As the world watched the launch event of the three new Apple iPhone models on September 13, Chinese competitor Xiaomi came up with a brilliant marketing ploy. The company released a poster image showing the new Apple iPhone XS seemingly overshadowed by the Xiaomi Mi 8 Youth Edition, and gave away the launch date for the much-awaited smartphone.
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Xiaomi Mi 8 Youth Edition: New Teaser
The new poster released by Xiaomi shows the new Mi 8 Youth Edition in gold colour, a hue that looks very similar to the gold colour of the Apple iPhone XS. What’s more, the Mi 8 Youth Edition, at least in the poster, looks significantly larger than the iPhone XS, and also flaunts a bezel-free design. Xiaomi has invited fans to Chengdu in China on September 19 for the launch event. The poster reads: ‘Hello, Gold. Mi 8 new series of products. 19.9. See you in Chengdu’.
Xiaomi Mi 8 Youth Edition: Leaked Specifications
The poster released for teasing the launch of the new Mi 8 Youth Edition does not reveal any more details of the smartphone, but we know bits and pieces of what’s coming. The new Xiaomi Mi 8 Youth Edition will be powered by a 10nm Qualcomm Snapdragon 710 octa-core processor, which is clocked at 2.2GHz and paired to Adreno 616 graphics processor.
The handset gets a fingerprint sensor on the rear panel and has a glass back. The battery on the Mi 8 Youth Edition is 3250mAh and the selfie shooter is 12MP. It will come with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage. The biggest difference between the Mi 8 and the Mi 8 Youth edition, however, seems to be the rear dual camera setup, which is vertical in the Mi 8 and parallel in the Mi 8 Youth Edition.
Xiaomi Mi 8 Youth Edition: Price in India
The Xiaomi Mi 8 Youth Edition is speculated to be priced 1,999 Chinese Yuan, that is about Rs 20,999, but there is no official information yet. The price will be known on September 19, but we presume that it won’t be far off this mark. After all, the Mi 8 costs CNY 2,699 and the cut-down Mi 8 SE starts at CNY 1,799. There is also the pricier Mi 8 Explorer Edition at CNY 3,699, but none of the phones in the Mi 8 series have made it to India yet.
Mi 8, Mi 8 SE: Specifications
Since we do not yet have the full picture of what the upcoming Mi 8 Youth Edition would look like, we can fall back on the existing models in this line-up, so as to get a clue of what might be borrowed in the Youth Edition. The Mi 8 is the flagship smartphone of Xiaomi for 2018, and it comes with a 6.21-inch Super AMOLED display that is notched and nearly bezel-free. The Full HD+ display comes protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5, and the handset has a glass back and aluminium frame. The aluminium used here is of the lightweight 7000 series, so the phone weighs just 175 grams and measures 7.6 mm in thickness.
As a flagship product, the Mi 8 is powered by a Snapdragon 845 chipset, and runs Android 8.1 Oreo. It comes with 6GB and 8GB RAM options, and sports a 12MP+12MP dual rear camera besides a 20MP front camera. The battery is 3400mAh with QuickCharge 4.0 support, and the handset does not get a 3.5mm audio jack.
The Mi 8 SE gets a smaller 5.88-inch Super AMOLED Full HD+ display, which is also protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 5. This phone weighs about 11 grams less, and is powered by the Snapdragon 710 chipset that we shall see on the Mi 8 Youth Edition also. It has 4GB and 6GB RAM options, and gets the same 20MP selfie camera, but has a slightly inferior 12MP+5MP rear dual camera. Here, too, there is no headphone jack, and the battery is 3120mAh with QuickCharge 3.0 support.
