Xiaomi launched its Mi 6 flagship at an event in Beijing on Wednesday, putting a final rest to all the rumours surrounding the latest smartphone by the Chinese tech giant. Now the rumour mill will continue to spin with fuel of a new smartphone and it looks like it is going to be the Mi Mix 2. While there's little information on the successor of Mi Mix, there's a new player joining to league to disrupt the market.
Android co-founder Andy Rubin has a major reveal set to take place soon. The first teaser of Rubin's Essential smartphone was released on Twitter last month, hinting at the handset's bezel-less design which bears an uncanny resemblance to the Mi Mix. Now, there's more information on the new mystery smartphone.
I'm really excited about how this is shaping up. Eager to get it in more people's hands... pic.twitter.com/LRzQCFSKTm
— Andy Rubin (@Arubin) March 27, 2017
As spotted by Mobiltelefon.ru, a handset with model name Essential FIH-PM1 was listed on GFXBench, and we don't need an expert to decipher which handset is in question here. As per the listing, the Essential smartphone will draw its power from a 2.2GHz octa-core Snapdragon 835 chipset and 4GB RAM.
As it goes without saying, Essentials will pack Google's Android OS under the hood and the listing suggests it will run on Nougat out-of-the-box. The handset is also expected to come with a 12MP rear camera, an 8MP front snapper and a display with 1312x2560 pixel screen resolution.
It is still unclear what screen-to-body ratio Essentials will have, which is an important factor if it needs to outbid Mi Mix. The 6.4-inch Mi Mix has 91.3 percent screen-to-body ratio with a large 16:9 viewing area. Beat that, and Rubin might have something worth talking about.
There are a lot of questions around Essential's exact launch date and availability, but it is said to arrive in late 2017. So we have a long wait ahead of us. Stay tuned for more updates.
