March certainly ended as a golden month for Xiaomi enthusiasts. The company started the month with the release of its Redmi K40 series and Redmi Note 10 series and ended with the launch of Mi 11 Ultra, Mi 11 Pro, and the company’s first foldable smartphone the Mi Mix Fold. Now, the company once against is stealing the headlines, this time, not for a new product release. After all, even the most hectic Mi fans need to rest after two days of events. Well, today, a new unreleased product has based on FCC certification. It seems to be a new version of the Mi Box S streaming device.
The original Mi Box S was announced in October 2018, and the new product probably is coming to succeed. That’s a little bit curious, especially, after a very successful Mi TV Stick that proved to be a hit due to its cheap and accessible price and the bunch of features coming with it. However, Xiaomi may end bringing a more conventional device to compete with traditional streaming boxes.
The bit was first reported by the folks at 9to5Google. According to it, a new Mi Box has been certified by the North American FCC with model number MDZ-22-AG. It is nearly identical to the MDZ-22-AB model number of the 2018 version. The images attached to the FCC documents also revealed that it has the very same design as the Mi Box S, however, it comes with a slightly different remote.
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However, there are some specs that make us doubt that this is really a sequel. After all, images of the internal shows this new Mi Box has the same old Amlogic S905-H quad-core processor that powers the original Mi Box and Mi Box S. So, what is the point of bringing a new product that offers performance exactly as its predecessor? There is even a copy of the user manual that says that the device is called Mi Box S. Therefore, we don’t think that this is a successor to the Mi Box S, maybe just another variant.
The photos show the same black box design with the ports at the back. It comes with an audio output port, an HDMI port, a USB-A port, and a power input jack. The remote has the very same arrangement. However, this time around, the Netflix button is white, and the Prime Video button replaces the Live TV button from the previous model.
According to the user manual, the remote draws power from two AAA batteries that will be included in the box alongside the HDMI cable and a power adapter.
Apparently, this isn’t a new product, but just an incremental replacement for the older model. Perhaps, Xiaomi is updating the product without a proper release. It’s not uncommon to see companies changing some bits of their devices over the years.
