Its Xiaomi’s time to launch a smartphone with all new 18:9 display. As a matter of fact, the company has already announced a premium flagship smartphone Xiaomi Mi MIX 2. However, everyone will not be interested in the premium smartphone (sorry, everyone cannot afford), so, to reach to the mass audience, the smartphone maker should launch an affordable smartphone. According to analysts, this device will be called as Xiaomi R1, but we are not sure about the series (Mi or Redmi).
So, just like the Xiaomi Redmi Y series, India’s number one smartphone maker should launch a new mid-tier premium smartphone priced less than CNY 1599 or ₹15,999 (around the price tag of Xiaomi Redmi Note 4). So, recently, a new smartphone has been spotted on the Chinese subway, so, here are the images and the speculated price list of the upcoming mid-tier smartphone from Xiaomi.
Few things that caught our attention about the phone are here. The phone offers a 3.5 mm headphone jack (she or he is using a wired headphones, which is a Xiaomi branded headphones). The next thing we noticed on the device is the dual firing speakers on the bottom, in which one is likely to be the main microphone and a mono speaker (just like the Xiaomi Redmi Note 4).
The user is watching a video, which gives the clear idea about the 18:9 aspect ratio display. As there are black bars on the top and bottom, the user is watching a 16:9 aspect ratio video (which is basically a standard video format). So, the upcoming smartphone from Xiaomi is expected to offer at least a 6.0-inch IPS LCD display with narrow bezels on the top and the bottom. So, just like most of the mid-tier smartphones, this device might use the FHD+ IPS LCD panel, protected by 2.5D curved tempered glass protection.
However, one thing that we are not happy with the Xiaomi R1 is the fact that, it is still using a micro USB port, which takes care of the charging and data syncing procedures. So, if you are expecting a USB type C, you are not getting the same. In terms of operating system, the device is expected to run on MiUi 9 based on Android Nougat 7.1.2. The device is also expected to receive Android Oreo update in the near future.
If we look into the processor, the device is expected to feature the Xiaomi India’s favourite Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 Octa-core processor, paired with either 3 GB or 4 GB LPDDR3 RAM with 32 GB or 64 GB onboard flash storage with a dedicated micro SD card slot (up to 128 GB).
In terms of connectivity, the device is likely to offer dual nano-SIM card slots with 4G LTE and VoLte capability. So, this device will be in line with the other premium flagship smartphones at least in terms of connectivity.
On to the camera, the Xiaomi R1 is likely to feature dual rear-camera setup on the back, which should offer features like Portrait mode and 4K video recording capability. For the selfie camera, the smartphone makers are expected to use either 5 MP or 8 MP fixed focus selfie camera with 1080p video recording capability. So, what do you think about the Xiaomi Mi R1? Share your views in the comment box below.