Yesterday, Xiaomi launched its Xiaomi 11T series, though still focusing on Europe and Asia over sales in the US. 

What you need to know:

• The Xiaomi 11T Pro (the Mi branding is dead now, remember) leads the series, with a Snapdragon 888, 6.67-inch AMOLED display that looks great, solid battery life with super-fast 120W charging, and a triple camera, focusing on a 108MP main shooter. 
• To keep costs down, Xiaomi skimped on the IP rating, went for a cheaper plastic build, left out wireless charging, and started the base model with 8GB/128GB at €649 (~$650, before tax).
• Depending on your region, it does battle with the likes of the vanilla OnePlus 9 ($649), Motorola Edge ($699), iPhone 13 ($699) and the Galaxy S21 FE, whenever Samsung finally launches that in the next few weeks or so.
• Reviews are out already and they’re only ok. 
• The 11T Pro looks like a powerful set of components that don’t quite stack together thanks to a middling camera and cheap build feel.
• Verdict: “Xiaomi aimed high with the 11T Pro, but didn’t quite reach its target. The phone has plenty going for it, such as a gorgeous display, top performance, and blazing fast charging, but the cameras are middling and there are several missing features that hurt its overall appeal.” 

The non-phone weirdness:

The proximity of the launch to Apple’s event by a day made Xiaomi’s already clumsy marketing feel wildly off-piste.

• Xiaomi is odd in that it is really really good at solid, value-packed smartphones, and flagships that tick plenty of boxes.
• But marketing is not at all its strength. Its best marketing efforts are its prices, not its launches. 

In a flashy two-hour launch, Xiaomi was distracted by fashion and movie making rather than the details of its devices. 

• It was slick and big-budget and scenic and expensive, but Xiaomi’s time was spent on wildly strange elements.
• Xiaomi confusingly showed more than half a dozen short films. 
• It said the word “Cinemagic” (Cinema Magic) more than a dozen times as its tagline for the 11T series.
• Xiaomi showed off a collaboration with French fashion editor Carine Roitfeld.
• Supermodel Coco Rocha posed with the Mi 11 Lite NE in a one-minute long video.
• None of it really felt like it belonged or worked cohesively.

I spent a lot of time wondering why this was Xiaomi’s approach. Obviously, Xiaomi is going for the marketing effect of brand aspiration; it’s not focusing exclusively on Hollywood moviemakers and fashionistas and so on to buy its phone.

• A basic marketing tenet is to associate with glamor, to make people start to believe your phone is better and more valuable. 
• It’s social psychology, celebrity effect, and so on.
• So, Xiaomi thought to associate its brand with Hollywood and fashion; not so much the nerds and geeks wondering if a phone has an IP rating.
• Apple manages this without feeling like it’s trying. 
• Xiaomi felt like it was much wider off the mark.

Also: Xiaomi’s new Pad 5 tablet has gone global, will launch in Europe for €349.