Pretty much everyone assumed that the Xiaomi Mi A2 will get a successor, and some info just surfaced, more or less confirming that the Mi A3 is coming. XDA Junior Member, “franztesca”, which is known for developing the XiaoMiTool, spotted a new Xiaomi device with a codename “orchid_sprout”. This codename was spotted in the latest Android Pie-based MIUI 10 firmware for the XIaomi Mi 8. Now, you may wonder how can this indicate that the Mi A3 is on the way, well… Xiaomi had used the “_sprout” suffix in the codename for pretty much all of its Android One devices thus far, including the Mi A1, A2, and A2 Lite, so it’s safe to assume that this one is connected to the Mi A3. The Xiaomi Mi A1, A2, and A3 lite bear the “tissot_sprout”, “jasmine_sprout”, and “daisy_sprout” codenames, respectively. The existence of the Mi A2 and Mi A2 Lite was spotted by XDA in a similar manner, so it seems like the Mi A3 is on the way. Unfortunately, though, only its codename got spotted, so no info regarding the phone’s specifications is available at this point, which is not exactly surprising as the Mi A2 arrived in mid-2018, so there’s still plenty of time for Xiaomi to announce the Mi A3.
What To Expect?
The Xiaomi Mi A1 and A2 were both mid-range smartphones, while the Mi A2 Lite was an even more affordable variant of the Mi A2. Having said that, the Mi A3 will be a mid-ranger as well, almost certainly, and it will be just as affordable as its predecessor. The Xiaomi Mi A series is selling really well for the company, which is not all that surprising considering that all of those phones are extremely affordable considering what they have to offer, not to mention that they ship with stock Android, as they’re a part of Google’s Android One project. The Xiaomi Mi A3 will be based on the Mi 7X, as its predecessors were based on the Mi 5X and Mi 6X, respectively. That means that we’ll probably know what the Mi A3 will look like and what specs will it ship with as soon as the Mi 7X becomes official, which will probably happen in June or July this year. The Xiaomi Mi A3 is expected to be made out of metal and glass or sport a metal unibody build, while its bezels will be quite thin, that’s for sure. Xiaomi may opt to include a display camera hole on the phone, but nothing has been confirmed just yet. The device will sport a larger display, probably a fullHD+ panel, and it will include at least two cameras on the back. It’s not that likely that Xiaomi will opt for an in-display fingerprint scanner, a rear-facing fingerprint may be a more acceptable alternative.
The phone may ship with the Snapdragon 710, Qualcomm’s most powerful mid-range processor to date. The device will include at least 4GB of RAM, though a 6GB RAM variant will also be available. A 3.5mm headphone jack will not be a part of the package, while the company probably won’t include a microSD card storage expansion either, despite the fact the phone will include two SIM card slots. We’re expecting to see a battery larger than 3,000mAh included in the package, while Android 9 Pie will come pre-installed on the phone, and as already mentioned, it will be a stock variant of Google’s operating system, Xiaomi’s MIUI overlay will not be included. The phone will be quite thin, and you can expect to see it released in a couple of color variants. The Xiaomi Mi A2 can now be purchased for around $200, depending on where you look, and the Mi A3’s pricing will probably start at around $250 when the phone arrives. All in all, the phone will be quite affordable, and considering its rather compelling specifications, hopefully solid design, and clean software, chances are it will be able to attract consumers once again, though as already mentioned, details are scarce at the moment, and we’ll have to wait for the company to introduce the Mi 7X before we can comment on this any further, even though we have a pretty good idea what to expect based on what Xiaomi did with previous iterations of the Mi A series.