Xiaomi unveils flagship Mi 8 Pro, gears up to challenge smartphone giants
Xiaomi, currently the number four smartphone-maker worldwide behind Samsung, Huawei and Apple, has officially entered the UK market, spearheading its latest European expansion with the global debut of a new flagship handset, the Mi 8 Pro.
Smartphones
The company will also open its first authorised Mi Store in the UK on 18 November, in London's Westfield shopping centre. This will showcase not only Xiaomi's smartphones, but also a range of smart home and lifestyle products, including fitness tracking bands, an electric scooter and more.
Xiaomi joins a number of smartphone manufacturers seeking to offer premium features at a competitive price, and has officially committed to limiting its net profit margin to 5 percent on hardware products. The new Mi 8 Pro starts at £499 -- the same entry price as the OnePlus 6T, from another would-be smartphone market disruptor.
Standout features of the Mi 8 Pro are a 6.21-inch AMOLED display with an in-screen fingerprint sensor, a Snapdragon 845 platform with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage, a transparent 'Titanium 3D glass' back, dual 12MP rear cameras and a 20MP front camera, plus IR face unlock.
The 6.21-inch Mi 8 Pro costs from £499.99 in the UK.
Here's a specs comparison with the OnePlus 6T:
| Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro | OnePlus 6T | |
| Display | 6.21 inches, AMOLED, 1080 x 2248 pixels (402ppi) | 6.41 inches, AMOLED, 1080 x 2340 pixels (402ppi) |
| Dimensions | 74.8mm x 154.9mm x 7.6mm | 74.8mm x 157.5mm x 8.2mm |
| Screen:body ratio | 83.8% | 85.6% |
| Weight | 177g | 185g |
| IP rating | no | no |
| Colours | Transparent Titanium | Mirror Black, Midnight Black |
| OS | Android 8.0 (Oreo) | Android 9.0 (Pie) |
| Chipset | Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 | Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 |
| RAM | 8GB | 6/8GB |
| Internal storage | 128GB | 128/256GB |
| External storage | no | no |
| Rear camera | 12MP (wide-angle f/1.8 with OIS), 12MP (telephoto, f/2.4) | 16MP (wide-angle f/1.7 with OIS), 20MP (wide-angle f/1.7) |
| Front camera | 20MP | 16MP |
| Speaker(s) | mono | mono |
| 3.5mm audio jack | no | no |
| USB-C | yes | yes |
| Wi-fi | 802.11ac | 802.11ac |
| LTE | Cat16 | Cat16 |
| GPS | dual-band GPS, Galileo, QZSS, GLONASS, Beidou | GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, Galileo |
| NFC | yes | yes |
| Infrared | no | no |
| FM radio | no | no |
| Fingerprint reader | yes (in-screen) | yes (in-screen) |
| Face unlock | yes | yes |
| Battery capacity | 3000mAh | 3700mAh |
| Fast charging | QuickCharge 4+ | yes (5V, 4A) |
| Wireless charging | no | no |
| Price | £499.99 (8GB/128GB) | £499 (6GB/128GB), £529 (8GB/128GB) |
The Mi 8 Pro is available from today (9 November) via Three, Amazon, Argos, John Lewis, Carphone Warehouse, Currys PC World, Very, Go Mobile, Mobile Phones Direct, Katana and Mi.com, and -- from 18 November -- in the London Mi Store.
SEE: IT pro's guide to the evolution and impact of 5G technology (free PDF)
Other Mi Ecosystem products whose UK availability was announced yesterday were: Redmi 6A (affordable 5.45-inch smartphone, £99); Band 3 (fitness tracker, £26.99) and Mi Electric Scooter (£399).
"Today we witness a new chapter in Xiaomi's global expansion journey, underpinned by our global ambitions. We are thrilled to make great strides by announcing our arrival in the UK. By bringing a range of our amazing products at honest pricing we want to offer more choices and let everyone in the UK enjoy a connected simple life through our innovative technology," said Wang Xiang, senior vice president of Xiaomi Corporation, in a statement.
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