It’s been a long time coming (203 days to be exact), but today Xiaomi has finally taken wraps off their newest flagship, the Xiaomi Mi 6.
The biggest announcement is that of an ultrasonic fingerprint reader, which was rumoured to be included previously. This new technology has the benefit of reading your print under a number of conditions including water, making it easier to unlock your device.
Aesthetically, it keeps the same design as the Mi 5, though with a couple of slight differences. The sides are now much more similar to the iPhone, with rounded edges that curve around the handset. It keeps a glass body on the front and back, with additional gold trim around the edges. The blue colour Xiaomi demonstrated is a bold choice similar to what we saw in the Honor 8… and it looks very nice indeed. There’s also a silver variant which comes in an ultra-reflective design. Stereo speakers are included either side of the screen for a full audio experience, though the lack of a 3.5mm headphone jack could disappoint some. A USB-C port at the bottom is the main source for all connectivity, meaning you’ll need a breakout cable for those fancy headphones you own.
The display is 5.15-inches, forgoing the recent trend of a bezel-less design. Either Xiaomi didn’t have the technology ready in time or they chose to avoid it in favour of a cheaper device. Either way, you’re still getting a 1080p panel with 600 nit brightness and 1 nit ultra dark capabilities. In laymen terms, the picture should be quite nice. The display comes with an additional eye protection feature called ‘Reading Mode’, which reduces the harmful blue light from the screen without casting an obvious yellow hue (we’re looking at you Apple).
Xiaomi Mi 6 tops AnTuTu scores
Inside, the hardware is about as powerful as it gets. You’ll be getting a Snapdragon 835, 6GB RAM and a dual-camera sensor. The 10nm chipset is the latest from Qualcomm and can only be found in a select few handsets currently. With that horsepower behind the hood, the Mi 6 has posted some insane scores of 184,292 in the AnTuTu benchmark testing, ranking it as the fastest device currently available. Graphics capabilities are also no slouch, with the Mi 6 supporting the latest Vulkan API which allows developers to get more power from the hardware. The dual-camera sensors are 12 megapixels in resolution and have a similar implementation to the iPhone 7 Plus, offering a telephoto and landscape lens. Interestingly, there’s also optical zoom built into the camera. This will allow lossless zooming up to 2x versus the usual digital. You’ll also get optical image stabilisation, which should help to keep images nice and steady. The battery is a healthy 3,350mAh, while the handset also supports the latest 4G+ speeds for faster internet browsing.
The Xiaomi Mi 6 will retail in China for 2499 Yuan ($360 or £283.36) for the base 6GB + 64GB version. The more luxurious Mi 6 Ceramic edition offers double the storage memory (128GB) and will be priced at 2999 Yuan ($430 or £340.66). The phone will be available in China from April 28th.
