14 DAY TRIAL // Xiaomi is taking time to prepare its next flagship smartphone that is likely to be released as Mi 6. Even though the Chinese handset maker will be present at Mobile World Congress (MWC), it's quite unlikely that the Mi 6 will be announced at the trade fair.
According to different sources close to the matter, Xiaomi Mi 6 will be unveiled sometime in July, and it will probably go on sale a few days later after its official reveal.
The reason Xiaomi will be so late to the party is the fact that Qualcomm won't deliver the most powerful chipset available on the market, the Snapdragon 835, until after the Galaxy S8 goes on sale, which will happen in late April.
Most flagship smartphones launched in the first half of the year will actually be equipped with Qualcomm's last year Snapdragon 821 CPU, but not the Mi 6.
New information coming directly from China via The Android Soul claims there will be at least two versions of the Mi 6 introduced in July: Youth and Standard editions.
They will come with different specifications and will be priced accordingly. For example, the Xiaomi Mi 6 Youth Edition will sport a 5.2-inch display of unknown resolution.
Also, the smartphone will be powered by a MediaTek Helio X30 processor, coupled with 4GB RAM and 64GB (emmc 5.1 storage technology) of internal memory.
The Youth Edition will pack a single lens camera on the back. Customers in China will be able to purchase this version of the Xiaomi Mi 6 for 1,999 yuan, which is about $290.
Moving on to the next Xiaomi Mi 6 variant, the Standard Edition will be more expensive at 2,699 yuan ($390), but it will pack much better specs.
For example, the Mi 6 Standard Edition will be equipped with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 835 CPU, paired with 6GB RAM and 64GB internal memory (UFS 2.0 storage technology). In addition, the phone will boast a larger 5.5-inch display.
There's no word on software, but we can safely assume both Xiaomi Mi 6 variants will ship with the Android 7.0 Nougat operating system right out of the box.