Can the Xiaomi Mi 10i take on the OnePlus Nord?
OnePlus Nord has been the most successful mid-ranger past one year as it has some very good specifications like a Snapdragon 765G chipset that supports 5G, a 90Hz display, and has a good set of cameras making it a feature-rich smartphone to be considered in the market.
Xiaomi launched the Mi 10i which will surely catch attention when you look at its specifications that include a 120Hz display, Snapdragon 750G chipset, a 108MP camera and has a larger 5000mAh battery. It also supports 5G and is all set up to take on the OnePlus Nord and is also cheaper compared to the OnePlus Nord.
So can the new entrant on Xiaomi beat the OnePlus Nord with its set of specifications or will the OnePlus Nord continue to be the most established smartphone in the mid-range segment? Let’s find out in the full comparison.
Xiaomi Mi 10i vs OnePlus Nord Design:
In terms of design, both the smartphones have a glass sandwich design with Corning Gorilla Glass 5 both at the front as well as back. At the rear, the Xiaomi Mi 10i (Review) has a circular camera module that houses the quad cameras whereas the OnePlus Nord has a vertical set of quad cameras on the top left corner.
Both of them have glossy backs which catch a lot of fingerprints but there are some differences. The back of the Xiaomi Mi 10i has a nice combination of two colors where on the top you have a blue color which transitions to orange at the bottom, especially with the Pacific Sunrise color option.
The OnePlus Nord, on the other hand, has a plain color and it does not have any such pattern at the back. To the sides, both have volume buttons and a power button, but the OnePlus Nord (Review) gets an additional alert slider to control notifications and sounds. The Xiaomi Mi 10i has support for a microSD card slot in terms of a hybrid slot which the OnePlus Nord lacks.
On the top, both smartphones have a secondary noise-canceling microphone and the Xiaomi Mi 10i has an IR Blaster to control televisions, air-conditioners, etc. To the bottom, both have a USB Type-C port, a primary microphone, loudspeaker grill, but the Xiaomi Mi 10i gets the 3.5mm headphone jack which the OnePlus Nord misses.
In terms of protection, the Xiaomi Mi 10i gets an IP53 rating which makes it somewhat better than the P2i coating on the OnePlus Nord. On the front, the Xiaomi Mi 10i gets a single punch hole camera in the middle to the top whereas the OnePlus Nord has dual punch-hole cameras to the left corner.
The Xiaomi Mi 10i weighs 215 grams which makes it slightly heavier compared to 184 grams on the OnePlus Nord. To conclude, the Xiaomi Mi 10i feels better than the OnePlus Nord as it gets an IR Blaster, 3.5mm headphone jack, has an IP53 rating and the back has a better design compared to the OnePlus Nord.
Xiaomi Mi 10i vs OnePlus Nord Display:
This is one area where both the OnePlus Nord and the Xiaomi Mi 10i differ. The Xiaomi Mi 10i has a larger 6.67 inches Full HD+ IPS LCD display whereas the OnePlus Nord has a smaller 6.44 inches Full HD+ Fluid AMOLED display. The Xiaomi Mi 10i has a 120Hz refresh rate whereas the OnePlus Nord has a 90Hz refresh rate.
Comparing both displays side by side, the colors look punchier on the OnePlus Nord compared to the Xiaomi Mi 10i, and both these displays supportsWidevine L1 so streaming HD contents from Netflix, Prime, etc will not be an issue and have support for HDR10+ content like streaming HD videos from Youtube.
In terms of brightness, both the displays are equally bright but the one on the OnePlus Nord has better contrast and the brightness is slightly more than the Xiaomi Mi 10i. The viewing angles are also better on the OnePlus Nord compared to the Xiaomi Mi 10i as it has a Fluid AMOLED display.
Under direct sunlight, the display is almost visible on the Xiaomi Mi 10i, but on the OnePlus Nord, it is clearly visible. The same is the case in the dark and both have their reading mode and a blue light filter. And since the OnePlus Nord has an AMOLED display, the contents in it feel much livelier.
Talking about the higher refresh rate, the one on the Xiaomi Mi 10i has a dynamic refresh rate which means the display can switch from as low as 10Hz way up to 120Hz depending on the load of the application like for example while watching videos, the display switches to 20Hz whereas while playing games like Call of Duty, the display switches to 120Hz.
On the OnePlus Nord, you have to manually switch between 60Hz and 90Hz. The OnePlus Nord has an in-display fingerprint scanner that works well but is slower compared to the Xiaomi Mi 10i’s side-mounted fingerprint scanner which embedded on the power button. The face unlock works well on both.
So overall, if you want that larger display and dynamic refresh rate, the Xiaomi Mi 10i is the better option but for consuming media and the AMOLED display over the IPS LCD display, the OnePlus Nord is the better option.
Xiaomi Mi 10i vs OnePlus Nord Performance:
The Xiaomi Mi 10i is powered by the Snapdragon 750G chipset while the OnePlus Nord is powered by the Snapdragon 765G chipset. Both are powerful chipsets and have support for 5G. Both are octa-core chipsets but the configuration is slightly different.
The Snapdragon 765 has a: 1×2.4 GHz Kryo 475 Prime core + 1×2.2 GHz Kryo 475 Gold core (both based on ARM Cortex A77) and another 6×1.8 GHz Kryo 475 Silver cores (based on Cortex A55) and has the Adreno 620 GPU whereas the Snapdragon 750G has 2×2.2 GHz Kryo 570 Gold cores and another 6×1.8 GHz Kryo 570 Silver cores with the newer Adreno 619 GPU.
All daily tasks that include multitasking between applications, scrolling through webpages, streaming social media, playing games felt smoother on both smartphones. All heavy games like Call of Duty, Gensian Impact played at the highest graphics settings without any problem.
Here we could find the gameplay slightly better on the Xiaomi Mi 10i as it has the powerful Kryo 570 cores compared to Kryo 475 cores on the OnePlus Nord. Both have their respective gaming modes and talking about gaming, there was some minor frame drops noticed on both at the highest graphics.
After a long gaming session i.e. 3-4 hours, the Xiaomi Mi 10i’s back felt a bit warmer compared to the OnePlus Nord. In terms of storage, both get 6/8GB LPDDR4X RAM and 128GB storage variants. The OnePlus Nord gets an additional variant that has 12GB RAM and 256GB storage.
The OnePlus Nord has UFS 2.1 storage whereas the Xiaomi Mi 10i gets UFS 2.2 storage which is slightly faster than the OnePlus Nord but by a smaller margin. When we ran benchmarks on both, the Xiaomi Mi 10i scored 332837 compared to 303925 on the OnePlus Nord.
In Geekbench 5.1, the OnePlus Nord 618 and 1897 is slightly lower than the 658 and 2025 in single-core and multi-core tests on the Xiaomi Mi 10i. So clearly, in terms of benchmarks, the Xiaomi Mi 10i is slightly ahead.
Xiaomi Mi 10i vs OnePlus Nord Software:
The Xiaomi Mi 10i runs on MIUI 12 and on the other hand, the OnePlus Nord runs on OxygenOS 12 (recently got updated as it shipped with OxygenOS 11). Both have Android 10 running out of the box.
MIUI12 comes with a lot of bloatware and with this Xiaomi smartphone, there were lesser ads.
However, you still get spammy notifications and you can turn that off from the settings. OxygenOS 12 looks almost closer to OneUI on Samsung smartphones. As we all know, OxygenOS is much cleaner and you have only Netflix and Facebook as third-party applications pre-installed.
OxygenOS provides more customizations compared to MIUI12. But still, you get some Stock applications like a dialler, contacts, messaging applications and while swiping from the left, we have the Google Feed on the Xiaomi Mi 10i. Both have a system-wide dark mode, Digital Wellbeing, and navigation gestures.
OxygenOS provides Zen Mode, Fnatic Mode, etc. and in terms of software updates, the OxygenOS provides better and faster software updates compared to MIUI on the Xiaomi Mi 10i. Overall, for a faster and cleaner software experience, the OxygenOS is better compared to MIUI, so OnePlus Nord is the clear winner.
Xiaomi Mi 10i vs OnePlus Nord Cameras:
The Xiaomi Mi 10i sports a 108MP main camera which is the most highlighting feature of the smartphone. Both the OnePlus Nord and the Xiaomi Mi 10i have quad cameras at the back. The Xiaomi Mi 10i sports a 108MP f/1.75 Samsung ISOCELL HM2 sensor for the main camera, an 8MP f/2.2 ultrawide camera, a 2MP macro, and a 2MP depth camera.
The OnePlus Nord has a 48MP f/1.7 Sony IMX586 sensor for the main camera, an 8MP f/2.2 ultrawide camera, a 5MP f/2.4 macro camera, and a 2MP f/2.4 depth camera. On the front, the OnePlus Nord has a 32MP main camera and an 8MP ultrawide camera whereas the Xiaomi Mi 10i only gets a single 16MP camera.
The images from the main camera come out with good details but the colors look punchier on the Xiaomi Mi 10i as the larger 108MP camera outperforms the 48MP camera on the OnePlus Nord. This is because the Xiaomi Mi 10i has a newer Samsung HM2 camera sensor compared to the older Sony sensor on the OnePlus Nord.
In terms of noise, both could easily handle it. But in terms of dynamic range, the Xiaomi Mi 10i is slightly better and when you zoom into the image, the Xiaomi Mi 10i retains colors well and handles white balance better than the OnePlus Nord. The OnePlus Nord outputs good images but they do have warmer color temperature and sometimes overexpose the background.
At night, both the cameras take good images, and here also the Xiaomi Mi 10i does better with color saturation only. Other than that, the contrast and dynamic range are better on the OnePlus Nord. The noise is also lower compared to the Xiaomi Mi 10i on the OnePlus Nord.
Both the smartphones have their respective Night Modes and turning it one, the OnePlus Nord turns the background slightly yellowish whereas Xiaomi Mi 10i handles color much better. The Xiaomi Mi 10i handles exposure well but the highlight in shadows and dynamic range is handled better on the OnePlus Nord. It has lower noise also.
In terms of night photography, clearly, the OnePlus Nord is better. Moving to the ultrawide cameras on both the smartphones, the Xiaomi Mi 10i has better dynamic range and the resulting images have lesser noise and when you look at the corners, there is less softness compared to the OnePlus Nord.
The colors on both are not as good as the main camera but still, you have good dynamic range and at night, the same is the case where you get much better details on the Xiaomi Mi 10i with better dynamic range, lesser noise, and long exposure shots are maintained better than the OnePlus Nord. Both have their respective Night Mode for the ultrawide camera that works pretty well too.
The macro camera is just average on both smartphones as the colors look washed out on both but here clearly, the 5MP macro camera on the OnePlus Nord has slightly better details compared to the 2MP macro camera on the Xiaomi Mi 10i. But if you could zoom from the main camera, the Xiaomi Mi 10i has better results.
The portraits come out with good on both with proper edge detection and Xiaomi Mi 10i has better dynamic range and the colors on it look more natural on it compared to the OnePlus Nord, where the portraits look slightly softer and the main camera does overexpose the background a bit.
The background blur has some very cool filters on the Xiaomi Mi 10i and you can adjust and tweak with it. When you zoom into the portraits, the Xiaomi Mi 10i has better details whereas the details look softer on the OnePlus Nord and the colors are not so accurate.
On the front, the 32MP f/2.5 camera on the OnePlus Nord does a better job compared to the 16MP f/2.5 camera on the Xiaomi Mi 10i as the OnePlus Nord has a wider field of view and the selfies have better details and dynamic range. The images from the front camera on the Xiaomi Mi 10i have a whitish tone and skin smoothening is enabled by default on it.
The colors look more consistent and natural on the OnePlus Nord. The OnePlus Nord outputs 8MP images by default and it also has an additional 8MP ultrawide front camera which comes in handy while taking group selfies. It has a good dynamic range but the details on it look softer and have noise.
In terms of portraits, the OnePlus Nord does better edge detection and has better details compared to the Xiaomi Mi 10i. The background blur is good on both but here Xiaomi Mi 10i can adjust the background blur which the OnePlus Nord cannot.
In terms of videos, both smartphones can record videos at 4K at 30fps. The colors are punchier on the Xiaomi Mi 10i and the details look better than the OnePlus Nord but when it comes to stabilization, the OnePlus Nord has the more stable video of the two as it has OIS and the noise is also lower on the OnePlus Nord.
Switching to 1080p videos at 60fps, both have EIS which kicks in but still the video output of the OnePlus Nord is better but if you want punchier colors in the video, the Xiaomi Mi 10i delivers it well.
The Xiaomi Mi 10i provides a couple of video options like you can use a mode that simultaneously takes video both from the front as well as the rear camera at the same time.
The Xiaomi Mi 10i can only record 1080p videos through the ultrawide camera whereas the OnePlus Nord can record 4K videos through the ultrawide camera. There is some really bad focusing issue on the main camera of the Xiaomi Mi 10i since during the video it is unable to lock focus to a subject properly.
On the front, the OnePlus Nord can record 4K videos at 60fps whereas the Xiaomi Mi 10i is restricted only to 1080p videos at 30fps. The videos on the OnePlus Nord have better details and dynamic range compared to the OnePlus Nord. The videos on the Xiaomi Mi 10i have more noise and not as stabilized as the OnePlus Nord which uses EIS for stabilization.
Overall, if you want a good set of rear cameras, then the Xiaomi Mi 10i is clearly the better one to go for but if the front camera and videos are your priority, then the OnePlus Nord is the better option of the two.
Xiaomi Mi 10i vs OnePlus Nord Battery Life:
The Xiaomi Mi 10i packs a larger 4820mAh battery compared to the 4115mAh battery on the OnePlus Nord. Both smartphones can easily last for more than a single day with normal usage. The Xiaomi Mi 10i can go up to two days with normal usage.
With heavy usage, both can last for one single day, and if you compare the battery stats side by side, the battery on the Xiaomi Mi 10i shows slightly better results compared to the OnePlus Nord. Since OnePlus Nord has an AMOLED display which consumes lesser battery compared to the IPS LCD display on the Xiaomi Mi 10i.
The standard screen-on time recorded was around 5-6 hours on the OnePlus Nord whereas the Xiaomi Mi 10i recorded around 6-6.5 hours. Coming to charging speeds, the Xiaomi Mi 10i comes with a 33W fast charger whereas the OnePlus Nord sports a 30W Warp charger inside the box.
Both the smartphones take around 1 hour to charge completely from 0 to 100 percent. In terms of battery life, both have good battery life and can easily last well.
Xiaomi Mi 10i vs OnePlus Nord Audio Quality:
In terms of audio, the Xiaomi Mi 10i has stereo speakers where the earpiece and loudspeaker at the bottom work together to provide an excellent sound. The OnePlus Nord on the other hand has only a single bottom-firing speaker which is adequately loud and has good sound quality.
But if you compare the loudness levels, the Xiaomi Mi 10i has the better sound output and it is a lot clearer and there is no distortion at the loudest sound settings. The sound on the OnePlus Nord is slightly shriller. The Xiaomi Mi 10i has a 3.5mm headphone jack and the audio output is good through it.
The OnePlus Nord lacks a 3.5mm headphone jack, so you are only left with a pair of wireless earphones. Both have support for Dolby Atmos but considering overall audio quality, the Xiaomi Mi 10i has a clear edge over the OnePlus Nord.
Verdict:
Both are very capable smartphones and there are a lot of differences between them. The Xiaomi Mi 10i has some very good specifications that include the 108MP camera which does a really good job in terms of clicking images, then you have the latest Snapdragon 750G chipset, a 120Hz display, supports stereo speakers, and also 5G.
But it lacks an AMOLED display, the video quality is not so good and the MIUI12 is not so good as there is a lot of bloatware and feels cumbersome to use. This where the OnePlus Nord arrives and comes with all the necessary features which a premium mid-ranger requires.
It has an AMOLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate, it also has the powerful Snapdragon 765G, has OIS which helps it with excellent videos, and since it is an OnePlus smartphone, the software experience is much more refined and excellent for usage.
But when you compare the OnePlus Nord with the Xiaomi Mi 10i, you do get a smaller display, there is no 3.5mm headphone jack, no support for microSD card and it also lacks stereo speakers all of which the Xiaomi Mi 10i has.
If you are looking for a smartphone basically focused on gaming, need a larger display, a good set of speakers, a refreshing design, and the best set of rear cameras, the Xiaomi Mi 10i is clearly the better option of the two but if you want to consume a lot of videos, want a much cleaner software experience and a good set of cameras, then the OnePlus Nord is the one to go for.
So concluding everything, each smartphone has its own pros and cons and if you can spend some extra money and go for the OnePlus Nord, you will get a better overall experience.