Xiaomi Mi 6 Tipped to Launch With Snapdragon 821 SoC First, Snapdragon 835 SoC to Launch Later

Latest leak hinted that the Xiaomi Mi 6 flagship may launch on April 16. However, fresh reports claim that due to the non-availability of the Snapdragon 835 SoC, launch of the most premium Xiaomi Mi 6 variant will be delayed till May this year. But to satiate customers a little, Xiaomi will launch a Mi 6 with a Snapdragon 821 processor initially, and will wait for the availability of Snapdragon 835 to launch the most premium variant at a later date.

Android Pure reports that the Xiaomi Mi 6 will be launched initially with a Snapdragon 821 SoC due to non-availability of Snapdragon 835 processors. Samsung has apparently signed a deal with Qualcomm for first availability of the latest processors, and only after the launch of the Galaxy S8 will others be able to launch their smartphones with the latest Snapdragon processor. Samsung is scheduled to launch the Galaxy S8 on March 29, and therefore availability of the Snapdragon 835 will be scarce throughout April as well. The report states that this has pushed Xiaomi to at least launch one variant of the Mi 6 with a Snapdragon 821 SoC initially. Just to recap, LG also did the same thing with the G6 launch, by integrating the Snapdragon 821 processor, however, it did not mention plans of launching a Snapdragon 835 variant in the future. Of course, such an announcement would cripple sales of the Snapdragon 821 variant, thus it also seems unlikely that Xiaomi will mention at the Mi 6 launch that a Snapdragon 835 variant will be launched later in the year.

The same source reports that a Xiaomi Mi 6 premium variant with a Snapdragon 835 processor will launch in May when availability of the chip should be back on track. All in all, there will be three variants of the Xiaomi Mi 6.

As for specifications, the most premium variant of the Xiaomi Mi 6 is expected to sport a Quad HD 2K OLED display with dual curved edges, a 6GB of RAM, 256GB of inbuilt storage, and dual rear camera setup. The most basic variant will sport a 4GB of RAM, and 64GB inbuilt storage. Previous leaks tip that the handset will house a 4000mAh battery and be priced at around CNY 2,499 (roughly Rs. 25,000).