Xiaomi Mi4i rumoured to cost as little as $161!

Xiaomi’s mystery Mi4i has been sighted on numerous occasions with today’s latest news suggestion that the Mi4 variant could cost as little as $161!

In just a few days time, Xiaomi will head to India for a big announcement. It’s all a hush hush at the moment, but many insiders believe that Xiaomi will be their to announce a new, low-cost, variant of the Xiaomi Mi4.

Seen in official documentation, the Xiaomi Mi4i, is rumoured to be similar to the current Mi4 but a more affordable price tag to compete with the current crop of Chinese flagship phones with Mediatek MT6752 chipsets.

Benchmarks of the phone show it with a Snapdragon 615 chipset, 2GB RAM and Android 5. The current Mi4 with higher specification costs just 1799 Yuan in China, but a report today says that the Mi4i could retail for as little as 999 Yuan!

With the Redmi models at 599 and 699 Yuan, a 999 Yuan Mi4i could be a nice addition to the mix for anyone wanting a metal and glass bodied phone with good performance at a reasonable price.

[ Source ]

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About the author
Robin Maxwell
Hi, Robin Maxwell here! Mobile technology is my passions, and while I've been known to dabble with iOS devices I'm a firm Android convert, currently waiting for the Oppo Find 5 to launch!!

balcobomber25
April 20, 2015
Need to update the title of this story. $161 Yuan makes no sense, 161 yuan is about $26, $161 is about 998 yuan. This is one of my favorite sites but it is need of an editor.
- Aa
  April 20, 2015
  - balcobomber25
    April 20, 2015
    I realize what it is meant to be. But a headline should be the last thing a mistake like that happens. It is the first thing a reader sees when checking out an article.
- - Sorry I was a Navy Yeoman for 7 years, editing is my pet peeve lol.
  - Angry Mobile Nerd
    April 20, 2015
    Can I ask when you’ll start using JPG for the news story title image format?
    Currently they’re always png (sometimes even with alpha channels) and size kb-wise are 5x to 8x (often 500kb to 800kb) when if JPG it’d be less than 100kb.
  - usman
    April 21, 2015
    Andi, Still need to change the link bar address, it shows yuan. I read the link first stating 161 yuan, while page was loading and my jaw just dropped in my coffee.

desponent
April 20, 2015
- Babidi
  April 20, 2015
  - balcobomber25
    April 20, 2015
    MIUI uses roughly 4GB, leaving you with 12GB of free space. I have the 16GB regular MI4 and I have never a storage problem but I also store all my photos in the cloud. There are plenty of free cloud storage options out there, I use Google Drive which gives you 15GB but there are some that you can get as much as 1TB for free.
  - desponent
    April 20, 2015
    Their lowest model is 16GB, 4 of it will be reserved by the system leaving you with 12 at the very most.
- Kamui
  April 20, 2015
Chandrasekaran
April 20, 2015
It won’t be price at $161 India for sure. There’s Redmi note selling at 9999 and they would not kill that product. My guess is it would be priced between 12000 INR ($190) – 14000 INR ($222)
- balcobomber25
  April 20, 2015
  The Redmi Note is listed as 8999 INR on their website which is roughly $145. Even so they are different models for different consumers. The Note is for those who like bigger screen phones. The market is big enough that they both can sell well.
  - Shashank
    April 20, 2015
    No No! the price you have listed for Redmi Note that is Mediateak 3G one which are currently ban in India and Redmi Note 4G sails on Rs 9999 ($166) and by the way it have no chance for sailing around ($161) seeing the Indian condition it will be priced at Rs 12,000 ($200)
    - balcobomber25
      April 20, 2015
      My mistake you are correct. Why are they banned in India? Is that part of the Ericsson lawsuit?
      - Shashank
        April 20, 2015
        Yes thats why, Ericsson currently dont have anything to do just banning each an every company from Xiaomi to Apple and making profit by lawsuit
- SmestarZ
  April 20, 2015
  Redmi note as of now is not selling, it has been available for long time and not selling
  MI4 16 GB is priced at 18K and thats not selling either
  For the SD 615 there is already yureka which is selling at 9K, and that would be the toughest competitor for MI4i, if they price as you say at 12K then it would not much for being 3K pricier for the same specs, so 14K is out also. So if they price it at 10K as they mentioned there is big chance that Xiaomi becomes the market leader again
  The MI4 has not sold in India as much as MI3 and believe me, MI3 even at 13K will sell well because it was a nice phone and good value for money. but if Xiaomi Intends to capture the market now, then MI4I at 10K is their best bet, because as of now, not many of their phones are selling with Redmi 2 with 2GB ram expected soon.

Matt
April 20, 2015
If that’s true I will for sure buy this one. I would have preferred to get the MI4 but the actual levels of EURO against Dollar is not helping international buyers to order phones from China. The MI4 costs on Ibuygou around 300€ shipping included. I will give up on performances to get an affordable device and that MI4I might be a great deal for someone like me who don’t need a CPU clocked at 2.5GHz. I just hope that I will not have to wait months to be able to order the MI4I.
- chris13
  April 20, 2015
  I have the same thoughts my Friend,i am looking also the Meizi M1 note or even the MX4.In my country MX4 arrived few days ago ,first time ever they brought Meizu and only this model,no other chinese brands,and costs 379 euros,which is expensive i think.
  I buygou seems to be a reliable site,did you use it before,or any other sites for on line purchases? I have in my mind also the Eto talk,honorbuy,oppomart.Would be ideal one well known site which has also European warehouse,in order to avoid taxes and arrive in short period of time.
  - balcobomber25
    April 20, 2015
    379 euors is a lot for the MX4, you can buy it from Oppomart for about 300 euro. Merimobiles has it for about $325 euro with free shipping, they also have a European wharehouse (not sure if the Mx4 ships from Europe though)
    - chris13
      April 20, 2015
      Thank you my Friend but ,you are fun of Xiaomi if i understood well 🙂
      Meizu is a good company.and since MTN resells its products then you consider it a plus.Honestly though i would prefer Xiaomi.
      - balcobomber25
        April 20, 2015
        I love Xiaomi but Miezu is my second favorite company. In my opinion MIUI (Xiaomi’s software) and Flyme (Meizus software) are the best versions of Android.
        Balaji Chandrasekaran
        April 20, 2015
        i like Pure stock Android !! or CyanogenMod
        as they get faster updates 5.1.1 lollipop
        balcobomber25
        April 20, 2015
        I am not a fan of Cyanogen and stock is too boring and bland for me. It takes me about 3 hours with stock to get Nova Launcher looking the way I want it. MIUI takes me about 3 minutes.
        
        Balaji Chandrasekaran
        April 20, 2015
        i like it as it consumes less RAM..MIUI consume 1GB+ Ram in highly speced devices….and Bogs down Redmi 1s,2 with only 300MB Ram left…
        IF xiaomi wants to sell 1GB RAM phones it should be with STock
        otherwise if they want MIUI it needs to sell each n every phone with 2GB RAM atleast ..
        AS i’m an APPLE iOS HAter i don’t like MIUI…
        also the Mi4i ..LAunch event poster is 99% similar to Apple’s Spring launch on March 9…(iWatch)
        Xiaomi needs to build it’s own Style !! now…
        
        balcobomber25
        April 21, 2015
        Xiaomi would never sell a device with stock Android. It would make zero sense for them do so. They make too much money off the MIUI store and advertising for that to ever happen. It would be like Google selling a Nexus phone without Google Apps.
        RAM usage in MIUI or any other UI really depends on what you do with your device. I use MIUI on the 2012 Nexus 7 with 1GB RAM and I never have any issues. But I also not anything close to a power user, I don’t play any games on my devices (I have a PS4 for that). Anyone buying a 1GB RAM phone these days should have realistic expectations of what they can do. Even Cyanogen and Stock will slow down with 1GB of
        RAM if you are trying to do anything resource intensive.
        I hate Apple just as much but I can recognize some of the good things they do. MIUI takes the best of iOS and Android and combines them into one great package.
        Xiaomi does emulate Apple a bit too much with their press conferences and advertisements. That happens in every industry people will emulate the most successful leaders of that industry, some more than others. As long as they continue to produce amazing devices at relatively low prices I could care less about that stuff.
        
        Balaji Chandrasekaran
        April 21, 2015
        truth.!!
        but wouldn’t Xiaomi change it’s strategy..??
        as in INDIA people love pure Android and OTA updates ASAP on their phones
        First Impressions of NOOBY BRAND concious people in INDIA on Xiaomi devices are is it a iPHONE clone,Knockoff china phone..?
        Xiaomi should build their own style NOW !
        balcobomber25
        April 22, 2015
        Xiaomi has been selling like crazy in India. Every single Flipkart flash sale has been sold in record time. The India market is what is going to push Xiaomi to being the top smartphone maker in the world. Xiaomi actually completely underestimated the supply/demand for India. They don’t need to adjust anything for the Indian market.
        
        Balaji Chandrasekaran
        April 22, 2015
        Balaji Chandrasekaran
        April 21, 2015
        truth.!!
        but wouldn’t Xiaomi change it’s strategy..??
        as in INDIA people love pure Android and OTA updates ASAP on their phones
        First Impressions of NOOBY BRAND concious people in INDIA on Xiaomi devices are is it a iPHONE clone,Knockoff china phone..?
        Xiaomi should build their own style NOW !
        
        balcobomber25
        April 21, 2015
        Xiaomi would never sell a device with stock Android. It would make zero sense for them do so. They make too much money off the MIUI store and advertising for that to ever happen. It would be like Google selling a Nexus phone without Google Apps.
        RAM usage in MIUI or any other UI really depends on what you do with your device. I use MIUI on the 2012 Nexus 7 with 1GB RAM and I never have any issues. But I also not anything close to a power user, I don’t play any games on my devices (I have a PS4 for that). Anyone buying a 1GB RAM phone these days should have realistic expectations of what they can do. Even Cyanogen and Stock will slow down with 1GB of
        RAM if you are trying to do anything resource intensive.
        I hate Apple just as much but I can recognize some of the good things they do. MIUI takes the best of iOS and Android and combines them into one great package.
        Xiaomi does emulate Apple a bit too much with their press conferences and advertisements. That happens in every industry people will emulate the most successful leaders of that industry, some more than others. As long as they continue to produce amazing devices at relatively low prices I could care less about that stuff.
        Balaji Chandrasekaran
        April 20, 2015
        i like it as it consumes less RAM..MIUI consume 1GB+ Ram in highly speced devices….and Bogs down Redmi 1s,2 with only 300MB Ram left…
        IF xiaomi wants to sell 1GB RAM phones it should be with STock
        otherwise if they want MIUI it needs to sell each n every phone with 2GB RAM atleast ..
        AS i’m an APPLE iOS HAter i don’t like MIUI…
        also the Mi4i ..LAunch event poster is 99% similar to Apple’s Spring launch on March 9…(iWatch)
        Xiaomi needs to build it’s own Style !! now…
Jason45
April 20, 2015
Another Chinese company has released a new phone today, the main specs:
– 5.2 inch Full HD screen with Gorilla Glass
– aviation aluminum alloy material
– Snapdragon 615
– 2GB Ram, 8GB/16GB ROM plus support for microsd card slot.
– 5MP front facing camera (85 degrees wide angle lens), 13MP Sony IMX214 camera on the back.
– 2600mAH battery, it has Quick Charge technology.
Pricing: 8GB, 999 yuan; 16GB: 1099 yuan. Release date in May.
- Matt
  April 20, 2015
  - Aditya Bhatt
    April 20, 2015
- Balaji Chandrasekaran
  April 20, 2015
  is it 1+ ‘s affordable phone
- Jason45
  April 20, 2015
  It’s a relatively new company. This isn’t Oneplus cheaper version. Oneplus today announcement was basically that you don’t need an invite anymore to buy their phone.
- Ulti
  April 20, 2015
  Why don’t you mention the actual phone too?
  - Jason45
    April 20, 2015
    Because the phone name is in Chinese, translated it’s called Origin 2, the succesor of Origin
    - Ulti
      April 20, 2015
      Well I’m Chinese myself but born and raised in the UK so I can read a decent bit of Chinese. Do you have a webpage for the phone? There are so many words that could mean Origin in Chinese.
    - Aron
      April 21, 2015
      Or just a simple link to the website?
Balaji Chandrasekaran
April 20, 2015
in Geek bench results it’s stated MSM 8916..which means Quadcore SD410 but the article is abt. SD 615 as it has 8 cores in that same page….also mtk 6752 is also mentioned .,,,and to top it all off MTK 6795 xiaomi H3Y is also rumoured………what could be the possible phone released……IF xiaomi released a phone Xclusively in India then it’s the first time ever a Phone could be unveiled in INDIA(by Xiaomi) ..straightaway rather than from mAinland CHINA
- Guaire
  April 20, 2015
  You are right about MSM8916 is a codename for SD410. I checked out Geekbench results and seems it’s a common problem of some SD615 devices. It’s really SD615.
The Bastard Christ
April 20, 2015
no sd and no dual sim… no go!
Guaire
April 20, 2015
If that’s true it’s going to sell out within a second.
Squizzy911
April 20, 2015
Snapdragon 615 gives you this single core benchmark? Oh maaan :/ Hope this isnt true. Hope the will not build a Redmi within Mi4 case 😀
- Balaji Chandrasekaran
  April 20, 2015
  actually this is SD410 ..MSM 8916
- Balaji Chandrasekaran
  April 20, 2015
  actually this is SD410 ..MSM 8916
Steven Fox
April 20, 2015
Resellers will offer it for no less than 229$. The Redmi 2 2GB version is selling for 169$.
- Milo
  April 20, 2015
  I am sure that resellers (who like to add huge margin profit) will sell it around $250 or even $260. Check Ibuygou website they sell the MI4 2GB RAM version at the price of the 3GB RAM version. Using that strategy they push buyers to spend more money in order to get the MI4 3GB RAM version even if the price difference isn’t that huge because of the 1GB RAM less.
  - Steven Fox
    April 21, 2015
    In reality that 1GB of ram costs like 10$ tops. Phone manufactures overcharge allot for such a cheap component.
- Milo
  April 20, 2015
  I am sure that resellers (who like to add huge margin profit) will sell it around $250 or even $260. Check Ibuygou website they sell the MI4 2GB RAM version at the price of the 3GB RAM version. Using that strategy they push buyers to spend more money in order to get the MI4 3GB RAM version even if the price difference isn’t that huge because of the 1GB RAM less.

Jason45
April 20, 2015
Another site have said that it just have a plastic body. If that is the case, then 1000 yuan is not that big of a deal. There a lot of phones that are offering similar specs, such as meizu note and jiayu s3 (with MT6752 chipsets better than Snapdragon 615).
I wonder if the phone with the MT6795 chipset is the successor of the Note or Mi4.

Natsumi
April 20, 2015
With Xiaomi, nothing is affordable….
Chris
April 20, 2015
Yet to be released phone butchered by 3 year old tech: my Galaxy S3 scored 512/1559 in geekbench 🙂
Chris
April 20, 2015
Yet to be released phone butchered by 3 year old tech: my Galaxy S3 scored 512/1559 in geekbench 🙂

john
April 21, 2015
snapdragon 615…this phone gonna suck…xiaomi is trying to be a samsung now a days…they just put lower specs or make it high price…go for lenovo a7000
john
April 21, 2015
snapdragon 615…this phone gonna suck…xiaomi is trying to be a samsung now a days…they just put lower specs or make it high price…go for lenovo a7000

Robin Maxwell

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