Xiaomi Mi 6 Launched With 6GB RAM and 12-Megapixel Dual Rear Cameras, Price Starts at CNY 2,499: Event Highlights

Xiaomi Mi 6, the Chinese company’s 2017 flagship smartphone, has been launched at an event in Beijing. The new Mi 6 smartphone runs on the top-end Snapdragon 835 chipset (clock speed of 2.45GHz and Adreno 540 GPU) and packs 6GB of RAM. The launch of Mi 6 smartphone ends the long wait of its fans for a smartphone that can take on iPhone 7, as well as the likes of Samsung Galaxy S8 and LG G6. Along with the Mi 6, Xiaomi is expected to launch the Mi 6 Plus and Mi Max 2 at the launch event, which is being live streamed on the Xiaomi website.

Xiaomi Mi 6 specifications

The big highlight of the Mi 6 is the latest Snapdragon 835 processor integration and the 6GB of RAM under the hood; however, there will be available in several RAM/ storage bundles, as listed above. Xiaomi Mi 6 has a 5.15-inch display with up to 600 nits brightness, though its intelligent backlight adjustment technology can lower the brightness to 1 nit in order to protect the eyes.

Among the notable features of the Xiaomi Mi 6 are the fingerprint scanner under the glass in front, 64GB and 128GB storage options, metal body with four-sided curved glass design, MIUI software, and dual camera on the back without an unsightly hump. The company followed in Apple's footsteps and ditched the 3.5mm headphone jack with the Mi 6; the smartphone comes with stereo speakers.

The smartphone has dual rear cameras with 12-megapixel resolution on the back. The company says the 12-megapixel wide-angle and 12-megapixel telephoto lenses of Xiaomi Mi 6 camera can deliver 2x optical lossless zoom to shoot scenes at a distance more clearly. Its binocular stereoscopic vision imaging and depth learning algorithm makes edge recognition more accurate in the photos, says Xiaomi. The Mi 6 camera features four-axis anti-shake functionality to ensure blur-free images.

Xiaomi Mi 6 battery capacity 3350mAh; the company said the Snapdragon 835 chipset - developed on the 10nm process - consumes up to 25 percent less power than the previous generation processors. This suggests that the smartphone will likely deliver a long battery life.

On the connectivity front, users get 2x2 MIMO Wi-Fi and 4G support, with peak download speed of 600Mbps and maximum upload speed of 100Mbps. The NFC-capable Xiaomi Mi 6 comes with support for Mi Pay standard that has tie-ups with 36 banks in China. In addition to that, the smartphone supports AliPay and WeChat fingerprint payment as well for mobile payments.

Xiaomi Mi 6 price and variants

Xiaomi Mi 6 price has been announced as CNY 2,499 (roughly Rs. 25,000) for the model with 64GB storage and 6GB RAM, while the variant with 128GB storage and 6GB RAM costs CNY 2,899 (about Rs. 29,000). The Mi 6 variant with four-surface ceramic fuselage design and 18K gold-plating on the camera ring, 128GB storage and 6GB RAM has been priced at CNY 2,999 (approximately Rs. 30,000).

Apart from the default Blue, and the ceramic variants, Xiaomi Mi 6 will also come in a limited edition Silver variant soon.

Xiaomi Mi 6 release date

The first Xiaomi Mi 6 sale will start at 10am CST (7:30am IST) on April 28. There is no word on the Mi 6 India launch, price and release date yet.