Nokia 8.3 5G announced: packs Snapdragon 765G, four rear cameras, and more 5G bands than any other phone

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Mar 19, 2020

AppleInsider has spotted a research note drafted by Daniel Ives from Wedbush Securities and sent to investors. In the note, the financial analyst disclosed that his securities firm was lowering iPhone revenue estimates for the 2020 fiscal year by 14%. He also revealed that the firm was also lowering estimates by 10% for 2021.

The review was necessary to reflect the change in near-term consumer demand. It also reflects the lockdown conditions globally and a “negative economic backdrop.” Ives opines that the COVID-19 pandemic won’t prevent iPhone users looking to upgrade their models from doing so but will affect new buyers and those hoping to switch to an iPhone as they would want to wait or not get one at all.

“We now assume only the installed base consumers currently in the window of an upgrade opportunity that have not upgraded their iPhones in more than 42 months purchase a new phone over the next 18 to 24 months. Currently, we estimate that ~350 million of Apple’s 925 million iPhones worldwide are in this upgrade window, as we assume going forward in a more draconian scenario that minimal new smartphone activity takes place beside this segment of Cupertino’s massive installed base, Ives wrote”

The 14% estimated drop in revenue for 2020 is said to bring Apple’s estimated revenue down to $131 billion from Wedbush’s earlier estimate of $152 billion. The company also projects 172 million iPhones will be sold this year as against 200 million earlier forecasted.

Apart from the drop in iPhone sales, Ives equally reduced his firm’s estimates for Apple’s Services, AirPods, Mac, iPad, and other revenue to $251 billion in total for the 2020 fiscal year. The pre-COVID19 estimate was $285 billion.

The financial analyst predicts that Apple’s revenue should make a “modest gradual recovery” in the 2021 fiscal year. Next year’s total revenue is predicted to reach $282 billion down from $309 billion previously forecasted. He broke the new $282 billion revenue estimate to be comprised of $147 billion in iPhone revenue with 190 million units sold, including early sales of the 5G “iPhone 12. Here, Ives hinted that he doesn’t expect the “iPhone 12” to ship in September which is the last month of Apple’s fiscal year 2020. He hinted that the launch could get pushed into October or November because of continuing supply chain challenges.

“Our scenario now assumes the 5G iPhones do not get released this Fall due to the global lockdown-like conditions with the supply chain in Asia still on a path to normalization,” said Ives. “Clearly, anything can happen and this stress test exercise on Apple’s model could prove to be conservative or not aggressive enough given this fluid global pandemic.”

On the whole, the analyst’s projections are predicated on a coronavirus recovery before July. If the pandemic extends longer than expected, the valuation will have to be revisited, according to Ives.

(via)

Xiaomi Mi Airdots 2S coming soon; will have wireless charging and low-latency

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Mar 19, 2020

Last December, we found in the Bluetooth SIG database, a pair of TWS earbuds made by Xiaomi called the Mi True Wireless Earphones 2S. Unconfirmed reports from China say the wireless earbuds will soon be announced though under the name Air 2s.

According to the report, the Mi True Wireless Earphones 2S will offer low audio latency when playing games (as low as 120ms) when paired with a Xiaomi phone. This low audio latency is said to be second to only the AirPods Pro when paired with an iPhone.

The source also says the earphones will have support for wireless charging (Qi protocol) and has even appeared on the database of the Wireless Power Consortium. We did check the WPC website but did not find the earphones. The most recent Xiaomi devices certified for wireless charging are the Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro. We do not know if there will be other upgrades such as improvements in battery life.

There is no info yet regarding when the Mi Airdots 2S will be announced but we hope the date is not far off. We also hope it gets an international launch soon.

Xiaomi will announce the Mi 10 series outside China on March 27. There is a possibility that the earphones might be announced on the same day. It makes sense to announce it then since the Mi 10 and Mi 10 Pro have support for reverse wireless charging which means you will be able to use it to charge the new TWS earbuds.

Xiaomi’s Himo H1 Foldable e-Bike launched on IndieGoGo, starts at $469

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Mar 19, 2020

In November 2019, Xiaomi crowdfunded the Himo H1 foldable e-Bike under the Youpin crowdfunding platform. The product was manufactured by the Shanghai Himo company one of Xiaomi’s eco-chain partners and turned out to be a popular one because of its compact size.

The Himo H1 folding electric bike global crowdfunding campaign has now been launched on IndieGoGo. The campaign will see the e-Bike retail for $469 for the Super early bird package and $499 for the early bird package. The foldable compact bike will retail for as high as $699 outside the crowdfunding exercise.

The Himo H1 e-Bike has as its major highlight, a compact foldable design that is no bigger than an A3 paper, weighing just 13kg. The handlebar is adjustable to suit the height of the rider and has a non-slip grip pad which is soft. The handlebar also houses a display panel in the middle with an LED-backlit. The instrument cluster contains the headlight switch, an error prompt, the driving speed and the power switch.

It is powered by a mammoth 7,500mAh removable battery with a mileage of 30Km and a maximum speed of 18km/h. The bike also features high-performance LED headlamps which will deliver clear vision at night.

The product is expected to start shipping to backers in May 2020. Follow the source link below to go to the product page.

(source)

Rumor: Huawei Watch GT 2e will launch in India too

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Mar 19, 2020

A few days ago, press renders and specifications of the Huawei Watch GT 2e leaked. The watch is a redesigned Watch GT 2 with a more sporty look and a few new features.

Scheduled to launch alongside the Huawei P40 series on March 26, a new leak says Huawei will also announce the watch In India. The info comes from Mukul Sharma (@stufflistings).

Here's an exclusive leak.
Huawei Watch GT 2e will come to India right after the first sale in China. As a matter of fact, India will be one of the first countries to get the GT 2e.
Shortly after the 1st sale in China, it'll be here.
Feel free to retweet 😉 #HuaweiWatchGT2e

— Mukul Sharma (@stufflistings) March 19, 2020

His tweets said the launch will come shortly after the first sale in China. In a comment, he said it will be priced aggressively. Seeing as it has similar specifications to the 46mm version of the Watch GT 2, expect it to have a similar price tag too. The 46mm Watch GT 2 is sold for INR 15,990 (~$214).

The Watch GT 2e is more of a sports version of the Watch GT 2 with a redesigned case and straps. However, it has the same display, processor, and battery capacity. It also connects via Bluetooth 5.1.

Xiaomi says its 2000 employees in Wuhan did not contract Coronavirus, Output Capacity restored to 80 percent

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Mar 19, 2020

Xiaomi held an online conference today headed by the group’s president Wang Xiang. He updated the current status of the company amid the coronavirus outbreak and explained how the firm has overcome it so far.

Wang Xiang said that all the 2000 employees of Wuhan province, the epicenter of the COVID-19 epidemic were on leave since January 20. But now, gradually, all of them have resumed their jobs with 0% infection from the virus. Additionally, the company has issued each on-site office staff with 2 masks, a bottle of alcohol disinfection spray, and another bottle of anti-bacterial hand sanitizer to self-protect themselves from possible infection.

Wang also said that Xiaomi’s supply chain had resumed its work at above 80% of its total capacity as of March 19, which is today. Even the company has now re-opened more than 1,800 official retail stores across China. Also, the production line of Redmi, a year old sub-brand of Xiaomi is too now operating at full capacity. Further, Wang also announced that his company is now working on to donate medical supplies to more foreign countries.

Last week, Xiaomi India COO MuraliKrishnan C also assured the coronavirus pandemic will not affect the company’s business in the country but did confirm the TV supplies to be affected. Nevertheless, the smartphone maker just launched its Redmi Note 9 series and is all set to bring the Mi 10 series to India on March 31st as Chinese factories have resumed their production.

(Via)

Apple iPad Pro 11 2020 appears on AnTuTu with 6GB RAM, faster GPU

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Mar 19, 2020

Apple went official with the 2020 models of its high-end tablet series – the iPad Pro 2020. Just like its predecessor, the iPad Pro 2020 comes in two screen sizes – 11 inches and 12.9 inches. The iPad Pro 11 2020 has now reportedly appeared on AnTuTu benchmark revealing some specs that Apple did not disclose. The AnTuTu data shows the device comes with 6GB of RAM which is higher than last year’s model with 4GB RAM. The tablet equally has 128GB storage which is the base storage offering of the two sizes. The iPad Pro 2020 equally runs on iPad OS 13.4 which is yet to be released.

As for the benchmark performance, the iPad Pro 2020’s A12Z Bionic chip is shown to be an upgrade of not just the A12X on the iPad Pro 2018 but also more powerful than the A13 chipset on the iPhone 11. While the iPhone 11’s A13 comes with a six-core CPU and a four-core GPU, the iPad Pro 2018’s A12X has an octa-core CPPU and seven-core GPU. The A12Z on this year’s model features an eight-core CPU but a bumped up eight-core GPU. The AnTuTu data shows the iPad Pro 11 2020 has a 9% faster GPU than its predecessor.

Do note that the device appeared on AnTuTu’s database as iPad 8,10. The 2018 iPad Pro model is iPad 8,1 and iPad 8,8. Thus, since this model number is making an appearance for the first time and runs an unannounced iOS 13.4 OS, it is said to be the latest iPad Pro model.

(source)

Samsung Galaxy A41 packing a 6.1″ AMOLED display, Helio P65 Official

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Mar 19, 2020

Samsung has announced the Galaxy A41 mid-range smartphone in Japan. The Samsung Galaxy A41 has appeared severally in leaks in recent times. The mid-range model has even appeared on GeekBench suggesting an Helio P65 chipset on board.

In term of the design, the Samsung Galaxy A41 features an Infinity-U notch design with a full-screen design. The display has a large bezel at the bottom edge. At the rear, the device packs a triple camera setup aligned vertically at the top left corner of the back panel. The A41 equally packs an under-display fingerprint sensor as opposed to a rear-mounted one on the Galaxy A40.

As for the specifications, the device features a 6.1-inch Super AMOLED display with FHD+ resolution, 20:9 aspect ratio and 89% screen ratio. The Infinity-U notch houses a 25MP selfie camera. At the rear aspect, there is a 48MP main camera paired with an 8MP ultrawide angle shooter and a 5MP depth sensor.

As stated earlier, the Galaxy A41 is powered by a MediaTek Helio P65 chipset paired with 4GB RAM and 64GB storage. Keeping the lights on is a 3,500mAh battery with support for 15W fast charging. The device equally coms with IP68 dust and water resistance. Although the OS wasn’t stated, we expect the Galaxy A41 to come with Android 10 with Samsung’s One UI 2.0 overlay.

Samsung is yet to reveal the pricing of the Galaxy A41. However, the company hinted that the phone will be available from June 2020. The device will equally come in blue, black and white colours.

Xiaomi Youpin has now started selling Apple AirPods in China

By

Jeet

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Mar 19, 2020

In an interesting move, the Xiaomi Youpin platform has now started selling Apple’s true wireless earbuds — AirPods lineup in China. As said, while the move is interesting, it is not surprising given that Youpin is just another e-commerce platform. In addition to Xiaomi, Mijia, and other Xiaomi ecosystem products, Xiaomi Youpin has a lot of third party products too.

Apart from the AirPods series, the company is already selling a few other Apple products on its e-commerce platform, including Apple Watch Series 5, Apple Watch Series 4, iPad Air, and iPad Pro among others.

Coming to the AirPods, there are three models listed on the platform — Apple AirPods 2 and Apple AirPods Pro. The company is selling both the variants of the AirPods 2, with and without a wireless charging case.

As for the pricing, the AirPods 2 without wireless charging case costs 1,246 yuan, which is roughly $175. On the other hand, the one with wireless charging support is priced at 1,558 yuan that roughly converts to $219. The newly launched AirPods Pro have been listed for 1,999 yuan which is around $281.

Launched in October last year, the Apple AirPods Pro is the latest product in the lineup. The biggest difference between the standard AirPods and the AirPods Pro is the silicone ear tip and support for Active Noise Cancelation (ANC).

The software-backed dual-microphone setup adapts continuously, removing background noises to offer an immersive audio experience. Apple claims the ANC adapts audio signals 200 times per second.

Apart from ANC the AirPods Pro also sports Adaptive EQ that automatically tunes low and mid-range audio frequencies according to the shape of an individual’s ear canal. It also has Transparency Mode that disables ANC, in case they want to hear background noises while listening to music.

Meanwhile, there are reports that claim that Apple is not yet done with launching AirPods and is reportedly planning to launch a new version of the AirPods Pro. They are currently being referred to as AirPods Pro Lite, indicating entry-level earbuds and lower pricing than the current AirPods Pro.

Vivo S6 5G will launch on March 31 in China

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Mar 19, 2020

Vivo has been teasing the launch of its S6 smartphone for a while now. Finally, the brand has now unveiled the date on which this handset will be announced. As per a new teaser poster on the company’s Weibo profile, the Vivo S6 will be unwrapped to the public on March 31st.

The S series of smartphones from Vivo is one of the popular phone series in the mid-range segment in China and South East Asia. The last S series phone dubbed as S5 was launched in November 2019 and now after about four months, the brand is about to unveil its successor called Vivo S6, which will be the first in the series with 5G connectivity.

Just like any other Chinese smartphone brand, Vivo has been teasing the S6 for the past few days. As of now, the brand has only revealed the back design of the phone but we expect the company to tease all the specs of the handset leading to the day of the announcement. As per the latest promotional teaser render posted by the company, the Vivo S6 will feature a USB Type – C port at the bottom with a speaker grille and SIM card slot on either side. Apart from that, the teaser also showcased the purple-blue-white gradient version of the phone with Vivo and 5G logo embedded on the back.

Rumors suggest the Vivo S6 will be powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 765 chipset but there is still no evidence of it in terms of benchmarks leak. Hopefully, we will know more about this upcoming Vivo phone before its official announcement.

Huawei announces a Smart Insulated Flask with a Temperature Display

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Mar 19, 2020

Huawei has announced a smart insulated flask with a display on the lid to show real-time water temperature and other information. This product comes under the company’s wide-range of other IoT devices.

The new Huawei smart insulated flask features a three-layer stainless steel structure, which can insulate water for up to 24 hours. The body of the flask is IPX7 certified for water resistance and hence it can be washed safely like a normal non-smart flask.

Talking about the smart feature of the Huawei insulated flask, its lid comes with a screen attached on top of it. This tiny display shows the temperature of the water inside and also features three color prompts to describe the water’s temperature. For instance, the blue color denotes the water to be below 35° C, orange color stands for 36° – 50° C, and red represents the water to be more than 50° C. Apart from this, the flask also has a TDS reader built-in to check the quality of the water. The TDS function can be activated by long-pressing the screen and within five minutes, the result is displayed on the screen.

Since it is a smart insulated flask, it can be also connected with the Huawei HiLink app on smartphones. The app shows the real-time status of the water in the flask and also lets users set up to 15 drinking alarms which will remind users to drink water by vibrating the flask as well as flashing the screen on the lid.

Realme X2 Pro scores a respectable 58 points in DxOMark Audio test: Exceptional Playback Volume

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Mar 19, 2020

Realme X2 Pro is the brand’s first flagship smartphone launched back in September 2019. However, the phone underwent the DxOMark Audio test only now and bags a respectable score of 58 points for its asking price.

As per DxOMark, the Realme X2 Pro performed ‘reasonably well’ in their audio test for a smartphone at its price. The DxOMark Audio test involves both playback and recording capabilities of a smartphone. The final score of the test is an average of these two performances of the phone.

In the playback test, the Realme X2 Pro scores a respectable 59 points. According to DxOMark, the X2 Pro’s playback Volume sub-score of 79 is the highest of any device they have tested so far, and it is the first Android phone to top the 77 earned by Apple’s iPhone 11 Pro Max. The phone’s Dolby-certified stereo speakers can clearly reproduce mid-range tones, along with precise treble and bass. But unfortunately, the bass tones lack in volume even though they are precise. Further, the sound stage seems to be not as wide as those found on other multi-speaker speakers. That means the dual stereo speakers on this phone are well-suited for games than for listening to music.

As far as the recording test is concerned, the Realme X2 Pro does not perform well when compared to similar phones in the segment like Honor 20 Pro. The X2 Pro scores only 55 points in the recording test, which is four points lesser than its competitor’s 59 points. Although the accuracy of reproducing sound source locations is a hit or miss as the phone tends more to the right channel, the sound dynamics of recordings are quite good.

In simpler words, the Realme X2 Pro performed well for its asking price in the DxOMark Audio test with some caveats.

Xiaomi reveals the Redmi K30 Pro 5G full display details

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Mar 19, 2020

Xiaomi‘s Redmi brand continues to release teasers of its upcoming Redmi K30 Pro ahead of the March 24 launch. A Xiaomi official recently announced to the chagrin of fans that the display won’t have a high refresh rate. The company has now released a teaser poster which contains the entire display details of the flagship model.

The poster confirms the K30 Pro 5G will come with a 60Hz refresh rate. Aside from that, the device will be equipped with a Samsung AMOLED display panel which will have a 180Hz touch sampling rate. The screen’s contrast ratio will reach 5000000:1 with the maximum brightness pitching at 800 nits. The peak brightness will get up to 1200 nits. The Redmi K30 Pro display has also gotten HDR10+ certification which is higher than the HDR10 support onboard the Mi 10. Of course, the Mi 10 has a more powerful AMOLED display and also supports 60Hz and 90Hz refresh rates. It is possible the display equally support HDR10+.

Earlier on Redmi had revealed that the Redmi K30 Pro’s display is certified by Germany’s TUV Rhineland as a high-quality screen.

In terms of the specs, the Redmi K30 Pro is equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 flagship platform which brings support for SA, NSA dual-mode 5G. The device will pack a rear 64MP Sony IMX686 sensor while the zoom version may support dual OIS. The phone is also expected to have support for 33W flash charge. The phone will also come with a 3435mm² VC liquid-cooled heat sink which is officially claimed to bring “extremely cool” heat dissipation performance.

On the whole, the Redmi K30 Pro will have several game-centric features but sadly, we’ll have to make do with a 60Hz refresh rate. However, with the powerful specs, we don’t expect the phone’s display to lag even during heavy gaming.

(via)

Demand for self-driving vehicle maker Neolix rises due to coronavirus outbreak

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Mar 19, 2020

Self-driving or autonomous vehicles have prevailed for a while now. But their usage has only come into the light now during the COVID-19 pandemic. Neolix, a Chinese self-driving delivery company has been transporting medical supplies and food in its autonomous vans to the most affected areas like the epicenter in Wuhan. Seeing its potential, the Chinese government has announced to subsidize up to 60% of the total cost of the vehicle’s price to the companies willing to purchase them.

Neolix started manufacturing its self-driving vans only in May 2019. Since then, the company has only produced 125 units. But now, due to the vehicle’s potential amidst the coronavirus outbreak, the company has received over 200 orders for its vans. Further, after the Chinese government’s announcement of subsidizing the cost of the self-driving vans to any firm purchasing them for the greater good, the company now expects to manufacture and sell more than 1,000 units of them by the end of this year.

Autonomous vehicles have always been thought to be dangerous on roads with normal vehicles and pedestrians. However, as most of the regions in the world are now facing forced shutdowns, the roads are mostly less congested and thus advanced self-driving vehicles can be used in a large manner without hesitation to transport necessities to affected areas.

CHUWI announces AeroBook Pro with 4K HDR display for $599

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Mar 19, 2020

CHUWI announces AeroBook Pro multimedia laptop with 4K display and Intel Core i5 processor paired with 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD storage. The notebook will be available on the crowdfunding platform Indiegogo for a price tag of $599.

Just recently, CHUWI launched HeroBook Pro office laptop priced at $239 and now the company has already come up with another model. This particular laptop called AeroBook Pro is targeted at media-consuming users. The main highlight of this computer is its 15.6-inches 4K display with a resolution of 3840 x 2160 pixels. The panel also happens to support 10-bit HDR content as well as covers 100% of sRGB color gamut. With over 1.07 billion colors and 282 PPI, the screen can achieve a maximum brightness of up to 340 nits.

Under the hood, the AeroBook Pro is powered by an Intel Core i5 6287U processor which can attain a clock speed of up to 3.5GHz. The processor is further paired with 8GB DDR4 dual-channel RAM and 256GB SATA-based SSD. The laptop also comes with an additional M.2 PCIe SSD slot to further expand the storage if needed. For graphics, the notebook features an Intel Iris 550 graphics clocked at 1100MHz. Despite being made of metal, the laptop measures 15.9mm in thickness and weighs only 1530g.

Last but not least, the CHUWI AeroBook Pro runs Windows 10 Home out of the box and is backed by a 60Wh battery with up to 8 hours of video playback. It can be ordered for $599 on Indiegogo from next week.

Buy CHUWI AeroBook Pro for $599

The Mi Business Casual Backpack is now available in two more colors

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Mar 19, 2020

Last year, Xiaomi India announced the Mi Business Casual Backpack. The backpack was only available in one color (black) at launch but Mi.com now lists two more colors, one of which is a personal favorite – Blue.

The second new color is Gray and just like the other two, it has a two-tone design. The new colors are slightly more expensive at INR 1,199 (~$16) compared to the black variant that is sold for INR 999 (~$13).

Mi Business Casual Backpack new colors — Mi Business Casual Backpack now comes in Gray and Blue

The backpack is made from 600D Durable Polyester and has a waterproof coating. It also has an anti-theft compartment and pads with extra padded straps. The laptop compartment also has a cushioned support. Going on a trip, there is a trolley harness so you can have your suitcase and backpack together. You also have an elastic pocket that can hold your water bottle or flask.

You can purchase the Mi Business Casual Backpack on Mi.com right now. It already has lots of really great reviews and for $16 or $13, this is a recommended purchase.

Huawei Mate X finally receives stable Android 10-based EMUI 10 update

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Mar 19, 2020

The Huawei Mate X is the company’s first foldable smartphone announced back in February of 2019. But unfortunately, due to issues with its folding panel, its launch was delayed a couple of times and was only made available to purchase in November with Android 9.0 Pie on board. By then, Google had released Android 10 and even Huawei itself had updated some of its smartphones to EMUI 10 based on the latest version of Android, at least in China. Sadly, the update for Mate X was delayed until now, which is being rolled to users in a staged manner.

The Mate X’s primary competitor Galaxy Fold has a display folding inside, whereas it’s display folded outside. This design was likely challenging to implement on the Mate X since foldable screens are made of plastic and they can be easily damaged even with fingernails. Hence, the phone was launched in the market after 9 months from its announcement with the same old EMUI 9.1 based on Android 9.0 Pie. Notably, Android 10-based EMUI 10 was available in the market then.

Further, since the update for the Mate X was not a priority as it is a niche device for certain customers, the phone was stuck with beta versions of EMUI 10 since December. But now, thankfully, Huawei has started seeding out a stable Android 10 update to both beta and Android 9 users of the device.

The EMUI 10 stable update for Huawei Mate X comes with build number 10.0.1.115 and is targeted at users running the beta build version 10.0.1.110 and stable build version 9.1.1.153 respectively. As it is an OTA update, it will take time to hit every unit and therefore don’t panic if you haven’t received the update yet.

(Via)

Xiaomi Mi 10 5G launching in India on March 31; no Pro version

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Mar 19, 2020

The Mi 10 series is highly anticipated in India and now there is finally a launch date. However, it seems Xiaomi is bringing only the Mi 10 5G to India and not the Mi 10 Pro 5G.

According to a new page that just went up on Mi.com, the Mi 10 5G will be announced on March 31. This is four days after the global online launch. The page says the phone will be announced at 12:30 PM.

The Mi 10 5G is Xiaomi’s 10th-anniversary flagship phone and the first Mi flagship to launch in India in a while. The phone packs a 108MP primary rear camera, support for 8K video recording, and also has support for wireless charging.

Other features include a 6.67-inch FHD+ AMOLED display with a punch hole. A Snapdragon 865 processor, up to 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, a 20MP selfie camera, stereo speakers, and a 4780mAh battery capacity with support for 30W wired and 30W wireless fast charging.

The page says pre-order will begin on March 31 and run till April 7. We expect the first sale will be on April 8. AXIS Bank users can get up to INR 2500 off the retail price of the phone.

We have no idea what the price will be but it sure is going to be expensive based on a statement from the CEO of Xiaomi India. The top executive said yesterday that the increase in GST, weakened INR against USD, and the fact that the phone is a direct import will have them adopt a different pricing model (from what fans of the brand are used to).