Xiaomi's Rs. 4,000 Smartphone With Redmi 2-Like Design Purportedly Pictured

First spotted by MyDrivers.com, the image was posted on China's Twitter equivalent Weibo showing the back panel of the handset. The unnamed Mi smartphone sports a design similar to Xiaomi Redmi 2 (Review | Pictures). The primary camera accompanied by an LED flash and speaker grille can be seen in the image; though the Mi logo, seen in almost all Xiaomi devices, is missing hinting that the device pictured might be a prototype.

In-line with an earlier report, the handset is said to include a Leadcore chipset, instead of the Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 SoC.

(Also see: Xiaomi India Now Selling Accessories via Its Own Site)

The Chinese company has been rumoured to be working on an affordable smartphone (unnamed as of now) priced at as low as CNY 399 (approximately $65 or Rs. 4,000). The budget Xiaomi smartphone has been said to feature LTE support, apart from an HD (720p) display and pack 1GB of RAM. The Leadcore chipset was said to be LC1860, built on 28nm fabrication processor and utilise 2GHz Cortex-A7 cores (no word on the number of cores) alongside a Mali T628 GPU.

As of now, other details about the $65 Xiaomi smartphone are limited.

(Also see: Xiaomi Working on Smartwatch to Compete With Apple Watch)

A report from December citing Xiaomi's Global Vice President, Hugo Barra poured water on plans for a sub-Rs. 5,000 smartphone. According to Barra, industry conditions don't make it possible for the company to manufacture a sub-Rs. 5,000 smartphone that would deliver a "good consumer experience."

Earlier this month, Xiaomi unveiled a special edition of the Mi Note with a bamboo material back panel, the Xiaomi Mi Note Natural Bamboo Edition. Priced at CNY 2,299 (roughly Rs. 23,000), the Xiaomi Mi Note Natural Bamboo Edition would be available in China from Tuesday.