Third largest phone maker in the world unveils new smartphone

Xiaomi has officially launched its newest flagship smartphone, the Mi 4i, at an event in NewDelhi, India yesterday.

The device is the first Xiaomi device to be designed outside China and also the first to run Android Lollipop out-of-the-box, will be available for $205 from April30.

The Mi 4i comes with a five-inch, 1080p display and the impressive 13-magapixel rear-facing camera that came with Xiaomi’s Mi Note phablet, composed of five-element lens. The device’s front camera is a healthy five megapixels. HugoBarra, Xiaomi’s VP of Global operations, who introduced the device, also unveiled Xiaomi’s ‘beutify’ technology is also enabled by default for the new phone.

Inside, the Mi 4i is powered by a second generation Snapdragon 615 from Qualcomm, which includes an eight-core 64-bit processor. It has 16GB of internal memory and a 2GB RAM, plus dual SIM capabilities and 4G support for both SIM slots – that’s very impressive for a $205 phone.

The device is 7.8mm thick, weighs 130 grams and carries a nice 3120 mAh battery. Barra also said the phone’s quick charge feature enables 40 per cent charge within an hour and full charge in under three hours.

Xiaomi is putting emphasis on photo taking for the new device with an interesting addition being a technology called ‘Sunlight Display’ which increases the visibility of images on the display during harsh sunlight conditions. The device also has more packed into its HDR feature, which now includes Gamma and contrast tuning, color correction, and low-light de-noising.

The Mi 4i will be available in five colors when it launches but would-be customers would have to navigate Xiaomi’s notorious flash sales to actually get one.

The Chinese company is currently ranked as the world’s third largest phone-maker based on shipment numbers.