Samsung and OnePlus have been competing in the Indian smartphone market for a long time. Now, Xiaomi has entered the segment with a bang after it launched the Mi 10i yesterday. The Mi 10i is tough competitor in the segment and it might act as a roadblock for the current successful devices by OnePlus and Samsung. Let’s take a look if it does so.
Display
The OnePlus Nord comes with a 6.44-inch AMOLED Display with a resolution of 2400 × 1080 pixels, and a Refresh Rate of 90Hz. While on the other hand, the M51 comes with a 6.7-inch Super AMOLED Infinity-O display with 60Hz refresh rate. It has a resolution of 2340 × 1080 pixels.
The Xiaomi Mi 10i features a 6.67-inch Full HD+ LCD display with a screen resolution of 2400 x 1080 pixels, Corning Gorilla Glass 5 protection, 450 nits brightness and refresh rate of 120Hz and touch sampling rate of 240hz
Considering the details of the display here, OnePlus Nord and the Mi 10i have a slight EDGE as they come with displays that have higher refresh rates. But, as there is a LCD display on the Mi 10i, one might notice a bit more punchy colours on the Nord. The Galaxy M51 will also show good colours but overall, the experience should be the smoothest on the Mi 10i, while a slightly less smooth experience with good colours can be seen on OnePlus Nord.
Specs
The Nord comes with the Snapdragon 765G Chipset whereas the M51 has the Snapdragon 730G. The Mi 10i is powered by the Snapdragon 750G.The M51 comes with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of onboard storage that can be expanded with an SD-Card and the Nord comes with 3 storage and RAM options which are 6GB/64GB, 8GB/128GB, and 12GB/256GB. Talking about the Mi 10i, the device comes with 6GB or 8GB of RAM along with 64GB, or 128GB of storage options.
While storage shouldn’t be an issue on any of them, the Processor will decide how the device performs. One wouldn’t notice any performance hiccups in day to day usage but when it comes to gaming, the Nord will perform the best, followed by Mi 10i and then the Galaxy M51. Software optimizations also matter when it comes to performance and this brings us to software comparison.
OnePlus Nord recently received OxygenOS 11 Beta based on Android 11 which means a stable update should follow soon. The Mi 10i also ships with MIUI 12 based on Android 11 but there’s currently no news for OneUI 3.0 (based on Android 11) for the Galaxy M51. This means that the Nord and Mi 10i have the advantage here over the M51.
Secondly, it boils down to the personal preference of a consumer regarding which software skin they like. All of them have their own advantages and features considering which one should make the decision regarding what device will suit them the most.
Battery
The Galaxy M51 comes with a huge 7000mAh battery that supports 25W Fast charging while the Nord has a 4115 mAh battery that supports Warp Charge 30T. The Mi 10i has a 4820mAh battery that comes with 33W fast charging support.
The winner in this segment is hands down, the Samsung M51 as the 7,000mAh battery will most likely last you 2 days on light usage, and easily a day even with heavy usage. But it will also take the most time to fully charge. The Mi 10i should also give you great battery life with considerably fast charging speeds that will charge it the fastest amongst the 3 devices.
Camera
The Samsung M51 comes with a four-camera setup same as the OnePlus Nord. M51 is equipped with a 64-megapixel main sensor, a 12-megapixel Wide-Angle lens, a 5-megapixel Macro lens and again a 5-megapixel depth sensor. The front-facing camera is a 32-megapixel shooter.
The Nord also comes with 4 cameras where the main sensor is a 48-megapixel one, an 8-megapixel wide-angle sensor, a 5-megapixel depth sensor and a 2-megapixel macro camera. It comes with dual front-facing cameras where the main sensor is a 32-megapixel wide-angle shooter and the second one is an 8-megapixel ultra wide-angle sensor for wider selfies.
The Mi 10i sports a quad-camera set-up on the back with a combination of 108MP camera which is the Samsung ISOCELL HM2 sensor that was unveiled in September earlier this year. Other Sensors include an 8-megapixel ultra-wide-angle lens, 2-megapixel macro sensor and 2-megapixel depth sensor. For selfies and video chats, the Mi 10i houses a 16MP front-facing camera.
This sensor combination on all the three devices remains identical but if we consider the primary sensor, the Mi 10i features the latest sensor from Samsung and if we consider on-paper specifications, the Mi 10i wins this round. To declare a more practical winner, we will have to compare the real life image samples from all the phones.
Nord has a slight edge over the other two devices when it comes to selfie shooters as you can take wider selfies with the help of the secondary wide-angle sensor on the front.
Price
Samsung Galaxy M51 is now selling on Amazon India at a price of Rs 24,999 for 6GB/128GB variant and Rs 26,999 for 8GB/128GB variant. There are 2 colour options which are Black and Blue.
The Nord is already retailing on Amazon starting at Rs 24,999 for 6/64 variant. The 8/128 and 12/256 variants are priced Rs. 27,999 and Rs. 29,999 respectively. The 2 colour options are Blue and Gray.
The Mi 10i is priced at Rs 20,999 for the 6GB + 64GB store variant, Rs 21,999 for the 6GB + 128GB storage option and the 8GB + 128GB storage option is priced at Rs 23,999. The phone comes in Pacific Sunrise, Atlantic Blue, and Midnight Black colour options.
Considering all the aspects, the Mi 10i proves to be a more practical all-rounder device with a big battery, latest software, 120Hz display and quad cameras. If one wants to focus on particular features such as battery or display, then the Galaxy M51 and OnePlus Nord (respectively) may suit them the best.
Also, as we mentioned earlier, the personal preference of a consumer plays a major role as they know better which device will be appropriate for them. According to us, the Mi 10i is a great competitor in its segment and does win this competition because of overall value and a great price to performance ratio.