Rumors of a more powerful iteration in the Mi Max lineup had been circulating for a while now. The phone was even spotted on Qualcomm’s site which claimed that the phone would come with a Snapdragon 710 chipset under the hood. Popular Chinese retail JD.com was so convinced of its release that it even listed the product on its site well ahead of any formal announcement. Much to our disappointment, Xiaomi product marketing director, Zhi Zhiyuan came forward to say that there will not be any Mi Max 3 Pro handset and there will not be any Snapdragon 710 CPU phone.
Zhi Zhiyuan’s Weibo post was met with a largely negative response from the fans. Many believe this to be a poor decision on Xiaomi’s part and expressed how they were more inclined to go with the upcoming Honor Note 10 instead. Some also showed interest in the Mi Mix 3. The comment section was not a complete disaster as some fans claimed they did not mind going with the Mi Max 3 with its Snapdragon 636 and were curious as to when Xiaomi planned to release a 6GB RAM + 128GB storage variant.
Mi Max 3: Specifications, Features
Those who do end up settling with a Mi Max 3 will still get a pretty decent package for what the phone is worth. The phone sports an aluminium unibody design. It comes with a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner claimed to unlock the device under 0.5 seconds. The form of the phone offers a massive 6.9-inch Full HD + IPS LCD capacitive touchscreen with a 79.8% screen-to-body ratio. This is a 1080 x 2160 pixels resolution display with an 18:9 aspect ratio. Protecting the front of this phablet is a layer of Corning Gorilla Glass 3.
Powering this smartphone is a 1.8 GHz Octa-core Snapdragon 636 processor. If a pro version of this phone would have come out, ti would have probably come with a Snapdragon 710 CPU. Either way, the phone will offer two storage configurations where the base model contains 4GB of RAM along with 64GB of storage. The other model offers 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal memory. There is no surprise in the software department as the phone comes with Android 8.0 Oreo OS with MIUI 10 skin running on top.
In the imaging department, the Mi Max 3 offers a dual camera set up at the back where the primary lens uses a 12MP sensor which is paired with a 5MP sensor. The front houses a single 8MP shooter for selfies and video calls. The trend of AI enhancements continues here. Furthermore, the front camera is capable of Face Unlock.
As is the case with all Mi Max phones, Xiaomi has loaded the Mi Max 3 with a huge 5500mAh battery. This cell support 18W fast charging over a USB Type-C port. Thankfully, Xiaomi did not get too carried away in 2018 smartphone trends and still provided a 3.5mm headphone jack on this phone. And since we are on the topic of audio, this phone also offers a bi-amp stereo speaker setup.
Mi Max 3: Price, Storage, Color Variants
As mentioned earlier, there are two storage variants of the Mi Max 3. The 4GB RAM + 64GB storage model is priced at 1,699 Yuan in China which roughly translates to Rs. 17,300 in India. The 6GB RAM + 128GB storage variant is priced at 1,999 Yuan which equates to Rs. 20,300 approximately. Whichever storage model you go for, it will be possible to further expand the internal storage up to 256GB using a microSD card. Do note that you would be giving up support for a second SIM card if you want to expand the internal storage as the phone comes with a hybrid SIM slot.
Coming to the colours, the Mi Max 3 can be found either in Gold, Blue or Matte Black options.
