The Xiaomi Mi 6 is officially leaving China today, with the device being released in Hong Kong and slated to launch in Taiwan tomorrow. Xiaomi’s latest Android-powered flagship is departing from its home country along with the Mi Max 2 that was also available exclusively in China until today. Originally announced in mid-April, the device hit the market in the Far Eastern country shortly after but the Beijing-based original equipment manufacturer (OEM) revealed no specific plans regarding its global availability until now. Xiaomi has traditionally been focused on its home country much more than other markets, though the company seems keen on changing that product strategy in the medium term, starting with nearby markets like India and Taiwan. It’s currently unclear whether the Mi 6 will eventually also be sold in the West through Xiaomi’s official retail channels.
The Mi 6 is equipped with a 5.15-inch display panel with a Full HD (1920 x 1080) resolution protected by 2.5D glass, in addition to featuring dual SIM capabilities and a 3,350mAh non-removable battery. The handset is powered by the Snapdragon 835 system-on-chip (SoC), Qualcomm’s first silicon manufactured on the 10nm FinFET process node which is equipped with the Adreno 540 GPU and eight Kyro cores, with the four high-performance ones clocked at a maximum frequency of 2.45GHz. The Mi 6 also sports 6GB of RAM and is available in two configurations, boasting 64GB and 128GB of internal flash memory, respectively. Neither model is equipped with a microSD card slot but both ship with a dual camera setup comprised of two 12-megapixel sensors arranged in a horizontal manner and accompanied by a dual-LED (dual tone) flash unit. The top bezel of the device houses an 8-megapixel camera module, while its bottom one features a physical Home button that doubles as a fingerprint scanner. Apart from NFC and Bluetooth 5.0 support, the Mi 6 also sports a USB Type-C port and runs Android 7.1.1 Nougat out of the box, enhanced with Xiaomi’s MIUI 8.0.
With a starting price of around $360, the Mi 6 is an attractive proposition for many consumers looking to maximize the value they can get for their money and many industry watchers expect the device to do reasonably well in foreign markets. An update on the commercial performance of Xiaomi’s new Android flagship is expected to follow in the coming months.