Xiaomi has officially announced its second flagship smartphone in 2018, the Xiaomi Mi 8, which is named in honour of Xiaomi's 8th anniversary. The Xiaomi Mi 8 uses a Super AMOLED display, has a big notch on top of the display, packs high-end hardware, scored 105 in DxOMark's photo test, packs several AI tricks and comes with advanced Facial Recognition technology. The Xiaomi Mi 8 is currently available only in China, but it's expected to make its way to eight different countries in the near future, including India.
Xiaomi Mi 8 Specifications and Features
Xiaomi is betting big with the Mi 8 flagship smartphone. The Mi 8 has a 6.21-inch display with a resolution of 1080 x 2248 pixels and 18:7:9 aspect ratio. Xiaomi has gone with a Samsung-made Super AMOLED display for the Mi 8 and that's a really good move. As the aspect ratio itself states, the Mi 8 has a notch on top of the display. The notch has various sensors for Infrared Face Unlock, which was the reason why Xiaomi delayed the launch of the smartphone.
The notch on the Mi 8 houses the 20MP front-facing camera, Proximity sensor, Earpiece, Infrared Lighting and Infrared Lens. The Mi 8 is the first smartphone from Xiaomi to use the advanced infrared face unlock technology, which is expected to be as secure as Apple's Face ID tech.
At the heart of the phone, we have the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 chipset. The device achieved a score of 301,472 in AnTuTu benchmark, the highest scored by amongst all the devices equipped with Snapdragon 845 SoC.
Coming to the cameras on the Mi 8, it boasts two 12MP cameras at the back. The cameras come with massive 1.4 micron-pixels, 4-axis Optical Image Stabilisation, dual-pixel autofocus and of course, Xiaomi has thrown in various AI features. The Mi 8 offers AI-based features such as AI Portraits, AI Scene Detection and Studio Lighting. The Xiaomi Mi 8 scored 105 in DxOMark's photography testing and all overall score of 99. Xiaomi has added a 20MP front-facing camera inside the smartphone which also comes with a massive 1.8 micron-pixel size, AI-based Portrait beauty and selfies.
Another interesting feature added by Xiaomi is the Dual Frequency GPS. This feature eliminates the interference from buildings and reduces signal delays, increasing the accuracy of navigating. There's no info available on the wireless charging on the Mi 8. It boots MIUI 10 out of the box, based on Android 8.1 Oreo.
Xiaomi Mi 8 Pricing and Availability
Xiaomi has launched the smartphone in various storage and RAM options. The 6GB+64GB variant is priced at 2699 RMB (approx. Rs 28,350), the 6GB+128GB option is priced at 2999 RMB (approx. Rs 31,503); the 6GB+256GB variant is priced at 3299 RMB (approx. Rs 34,655). Lastly, the premium 8GB+128GB option is priced at 3699 RMB (approx. Rs 38,857).
