Mi A1 No Longer on Sale in India, But Xiaomi Says It Will Return 'Soon'

Xiaomi Mi A1 is currently not available in India. The unavailability exists across all official online channels, including Flipkart and Mi.com. However, Xiaomi has refuted some initial media reports that were claiming that the Mi A1 had been discontinued in the country and said that it would return for sale "soon". The latest development notably emerges amidst rumours around the Mi 6X that is likely to be the Chinese variant of the Mi A2, successor to the Xiaomi Mi A1. The rumoured model is expected to be launched by the company in China at an event on April 25.

"Mi A1 is not discontinued in India, and it will return for sale soon," a Xiaomi spokesperson said in a statement emailed to Gadgets 360. Of course the time frame of the return of the Mi A1 remains unclear.

Launched in September 2017 as the first Android One smartphone from Xiaomi, the Mi A1 originally debuted with Android 7.1.2 and recently received an update to Android 8.0 Oreo earlier this year. The handset was launched with a price tag of Rs. 14,999, though it received a permanent price cut of Rs. 1,000 in December last year and has been available at Rs. 13,999.

The dual-SIM (Nano) Xiaomi Mi A1 (Review) features a 5.5-inch full-HD (1080x1920 pixels) display with 2.5D curved Corning Gorilla Glass protection. Under the hood, it is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 SoC, paired with 4GB of RAM. The handset has a dual rear camera setup that comprises two 12-megapixel image sensors - with one featuring a wide-angle lens and f/2.2 aperture, and the other one sporting a telephoto lens with an f/2.6 aperture. The camera setup supports 2x optical zoom. On the front, there is a 5-megapixel image sensor with a real-time beautification mode.

Xiaomi has provided 64GB of onboard storage on the Mi A1 that is expandable via microSD card (up to 128GB) in a hybrid dual-SIM configuration. The smartphone has 4G VoLTE, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth, GPS/ A-GPS, USB Type-C port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack on the connectivity part and packs a 3080mAh battery.

The apparent Mi A1 successor, the Mi A2 aka the Mi 6X, is rumoured to come with a 5.99-inch full-HD+ (1080x2160 pixels) display that will support an 18:9 aspect ratio. Some early images also show the presence of a vertically placed dual rear camera setup. Further, the smartphone is likely to come with Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box. The Mi 6X, which will be the Chinese variant of the Mi A2, is claimed to come in three configurations with 4GB RAM/ 32GB storage, 6GB RAM/ 64GB storage, and 6GB RAM/ 128GB storage and feature a Snapdragon 626 SoC. It is also said to have a 2910mAh battery.