Xiaomi reveals its best ever smartphone, the Mi 4

Xiaomi has just lifted the covers off its latest flagship smartphone the Mi 4, a device that distinctively offers affordable performance and now in a premium built body.

The Xiaomi Mi 4 comes with a 5-inch 1080p, fully laminated display and top notch hardware: it runs on the quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 system chip clocked at up to 2.5GHz, and comes with a plentiful 3GB of RAM. Just like last year with the Mi 3, Xiaomi claims that the Mi 4 is the fastest smartphone in the world at the moment, something that we’re eager to check in the near future.

As teased before the event, Xiaomi promises to offer premium craftsmanship into its new flagship. The Mi 4 now comes with a metal frame which undergoes delicate treatment with fine chamfered edges for an upmarket feel. The battery is a sizable 3080mAh pack that can last around a day and a half according to Xiaomi, more than most other 5-inch flagship phones. The Mi 4 also supports quick charging at 9V/1.2A so you can juice it up to 60% in an hour. As comparison, its standard 5V/2A charger does 40% in an hour.

In terms of cameras, the Mi 4 boasts a 13-megapixel rear f/1.8 shooter (with a Sony IMX214 sensor that’s also used on the Oppo Find 7 and OnePlus One) capable of recording 4K video, and a high-res, 8-megapixel f/1.8 shooter with a 80-degree wide-angle lens that will allow for more people to fit in selfies. The Mi 4 comes in two versions: one with 16GB of internal storage, and another one that makes a jump directly to 64GB, skipping a 32GB model. The storage is also of the fastest eMMC 5.0 kind. Like its current Mi 3, unfortunately there’s no expandable microSD slot. As an added feature, the Mi 4 also comes with an IR blaster at the top which can be used as a universal remote for your TV and various home appliances.

UPDATE: Check out the specs comparison of the Mi 4 vs Oppo Find 7, OnePlus One, LG G3 and other flagship smart phones here.

The special sauce of Xiaomi phones, though, is not merely specs, but rather it is their MIUI Android skin. MIUI is one of the richest skins out there, offering plentiful customization options and weekly updates. The next version of MIUI is also now coming in just about a month – it will arrive as MIUI 6 on August 16th. In China, Xiaomi is also offering additional protection against water and even screen damages. This added peace of mind cost just 99 Yuan per year (about RM51).

Finally, the Xiaomi Mi 4 comes with a nice surprise: its full retail price is just 1,999 Yuan (about RM1,025) for the 16GB model, and 2,499 Yuan (about RM1,280) for the 64GB version. Xiaomi is ramping up production to supply 1 million units in the next 2 months. China Unicom will be the first to get it next Tuesday, followed by other China operators in August. The 4G LTE version which only supports TDD-LTE standards will be released in September. For the rest of the world, we would need to wait a little longer for a 4G FDD-LTE variant which is being adopted by most international carriers including Malaysia.

For more information, you can head over to Xiaomi’s official Mi 4 product page.

Xiaomi Mi 4 Promo Videos

Xiaomi Mi 4 Product Images

Xiaomi Mi 4 Announcement Photos