Xiaomi – Top 10: The Best Mobile Mini Photo Printers 2021

Whether on a children’s birthday party, a family celebration, an event or for letters to grandma and the photo wall at home: pictures from the photo printer are in demand and make the data, which is usually only digital, tangible. Photo printers become really flexible when they come with a battery. Zinc photo printers are the most common. But some exotic species are also shaking up the market.

We have tested 13 mobile photo printers, the list is constantly growing. In a comparison test: we compare them to mobile photo printers. We collect the comparison test and all individual tests on the photo printer topic page. This list of the best sorts the ten best models and helps with the purchase decision at a glance.

The Huawei CV80 mini photo printer is the best zinc printer we have tested so far. Not only does it look very chic, it is also superbly made and extremely compact. It comes with a really good app with all the important functions, which convinces thanks to the very good user guidance. The quality of the printed images is surprisingly good and better than many other zinc photo printers.

The Huawei CV80 costs 90 euros. We think it’s great that the Huawei CV80 comes with 50 pieces of photo paper, which, when bought individually, cost a good 20 euros and are compatible with all zinc printers that use the same photo format.

The Canon Selphy CP1300 is the largest photo printer we tested and only partially deserves the “Mini” rating. It fits easily in backpacks, but not in large trouser pockets. At least it is mobile, as it comes with an optional battery, which then increases the total weight to 1290 grams.

He uses thermal sublimation as a printing process. When printing, the CP1300 rolls individual color foils over the image in four steps from a wax foil cartridge supplied with the photo paper. The image quality is very good, comparable to the instant printers in Müller, Rossmann, DM and Co. The individual prints are cheap compared to the competition, so 108 prints only cost a good 20 euros.

The zinc photo printer Xiaomi Mi Pocket Printer is the cheapest mobile photo printer with the zinc process at around 50 euros. The first thing you notice is its very good workmanship and pleasing design.

Its integration into the Xiaomi smart home app is less successful. First of all, the app requires you to register. The app itself controls all Xiaomi smart home devices, the printer is only a small part of it. First of all, the app always wants the printer to be reconnected at the beginning. She never finds the printer on her own.

In addition to normal printing, the print options also include collages, raster divisions, portraits, and video and audio formats. With the latter, the finished image is scanned via the app and then shows the audio or video recording. Also are any quantities

The print quality of the Xiaomi Mi photo printer is good and better than many other photo printers using the zinc process. It is particularly noticeable that in contrast to many other zinc printers, there are hardly any stripes to be seen in the pictures.

The really special thing about the Xiaomi photo printer is its very low price of just over 50 euros, which makes it our price-performance tip.

The Canon Zoemini is very compact and small. It also looks superbly processed. Only the clearly visible fingerprints on the black version bothers us in the test. The Zoemini uses the zinc printing process. Its image quality is above average for this printing technology and the app is impressive and easy to use. It even offers some more or less useful augmented reality functions: placing sunglasses & Co. over faces works well. “Funny” facial distortion, on the other hand, produces creepy results. All in all, the Canon Zoemini is a very good fun printer for parties and events.

The Fujifilm Instax Share SP-3 looks futuristic on the outside and is a real eye-catcher. It is exceptionally well made. In contrast to its widely used Bluetooth colleagues, it uses WLAN as the connection standard. That makes the connection to the smartphone a bit more cumbersome. Allegedly, one charge is enough for up to 160 prints. In our approximately 20 test prints, we could not suck the battery empty.

OLED exposure is used here as the printing process. The pictures come out of the printer very quickly, after which it takes a few more minutes, equivalent to the iconic Polaroids, until the picture shines in full color. The image quality is good, but it always looks like there’s a retro filter over it. The waterproof plastic material of the prints is great. They feel valuable like no other photo printer. Unfortunately, they are expensive at around 80 cents per printout.

Like the CP3000 from the same manufacturer, the Canon Selphy uses thermal sublimation as a printing process. Here, too, the image moves out and back in several times during printing to apply the various layers. Unfortunately, the QX10 does not offer the outstanding print quality of the CP3000. Even so, the image quality is good and better than that of the zinc printer.

The printed area of ​​the self-adhesive pictures in the Polaroid look is a maximum of 6.8 × 6.8 centimeters. Photo paper always includes a roll of colored film. Although the printer itself is not overly expensive at 120 euros, the pictures are. They cost 70 cents each.

The Instax Mini Link uses the same OLED process as the Fujifilm Instax Share SP-3. Correspondingly, the images, which cost around 70 cents, come out of the printer very quickly and then need some time to fully expose themselves. The picture quality is good, a retro effect can also be seen here. With one battery charge, up to 100 pictures should be in it. We did not reach the battery limit with our 20 test prints.

We didn’t like the weird app. The appearance of the Instax Mini Link takes getting used to and is somewhat reminiscent of a hard case – including creaking.

The mbrush, identical to the Princube, is a real exotic. He uses an enclosed HP 62 XL ink cartridge for printing. To create an image, the user drags the mbrush over a surface. There is a 14 millimeter wide print strip that can produce a large image with several strokes on paper. This works quite well after a little practice, but does not produce consistently high print quality.

For them, among other things, the chosen surface is decisive. Paper, cardboard, plastic, and wood work well. Here the material absorbs the printing ink well. If these materials are coated, the ink cannot soak in, which leads to a washed-out printed image. Since the ink in the supplied cartridge is water-soluble, the print image smears even if it is touched lightly. Printing on skin works rather poorly than right – despite the included attachment for the print head, which increases the distance a little.

Still, the mbrush is fun. It is a very satisfying feeling to glide over a surface with it and to leave a colorful stripe of motif behind. We don’t like the uninspired software and the cumbersome control via WLAN. The quick drying of the print head is also annoying.

The Peripage A6 is only partially suitable as a photo printer. Its black and white display is simply too bad for that. He uses thermal paper as is often the case with receipts. Still, it’s really fun. Because the small, self-adhesive notes come out of the printer in a flash and are suitable for all sorts of nonsense. In addition, they are dirt cheap. Ordered from the China shop, a meter of printing paper costs only a few cents.

The HP Sprocket Plus prints in the zinc process, but its images are slightly larger than with the other printers. In most cases, the image quality is okay. It shows details clearly, color gradients can lead to the formation of clusters. It also shows partially clear stripes, especially in bright areas of the image, which probably come from the rollers in the printer over which the printout moves when it comes out. Overall, the printer is a bit too expensive; buyers spend less money on other zinc printers. A photo costs around 45 cents.

The Huawei CV80 hardly has any weaknesses and comes with a great app. The Canon Selphy CP1300 prints at the most beautiful and its pictures are quite cheap. But it is unwieldy. The Xiaomi Mi photo printer is our price-performance tip. His printouts are very good, but the app is annoying. But we can also recommend the OLED printers from Instax, especially because of their extremely charming printouts. However, they are expensive.