Xiaomi Mi A2 Furthering the Line-up Started by Mi A1: The Differences and Similarities

The older Mi A1 used to come with a dual rear camera setup comprising of the 12MP wide-angle primary sensor with f/2.2 aperture and a 12MP telephoto lens with f/2.6 aperture. The phone also shipped the 2X optical zoom feature. The Mi A1 comes with a decent camera setup which although was not best for low light settings, but renders appreciable quality photos in bright and aptly light conditions. The front camera on the Mi A1 is a 5MP one.

Performance and Battery

The processing prowess on the Mi A2 is lent to the device by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 processor clocking a frequency of 2.2GHz which comes paired with 4GB/6GB RAM and 32GB/64GB/128GB storage space. Comparatively, the Mi A1 sports the slightly dated Snapdragon 625 processor which is the same as in Redmi Note 5. The Mi A1 comes in the variants of 4GB RAM+64GB storage option, and the internal space is expandable up to 128GB via a microSD card slot. There is also a slight difference in the batteries of the two devices with the Mi A1 packing a 3080mAh battery and the Mi A2 arriving with a 3010mAh battery.

One drastic change which Xiaomi has done in the Mi A2 is ditching the headphone jack. The phone also doesn’t come with a microSD card slot.

Software

The Mi A1 and the Mi A2 set themselves apart from other Xiaomi phones by sporting the stock Android experience instead of the Xiaomi’s custom MIUI. The Mi A1 debuted in the market with Android 7.1 Nougat while the latest Mi A2 comes with Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box. Also, the company has claimed that the phone will be one of the few to receive the Android P update very early on.

Pricing and Availability

With the phone scheduled to launch in India on August 8, the sales are expected to kick-off a week later. Also judging by the past trends of Xiaomi, the 4GB RAM+64GB storage model of Mi A2, priced at Euros 249 might be up for sale at Rs 20,000 on conversion. The 6GB RAM and 64GB storage version will cost Euros 279 (Rs 22,000 approx).

The higher-end variant of 6GB RAM+128GB storage option has a price tag of Euros 349, which in INR would cost Rs 28,000 on conversion. These are rough figures based on conversion, it is entirely possible that Xiaomi might lower the price tag for these phones when they launch. The Mi A2 comes in three colour options of Black, Blue, and Gold.

On the other hand, the predecessor to the Mi A2, the Xiaomi Mi A1 is available at Rs 13,999 for 4GB RAM+64GB storage variant, and it comes in colour options of black, red, gold, rose gold.