grouping nine pixels into 1).

There are two major advantages of pixel binning: The first one consists of capturing a greater amount of light, which also results in photographs with a better level of contrast, sharpness, texture, and colors that are more vivid and closer to reality. The second is in the final size and weight of the photographic file, which is optimized to be 12 megapixels instead of 108 or 200, as this would consume a lot of ROM memory and would not allow for storing many files.

Of course, smartphones with this type of sensor also have a high-resolution mode, which makes it possible to capture photographs using all the pixels of the sensor. This results in a large image, which can be edited later without losing quality. However, in such cases, the advantages of pixel binning aren’t used.

If you’re considering buying a Xiaomi phone with a good camera, check the megapixels of the sensor and whether it includes pixel-clustering technology or not.

Lenses

Currently, Xiaomi phones with the best camera have a minimum of three lenses in their main system (rear camera). Generally, the main sensor (the one with the most megapixels) is coupled with a wide-angle lens and is complemented by smaller sensors that may be behind an ultra-wide-angle, macro, or telephoto lens designed to function as a depth sensor. These work in conjunction with the main camera to deliver more accurate results in portrait mode and create a more natural bokeh effect.

A system with a main camera with three or more elements provides users greater versatility when taking pictures. But it’s not only necessary to look at that, it’s also good to investigate the quality of the lenses. The best-manufactured lenses have seven elements or more.

Processor

Currently, this is one of the most relevant elements for the camera. It doesn’t only take care of the performance of the mobile in terms of speed and multitasking, but the chipset also includes very important elements for the camera, such as the neural processor and the ISP.

The neural processor is in charge of the artificial intelligence and machine learning tasks. In the camera, this translates into detecting scenes by identifying different elements, such as food, the sky, people's faces, and proximity to the lens, among others. This makes the phone instantly suggest a specific camera mode, such as “food” or “portrait” or make the necessary adjustments so that everything comes out with a good color balance and contrast.

The ISP (image signal processor) is in charge of working with the photographs once they’ve been captured in order to process them and provide a better result.

These types of technologies are very advanced in the latest generation of high-end chipsets and are at a good level in mid-range chipsets. Qualcomm, one of the industry's leading processor manufacturers, has the Snapdragon 8 family aimed at the high end and the 600 and 700 series for the mid and upper-mid ranges.

MediaTek, for its part, offers these technologies in the mid-range Helio G series and in the high-end Dimensity family of processors.

Xiaomi mobiles with the best camera feature Snapdragon 8 series processors.

RAM memory

Hand in hand with the processor, the RAM memory works on the speed and fluidity of a smartphone. The amount of RAM works with the chipset to quickly and almost instantaneously process photos captured with the smartphone's camera.

Mid-high-end and high-end smartphones usually have a minimum of 8 GB of RAM, which is more than enough to perform these tasks quickly and without delays. However, Xiaomi mobiles with the best camera usually go up to 12 GB of RAM to offer more fluidity.

The RAM memory also has an impact on the smartphone’s video capabilities, which we will discuss below.

Video recording

The best cameras in Xiaomi phones offer several options for video recording. The highlight in some models is the ability to capture videos in 8K resolution at 24 frames per second (fps) and with HDR certification. Still, it’s usually better to do it in 4K resolution, which can be done in 30 and 60 fps and with HDR10+.

As if that were not enough, they can also capture video in Full HD resolution. For example, this feature offers more options in the slow motion function, making it reach up to 960 fps, which is the equivalent of holding a phantom camera in your hand.

In this way, the best cameras in Xiaomi smartphones not only offer photographic versatility but also have a good amount of options for video enthusiasts.

ROM memory

ROM memory or storage capacity is a very important aspect for photo and video enthusiasts. Although this component doesn’t directly influence the behavior and performance of the camera, it’s necessary to have a good amount of ROM to store all the photos and videos you take with your smartphone.

Currently, most Xiaomi mobiles with good cameras have a minimum of 128 GB of storage capacity, which can be more than enough to store many photos. However, this depends on each user; the number of applications that you download on the smartphone, and the use that you give it.

In that sense, the best recommendation for those who, in addition to taking pictures and recording video, download many applications is to consider a larger amount of ROM memory. In the case of Xiaomi smartphones with a good camera, the ROM can reach 256 GB or even 512 GB.

Partnership with Leica

In mid-2022, Xiaomi announced a collaboration agreement with Leica, the German manufacturer of photographic optics. Leica has enormous experience and an excellent reputation in this sector. For many years, Leica co-developed the cameras of high-end Huawei mobiles, such as the P series and Mate series but the agreement with the Chinese brand also ended in 2022.

The first result of Xiaomi's union with Leica is the Xiaomi 12S Ultra, a smartphone that was presented in July 2022 with an excellent camera composed of three lenses: one with a 50.3-megapixel main sensor and two more 48-megapixel lenses for the ultra wide-angle and telephoto lenses. Finally, this system has a fourth sensor, a 3D TOF dedicated to very precise depth measurement, which provides important support for portrait mode and its ability to focus on low-light conditions.

This handset was released for sale only in China, but the partnership between Leica and Xiaomi is expected to become closer and be reflected in products that reach the rest of the world.

Where to buy them?

AliExpress

One of the best options to buy Xiaomi mobiles with a good camera is AliExpress. The store has gained popularity in recent years and has become one of the most trusted places to buy technology products.

One of the most important advantages of AliExpress is that Xiaomi has an official store within this e-commerce, which translates into more security and confidence for users.

However, AliExpress doesn’t have as fast shipping as Amazon. In fact, when you select a product you can see the shipping method the store will use and an approximate time frame in which you’ll receive your order.

And to provide even more reassurance when purchasing, AliExpress offers a warranty that protects the buyer for up to 75 days after placing the order. If there’s a problem with the order, the customer can request a refund.

Amazon

Undoubtedly, Amazon remains an excellent choice for buying technology and smartphones. Besides offering many different models, it also offers very competitive prices, and fast delivery times, which can even be overnight for members of its Prime program.

On the other hand, another of its great advantages lies in customer service. The company provides a very good communication system and package tracking. Not only that but if you have any issues with a purchase, or you’re not satisfied with it, the return system is fast and generally has no setbacks.

Physical and online Mi Stores

Xiaomi also has a very complete system of physical stores. These are good alternatives if you’re unsure of which phone you want to buy. In these stores, you can find most of the available models on display and this allows you to test, compare and analyze the product better before making a choice and, subsequently, a potential purchase.

This system of stores extends to e-commerce with the Mi Stores online, where in addition to having the entire current catalog of smartphones you can also see the rest of their products. On many occasions, they have discounts or special promotions, such as combos that include a smartphone and headphones, among others.