Xiaomi Mi 11 Ultra

Price: £1,199 from fave.co/3BSAEeK

Ultra’ is slowly becoming the mobile industry’s preferred term for phones that are big, beautiful and have jam-packed spec lists up to and including the kitchen sink. The Mi 11 Ultra is no different.

In Xiaomi’s case, although the Mi 11 Ultra packs a few advantages over the regular Mi 11 across the board, the brunt of the budget has clearly gone into the outrageous rear camera module, which despite including ‘only’ three lenses is in fact one of the most powerful camera set-ups around – so powerful that it earns its own special rear-facing display.

That camera is both a blessing and a curse for the Ultra. It’s part of why the phone is such a powerhouse, but the blocky, heavy design makes it both an eyesore and a discomfort that only the specs-obsessed will be able to overlook.

DESIGN

Let’s get right to it then. You can’t talk about how the Mi 11 Ultra looks without talking about the camera, so let’s start there. Stretching across the width of the phone, and covering about a quarter of the whole rear of the body, this is perhaps the largest camera module in any smartphone yet.

It juts out too – about as much as half the depth of the phone itself again. Throw in the small display built into it (more on that later) and the result is that you cannot ignore it.

It’s the sort of camera module that people will point at from