Xiaomi’s Mi 11 is an exciting new smartphone and the first to include Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 888, but what may be even more interesting is the screen technology that has earned an ‘A+’ from DisplayMate. The 6.8-inch screen features an incredible peak brightness of 1,500 nits, a 120Hz refresh rate, excellent sharpness and a wide color-gamut, so the top grade is not a surprise. However, it’s worth discussing DisplayMate scores in general to understand how they differ across top-rated phones.
DisplayMate makes testing equipment for computer monitors, printers, projectors and televisions. The company has been doing so since 1991, establishing its reputation as the industry leader in display testing. With the advent of smartphone and tablet technology, DisplayMate applied its skills to these smaller screens with equal fervor. In addition to selling testing equipment, it examines and reviews the best tech on the market and posts the results on its website. This is why many of the top new smartphones will mention a DisplayMate rating, summarized with an overall letter grade.
DisplayMate reviews the very best smartphones on the market so, just as the Xiaomi Mi 11’s screen was tested, the display of the iPhone 12 Pro Max, Samsung Galaxy Note 20 Ultra, Oppo Find X2, and many others have been given the same rigorous examination. All received an ‘A+’ as the overall display grade. At this point, some may wonder if there is any value to these tests. In truth, most top-tier smartphones have excellent display quality and so the ‘A+’ rating is really just a summary statement that the screen quality is among the best. To really understand the differences between smartphones, a look at the finer details is required. For example, Xiaomi’s Mi 11 reached an incredible 1,771 nits of peak brightness in DisplayMate’s testing. Samsung’s Galaxy Note 20 Ultra was close with a peak of 1,609 nits and OPPO’s Find X2 was a distant third among the smartphones mentioned above. The iPhone 12 Pro Max placed fourth, with what is still a very bright screen at 1,200 nits.
Xiaomi Mi 11’s Quality Display
Another overall statement that is often made about the Xiaomi Mi 11 is that its screen has set no less than thirteen display performance records, which is very impressive. For comparison, every other smartphone mentioned above set 11 or 12 similar records. Brightness is easily understood and Xiaomi’s screen will perform better than most others in outdoor lighting. However, some of the other tests the Mi 11 set records in sound somewhat obscure, such as, ‘Color Variation of White with Viewing Angle.’ This means when the phone is tilted to 30-degrees, common in normal use, any portions of the display that should be white will appear pure white, without any noticeable tint or shift in color. It has excellent contrast, sharpness and low screen reflectance as well. For photos and videos, the picture quality seen on the phone will be very, very good, just as it will be on phones from Apple, Samsung and Oppo.
This is the nature of technology with newer models tending to be increasingly better. This is not meant to take away from how good Xiaomi’s technology is, but just to give perspective. Nearly every manufacturer of high-end smartphones will claim to have record-setting performance for their products, as each new model tends to be in the same class or better than those that came before it. This information is still useful and the advances are still exciting, and that’s the wonderful thing about mobile technology. It moves quickly and almost always with major benefits for the user. While Xiaomi’s latest phone didn’t massively outperform other top-tier smartphone displays, the Mi 11 rated in the same class (or better) in every category DisplayMate tested, making it among the best available at this time.
Source: DisplayMate
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