Xiaomi is slowly but surely becoming an international player in the smartphone space and at home in China, they’re like the Samsung and Apple for a growing majority of smartphone buyers. It’s not hard to see why either, as they now sell a good variety of devices to meet each price point. The RedMi, or Red Rice, was a device that launched last year to much fanfare in China, as it was Xiaomi’s first budget offering, delivering a compromise on features people love about the Mi line at an affordable price. Since then, we’ve seen them revamp the RedMi with the 1S version of the device, which has recently gotten WCDMA certification.
Some of our readers will be familiar with importing devices from different countries, especially those of you that live in regions where quality smartphones are hard to come by. For a modern smartphone to get access to 3G networks all over the world, WCDMA support is a must and the Snapdragon 400 powered RedMI 1S has just gotten certification for its WCDMA variant over at the TENAA in China, which means that China Unicom customers in the region will be able to get their hands on the new device. More importantly however, your local import store should be able to sell the RedMi 1S very soon.
The 1S version of the RedMi is very similar to the first RedMi version, but the crucial difference is that instead of a MediaTek MT6589 being used, a Snapdragon 400 is running the show. That’s the same chip that’s at the heart of the Moto G and many other budget devices and does a very good job of keeping up with everyday tasks while also delivering some excellent battery life to keep things running throughout the day. Would you be interested in importing a RedMi 1S? Let us know in the comments below!