Xiaomi Play Smartphone Tipped to Debut on December 24

Xiaomi Play reportedly in works as a smartphone model by the Chinese giant. The handset in question is speculated to arrive on December 24, while its launch event is likely to happen between December 17 and December 26 - targeting Christmas. The latest revelation comes in the midst of a 48-megapixel camera smartphone by Xiaomi that is rumoured to be a new Redmi model. The smartphone is also said to have a glass back and a price tag of over CNY 2,000 (roughly Rs. 20,800).

A Chinese tipster on Weibo has claimed that Xiaomi is launching the Xiaomi Play on December 24. It is said that the company is in plans to host a launch event for the new smartphone between December 17 and December 26. Details around the smartphone are yet to be revealed. However, it is clear that it will be called the Xiaomi Play. It could be a part of a new series altogether that could sit next to the existing Mi and Redmi families.

The name Xiaomi Play suggests the new development could be focused on gamers. However, it is important to note that the company has its Black Shark range to meet the requirements of the gaming phone market. The new phone, thus, instead likely to be a strong competitor against the Honor Play that arrived in China back in June. The Honor handset had GPU Turbo to deliver enhanced graphics and included the octa-core Huawei HiSilicon Kirin 970 SoC that comes with a built-in NPU (neural processing unit).

Folks at Playfuldroid speculate that the new Xiaomi phone could be a Chinese version of the Poco F1. The latter was launched in India back in August with a starting price of Rs. 20,999. It has a 6.18-inch full-HD+ (1080x2246 pixels) display and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 SoC, paired with up to 8GB RAM and 256GB of onboard storage. Within three months of its launch, the Poco F1 clocked 700,000 units sales. It also recently received an update to Android 9.0 Pie through MIUI 10.1 Global Stable ROM.

Alongside the purported Xiaomi Play, Xiaomi is nowadays busy in preparing its 48-megapixel camera phone that is rumoured to be a part of the existing Redmi series. The smartphone is also said to have a glass back design and may include a Qualcomm Snapdragon 675 SoC.