The Redmi Note is the phone that made Xiaomi in South Asia: a mid-range spec sheet at a budget price, refreshed every year. On 22 March 2022 the Note 11 went on sale in Bangladesh with a difference. It was assembled at Xiaomi's plant in Gazipur, making it the first Note-series phone built in the country under the "Make in Bangladesh" programme, and it starts at Tk 16,499.
What you get
- Screen: 6.43-inch FHD+ AMOLED with a 90 Hz refresh rate, unusual at this price, where most rivals still use LCD.
- Chip: Qualcomm Snapdragon 680 at 2.4 GHz, a 6 nm processor built for battery life rather than gaming.
- Battery: 5,000 mAh with 33 W "Pro" fast charging; Xiaomi says a full charge takes about an hour, and the charger is in the box.
- Cameras: 50 + 8 + 2 + 2 megapixels on the back (main, ultrawide, macro, depth), 13 megapixels in front.
- Memory: 4 GB/64 GB or 6 GB/128 GB, with a dedicated microSD slot.
- Extras: stereo speakers, 3.5 mm headphone jack, side fingerprint reader, IP53 splash resistance, Android 11 with MIUI 13. No 5G.
Why "made here" matters for this phone
Xiaomi opened its Gazipur factory, run with contract manufacturer DBG Technology, in October 2021. Locally assembled phones avoid the higher duty on imported handsets, which is why the Note 11's Bangladesh price is close to its Indian one rather than the Tk 4,000-5,000 premium grey importers used to charge. Country manager Ziauddin Chowdhury said the company was "proud to bring a phone with advanced features to the Bangladesh market" and expected the 90 Hz AMOLED and big battery to win over young buyers.
Should you buy it?
At Tk 16,499 the Note 11 competes with the Realme 9i, Samsung Galaxy A13 and Xiaomi's own Redmi 10. The AMOLED screen and 33 W charging are the arguments for it; the Snapdragon 680 is the argument against if you play heavy games, where the Helio G96 in last year's Note 10S is quicker. For everything else, messaging, video, photos in daylight, a full day and a half of battery, it is the best-balanced phone under Tk 17,000 this spring. Buy through an authorised outlet so the two-year local warranty applies, and check the box says Made in Bangladesh.
