Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra vs Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra: Which one takes better photos?

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Not long ago, we brought you the review of Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra as first on both the Slovak and Czech markets. It’s a premium smartphone from this Chinese giant. Its price also puts it among the best-equipped smartphones.

Right from the start, it’s clear that this model is going to try to impress with its photography setup. We decided to find out how it holds up against the top-notch Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra.

Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra is in the lead, but Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra won’t disappoint

We started with indoor photography. It shows that, at first glance, shots from both models can look very similar. However, we need to focus on the details.

If we zoom in on the bottom part of the ship, we can see that the text is more readable on the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra, but the Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra leads in better contrast, dynamic range, and overall the photo is better lit.

You probably already know that Xiaomi is known for creating softer, smoother photos. In these flower images, you can see that the Mi 11 Ultra produces gentler, almost smoothed-out photos, while Samsung likes to add sharpness to the corners. We think both photos are worth it.

This roughly 40x zoomed photo is clear proof that the edges of objects in photos taken with Xiaomi are practically non-existent.

They’re so smooth you can hardly see them. Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra on the other hand has plenty of sharpness; the greenery is more detailed, as are the outlines of the car. In this case, Samsung is the clear winner.

Even with worse lighting, both models handle it easily. In this specific case, we can’t really say which smartphone captured the better photo of the candle.

Xiaomi has more vibrant colors, and we’d give it a few imaginary points for that. Mi 11 Ultra captured the background more clearly, while the Galaxy S21 Ultra did a better job with the foreground.

Ultra-wide (macro shot) – Galaxy S21 Ultra

Portrait mode is great on both devices, but in most cases we’d lean toward Samsung.

And with its ultra-wide lens, it can also produce truly excellent macro shots that you don’t see all that often.

We were definitely impressed by the telephoto lenses. After all, that’s one of the strengths of these top flagship phones. As this 100x zoomed shot of an airplane shows, it looks like the Samsung tip zooms in better.

However, Xiaomi definitely doesn’t disappoint either, and its telephoto lens is better than, for example, the Huawei Mate 40 Pro, which offers 5x optical zoom. And ultimately, the resulting photos are also better, which is why we praise Xiaomi.

You can view the comparison photos in full resolution at this link.

When it comes to astrophotography, Samsung clearly wins. The photo doesn’t just look better at first glance, it also captured more details.

For those who will try to create similar photos, there’s a RAW shooting option available. It enables better editing possibilities and preserves finer details that are literally “pulled out” from the sensor.

But JPG was definitely better produced by Xiaomi. As you may have noticed, the RAW photo from the Mi 11 Ultra would not look so bad if it weren’t for lens flare from the surrounding lights.

With a different tripod tilt, it would have at least partially disappeared, but even so, it’s negative that it appears at all. We’d blame the huge glass camera module with a secondary display.

Comparisons of the capabilities of all sensors

First, let’s imagine each and every sensor on the back of both devices. The main sensor on the Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra is the 50 MP Dual Pixel PDAF sensor with a physical size of 1/1.12″, pixel size 1.4 µm, aperture f/2.0, laser autofocus, and optical image stabilization.

It’s followed by the 48 MP 1/2.0″ ultra-wide lens with an aperture number of f/2.2, an above-average 128-degree field of view, PDAF, and pixel size of 0.8 µm.

The third camera is, of course, a periscope telephoto lens with up to 120x maximum digital (hybrid) zoom.

In practice, you’ll use something up to about 50x—anything beyond that doesn’t make much sense. Samsung has 100x zoom, but both models offer 10x optical zoom. Even with the Galaxy S21 Ultra, you’ll only use around 50x real zoom.

Parameter / Smartphone	Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra	Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
Dimensions	164.3 x 74.6 x 8.4 mm	165.1 x 75.6 x 8.9 mm
Weight	234 g	227 g
Display	6.81 inches, AMOLED, 120 Hz, HDR10+, 1700 nits peak	6.8 inches, Dynamic AMOLED 2X, 120 Hz, HDR10+, 1500 nits peak
Processor	Snapdragon 888	Exynos 2100
RAM	12 GB	12 GB
Storage	256 GB	128 GB
Operating system	Android 11 + MIUI 12.5.7	Android 11 + One UI 3.1
Battery	5000 mAh	5000 mAh
Charging	120 W wired + 80 W wireless + 10 W reverse	25 W wired + 15 W wireless + 4.5 W reverse

Each phone has its default zoom values fixed in software differently, so if some comparison photos have a different zoom, it’s precisely because of this factor.

We’d also like to mention that on Samsung, zooming from 3x to 10x is handled by a dedicated telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom and 10 MP resolution. From 10x real zoom onward, the phone switches to a telephoto lens with 10x zoom.