Redmi’s Snapdragon 855 flagship could get an Android Q beta after launch

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Xiaomi’s Redmi, which was recently spun off as an individual brand, will soon be venturing into the flagship market with a new smartphone powered by Snapdragon 855. Redmi’s CEO Lu Weibing has been teasing the smartphone with the help of riddles and even though we’ve only limited information about the two flagships at our disposal, the executive has confirmed that Android Q beta will be coming to this device.

Taking to Weibo, Weibing shared a post from Xiaomi co-founder Lin Bin to confirm that the upcoming Redmi flagship will join the list of smartphones, alongside Xiaomi Mi 9 and the Mi MIX 3 5G, eligible for the beta previews of Android Q. The executive just used the tongue-sticking-out emoji which does not really share more information about the smartphone(s), except for indicating that the Android Q preview shall be a tasty – or palatable – experience.

Last month, Redmi Weibo account confirmed a key speculation about the upcoming flagship series. A teaser video which was meant to show a special Avengers edition of Redmi Note 7 series also hinted at a smartphone with a pop-up selfie camera. Aside from this, Weibing has also been dropping hints about special optimizations for improved gaming performance on the alleged flagship series and even suggested that the smartphones could feature an in-display fingerprint scanner.

While we are certain that Xiaomi is working on two smartphones with Snapdragon 855, codenamed “raphael” and “davinci,” we’re not sure if one or both will be released under the Redmi branding. Meanwhile, Weibing is seeking a public response on what should the smartphone be named. Out of the four options, we have witnessed (unverified) leaks and speculations that hint at the name Redmi K20 for the upcoming series – although there is no confirmation from the company yet.

Meanwhile, we learned previously that the two Xiaomi devices shall also make their way in India but we cannot ascertain if the will bear the same names as in China. Considering that Redmi targets the budget segment, we’re very intrigued to see the prices at which the Snapdragon 855 smartphone will be launched. We’ll share more information once we have concrete details but for now, we will have to make do with the guess that the smartphone could be launching soon, as might have been teased by Weibing in another Weibo post.

This article was updated to correct some information. We apologize for any factual inaccuracies.