Xiaomi has been teasing us with a new smartphone launch that is scheduled to launch today. After Redmi Y1 and Redmi Y1 Lite, Xiaomi is expected to announce another Redmi device in the budget segment. The company has clearly mentioned that this device will be exclusively available at Flipkart. However, for offline sales and better penetration in the market, Xiaomi might look for more brick and mortar retail partners. The launch event can be streamed live at 1pm on the company's official website.
The device will enhance Xioami's strong stance in the budget segment. Yesterday, the company even announced the launch of two more Redmi devices in China on December 7. The Redmi 5 and Redmi 5 Plus are most likely to launch in this event. The devices are expected to feature an 18:9 aspect ratio full-display.
Coming to the launch event today, Flipkart has set up a dedicated page for the device. The page highlights features that will probably be seen on the new Redmi phone. Since it is expected to be a budget device and will be aimed at Indian semi-urban and rural setup, battery life will be one of the main highlights.
The company has launched various videos to promote the device before the launch and so far, two features have been mentioned. One, long battery life and the other, multitasking.
The 'Desh Ka Smartphone' could either be a Redmi device that is build with the rural majority in mind or a phone that will be built in India. The device could also be both since most Xiaomi devices are now being made in India.
The device is expected to be the new Redmi 5A that has been selling in China. The device is priced at CNY 599 (approx Rs 5,900). The device that is selling in China comes with a 5-inch display.
The Redmi 5A is equipped with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 425 quad-core chipset clocked at 1.4GHz. The processor is paired with 2GB RAM and 16GB internal storage.
In terms of design, the device looks similar to the previous iteration but this time around the company has used a metal body instead of polycarbonate that was used last time. Unlike the Redmi 4A, Redmi 5A's antenna lines have been pushed to the edges of the device, giving it a clean look altogether.
The primary camera sports a 13 Megapixel sensor with an aperture of f/2.2. The camera comes with common features like HDR mode, panaroma mode and burst mode. For the front camera, the device will use a 5Megapixel sensor with an f/2.0 aperture.
The device sports a 5-inch display with a resolution of 1280x720. The company has chosen to skip the fingerprint sensor. Xiaomi also place a hybrid SIM tray which can either store two SIMs or one SIM and one MicroSD card. Below the screen is the usual array of capacitive touch buttons - for recent, home and back.
Recently, a report from IDC showed that Xiaomi had toppled Samsung to grab the number one position in top 50 cities in India. However, Samsung still dominates the rest of the small cities and towns. This new Redmi device may help Xiaomi target these areas by offering better features and availablilty of service centers.