Xiaomi had introduced three Xiaomi Mi 8 variants during its press conference in Shenzhen, and one of them is the Xiaomi Mi 8 Explorer Edition. Interestingly enough, this is also the most powerful Mi 8 variant that the company introduced, though it’s only slightly different than the regular Mi 8 model. Having said that, the Mi 8 Explorer Edition comes with 8GB of RAM, compared to 6GB of RAM in the Mi 8, while the phone also includes a see-through glass back. In addition to that, the device comes with 3D facial scanning, compared to Infrared Face Unlock on the Mi 8. The Xiaomi Mi 8 comes in three storage variants, while the Mi 8 Explorer Edition launched in one variant only, with 256GB of storage. The Mi 8 Explorer Edition also comes with an in-display fingerprint scanner, which is something the Mi 8 cannot say for itself, as its ports a regular capacitive fingerprint scanner on its back. The two phones also come with different battery capacities, as the Mi 8 has a larger battery than the Mi 8.
Aside from what was mentioned in the first paragraph, the two phones are basically identical. They look the same (save for the see-through glass back on the Mi 8 Explorer Edition, and even sport the same dimensions. The Xiaomi Mi 8 Explorer Edition is made out of metal and glass, while it sports a 6.21-inch fullHD+ (2248 x 1080) AMOLED display. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 64-bit octa-core processor fuels the Mi 8 Explorer Edition, while the phone features 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 256GB of UFS 2.1 flash storage. A 3,000mAh battery is included in this variant of the phone, and the device does support Qualcomm’s Quick Charge 4+ fast charging. Android 8.1 Oreo comes pre-installed on the Mi 8 Explorer Edition, while MIUI 9 is included as well, though MIUI 10 is on its way. The phone offers two SIM card slots (2x nano SIM), while you will find two 12-megapixel cameras on the back of this phone. Its main 12-megapixel camera includes Sony’s IMX363 sensor, f/1.8 aperture lens, 1.4um pixels, and 4-axis OIS. The secondary 12-megapixel camera sports Samsung’s S5K3M3 sensor, f/2.4 aperture lens, 1.0um pixels and 2x optical zoom. A 20-megapixel camera is included on the front side of the phone, in case you were wondering.
The phone features a Type-C USB port on the bottom, while Bluetooth 5.0 is also a part of the package. The device measures 154.9 x 74.8 x 7.6mm, while it weighs 177 grams, that makes it 2 grams heavier than the Mi 8. The Xiaomi Mi 8 Explorer Edition is priced at 3,699 Yuan ($577) in China, and it will go on sale starting on June 5 in China, same as the Mi 8. As far as this phone’s international availability is concerned, Xiaomi did not release any info just yet.
