Knowing Mi, knowing you: choosing the right Xiaomi smartphone

Best camera: Xiaomi Mi 9

Xiaomi Mi 9 is the latest top of the range Chinese brand. Presented at the MWC in Barcelona, the smartphone has nothing to envy to the big names in the industry thanks to snappy hardware consisting of an SoC Snapdragon 855, 6GB/8GB of RAM and up to 128GB of internal storage. The large 6.39-inch AMOLED display with FullHD+ resolution is pleasant and accurate colors. It is also covered with a protective layer of Gorilla Glass 6.

• Xiaomi Mi 9 review: impossible to do better?

The smartphone has also climbed the DxOMark rankings thanks to its excellent results in the field of photography. Xiaomi Mi 9 has 3 rear cameras, one for each situation:

• Focal length 27mm, 48MP, aperture f/1.8
• Focal length 13 mm, 16MP, aperture f/2.2 (wide angle)
• Focal length 54 mm, 12MP, aperture f/2.2 (telephoto zoom 2x)

Completing the package is a 20MP f/2.0 selfie camera and a 3,300mAh battery capable of rapidly charging even wirelessly via 20W technology.

Best value for money: Xiaomi Mi 9 SE

If you are looking for an elegant smartphone, with excellent specifications and high value for money, Xiaomi Mi 9 SE is the right one for you. It's a compact version of the Mi 9 at a cheaper price, but what are we going to lose compared to the top model? Not much if you ask us. The display is always AMOLED but shrinks to 5.97 inches (keeping the same resolution), the SoC becomes a Snapdragon 712 (however enough to complete any task without blinking, gaming aside) and remains present the triple camera.

• MIUI: tips and tricks to make the most of your Xiaomi

The selfie camera remains the same 20 megapixels, the main one uses the same 48MP sensor, the telephoto lens is an 8MP while the wide angle is 16MP. Small waivers even on the battery side that drops to 3,070mAh.

However, as you can read in our full review, Mi 9 SE is a great alternative to Mi 9 for those on a small budget who don't want to give up a good user experience.

• Xiaomi Mi 9 SE review: small size, large specifications

Best design: Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 / Mi MIX 3 5G

How can I not include this smartphone in the ranking? The Xiaomi MIX series has always had an eye for design and new technologies. Let's remember that Xiaomi Mi MIX was the first smartphone in the world to show off a bezel-less design on three sides, as has been so fashionable for two years now, and one of the first to adopt a ceramic construction.

• Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 review: impossible to forget

The latest addition to the series, Mi MIX 3, features an innovative design with sliders. This slider hides a 24MP front camera dedicated to selfie and the headset capsule. On the back there is a double 12MP camera (normal and telephoto) and Qualcomm's SoC Snapdragon 845 moves it all. A variant with modems and antennas for 5G data connectivity will also be available very soon.

• What is the best place for the front camera?

Best battery: Redmi Note 7

Redmi is the new brand launched by Xiaomi. As happened last year with Pocophone (and as shown by Huawei with Honor) the launch of a new brand allows the company to slightly deviate from its classic canons of construction of devices. However, this Redmi Note 7 still shows a strong presence of Xiaomi DNA and this is good!

For less than $200 Redmi Note 7 is able to offer the same 48MP camera as its big brothers, a 6.3-inch IPS screen with FullHD+ resolution and an SoC more than enough for this price range, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 660.

However, the strength of this smartphone is the excellent battery life thanks to a 4,000mAh lithium-ion cell that, coupled with the low-power processor, guarantees incredible resistance.

•  Redmi Note 7 review: a convinced "yes"!

Special mentions: Pocophone F1 and Xiaomi Mi A2

Special mentions should be made to these two particular smartphones coming from the East.

Pocophone F1 has the merit to have brought, in the second half of last year, top of the range specifications and an excellent battery in an extremely competitive market segment. The smartphone also defeated former top-of-the-range OnePlus in our dark photo comparison.

• Pocophone F1: hits the competition where it hurts most

Xiaomi Mi A2 (and its Lite variant) are the last two smartphones announced by the Chinese manufacturer with Android One, a practically stock version of Android and unchanged. If you like Xiaomi smartphones but you want a version of Android as close as possible to the Pixels, this is the smartphone for you!

Have you found the right device for you? Which Xiaomi smartphone did you buy?