The Chinese smartphone giant—Xiaomi basically owns the Indian smartphone market. It’s still August and Xiaomi has already shown a whopping growth rate of 106 percent as compared to previous year and if the reports are correct, Xiaomi is not looking back. Xiaomi intends to continue their forward march with the launch of their 2018 flagship— Xiaomi Mi 8 in India.

As per our sources (which came from came from a Delhi-based mobile dealer and was later confirmed by separate dealers located in Rajasthan, UP, and Delhi), Xiaomi is accepting orders for the Xiaomi Mi 8 from brick and mortar stores across India to complement their online sales. To further corroborate the story, we visited a Xaiomi service center in Chandigarh where on the condition of anonymity, the employee stated,

We’ve been asked by the company to return older, unsold spares in order to make rooms for a new ‘iPhone screens’, back bodies, glass screen, camera component, magnets and ribbon cables(sic)

When asked about Xiaomi Mi 8’s launch date, he gave a sly smile and continued,

It usually takes us about two weeks to receive parts and another week to conduct an inventory and send details to the company, all due process is usually completed before the product launch

If we base our assumptions on the Xiaomi employee’s experience, we should expect a release of the Xiaomi Mi 8 somewhere in the middle of September

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The Xiaomi Mi 8 was launched in China earlier this year and was the first Xiaomi phone to include a notch. The device was launched to celebrate 8 years of Xiaomi which was the primary reason behind Xiaomi naming it Mi 8 instead of Mi 7.

Xiaomi Mi 8: Specifications

The Xiaomi Mi 8 has a 6-inch screen with Full HD (1080 x 1920 pixels) resolution. The screen is coupled with a 3D facial recognition, similar to the Face ID implemented by Apple in the iPhone X. The handset is also equipped with a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor.

The company seems to be jumping on the AI bandwagon with its flagship and is equipped with the Mi 8’s dual camera with tech that is able to recognize over 200 scenes, including 12 different portrait modes, a feature we already witnessed in the Xiaomi Mi 6X. The rear end of the smartphone hosts dual 16-MP primary sensors along with dual LED flash, while the selfie shooter is stated to be a decent 8-MP lens.

Following the current trend, the Mi 8 comes with a top-notch design and will embed a Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 System on Chip (SoC) along with 6GB RAM+64GB storage and 8GB RAM+128GB storage options. The phone is backed by a 4,000mAh battery and runs Android 8.1 Oreo on top of the new MIUI version.

The biggest talking point perhaps about this device may be the presence of in display fingerprint sensor in the Xiaomi Mi 8 Explorer Edition, a feature that almost all flagship devices seem to be shying away from. The device also includes a dedicated camera unit on the front to enable advanced facial recognition that will be in line with Apple’s Face ID that debuted on the iPhone X.

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Moreover, the Mi 8 will counter the OnePlus 6 with its all-new build, a bunch of custom features and competitive pricing. In addition to all these features, The Xiaomi Mi 8 also comes with wireless charging support, a feature we found lacking in the OnePlus 6.

Xiaomi Mi 8: Pricing And Availability

Sadly we couldn’t get a confirmed price listing from the Xiaomi representative who was unaware of a set price point. Since the Xiaomi Mi 8 was priced around 2799 Yuan (₹ 29,900 approx) in China, it can be expected to be priced around Rs 30,000 in India, though it’s not confirmed yet and the device also has three variants which add to the uncertainty.

Without any confirmation from Xiaomi, we can’t say anything substantiative about Mi 8’s pricing in India.

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With devices like OnePlus 6 and Huawei Honor 10 gaining the support of the masses, Xiaomi has been finding it increasingly difficult to maintain its hold in the mid-tier segment especially in the Asian regions. Will Xaiomi be able to tackle OnePlus and the sort through its Pocophone F1 or will its new sub-brand end up taking a bite of its own market? Stay tuned to find out.