A phone for the global stage
Xiaomi has always launched their new phones in China, where the company is headquartered. It made sense, because Xiaomi’s primary customers are still Chinese, after all, despite their global ambitions. This changes today with the official launch of the Mi4i in India, the company’s first official unveiling out of their home turf. The launch of the new device is proof of Xiaomi’s global ambitions, and is a show of commitment from the company that they’re ready to release a new device simultaneously in markets out of their home country.
Xiaomi Mi 4i specs
- Second gen 1.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 cta-core processor
- 2GB of RAM
- 5-inch full HD OGS Sharp/JDI, 1920 x 1080 resolution
- 16GB of storage
- 13-megapixel rear camera by Sony/Samsung
- 5-megapixel front camera
- Dual-SIM, Dual LTE
- 3G, LTE
- WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, A-GPS
- Android Lollipop 5.0 with MIUI 6
- 3120mAh battery
The Mi 4i does away with the metal and glass body of the Mi 4 and has instead gone with a plastic body, making the device thinner and lighter – 12% thinner and lighter to be precise, with a 7.8mm body. The surface of the Mi4i has been treated with a soft-touch matte finish that has an anti-grease coating to keep it nice and clean (good news for germaphobes, we guess).
Even though it’s such a thin phone, Xiaomi has managed to stuff a 3120mAh battery in the Mi4i, thanks to the 4.4V 700Kh/l high density battery technology that the company has utilized. Like other high-end phones, Xiaomi’s Mi4i sports quick-charge technology that allows the phone to charge up to 40% in an hour, with a full charge taking about 3 hours.
As far as display goes, the Mi 4i uses a 5-inch, full HD display made by Sharp/JDI. The panel is full lamination OGS type, has 95% NTSC color gamut coverage, and has a viewing angle of around 178 degrees.
Just like in the display, Xiaomi is utlizing two suppliers for the Mi 4i’s 13-megapixel camera. Xiaomi has named both Sony and Samsung as their camera sensor suppliers, and the camera module uses a 2nd-gen stacked CMOS sensor, 5-element lens and f/2.0 aperture. The front camera is a 5-megapixel deal, and has beautification features just like other high-end devices.
The guts of the Mi 4i is provided by Qualcomm, specifically their Snapdragon 615 octa-core processor that we saw on the OPPO R5, running at a clock speed of 1.7GHz. Hugo Barra, VP of Xiaomi Global said that the 615 octa-core processor on the Mi 4i is a second generation one, and was designed by Qualcomm India. The new generation processor managed to score around 40K points in AnTuTU. In retrospect, OPPO’s R5 only managed to score around 26K points.
Xiaomi’s pricing the Mi 4i at Rs 12999, equivalent to around Php 9080, with sales beginning on April 30.
Xiaomi Philippines released the following statement for the Mi 4i’s release in the Philippines: “We’re finalizing the launch date for the Mi 4i. We will definitely keep you posted once we have updates on the new device.”