Xiaomi is officially the king of camera smartphones, at least as far as DxOMark is concerned. Their recently unveiled Mi 11 Ultra scored 143 points, the highest ever so far – pushingHuawei’s Mate 40 Pro+ (with a DxOMark score of 139) to second place.

The Mi 11 Ultra has a three-rear camera module lead by a 50-megapixel Samsung GN2 sensor that is aided by OIS, PDAF, and LAF. Next to it is a 48-megapixel Sony IMX586 ultra-wide camera with a 128-degree field of view. Last but not least is yet another 48-megapixel IMX586 telephoto sensor that’s capable of up to 120x digital zoom. For video, the Mi 11 Ultra is capable of shooting 8K video. Xiaomi is marketing this smartphone to independent filmmakers as a tool to enable them to push the boundaries of filmmaking. It’s no surprise that the MI 11 Ultra has such a high Dxomark score.

“The Mi 11 Ultra is no longer comparable to other ultra smartphones but now to professional cameras,” said Xiaomi’s founder Lei Jun.  The Mi 11 Ultra is being pegged to compete against pro-consumer point-and-shoot cameras, unlike other smartphones launched before it. During the Xiaomi Mega launch, the Mi 11 Ultra was compared side-by-side to a professional camera, the Sony RX100M7 which has a slightly bigger sensor than the Mi 11 Ultra. The real-time test showed that the Mi 11 Ultra performs better in shooting in dark environments, which is possible thanks to the combination of both smartphone’s sensor and processor that enables it to capture detailed shots at night.

While Xiaomi is no stranger to being awarded high DXoMark scores, it has never had such a comfortable lead in the camera benchmark company’s rating as it does now compared to its contemporaries. It may not hold that lead for long though – Huawei’s pegged to unveil the next generation of their P-series smartphones in a few weeks – and their phones usually leapfrog over their competition in terms of score.