Samsung Galaxy S21 vs. Xiaomi Mi 11 camera comparison: One flagship smartphone clearly has the edge

Neither the 108 MP main camera in the Mi 11 nor the 12 MP lens in the Galaxy S21+ show any weaknesses in good lighting conditions - even in very windy conditions (subject No. 4), the sharpness in the pictures is appealing. Due to the significantly higher-resolution photos, more details are displayed with the Xiaomi phone, even in pixel-binning mode (27 MP), as long as subjects are properly in focus. We like the sharpness of the Mi 11 better than that of the Galaxy S21+ especially in the edge areas, where the latter often sharpens subjects considerably.

In contrast, Samsung delivers very good pictures in portrait shots. Both the sharpness and its transitions into blurriness are good despite the fine hairs of the kitten subject. The Mi 11 also convinces with nice bokeh effects, but image sharpness drops slightly here.

Due to the absence of a telephoto lens, the Mi 11 shows a visible drop in quality compared to the Galaxy S21+ when taking zoom pictures. Beautiful photos with a 5x magnification are possible with the Samsung phone in bright light. However, the Galaxy S21+ is also a step above the Mi 11 in terms of ultra wide-angle cameras. Wide-angle pictures are clearly blurrier, have less details, and also show lower contrast with the Xiaomi phone.

In terms of low-light photography quality, both the Xiaomi Mi 11 and the Galaxy S21+ are miles away from the camera flagships of the previous year - the Galaxy S20 Ultra and the Mi 10 Ultra are considerably better in this discipline.

Compared with the Galaxy Plus model from Samsung, we like the pictures taken with the Mi 11's main camera in the dark a bit better as well. The illumination is more homogeneous, image sharpness is often better, and details are also more pronounced in the photos of the Mi 11.

At night, it's advisable to avoid ultra wide-angle shots with both smartphone models. However, as in daylight, the Galaxy S21+ takes visibly better and more detailed photos. Especially the image sharpness and illumination are qualitatively superior compared with the Mi 11, where the ultra wide-angle camera can hardly benefit from Night mode - only minimal improvements (if any) are visible compared with Photo mode.

In our opinion, the Galaxy S21+ clearly offers the best selfies. The 10 MP front-facing camera of the Samsung phone provides really nice, high-contrast pictures in bright light. In contrast, the resulting photos of the Mi 11's 20 MP front-facing camera look very softened, and exposure isn't always optimal.