The Xiaomi Mi 6 was unveiled in April 2017 and started selling the same month. Apparently, the Xiaomi Mi 7 will see an early launch, according to the latest reports surfacing from China.
For years now, we’ve come to know that Xiaomi’s appeal to the masses lies in its ability to cram top-level specs and features in very affordable packages. For instance, the Xiaomi Mi 6, which came with all the 2017 flagship specs as well as a dual-lens camera, was priced at less than $400 at launch. If the latest rumors are anything to go by, the Xiaomi Mi 7 will still be an affordable flagship – or maybe a decent flagship killer.
Fresh info coming from China (translated) claims that the Xiaomi Mi 7 will be one of the most expensive phones to grace the Mi series. However, there seems to be a valid justification for this claim. Apparently, the Mi 7 will ship with a Snapdragon 845 chipset paired with either 6GB or 8GB RAM, but the latter case is not confirmed. Last year’s Mi 6 got a base model of 4GB RAM to accompany the high-end 6GB RAM model, but it seems that was the end of the road for 4GB RAM modules in Xiaomi’s Mi flagships.
Interestingly, the rumor points towards a high-end variant of up to 8GB RAM and 256GB storage and it’s this variant that will reportedly cost more than 3000 yuan. As it stands, this translates to about $475, which is still cool, but somehow unlikely. Perhaps it makes more sense to think of this as the price tag for the entry-level variant.
Whether Xiaomi Mi 7 will get a special edition ceramic black color variant like the Mi 6 is still unknown. But given the company has released a ceramic variant for each Mi series flagship from the recent past, it’s likely that the Mi 7 will also get one.
Previous reports have also suggested that Xiaomi Mi 7 will join the Redmi 5 and 5 Plus in rocking the new 18:9 design, meaning slimmer bezels. As a result, the screen size of the Mi 7 is said to jump from the traditional 5.15-inch to a bigger 5.65-inch panel.
Last year’s Mi 6 did not get a Plus variant, but the Mi 7 will reportedly get one with an even bigger 6.01-inch OLED screen. Xiaomi is expected to spice things up in photography by including AI-based dual lenses on the back as well as support for facial recognition, just like OnePlus 5T. It has also been claimed that the Mi 7 could debut with support for wireless charging, hence the alleged price hike.
Coming to the release date, the Xiaomi Mi 7 may see an early launch. While the MWC 2018 is unlikely, the phone may arrive a while after the Galaxy S9 and S9+, probably in March. However, unlike the S9 and S9+ that we know will launch on February 25 and start shipping on March 16, we have no such details regarding the Mi 7. Of course, it shouldn’t be long before these details start showing up.
Meanwhile, feel free to check out the Mi 7 concept video below (from which the images used in the article were sourced) – because it’s just awesome!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPm-gufM3Us
