Galaxy S8 and LG G6 are the newest entries of flagships for 2017 but there’s one problem that comes when you are attempting to make a purchase of an Android high-end phone belonging to LG or Samsung; their price. At $700+, these definitely are not devices that are targeted to the budget-friendly or price/performance consumer and that is where Xiaomi has managed to secure a stronghold in the market.
That is also what the Mi6 and the rumored Mi6 Plus are going to represent; more features and powerful hardware for a ‘smaller than flagship’ price tag. With both devices expected to get announced very shortly, here are some things that we want to run by to help you prepare for the unveiling that is going to take place in a few hours.
1. Base model of the Mi6 could be running at lower than default processor clock speeds
This is not something that Xiaomi has been practicing for the first time. Even with the Mi5 unveiling, the base model of the phone came with a slightly underclocked processor and if you wanted to experience the Snapdragon 820’s Kryo CPU running at full blast, you would have to pay a small amount to see those gains.
It’s more than possible that Xiaomi continues this run when you find Snapdragon 835 chipsets present in it. However, if the user is going to be paying a little extra to see the processor run at full speeds, there are going to be other advantages of paying a little more. Those will help the user gain access to a higher amount of RAM and internal memory on their devices and when you have more memory on an Android device, that’s always a win-win situation.
2. Both Mi6 & Mi6 Plus could finally come with a water-resistance rating
To save costs and bring that price to a very competitive scale, you would have noticed by now that Xiaomi pulls out features from its flagship phones ranging from expandable storage, using IPS LCD panels instead of AMOLED and shipping them without water-resistant ratings. However, the announcement of the Mi6 and Mi6 Plus might bring a new feature that we’ve never seen before and that’s IP67 water-resistance.
Remember that the IP67 is still inferior to the water-resistance rating of Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8+, and the G6 and though it is possible that water will not be able to seep into the tiny crevices of the phone, if the Mi6 and Mi6 Plus get damaged due to liquid insertion, then you can completely forget about claiming a warranty on these phones. If you take out the time to read the instruction manuals on these devices, it clearly states that water damage is not going to be covered under warranty at any point so if possible, keep these devices away from water whenever you can.
3. Wireless charging might not be supported
Though it’s definitely not a deal breaker for most, the fact that the Mi6 and Mi6 Plus might not feature any form of convenience while charging shows that it will be spending most of the time connected to a power outlet. Once again, this move might be carried out to bring the manufacturing costs down to a minimum so that Xiaomi is able to price it competitively while still keeping a marginally small profit.
However, with LG also having embraced wireless charging technology on the G6, we are all patiently waiting to see when Xiaomi is going to make the shift. Also keep in mind that to allow the phone to provide wireless charging support, companies need to change the phone’s body from metal to a metal and glass construction and those things do not come cheap.
Factoring all the costs, Xiaomi will be walking on thin ice if it ends up using premium materials and features.
4. Both Mi6 and Mi6 Plus might still be limited to 1080p displays while using previous-generation technology
Manufacturers are slowly adopting to AMOLED display technology because of their long list of benefits. However, they are still expensive to manufacturer. Xiaomi’s Mi Note 2 came with an AMOLED display but its price tag was much higher than last year’s Mi5, which used IPS LCD technology. For both the Mi6 and Mi6 Plus, we could be seeing the same 1080p resolution paired with an LCD display. Just like wireless charging technology, this does not necessarily have to be a deal breaker but the crisp image quality is something that users will be losing out on.
5. If possible, spend the extra money and buy the Mi6 Plus
Alongside the Mi6, Xiaomi has been rumored to announce the Mi6 Plus, a bigger version of the flagship. With Mi6 expected to feature a 5.15-inch display, the Mi6 Plus has been reported to be a much bigger phone, standing tall with a 5.7-inch screen. The larger display will translate into the phone being able to carry an even larger battery.
According to rumors, the smaller flagship might have a 3,200mAh battery while the bigger brother could have a much larger 4,500mAh pack inside. Since both phones are expected to sport the same resolution, the Mi6 Plus will be able to deliver a much more pleasant user experience by providing them with higher battery life.
Mi6 Plus has also been rumored to come with 6GB of LPDDR4 RAM out of the box, while the Mi6 could feature 4GB RAM from the base model. As mentioned above, spending more money will also mean that the Snapdragon 835’s Kryo II processor is running at default clock speeds instead of underclocked ones, resulting in slightly increased performance.
6. This will mark the first time a dual-camera is found on a Xiaomi flagship
Dual-cameras have appeared on previous Xiaomi phones before, but never on a flagship, but that is going to change when the phone gets announced. According to rumors, Mi6 will have a dual-12MP rear camera and the secondary lens might have a 5X optical zoom feature instead of digital zoom. If the rumor ends up being true, then you will be able to capture images and videos while zoomed in but without any loss in image quality. Digital zoom cripples quality to the point where it is extremely unpleasant to look at, and it looks like this dual-camera upgrade is going to solve all those problems.
It is surprising that this feature might debut on the Mi6 and Mi6 Plus, especially when it was OPPO that was teasing about it the whole time and also provided a sneak preview during the MWC 2017 trade show. OPPO might have a smartphone in the works that will come armed with a 5X optical zoom feature, but Xiaomi might win the race in announcing those mobile devices first.
Both the Mi6 and Mi6 Plus get announced tomorrow and with a lot more features than its previous-generation counterparts. Which features and specifications are you looking forward to the most? Comment below and give us your feedback.