iPhone 7 AnTuTu Benchmark Score Reveals Stunning Power of A10 Chipset

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Sep 12, 2016

Nubia was present at IFA Berlin this year, which means we got some time to play around with the three new smartphones showcased at the event.

The ZTE Nubia Z11 was the pick of the Nubia devices at the event, coming with top-end hardware including Snapdragon 820 and a beautiful bezel-less display. Our reviewer Linas got some time to play around with the three devices which were shown off at the event, the ZTE Nubia Z11, Z11 Mini and the Z11 Max. You can check out our first hands-on with these three devices from the video down below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKk4aRn6GUQ

The Z11 mini is the most compact and cheapest device of the lot as it retails for around $230. But the international availability is yet to be confirmed.

The phone sports a familiar design we’ve seen on a lot of phones. It uses metal and glass, which is a huge fingerprint magnet.

The phone is compact due to its 5” display and it has almost 70% screen to body ratio.

The main specs include a Snapdragon 617 chip, 64GB of expandable storage and 3GB of RAM. We have a 16MP camera on the back and it is said to be very good but I will tell you what I think in the full review.

Unfortunately, the phone comes with Android 5.1 out of the box the Nubia’s skin on top of it. The update to the Android 6.0 should definitely arrive soon.

The UI runs fast and there are quite a few features and customization options that I will go through in just a bit.

The Nubia Z11 Max is the largest smartphone as it has a 6” 1080p display, which is sharp and vibrant, just like on the Z11 mini.

It has similar specs but it comes with a more powerful Snapdragon 652 chip, 4GB of RAM, larger battery, and fast charge support.

Last but not least, we have the Nubia Z11, which is a true flagship device and it will be officially available for purchase for 499 EUR later this month in some countries in the EU, India, Asia and in north and south America.

The phone sports a 5.5” 1080p true bezel-less display, which looks just gorgeous. In fact, the phone has 81% screen-to-body ratio, which is one of the best in the business.

The build quality is top notch. The phone is made of metal and it feels solid in the hand. We have a 16MP camera on the back and it is said to provide DSLR-level photos and we can’t wait to test it out in our full review.

Other specs include Snapdragon 820, 4GB of RAM and 64GB of expandable storage. In fact, you can opt it for a gorgeous looking Black Gold Edition model, which will cost more but it has 6GB of RAM.

As for UI, the phone runs on the Android 6.0 with the Nubia’s skin on top of it. There are plenty of features to use that bezel-less display that we haven’t seen on other phones, e.g. you can swipe from one edge to change the desktop. Also, you can swipe down from the edge to switch between recently used apps.

All in all, the Nubia Z11 lineup has some pretty solid phones that we can’t wait to test them out. Our reviews of these devices should be up soon, so stay tuned!

OPPO Find 9 Could Release By Next Summer Reveals Analyst

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Sep 12, 2016

OPPO’s flagship Find series hasn’t seen an update in over two years and there is a very good chance that the company has scrapped the lineup in favor of its OPPO R9 series. However, rumors about the OPPO Find 9 flagship, which should ideally be the successor to the OPPO Find 7 smartphones have continued to come in. Earlier, it was said that the Find 9 will be announced sometime in June this year. That clearly didn’t happen and now, noted analyst Pan Jiutang says that the Find 9 could possible release by Summer next year.

According to the analyst, he reportedly found OPPO Find 9 project recently, proving that the phone is still under development. He further added that the phone has very powerful hardware. We already know that if the OPPO Find 9 makes it to the market, then it should feature the company’s super-fast Super VOOC Fast Charging technology, which charges a phone in just 15 minutes. There are other features like top-end Snapdragon chipset, 6GB RAM and powerful camera setup that we can expect on the device.

If the release is indeed next Summer, we will have to wait for a few months more to get more details on the device. But it remains to be seen whether OPPO would consider releasing an update to the Find 9 series almost three years after the Find 7 was announced in the market.

Huawei Mate 9 Poster Leak: Kirin 960 & 20MP Dual Cameras

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Sep 11, 2016

Huawei released the new Huawei Nova smartphones at IFA Berlin this year. While the new phones are pretty good when it comes to its looks and specs, they are nowhere near the flagship Huawei Mate series. We know for sure that we will see at least one new high-end model in the Mate series later this year and now, a leaked poster seems to reveal more details about the upcoming flagship, the Huawei Mate 9. Ideally, we should see the Huawei Mate S2 model before Mate 9’s release, but details about the former device are quite scarce at the moment.

The Huawei Mate 9, according to this new leaked poster, will come with dual 20MP cameras at the back. Now, this is something that we have been hearing quite a number of times in the past few months. A few months back, an analyst had said that the Mate 9 will feature dual 20MP sensors at the back, with Leica certification, and this poster seems to be backing that claim. Until now, Huawei has been using a monochrome + RGB sensor combination on its dual camera flagships and we can expect a similar setup on the upcoming handset. It should also feature OIS, according to another analyst who revealed this information recently.

Another important information revealed by this poster is that the phone will come with Kirin 960 chipset. This will be the new generation flagship chipset from Huawei’s Kirin range that should use the new Cortex A73 Artemis cores.

One thing to remember is that the Huawei Mate 9 poster that’s leaked today is quite basic. The dual camera setup arranged vertically is the only major design change that differentiates the device in the image and the Mate 8. Rest of the design, especially from the front looks identical to the Mate 8 flagship. Hence, it’s quite likely that this is a fan made poster and the details are based on the previously leaked information.

We can expect the Mate 9 sometime later this year, ideally around November- December period. So, there is still a couple of months left for the official launch.

LeEco Reveals September 21 Launch Event, Le Pro 3 with SD 821 Chip, 6GB RAM Expected

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Sep 11, 2016

Chinese tech giant LeEco has officially released notice of a launch event taking place on September 21. The innovative tech company revealed this via a post on China’s social networking website, Weibo, with a theme that seems to suggest that the new device would be a stunner which would change our entire perception of what a flagship phone should be. We had already gotten the wind before now that LeEco is preparing something powerful which would pop in September with top-notch specs.

According to previous rumors, the expected device is the Le Pro 3 which is expected to be the first Chinese smartphone to feature Qualcomm’s latest flagship Snapdragon 821 chipset. The Le Pro 3 is also said to pack 6GB of RAM and 64GB of expandable storage onboard. The flagship Le Pro 3 is also expected to feature a mammoth 5,000mAh battery, and still have a thin body touted to be just 7mm thick. The Le Pro 3 will also rock a 16MP rear camera and an 8MP front camera.

The LeEco Le Pro 3 had earlier appeared on AnTuTu benchmark, pulling a marvelous score of 163K, which is an indication of the power that LeEco has infused on the upcoming flagship device. The score makes this look more powerful than any device we’ve seen lately.

LeEco’s CEO had earlier taken to Weibo to criticize Apple for launching a flagship iPhone 7 which lacked credible innovations that would justify the exorbitant price tag. Well, that might just have been a publicity stunt to grab some attention but it could also be that he knows what they have in the offing would sure dwarf what the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus pack. Also, so you’d know, the name of the expected device is a bit confusing as earlier rumors have revealed the phone to be called as the Le 2S Pro. So, we will have to wait and see the name the device will launch with. September 21 is the date, as always, we’ll keep you posted as more news emerge here on Gizmochina.

Xiaomi Mi Note 2 Live Renders Surface, Full Specs Revealed!

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Sep 11, 2016

Looks like the Xiaomi Mi Note 2 is very close to hitting the market, considering the avalanche of leaks the flagship has seen in recent times. A fresh, new set of leaked renders have once again surfaced online, detailing the beautiful design Xiaomi has put in on this one, and also giving us a glimpse of the official specs the device will launch with as well as the box casing. This one looks like nothing we have seen before because the devices on display look set for the market.

The renders reveal two color variants, white and black which may be the only colors the Mi Note 2 will be available in. Of course the curved edge display is also very visible, not too curvy as seen on some prototype renderings leaked in the past.

The key specifications of the Mi Note 2 were also listed on one of the renders and it reveals the device will rock a 5.7-inch curved screen display with 2K resolution, an all-metal body design with glass covering on both sides. The device is also shown to be equipped with a Snapdragon 821 processor, clocked at 2.4GHz, alongside two RAM size options, one with 4GB of RAM and a second version with 6GB of RAM. The Mi Note 2 will also come in three storage versions of 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB.

That’s not all, the entire device is listed to a dimension of 155 x 77 x 6.5mm, and under the hood a 4,000mAh battery with Quick Charge 3.0 will provide the power source. The Mi Note 2 as expected, will run on MIUI 8 based on Android Marshmallow and would sport a dual camera setup at the rear.

In all, this recent leak is consistent with previous ones we have seen and it looks very much authentic. The specs line-up is also similar to earlier the ones earlier rumored. The Xiaomi Mi Note 2 is expected to be launched on September 14, according to earlier rumors and if that turns out to be true, that’s when we’ll know the exact price tag Xiaomi will stamp on it.

Xiaomi Mi 5s Specifications Leaked: Snapdragon 821, 6GB RAM & 256GB ROM

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Sep 11, 2016

News of a Xiaomi Mi 5s was first reported about 5 months ago and the first detail leaked was of a curved display that supports 3D Touch. Today we have another leak listing the full specs of the phone. The spec sheet which was posted on weibo says this is an exclusive version which means there will be other variants as well.

The Mi 5s will have a 5.15” screen with 3D touch, a snapdragon 821 processor clocked at 2.4GHz, Adreno 530 GPU clocked at 650MHz, and a 6GB LPDDR4 RAM.

Xiaomi is going the iPhone 7 route by offering 256GB of storage (UFS 2.0). The rear camera is a 16MP shooter with PDAF and 4-axis OIS. It can also shoot 4K videos at 30 fps.

Chinese Retailer Selling ”Overclocked” Xiaomi Mi 5

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Sep 11, 2016

The Xiaomi Mi 5 is one of the cheapest Snapdragon 820 phones in the market right now. But the Mi 5 has an under-clocked processor compared to that of other phones, 1.8GHz to be precise.

Now a retailer in China is selling versions of the Mi 5 clocked at 2.15 GHz which is actually the normal clock versions of other SD820 phones (OnePlus 3, ZUK Z2 etc.). So you see why I don’t want to say it’s overclocked? Ok, it’s still overclocking.

xiaomi-mi-5-extreme-version-offer — Xiaomi Mi 5

The online shop called GOME, is offering the Xiaomi Mi 5 Extreme Version in multiple colour variants. The white, purple, and gold version sell for $298.50 each. If you want the more elegant black, you will have to pay an extra $7.50 which brings it to $306. The deal is supposed to end today but let’s hope the seller offers it beyond this date.

Report Claims Microsoft Plans to Kill off Lumia Line in December

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Sep 10, 2016

Microsoft and a couple of stores and carriers (in the US) have been offering some mouth-watering deals on Lumia phones for a while now. The thing is, the company isn’t just looking for more people to embrace the Windows Phone OS, but according to an insider at Microsoft, the company is trying to clear stock.

Usually, when a manufacturer reduces the price of their phones in order to clear stock, the reason is because there is a new model(s) launching soon. But in this case, it is because the company is shutting down the Lumia line by December, as revealed by the Microsoft employee.

We’ve seen fewer manufacturers release phones running windows. The latest we covered here is the SoftBank 503LV made by Lenovo for Japanese carrier, Softbank.

1.5 Million Honor 8 Phones Sold Since July Launch

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Sep 10, 2016

Huawei is having a great year, a really great year. After announcing 2 months ago that they have shipped over 60 million phones in the first half of the year, the company has announced the number of Honor 8 units they have sold since the phone launched in July.

honor-8-sales — Vice President of Honor Announcing The Sales

At a press event held on Friday, Honor’s Vice President, Zhao Ming, announced that the company has sold 1.5 million Honor 8 units till date. Not stopping at that, he also added that ever since the sub-brand was formed almost 3 years ago, they have sold a total of 100 million phones. Part of this numbers can also be attributed to the massive success of the Honor 5x in North America.

The Honor 8 has gotten lots of positive reviews in the US and Europe most especially for its great build quality and price tag. The phone sports a 5.2” FHD display, 4GB of RAM, 32GB/64GB of storage, dual 12 MP rear cameras with laser focus, a front facing 8 MP camera, fingerprint scanner, and an IR blaster.

360 Mobiles Teases September 12 Launch date, Higher End 360 N4S?

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Sep 9, 2016

Chinese smartphone maker 360 Mobiles released its 360 N4S smartphone in July, packing an impressive specs line-up. The N4S was touted back then to feature two variants running different processors. The rumor seems to be transforming into facts, because the company has sent out a sort of teaser, hinting at an upcoming launch event taking place on September 12. The name “N4S” was inscribed somewhere on the poster as well, which indicates whatever it is that would be released on September 12 would likely be related the 360 N4S.

The teaser appears to be a shot of two box casings of the N4S lying adjacent to each other’s end. While one of the boxes gives the front view, the second paper box casing shows the back view. A crown cork with a text in Chinese scribbled on it, literally translated as “Another bottle”, lies in between the two boxes. Perhaps, the crown cork is teasing the cheap price tag of the N4S, maybe cheap enough to buy a bottle of drink with? Well, not likely, but all the same the expected higher version would likely clutch a moderate price tag. The September 12 launch date was also teased on Weibo by the phonemaker, telling us to expect a surprise in about 93 hours from now.

The 360 N4S hit the market in July cramming a MediaTek Helio X20 chipset alongside 4GB RAM but the upcoming higher-end version of the N4S is rumored to be powered by a Snapdragon 652 chipset with 6GB RAM on board. That would likely be the major upgrade the expected N4S version would sport.

In other specs, the N4S sports a 5.5-inch Full HD LCD display, with a 2.5D glass laid on top. It comes in three storage versions of 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB and also there is a MicroSD card slot for expansion up to 128GB. The device also features an IR blaster on the top edge, which can be used for controlling household electronic like TV, Fan, AC, and others. There a massive 16MP rear camera and an 8MP sensor on the front end.

360 N4S

As for the price, the 32GB memory version is priced at a lowly 1199 Yuan ($180) and that is a bargain for all these specs. September 12 is just 3 days away, not too much time to wait for the expected surprise package. The surprise might turn out to be a new device entirely.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 653 Details Leaked: 28nm, Adreno 515 & Cortex A73

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Sep 9, 2016

China’s Weibo is the home to many rumors and speculations about upcoming products and earlier today, a new leak seems to have thrown some light on the possible specifications of the next generation Qualcomm Snapdragon 653 (MSM8976Pro) chipset. This should be the successor to the Snapdragon 652 octa-core chip that powers many flagship grade models in the market today.

According to the leak, the Snapdragon 653 will be manufactured using the same 28nm process as the 652, which is kind of disappointing. Further, in the specs department, the leak reveals some changes. So, the new 653 (MSM8976Pro) chip is expected to come with the same octa-core architecture as its predecessor, however, it will be 4 x Cortex A73 @ 2GHz + 4 x Cortex A53 @1.4GHz. Another upgrade will be in the GPU department, this time coming with Adreno 515 clocked at 550MHz. Other rumored features include LTE Cat. 9 3 x 60MHz CA, Bluetooth 4.1, 802.11 ac Wi-Fi support, LPDDR4 RAM, Dual ISP and 24MP Camera sensor support.

At this moment, we can’t verify the authenticity of this leak, so it’s best to take it with a pinch of salt.

Motorola ad capitalizes on Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 Battery Flaws

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Sep 8, 2016

Samsung is sure going through a turbulent time right now, especially as the ill-fated Galaxy Note 7’s SDI manufactured battery continues to wreck havoc on its latest Galaxy Note 7 flagship, even despite Samsung recalling the device with that battery model. The Galaxy Note 7 started off on a very strong note, recording a pretty encouraging number of pre-orders and high interest. That was soon eclipsed by reported cases of exploding batteries. What was thought to be a few minor cases of perhaps, use of wrong charger or something, soon became a cause for concern. Just recently, a family in the US accused the Galaxy Note 7 as causing the fire that destroyed their Jeep. The numbers just keep increasing, so is the bad publicity and already competitors have starting capitalizing on that.

A recent image which looks like a promotional post for the Moto Z Droid by the Moto brand currently owned by Lenovo was sighted. The promotional image clearly centered on the Galaxy Note 7’s flawed battery, even when the write-up did not categorically mention Samsung or the Galaxy Note 7.

Moto boasts on the ad that unlike other manufacturers, the company adheres to the highest standard in quality and testing of all our batteries. Talking about smartphone manufacturers and battery quality at this period, the first name that comes to mind is Samsung. The promo which talks about just the battery and not the features of the Moto Z Droid, also talks about how safe the Moto battery is and they even added a promo offer of a free Incipio offGRID Power Pack to extend battery life. Samsung should get prepared for more of these, after all, who isn’t eying the top of the sales chart.

(via)

Android 7.0 Nougat Factory Image & OTA Update Now Available for Nexus 6P

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Sep 8, 2016

Google first released the September security update for its Nexus devices but surprisingly, Android N update for the Nexus 6P was missing. Only the Android Marshmallow build of Nexus 6P got the security update.

However, Google has finally posted a factory image and OTA for the Nexus 6P which can now be downloaded.The Android 7.0 Nougat software update only started rolling out to some Nexus devices very recently, months after the Android N developer preview build was released. Several complaints were gotten from some who updated their softwares to Android 7.0 Nougat on the Nexus 6P, bordering on performance or battery life issues and in some cases both. This latest September security update hopefully will fix all those.

Google Android 7.0 Nougat brings over 250 new features with it. Some of the new features that Google is highlighting includes the 72 new emojis, as well as new Quick Settings controls. Now you’ll be able to customize these Quick Settings to your liking. Something that manufacturer skins and custom ROMs have long been doing. Nougat will make you more productive as well, with multi-window, Direct Reply and Quick Switch. Some apps have already included support for the Direct Reply API, after all Nougat was in developer preview phase for over 5 months, so developers have had plenty of time to get going with Nougat.

LeEco Le Max 2 Price Slashed, Now Up For 1549 Yuan ($233)

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Sep 8, 2016

The LeEco Le Max 2 seem to be getting aclearance sales, perhaps to make way for the expected Le 2S. Not too long, the Le Max 2 got its price slashed by up to $160 on OppoMart, this time around the Snapdragon 820 powered flagship has gotten a 500 Yuan ($76) price cut on online shopping mall Taobao.

Now the Le Max 2 is available off Taobao for 1549 Yuan ($233), down from 2,099 Yuan ($315). That’s because aside the 500 Yuan initial price slash, there is also a 50 Yuan discount during purchase. So you get to pay 1549 Yuan ($233) instead of 1599 Yuan. Now, this should be the cheapest price tag we’ve seen on the Le Max 2.

The Le Max 2 happens to be the first device to sport the Snapdragon 820 flagship chipset from Qualcomm. The flagship rocks a 5.7-inch display with 2k resolution, 4GB of RAM, 32GB of non-expandable internal storage, as well as a 3,100mAh battery with support for fast charging. In addition, the dual-SIM device packs a 21MP rear camera and an 8MP selfie sensor upfront. The Le Max 2 is devoid of the 3.5mm audio jack and instead has a USB Type-C port for headphones and a host of connectivity options are available on the device.

ZTE Little Fresh 4 Now Available for 699 Yuan ($105)

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Sep 8, 2016

The ZTE Little Fresh 4 also known as ZTE BV0701 was announced a few months ago. Sporting a 5.2” FHD 2.5D display, it was launched at a price of 1090 Yuan ($163) but now it is available for less at 699 Yuan ($105) bringing it into the $100 FHD league.

$105 is a fair price for a phone that also has LTE (you might want to check the bands), 2GB of RAM, 16GB of built-in storage, a fingerprint sensor, 13 MP rear camera with autofocus, and a 5MP front camera. The ZTE Little Fresh 4 is powered by a MT6753 chip and juice is supplied by a 2540mAh non-removable battery. You also get Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box.

With the Design Panel of ZTE Project CSX at IFA Berlin (Video)

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Sep 8, 2016

ZTE’s Project CSX is quite interesting wherein the company is trying to take inputs directly from the users around the world in order to design the perfect mobile device. While companies like OnePlus are already doing it on a limited scale, with Project CSX, ZTE is trying to take things to a whole new level. In the first stage of the project, the company asked users to pitch in their ideas, and the company got over 400 ideas. Now, in the second stage, the company is taking votes for these ideas.

Make sure you participate and vote for the best idea. You can read more about the project from the link at the end of this article.

We were at IFA Berlin this year and we got some time to spend with the design team of Project CSX. The panel gave us some insight on the design and other important aspects of the Project CSX. We managed to take everything said by the panel on video and we are here to share it with you.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cNWM96IcjU

It’s a pretty long video but you can check out the ideas and other details about the project in it.

You can read more about project CSX and how to participate in it from the link here.

First SD 821 Phone, ASUS Zenfone 3 Deluxe Now on Sale

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Sep 8, 2016

The first Snapdragon 821 phone, the Zenfone 3 Deluxe was announced over 2 months ago. While being the first phone manufacturer to ”announce”, we thought other manufacturers such as Samsung, LeEco or Xiaomi will beat them to releasing a Snapdragon 821 phone for sale, as ASUS is known for announcing a device but taking months to release it. But surprisingly, no one beat them to it as the Zenfone 3 deluxe is now available for purchase starting in the company’s own home country, Taiwan.

The phone costs 24,990 Taiwanese dollars which is about 5320 Yuan (roughly $800) and will be available in Glacier Silver and Shimmer Gold with the former shipping first by September 12 and the gold by September 23.

The Snapdragon 821 chip is a slight improvement over the Snapdragon 820. It has a higher clock-speed for the CPU and GPU. Qualcomm puts the improvement in performance over the SD 820 at 10%.

Zenfone 3 Deluxe Specs

The Zenfone 3 Deluxe has other things going for it apart from the new chip. It has a 5.7” Super AMOLED 1080p display with Gorilla Glass 4, 6GB of LPDDR4 RAM, a generous 256GB UFS 2.0 memory, an 8MP shooter up front, and a 23MP Sony IMX318 rear camera that is protected by sapphire glass. The rear camera has OIS, laser focus, and RGB color sensor calibration.

The phone runs Android 6.0.1 with ASUS Zen UI 3.0 overlay, has dual SIM slots, a fingerprint scanner, a 3000mAh battery with QC 3.0 Support. The Zenfone 3 Deluxe weighs 170 g and is 7.5 mm thick.

Xiaomi’s 4K Mi Box to Go on Sale in October for Less Than $100

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Sep 8, 2016

Xiaomi’s first product to be sold in the US will not be a phone but an android set-top box called the Mi Box which will run Google’s Android TV and is expected to go on sale in October.

The info was divulged by an insider source at Xiaomi, who said that it will be made available for purchase in early Q4 2016.

Mi Box Specifications

The Mi Box was first demoed at Google’s I/O 2016 event. It has 2GB of RAM, 8GB of built-in storage (there’s a full-sized USB port as well), can stream 4K videos at 60 fps, has support for Dolby Digital Plus audio playback, DTS Surround Sound and is HDMI 2.0a compatible.

The box will be powered by a quad-core ARM processor and a Mali 450 GPU. It will come with a bluetooth voice remote and Xiaomi says the box will also work with a Mi Game controller for those who want to enjoy android games on a large screen. The controller will probably be sold separately.

While Xiaomi has not released an official statement with regards to pricing, but it is expected to sell for less than $100.