Xiaomi Mi 10T Pro balances premium specs with budget pricing, but cuts wireless charging

Xiaomi has spent years trying to shed its reputation as a budget phone maker, and the Mi 10T Pro represents another calculated swing at the premium market. Priced at Rs. 39,999, it arrives as a successor to the Mi 10 but at a notably lower cost—a move that immediately raises the question of what, exactly, has been left behind.

The phone feels substantial in hand, weighing 218 grams with a metal frame that runs cold to the touch. The design is competent: flat sides, curved rear edges for grip, stereo speakers, and an IR emitter that Xiaomi has made standard across its lineup. The fingerprint scanner sits on the right edge where your thumb naturally rests. But the most significant design choice is also the most visible compromise. The Mi 10 featured a curved AMOLED screen; the Mi 10T Pro swaps that for a flat 6.67-inch LCD panel with a hole-punch camera in the top left. It's a step down in display technology, but Xiaomi has compensated by pushing the refresh rate to 144Hz—a number that sounds impressive on paper and does translate to noticeably smoother scrolling and animations in practice. The LCD delivers decent brightness outdoors and supports HDR10, though colors lack the punch and blacks lack the depth you'd get from AMOLED. The camera module protrudes enough to make the phone rock when laid flat on a table, a minor annoyance that hints at the engineering compromises baked into the design.

Inside, the hardware largely mirrors the Mi 10. The Snapdragon 865 processor handles everything thrown at it without hesitation. Eight gigabytes of LPDDR5 RAM and 128GB of UFS 3.1 storage keep app switching seamless. In benchmark tests, the Mi 10T Pro scored 573,614 points in AnTuTu and outperformed the OnePlus 8T in Geekbench's multi-core test. Real-world performance matches the numbers—apps launch instantly, the 144Hz display makes transitions feel buttery, and even demanding games like Call of Duty Mobile run without stuttering. The battery, a 5,000mAh cell, lasted roughly a day and a half with the refresh rate maxed out, and in video loop testing stretched to 16 hours and 38 minutes. Xiaomi claims the 33W charger (not included in the review unit) can fully charge the phone in about an hour, but there's a notable absence here: the Mi 10 offered 30W wireless charging. The Mi 10T Pro has none, a deliberate cut to keep costs down.

The camera system is where Xiaomi has invested heavily to justify the premium positioning. The primary sensor is a 108-megapixel unit with optical image stabilization and an f/1.69 aperture, paired with a 13-megapixel ultra-wide lens and a 5-megapixel macro camera. In daylight, the primary camera captures sharp, detailed shots, though processing tends toward oversharpening—a Xiaomi signature that appears across the company's phones. The ultra-wide lens captures a 123-degree field of view but produces noticeably darker images with edge distortion. Shooting at full 108-megapixel resolution yields excellent detail but introduces grain in shadows. In low light, the phone's AI quickly adapts settings, and Night mode—which takes 4 to 5 seconds per shot—produces higher-resolution output at roughly 27 megapixels with better detail than standard mode. Portrait mode works well, with the phone detecting pets and allowing manual blur adjustment. The 20-megapixel selfie camera delivers sharp results in both daylight and low light. Video tops out at 8K for the rear camera, with solid stabilization and smooth low-light performance, though occasional lens flare appears.

Software runs MIUI 12 atop Android 10, a feature-rich but cluttered experience. The phone shipped with the September security patch and was updated to October, which is acceptable but not cutting-edge. Xiaomi has preloaded numerous apps—Zilli, Amazon, Facebook, LinkedIn, Booking.com, WPS Office, and several proprietary services—and some of them push notifications aggressively. For a phone positioned as premium, this bloat feels at odds with the positioning. The Game Turbo feature does offer useful gaming optimizations, clearing background apps and restricting gestures to prevent accidental interruptions.

Thermal management emerged as a minor concern. Extended camera use and gaming caused the phone to warm noticeably, and a 20-minute gaming session burned 4 percent of the battery. It's not a dealbreaker, but it suggests the cooling solution is working harder than ideal under sustained load.

The Mi 10T Pro occupies an interesting middle ground. It undercuts the Mi 10's launch price while retaining flagship performance, making it more accessible than its predecessor. Against similarly priced competitors like the iQoo 3 and Realme X50 Pro, it holds its own with the 144Hz display and 108MP camera. But the OnePlus 8T, priced slightly higher, offers a cleaner software experience, a 120Hz AMOLED display, and 65W fast charging—advantages that may prove more valuable to buyers willing to spend a bit more. The Mi 10T Pro is a competent flagship that proves Xiaomi can build premium phones at reasonable prices, but the trade-offs—LCD over AMOLED, no wireless charging, thermal stress under load—remind you that affordability always comes with a cost.