BackXiaomi Mi 4i: A tweaked Mi 4 for a lower price
The new phone comes just a few days after Xiaomi slashed the prices of Mi 4
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Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has announced that the Mi 4i will go on sale from 30 April, sporting a price tag of ₹ 12,999. It will be available exclusively on Flipkart for the time being. This announcement comes after the company slashed the price of its flagship smartphone, the Mi 4, by ₹ 2,000, it now costs ₹ 17,999, on 16 April.
The Mi 4i is a low-cost version of the same phone and will be sold in markets such as India, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia.
Here’s why the Mi 4i is different from the Mi 4:
The processor is a big change. The Mi 4 is powered by a very powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 quad-core processor clocking at 2.5 GHz. For the lower-priced Mi 4i, Xiaomi has swapped this with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 octa-core processor (64-bit). While the Mi 4 has 3 GB RAM, the Mi 4i has to make do with 2 GB RAM.
The Xiaomi Mi 4, in true flagship fashion, feels premium, with a stainless-steel lining doubling up as the frame. The shiny white plastic on the back feels good in the hand, even though it is a bit slippery. The new Mi 4i switches to the polycarbonate plastic build, and will be available in white, blue and yellow. We wouldn’t hold it against Xiaomi if it has been inspired by what Apple did for the iPhone 5c. The Mi 4i weighs 130g, which is 19g less than the Mi 4.
The Mi 4 currently runs Android 4.4.4 (KitKat) wrapped inside the MIUI 6 custom interface. The Mi 4i is more in tune with the times, and runs the newer Android 5.0 (Lollipop). The custom interface remains the same.
The Mi 4i packs in a slightly higher capacity battery, a 3,100 mAh, compared to the 3,080 mAh of the Mi 4. On paper, this is a positive change. However, we will reserve judgement till we test the Mi 4i.
The current price of the Mi 4 is ₹ 17,999 (16 GB) and ₹ 21,999 (64 GB), while the Mi 4i will go on sale for ₹ 12,999.
The fact is that Xiaomi had to slash the price of the Mi 4 and then within a short span, launch a spin-off that costs significantly less.
This phone does make sense, simply because it has a specifications sheet that none of the rivals are able to match completely at this price.
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