Photo credit: GSM Dome
Xiamoi’s Mi4 looks like the iPhone 5S, but it’s far more powerful. For starters, it features a full HD 1080p 5″ Sharp-sourced display and 3GB of LPDDR3 RAM. Despite Xiaomi handsets being only available in China and a few other emerging markets, the company’s brand is already incredibly popular in that region. According to Kantar Worldpanel Comtech, a UK-based market research company, Xiaomi’s gross sales totaled $5.4 billion in the first half of the year earning an overall market share of 21%, which surpasses Apple’s market share of 16% and inching closer to Samsung’s market share of 23%. Continue reading for more.
5. Price
For those who live in China, the Xiaomi Mi4 will only set you back 1999 yuan (roughly $320USD), which is almost half of the price of iPhone 5S that costs $650. If you happen to live in North America, Europe or Australia, there are importers, but most of what we’ve seen has been in the $429 – $549 price points.
4. Features
Don’t let the low price fool you, the Mi4 boasts a 5-inch full-HD (1920 x 1080) screen, a quad-core 2.5-GHz Snapdragon 801 CPU, 3GB of RAM, a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera and 16GB of internal memory. It’s powered by Xiaomi’s custom Android-based MIUI operating system. This version removes the standard Android app drawer and lets users place all programs on the home screen, similar to iOS.
3. Extra Camera Features
According to The Next Web, “An exposure adjuster lets you dial up or down the brightness level before you even press the shutter, while a �smart flash� merges two photos (one without flash and one with auto flash) to make for a better picture. There is also an image tracker which lets you select a focal point that the camera will then track, no matter how the object moves, which can come in useful for taking photos of kids or animals.”
2. Build Quality
While it may not boast a sapphire display or liquid metal body, the Mi4 has truly “astounding” build quality, according to PocketNow’s Taylor Martin. They didn’t skimp on the display either, as he also praises it for its vibrant colors and extremely slim side bezels.
1. Design
The Mi4 may look like the iPhone, but it ditches the metal / glass back for a plastic one to save on costs. There are polished aluminum edges, however, which make it look slightly more luxurious. Xiaomi took a very minimalist approach to this handset, as there’s no physical home button below the screen, with speaker placement resembling that of Apple’s smartphone.
