Xiaomi launches its first smartphone with a Type-C connector

Xiaomi, the Chinese tech giant, has launched a new smartphone in China alongside a mobile service and a portable Bluetooth speaker. The event was held in China on September 22. The Xiaomi Mi 4c is similar to the Mi 4i which launched in India, but has an upgraded hardware. The letter C could stand for China, but could also mean Type-C, since this is the first smartphone from Xiaomi to sport a USB Type-C connector.

The Xiaomi Mi 4c is built with the same 5-incher full HD Sunlight Display that the Mi 4i featured. Under the hood is a powerful Snapdragon 808 chipset with a 6-core 1.8-GHz processor and clubbed with an Adreno 418 graphics processor. The chipset is supplied with 3GB of RAM and relies on a non-expandable 32GB flash storage. The Mi 4c is available in two variants—2GB RAM with 16GB storage and 3GB RAM with 32GB storage. The phone is equipped with a 13MP rear camera and a 5MP front camera.

For the first time, Xiaomi has gone astray from the micro USB port and has featured a USB Type-C connector, similar to the OnePlus 2. The Mi 4c is fuelled by a 3080mAh battery and runs off MIUI V7 operating system out of the box, based on Android Lollipop. The Mi 4c is a dual SIM dual-4G-enabled smartphone and will be available in White, Black, Blue, Pink, and Yellow.

The Xiaomi Mi 4c also contains some newly added features. Edge Tap and Double tap. Tapping the edge twice will have user-selectable two options—go back or take a selfie. Double tap on the display to wake is also now part of the new smartphone. The Mi 4c also incorporates an infrared transmitter, enabling the smartphone to work as an IR remote control.

The Xiaomi Mi 4c is available for a price of RMB 1,299 (Rs 13,500) for the 16GB, 2GB RAM variant and RMB 1,499 (Rs 14,500) for the 32GB, 3GB RAM variant. Xiaomi has also changed the colour of the box packing this time. Keeping the quality and material similar to the previous one, the Chinese tech giant has gone with the Mi logo colour—orange.

Apart from the smartphone, Xiaomi also launched a compact portable Mi Bluetooth Speaker, which is smaller than a conventional pencil box. The device is built with an all-aluminum shell, comes in beautiful colours and boasts of a 1500mAh rechargeable battery that can give you 8 hours of continuous music. The Mi Bluetooth Speaker also supports a micro SD card reader, which doubles up as a music player on its own.

Lastly, Xiaomi has also entered the mobile service industry in partnership with China Telecom. The Mi Mobile card is available in different schemes and feature calls, mobile data and more.

We know that the Mi Mobile service will not enter India anytime soon, unless they partner with Airtel in India (which is pretty possible). However, as far as the Mi 4c and Mi Mobile Speaker are concerned, we could expect to see them here in India around Diwali. For now, Xiaomi has not spilled out any plans for the Indian market. As of now, Xiaomi is yet to launch the Mi TV (or TV2) in India. Mi fans and techies around the world are presently keeping a close eye on Xiaomi’s next flagship launch—the Mi 5.