Hours ago, Xiaomi officially announced its eight anniversary flagship – the Xiaomi Mi 8 at a scheduled annual launch event in Shenzhen China. All three variants – Mi 8, Mi 8 SE and Mi 8 Explorer Edition – have 20MP selfie camera with AI powered portraits and Infrared face unlock, dual rear cameras and come pre-loaded with MIUI 10 Android skin.
Xiaomi Mi 8
The Xiaomi Mi 8 flagship sports a a notched 6.21-inch Full HD+ AMOLED full screen display with 18:7:9 aspect ratio and 86.68% screen-to-body ratio, aviation-grade aluminum frame, four-sided curved glass back panel and a 2.5D glass screen.
It is equipped with 12MP + 12MP AI dual rear cameras and powered by the high-end Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 mobile platform with Artificial Intelligence Engine (AIE). The Xiaomi Mi 8 also becomes the first smartphone to use dual-frequency GPS for navigation.
The smartphone also has impressive software camera features such as AI Beautify 5.0 and AI-enabled Studio Lighting function, and is backed by a 3,400mAh battery. It achieved an impressive score over 300,000 score on AnTuTu and 105 DxOMark mobile photo score.
Pricing starts at CNY 2,699 (USD 421) for the 6GB/64GB variant, CNY 2,999 (USD 468) for the 6GB/128GB variant and CNY 3,299 (USD 515) for the highest 6GB/256GB variant.
Xiaomi Mi 8 Explorer Edition
The Mi 8 Explorer Edition is hailed as the first ever smartphone to use the pressure-sensitive in-display fingerprint technology and first ever to come with 3D face unlock (similar to iPhone X’s Face ID). Its’ stunning transparent glass back set it apart from the main Mi 8 and similar to the iPhone X’s Animoji, users can create animated emojis based on their facial expressions.
The Xiaomi Mi 8 Explorer Edition (8GB RAM and 256GB storage) will be available at a later date starting at CNY 3,699 (USD 577).
Xiaomi Mi 8 SE
The Mi 8 SE is basically the smaller and cheaper version of the main Mi 8. It is the first smartphone to be powered by Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon 710 processor and sports a 5.88-inch AMOLED full screen display, 12MP + 5MP AI dual camera and will come in either 4GB or 6GB RAM with 64GB storage.
The Xiaomi Mi 8 SE is backed by a a 3,120mAh battery and will be available starting June 8 in China. Pricing starts at CNY 1,799 (USD 281) for the 4GB RAM with 64GB storage and CNY 1,999 (USD 312) for the 6GB RAM with 64GB storage.
