Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 Specs, Features and Launch Date Worldwide

One of the last Xiaomi phones we saw launched in 2021 was the Redmi Note 11, which debuted in China in October alongside a Pro and Pro Plus version.

Later phones were launched in November in India although as Redmi Note 11T family but they were the same except for the name. And soon we expect mobiles to make the journey to Europe and possibly Australia as well.

The Redmi devices aren’t the big flashy mobiles that Xiaomi is known for – the Xiaomi 12 is the latest premium mobile taking the world by storm right now – but the devices are affordable and reliable handsets that are incredibly popular thanks to their large screens and often impressive specifications.

When launched, Redmi Note 11 phones might continue this trend as they feature impressive aspects such as big batteries, fast charging and high resolution cameras.

It’s not certain if they’ll be released worldwide, but if they do, here’s what you can expect from them.

Release date and price

After being launched in China in October 2021 and in India in November of the same year (as Note 11T), we hope that the Redmi Note 11 family will be launched in the rest of the world at some point in 2022, but there there is no confirmation of that just yet.

The lack of official comment on this could make a global launch unlikely, but precedents suggest otherwise: Xiaomi typically staggers the release of Redmi phones.

We wouldn’t expect the Redmi Note 11 Pro Plus to launch globally – this type of high-end phone doesn’t always see the light of day in other regions. The launch in India did not bring an equivalent, for example.

So how much could Redmi phones cost? Well, we can look at older models for an idea. The Redmi Note 10 5G costs $250 / £209 (around AU$380) for its 128GB model (it actually had a 64GB version too, but the Note 11 didn’t, so not a good point of comparison ).

The cost of the Redmi Note 10 Pro meanwhile was $299 / £269 (around AU$390) for 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage, so we could see the Note 11 Pro going that far.

Design and display

If the Redmi Note 11 has a weak point, it could be the display: it’s a 6.6-inch LCD screen with a resolution of 1080 x 2400 and a refresh rate of 90 Hz. LCD technology and the relatively low refresh rate compared to many contemporaries might put potential buyers off the phone.

That’s not the case with the Note 11 Pro and Pro Plus, but with their 6.67-inch Super AMOLED displays, which have the same resolution as the Note 11 but 120Hz refresh rates. They also support support HDR10 and have a high maximum brightness of 1200 nits, so in almost every respect the screens are better than that of the standard device.

Screens aside, the three Redmi Note 11 phones look almost identical. They have an interesting design change from previous Redmi phones in that the edges are completely flat, like on recent iPhones but unlike most other smartphones on the market.

The design similarities are most noticeable on the camera bump, as all three devices have the same module with one large and three small lenses – whereas the standard Note 11 actually only has two smaller lenses, you couldn’t tell by looking at it, with a dark spot that looks like a lentil from afar.

All phones are IP53 rated against dust and moisture, and they all have a side-mounted fingerprint scanner to unlock the device.

The Redmi Note 11 is available in black, blue, or green, and while the Pro and Pro Plus also get a purple option, the top-end model isn’t available in blue.

Cameras and battery life

In what is quickly becoming a theme for the Redmi Note 11 family, the base device offers quite a different package compared to the Pro and Pro Plus models, and that’s the case with the cameras as well as the display.

The Redmi Note 11 has a 50MP main camera joined by an 8MP ultrawide, and that’s it – there are just two rear cameras. While that might not sound like a lot, Redmi phones (and other budget mobiles for that matter) are often bundled with 2MP depth sensing or macro snappers that don’t do much, we imagine So not that the Note 11 will feature a camera downgrade compared to its predecessors despite the fewer lenses.

The Redmi Note 11 Pro and Pro Plus get better snappers though, with a 108MP main camera joined by the same 8MP ultra-wide, as well as a 2MP telemacro camera. This lens is slightly different from a typical macro lens, and we’ve seen it used in a few 2021 Xiaomi phones, although it was previously paired with a 5MP sensor.

This lens is ideal for taking close-up photos of small objects, such as plants or tiny foods.

All three phones feature a 16-megapixel front-facing camera for selfies, which is housed in a “punch-hole” cutout at the top center of the display.

Now on to the batteries, and this is one of the few instances where the Pro and Pro Plus have different specs.

The standard Redmi Note 11 has a big 5,000mAh power bank, but it only charges at 33W, which is a little slow compared to competing budget phones and other Note 11s.

The Note 11 Pro gets an even bigger 5,160mAh battery, which is one of the biggest we’ve seen in a Redmi phone, and its power delivery speed is pretty nifty too at 67W. But the real beast charging is the Note 11 Pro Plus, with a 120W power supply, and Xiaomi says this will power the battery in just 15 minutes.

The wrong side? The battery is therefore smaller, at just 4,500mAh, so it probably won’t last as long as the Note 11 Pro.

Performance, specs and software

All three Xiaomi Redmi Note 11 phones use chipsets from MediaTek, not Qualcomm – the latter company is the biggest manufacturer of processors for smartphones, and previous Redmi devices have used its technology, but not the new ones.

The Note 11 uses Dimensity 810, while the Note 11 Pro and Pro Plus use Dimensity 920 – they’re all mid-range, and although we didn’t test the 810, we used the 920.

In our experience, it was totally fine for the job, but not quite the most powerful chip around. That said, these are budget phones, so average processing power is still great, although we’ll have to test them to be sure.

In China, each phone has 6GB or 8GB of RAM and 128GB or 256GB of storage (the Note 11 also has a 4GB RAM option, but only with 128GB of storage). However, Redmi doesn’t always offer the exact same configurations between regions, so we’ll wait to see which models launch in different regions.

When the Redmi Note 11 family debuted in China, it was using Android 11 because the newer Android 12 was not really in use at that time. In 2022, we’ve seen quite a few mobiles launched with the latest version of Google’s operating system, so when they have global launches, there’s a chance they’ll get it too.

They’ll also have MIUI laying on top – it’s Xiaomi’s Android fork, and we’ve already liked the wide range of customization features it offers, but found it a bit buggy too.

During the launch of the Redmi Note 11, the brand was keen to point out that the speakers have been tuned by audio brand Harman Kardon, which should make the audio sound great out loud. There’s also a 3.5mm headphone jack if you’d rather have your music streamed through wired headphones, and of course Bluetooth is a feature for people who want to use wireless cans.