At its 8th anniversary event in Shenzhen, Xiaomi launched its flagship smartphone Mi 8. The Mi 8, as the name implies, marks the 8th anniversary of the Chinese company, and it says the technological advances warranted to skip the Mi 7 name altogether.
Xiaomi Mi 8 is the most premium smartphone yet from the Chinese company. The smartphone marries the best design elements of Mi MIX 2S with a notch style display that rivals Apple iPhone X. While most Android smartphone makers have already embraced the notch, Xiaomi is embracing the notch to offer facial recognition system similar to Apple’s Face ID.
Xiaomi Mi 8 Specifications and Price
At the front, the Mi 8 features a wider notch to house the infrared facial recognition sensors including an infrared lens, infrared lighting, proximity sensor, earpiece and 20-megapixel front camera. While Xiaomi’s tech is not identical to that of iPhone X, the company demonstrated that it cannot be tricked with a photograph or face mask. The Mi 8 is embracing the notch and face recognition first seen on iPhone X, but it is not going in the direction of an edge-to-edge display design.
The Mi 8 features metal and glass design with 6.21-inch Samsung AMOLED display, and a noticeable chin at the bottom. The display has a resolution of 2248×1080 pixels, 18.7:9 aspect ratio, and supports always-on display. In terms of performance, the Mi 8 is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset coupled with up to 8GB of RAM, and 256GB internal storage.
As rumored before, the Xiaomi Mi 8 brings major improvements to the camera department. The Xiaomi Mi 8 features dual 12-megapixel rear camera setup with larger 1.4 micron pixels and 4-axis optical image stabilization. The camera also supports AI scene detection, and boasts a DxOMark rating of 99. The smartphone has a photo sub-score of 105, which is one of the best in the industry. The Mi 8 also features a 20-megapixel selfie shooter with f/2.0 aperture and 1.8 micron pixel size. The selfie camera can be used to shoot AI portrait along with beautification feature.
The standard Mi 8 features a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor while the explorer edition comes with an in-display fingerprint sensor and clear back design. The smartphone supports Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, dual-frequency GPS, and NFC that supports contactless payments.
In terms of price, the standard Mi 8 starts at RMB 2,699 (around Rs 28,500) for the base model with 6GB RAM and 64GB storage. The variant with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage is priced at RMB 2,999 (around Rs 31,600), while the 6GB RAM, 256GB storage model will set you back by RMB 3,299 (around Rs 34,800). The Mi 8 Explorer Edition, on the other hand, comes with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage, and is priced at RMB 3,699 (around Rs 39,000).
Xiaomi Mi 8 SE Specifications and Price
Alongside the Mi 8, Xiaomi is also introducing Mi 8 SE with smaller 5.88-inch Full HD+ AMOLED notched display. While the Mi 8 has rounded corners, the Mi 8 SE is rectangular, and seems similar to Mi MIX 2S. It comes in blue, red, gold and black colors, and is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 SoC. The Mi 8 SE also features dual rear cameras with 12-megapixel and 5-megapixel sensors. There is a 20-megapixel selfie shooter, and the smartphone is backed by a 3,120mAh battery.
The Mi 8 SE is priced at RMB 1,799 (around Rs 19,000) for the 4GB RAM variant with 64GB storage. The variant with 6GB RAM and 64GB storage is priced at RMB 1,999 (around Rs 21,000).