Xiaomi Play Announced as High-Quality Entry-Level Phone at 1099 Yuan ($159)

Just a few minutes back, Xiaomi announced a new category smartphone, namely the Xiaomi Play. Previously, it was rumored that the new handset will come with a MediaTek P70 or P90 processor. But it was a wrong guess. This phone is using a GPU/CPU dual Turbo processor – MediaTek P35, which is based on a 12nm process node with the highest frequency of 2.3GHz. The chip is paired with a 4GB RAM+64GB ROM memory combination.

In fact, the name Helio P35 appeared as early as the end of 2016, and though some of its parameters were exposed, looking at the parameters given by Xiaomi, it should be redesigned by MediaTek. Xiaomi also claimed that the Helio P35 realized the Turbo dynamic acceleration of the CPU and GPU for the first time. That’s why the AnTuTu score is far beyond the Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 and 450. Unfortunately, more details were not provided.

The Xiaomi Play is equipped with a 5.84-inch FHD display. The screen also has a contrast ratio of 1500:1 and a pixel density of 443ppi. There are three modes of sunscreen, luminous screen, and eye protection. As we have seen in previous leaks, the phone adopts a drop screen design. Thus, we are dealing with the first Xiaomi handset using this approach.

The front-facing 8MP camera supports face unlock as well as a background blur. On the back, the Xiaomi Play carries a 12MP + 2MP AI dual-camera, which also supports AI portrait mode, background blur, multi-frame noise reduction, and automatic HDR function. In terms of endurance, it comes with a built-in 3000mAh battery.

For the first time, the Xiaomi Play adopts the dip dyeing process. Compared with the printing and sprayed grading process, the dip dyeing process has high color saturation and the gradient effect is more natural and delicate. That is, no particles can be seen even using the magnifying glass. The Xiaomi Play is available in three color options of Twilight Gold, Fantasy Blue, and Black.

At the end, Xiaomi co-founder and President Lin Bin introduced the existing Xiaomi smartphones by three major product lines. The MIX series coming with black technologies are priced over 3000 yuan ($435), the flagship series models come at 2000 – 3000 yuan ($290 – 435), and the middle-to-high-end models are priced at 1400 – 2000 yuan ($203 – 290). In this sense, the newly announced Xiaomi Play is considered to be a high-quality entry-level smartphone, priced between 1000 – 1300 yuan ($145 – 188). Actually, it is priced at 1099 yuan ($159).