Well I do not care a lot about photography. I do care much about battery life, charging speed and performance. So is mi 11 ultra any much better in these terms over the mi 11 or the s21 ultra? also is there any other sacrifices I will be making if I change to any of those?
If you dont care about photography but you want a top phone buy the Mi 11 Pro not the Mi 11, it's almost the same than the Ultra but cheaper, Ultra is a bit more elitist and unique but the Pro is almost the same phone for around $200+ cheaper.
I presently own both the S21U (Exynos) and the Mi11U.
,I'm trying to decide between these two. Samsung slightly ahead for local warranty + parts/servicing etc. Is the mi11u good enough to risk a grey import for, or would you pick the s21u? My priorities are camera and battery life.I presently own both the S21U (Exynos) and the Mi11U.
For me it's a close call between both devices with each one having strengths and weaknesses.
Camera : more capabilities in the Tele department on the S21U, also more consistent results and IMO the better "point&shoot". The Mi11U has significantly lower noise and the 5x is pretty good, but the main sensor has a much shallower depth-of-field making getting the correct focus difficult at times. On the other hand Samsung processing tends to oversharpen and kill fine details at times, but this has become much less pronounced with latest updates. All in all both are capable of getting really excellent images where it's difficult for me to name a winner.
Haptics: both are very solid devices (and heavy ones, too). The Mi11U is slightly more unbalanced due to the heavy top module, making it a bit more awkward when held for long time. FP reader is better on S21U (never thought I'd say that about a Samsung), the Mi11U is good but I've seen better and more reliable ones on other phones (e.g. OP 8Pro).
Displays: excellent on both, no big difference to my eye.
Performance: the Exynos is (for my taste) pretty close to the SD888, only slightly behind specifically with Graphics intense games. Overall excellent fluidity of the UI on both, a first time for a Samsung phone for my taste.
UI: clearly more customizability on MIUI, also better privacy options - for my taste. But this whole department is really very subjective....
Battery: for my light to medium usage pretty comparable on both, Standby is excellent on both. The faster charging on the Mi11U is very convenient and the only point where for me the S21U is really lacking (I use wireless charging exclusively BTW). When used heavily the Mi11U tends to drain a bit faster and get significantly warmer.
Just my 2 cents and sorry the lengthy text
Axel
I would probably keep the s21 ultra since the investment is already made
Sorry, I can't decide that for you
All I can say is that I'm pretty torn between both and have a difficult time to decide which one has to go. And BTW I got the CN version of the Mi11U with 512GB They really dropped the ball using usb2 on this phone , especially the 512gb versionSorry, I can't decide that for you
For me it boils down to better balance/feel in hand on the S21U plus versatility in the Zoom-cameras and the more consistent image results vs faster charging, less noise and the (for me) nicer UI on the Mi11U.
Another point is that the MI11U fully supports GCam and I think has in general a bit more room for improvement as its newer, the S21U only supports GCam for the UW/Wide lenses presently and it has already made big leaps ahead in the recent updates - no idea how much room is left for further improvements but I'd think the majority of what could be achieved has been done.
And some additional points I didn't mention so far:
Internal speakers on the Mi11U are better, have more "oopmh", on the other hand the earpiece during calls is a bit better on the S21U (louder and better clarity)....
USB-Speed is much faster on the S21U (USB3 vs USB2) - like 300 MBps vs 40Mbps
In general WIFI speed seems to be faster on the Mi11U as is radio reception - but don't expect huge differences
But s21 have a lot of Updates about camera. Its 1y phone almost.I presently own both the S21U (Exynos) and the Mi11U.
For me it's a close call between both devices with each one having strengths and weaknesses.
Camera : more capabilities in the Tele department on the S21U, also more consistent results and IMO the better "point&shoot". The Mi11U has significantly lower noise and the 5x is pretty good, but the main sensor has a much shallower depth-of-field making getting the correct focus difficult at times. On the other hand Samsung processing tends to oversharpen and kill fine details at times, but this has become much less pronounced with latest updates. All in all both are capable of getting really excellent images where it's difficult for me to name a winner.
Haptics: both are very solid devices (and heavy ones, too). The Mi11U is slightly more unbalanced due to the heavy top module, making it a bit more awkward when held for long time. FP reader is better on S21U (never thought I'd say that about a Samsung), the Mi11U is good but I've seen better and more reliable ones on other phones (e.g. OP 8Pro).
Displays: excellent on both, no big difference to my eye.
Performance: the Exynos is (for my taste) pretty close to the SD888, only slightly behind specifically with Graphics intense games. Overall excellent fluidity of the UI on both, a first time for a Samsung phone for my taste.
UI: clearly more customizability on MIUI, also better privacy options - for my taste. But this whole department is really very subjective....
Battery: for my light to medium usage pretty comparable on both, Standby is excellent on both. The faster charging on the Mi11U is very convenient and the only point where for me the S21U is really lacking (I use wireless charging exclusively BTW). When used heavily the Mi11U tends to drain a bit faster and get significantly warmer.
Just my 2 cents and sorry the lengthy text
Axel
The Chinese Price is the only one I would pay for a xiaomi and that's the 12/512
I haven't used the Mi 11, but I have used the S21 Ultra and the Mi 11 Ultra is easily on par with the S21 Ultra.
Giztop lists the current price for the Mi 11 Ultra 8/256 at $899 and the 12/256 at $999. The 12/512 version of the Mi 11 Ultra goes for $1099. Samsung lists the S21 Ultra at $1249.99 for 12/128. The S21 Ultra doesn't sound cheaper to me.
Check the China mi11u with 12/512 vs the 512gb s21u
I personally don't care about sub par, glitcy gcam, but I do care about SAVINGS!
I presently own both the S21U (Exynos) and the Mi11U.
,If you dont care about photography but you want a top phone buy the Mi 11 Pro not the Mi 11, it's almost the same than the Ultra but cheaper, Ultra is a bit more elitist and unique but the Pro is almost the same phone for around $200+ cheaper.
Sorry, I can't decide that for you
All I can say is that I'm pretty torn between both and have a difficult time to decide which one has to go. And BTW I got the CN version of the Mi11U with 512GB 
