BEIJING: The flagship Xiaomi Mi Note was announced in the capital of China by Lei Jun, the CEO of the world’s third largest smartphone maker.
The new Mi Note is not to be confused with the company’s budget friendly line, the Redmi Note, nor the large-screened devices of the same name from the South Korean electronics giant Samsung.
The new phablet, if Lei Jun is to be believed, is set to go head-to-head with Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus, at less than half the price.
The Xiaomi Mi Note packs a 5.7-inch Full HD display and weighs just 161 grams (5.7 ounces). It sports a curved glass front and rear. The company is betting that consumers in markets such as India who want phones similar in quality and size to the 6 Plus will opt for the Note instead. Xiaomi is already the biggest smartphone brand in China.
Xiaomi claims it has a patent for its rear 13-megapixel camera — and unlike the Apple iPhone 6 Plus, the thinner Note doesn’t have a protruding carriage for the rear shooter. It also has optical image stabilisation.
For the selfie-loving crowd, Xiaomi has taken a page out of the HTC One M8’s book. The front camera uses a 4-megapixel sensor, with the same 2µm pixel size as HTC’s Ultra Pixel cameras. This should make for better-looking selfies, especially in low-light conditions.
Going on sale in China, Xiaomi says the phone will sell, unlocked, for 2,299RMB, which converts to roughly $370, £245 or AU$455. It’s significantly more expensive than the company’s other products, which Xiaomi says is due to the high manufacturing costs of the phone. The iPhone 6 Plus costs $749, £619 or AU$999 unlocked.
