The battle of Chinese flagships or which Xiaomi smartphone stands out in the premium segment (Topic)

In the modern world, a smartphone is simply an essential assistant in almost all spheres of life. It's hard to imagine even one day without using this functional device.

Long gone are the days when a smartphone was just a "dialer" and a tool for messages. These functions faded into the background, and when buying, users began to pay great attention to the characteristics of the camera, processor power and the presence of an NFC module to pay for purchases directly with the phone. The race to improve functionality gives rise to the appearance on the market of a huge number of models from different manufacturers.

The most interesting, in terms of technology, is still the sector of flagship devices. The widespread thesis that in this market there is exclusively a struggle between Apple smartphones and the Galaxy S line from Samsung is becoming more and more obsolete, because new flagships from the Chinese brand Xiaomi are on the horizon. This article will focus on the comparative characteristics of the recently released premium smartphones Xiaomi Mi8, Mi8 SE, Mi8 EE, Mi Max 3 Pro.

Release dates and device prices

Over the past year, interest in the Chinese company Xiaomi has grown several dozen times, the reason for this is a large number of truly worthy devices and open competition with the aforementioned giants. It's worth starting a review of the flagships with a comparison of the period of their release and prices on the world market:

• Xiaomi Mi8 was presented on May 31, 2018 and became a kind of "congratulations" to the company on its 8th birthday. The price for a smartphone is about $ 420-470 depending on configurations.

• Xiaomi Mi8 SE was announced on the same day as the Mi8, and went on sale on June 8, 2018. The price on the celestial platforms is from $ 280 to $ 320 for different versions, and $ 400 + in electronics stores with an official warranty.

• Xiaomi Mi8 EE stands for "Explorer Edition" and is nothing more than an improved version of Mi8 also presented on the last day of spring 2018. The price for this version was $ 578 .

• Xiaomi Mi Max 3 Pro has not yet been officially presented and is expected to be released on July 3 this year. The price is accordingly unknown, but from previous releases we can assume that it will be in the region of $ 300-350 .

Design prioritized by modern devices

It is quite difficult to objectively assess the appearance of the smartphones presented above, because the designers of Xiaomi decided to follow the well-trodden path of copying all the innovations from the new Californian flagship iPhone X. The reason for this is the greatest cult of Apple smartphones in the DPRK and the desire to imitate the standard, even if European users are pretty skeptical about such a policy. Well, let's see what we have.

Let's start with the initial version - Xiaomi Mi8. The design has the direction of bezelless and minimalism, the ratio of the screen to the entire front panel was 88.5% - a fairly high indicator.

The edges of the smartphone are rounded, there is a small protrusion under the screen, which users have called "chin". Above, the "bangs" so hated by all appeared - a black panel in the screen with dynamics, a camera and other sensors. The frame of the device is metal, while the back cover is made of high quality tempered glass. In addition to the aesthetic component, this was done to support wireless charging. The rear panel also houses a fingerprint scanner and a dual vertical camera with flash between modules (as close as possible to the iPhone X solution). Below you can find a USB Type-C port for charging and speakers. 3.5mm. there is no headphone jack. The range of colors includes black, white, blue and gold.

Dimensions: 154.9x74.8x7.6 mm, weight - 175 g.

Xiaomi Mi8 EE is fully consistent with its closest brother - Mi8. Its only external difference is the "transparent" back cover. The word "transparent" is put in brackets as the electronic components visible from behind are just a nice sticker (high-quality 3D sticker). However, this solution looks very stylish, effective and original. All other details are fully consistent with the base model. The color of the smartphone is transparent black.

Xiaomi Mi8 SE is called the sub-flagship or the closest brother of Mi8. Therefore, he received a sub-flagship design. The resemblance to the iPhone X is also visible to the naked eye, and due to the square, chopped shape, the Mi8 SE looks a bit like last year's flagship Xiaomi Mi Mix. Well, the smartphone has acquired the famous "bangs", and also acquired a vertical, dual camera. The body is made of tempered glass and the frame is protected by metal. This model also lost its minijack for headphones.

The dimensions of the phone are more compact - 147.28 x 73.09 x 7.5 mm, weight - 164 g. The colors of the Mi8 SE are no less bright: black, blue, red and gold. But thanks to the haze effect, they have become more muted.

As mentioned above, Xiaomi Mi Max 3 Pro has not yet been presented to the public, and there is no exact data on its design yet. However, all the renders and assumptions fairly accurately describe the future hit. The phone will most likely not have "bangs" with sensors and a face scanner; this solution will be replaced by thin frames along the entire plane of the front panel. The expensive glass of the back panel will be replaced by less easily soiled and practical aluminum; the camera, in the best traditions of 2018, will remain double and vertical. The main advantage of the Mi Max series is, of course, the large screen size, the trend will continue in the new model of the series.

Thus, we can conclude that we have not seen any innovation from Xiaomi, as it was in the famous Mi Mix. all elements, materials and solutions are fully consistent with the rather strange trends of 2018.

Device Specifications

A much more interesting part of this comparison, of course, will be a technical overview of all the presented gadgets, because the flagship devices received the top-end hardware of 2018.

Xiaomi Mi8

The first thing the user of the presented smartphone is faced with is a larger and bright 6.21-inch AMOLED display. Ideal for watching video content, surfing the Internet and processing pictures. In turn, a dual camera 12 Mp (f / 1.8) + 12 Mp (f / 2.4) SONY IMX363 with phase focusing and portrait mode is responsible for photography. Video recording takes place in 4K UHD resolution (3840x2160). For selfies, the front camera module is 20 megapixels. with smart with Smart Beauty function.

The processor of the device is equally important. So Mi 8 got a new 8-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 processor with a frequency of 4 x 2.8 GHz + 4 x 1.8 GHz and a graphics core Adreno 630. The phone received 6 GB. operational and 64/128/256 GB of internal memory. The device is powered by a 3400 mAh battery, there is a possibility of fast charging (50% in 20 minutes). Additional information is the presence of a fingerprint scanner, support for the simultaneous operation of 2 SIM cards and an NFC module.

Much attention at the presentation was paid to the possibility of unlocking the gadget by the face, the trend of 2018, under which the famous cutout was made.

Xiaomi Mi8 EE

As has been mentioned many times, Mi8 EE is identical to Mi 8. Its technical difference is the presence of as many as 8 GB of RAM, and 128 GB of internal memory, however, because of this, the battery suffered a little and decreased in volume to 3000 mAh. In addition, the beautiful transparent body has led to the transfer of the fingerprint scanner from the back panel under the screen of the device.

Xiaomi Mi8 SE

As expected, the younger, cheaper version received simpler specifications. The screen is slightly smaller than that of the Mi 8 - 5.88 dm. with FULL HD + resolution and Super AMOLED technology. The camera is also double: 12.0 MP (f / 1.9) + 5.0 MP (f / 2.0). There is the ability to record video in the flagship resolution 4K UHD (3840x2160). The front camera module is similar to the Mi 8 and has a resolution of 20 MP. AI Smart Beauty 4.0 will provide selfie correction and high-quality bokeh effect.

The Mi8 SE processor received a junior version, this is an 8-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 with an Adreno 616 video processor. The device also has 4 GB . operational and 64 GB internal memory. Thus, the hardware of the device is sufficient to smoothly run all modern games at the highest settings.

Unlike Mi8, the junior model does not have wireless charging function. Despite this, the phone has a decent battery capacity of 3120 mAh. There is also no NFC module and a fingerprint scanner under the screen.

Xiaomi Mi Max 3 Pro

It is difficult to talk about the exact technical characteristics of a smartphone that has not yet appeared on the market. Despite this, information leaks say that the new smartphone will receive a large AMOLED display of 6.9 inches. The performance of the novelty will be at the level of the flagships of 2017, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 processor will be responsible for it. According to rumors, the phone will receive 6 GB of RAM and 128 GB of internal memory. The phone will feature a voluminous 5400 mAh battery.

All main characteristics are given in the comparative table:

The Topic of Article: The battle of Chinese flagships or which Xiaomi smartphone stands out in the premium segment.
Author: Jake Pinkman