14 DAY TRIAL // Xiaomi announced its newest flagship smartphone, the Mi 6, in April, but there have been reports of the company working on Plus and Lite variants. Recently, Xiaomi’s CEO Lei Jun took to China’s biggest social network, Weibo, to dismiss rumors about a Lite version.
Xiaomi’s CEO states that rumors regarding a Lite version of Xiaomi Mi 6 are "fake," suggesting that the company isn’t working on a cheaper and less powerful variant of the Mi 6. However, the official didn’t comment on rumors saying that the company is working on a new device, one that would run Qualcomm’s mid-range Snapdragon 660 chip, based on 14nm process.
Qualcomm is expected to unveil the new chipset on May 9 and it may be featured on a number of smartphones, including Xperia X Ultra and Nokia 7. The rumored Mi 6 Lite was said to feature a price tag of about $290, while the Mi 6 sells in China for the price of $360.
Snapdragon 660 could be incorporated in a Xiaomi Redmi phone
Still, Xiaomi might feature Snapdragon 660 in one of its smartphones, possibly belonging to the Redmi series of devices. Xiaomi is known to have recently changed its business strategy and is now aiming towards a more sustainable evolution, after years of rapid growth. Xiaomi is looking to improve profit margins, while still offering smartphones with powerful performance and affordable prices.
Xiaomi Mi 6 comes with the latest Snapdragon 835 platform, coupled with Adreno 540 graphics processing unit and 6GB of RAM. It features a 5.15-inch Full HD display and a dual-camera setup on the back with 2x optical lossless zoom.
The camera setup has 12MP sensors, while the front camera capacity reaches 8MP. It draws power from a 3,350mAh battery, larger than the juicer found inside other flagships, and it comes with 128GB of internal storage, as well as multiple color options.