Xiaomi
A Xiaomi company's logo is pictured during a presentation to celebrate the entry of the company into the Mexican market, in Mexico City, Mexico, May 9, 2017.REUTERS/Edgard Garrido

After learning through rumours and sources that Xiaomi isn't planning to launch its flagship Mi 7 smartphone at the MWC 2018 next month (for good reason), a lot of fans must be disappointed. It is widely believed that the company will launch Mi MIX 2S at the upcoming mobile-centric tradeshow, but not much about the device has been revealed so far to cheer up fans.

That changes now. A new report by Chinese blog IT168 has revealed that the Mi MIX 2S is going to be the first smartphone to be powered by Qualcomm's latest Snapdragon 845 chipset. This is surprising and overwhelming at the same time as the company was initially expected to launch the Mi 7 with the said chipset but the change in plan brings joy as Mi MIX 2S is launching sooner than the Mi 7.

Besides the advanced chipset powering the truly bezel-less smartphone, Xiaomi is bound to complement the Mi MIX 2S with matching specifications. The report also revealed that the upcoming smartphone will have an upgraded camera, featuring Sony IMX363 sensor with dual-pixel autofocus technology for detailed low-light images.

Xiaomi Mi Mix 2
One of the images on Weibo that shows the "alleged" Xiaomi Mi Mix 2sWeibo

These two features are certainly a massive improvement over the current Mi MIX 2, which was launched last September. Design-wise, the Mi MIX 2S is likely to share a resemblance to the Mi MIX 2. But a recently leaked image showed an iPhone X-like notch on the top of the Mi MIX 2S. It's still unknown what that notch will have besides a speaker, camera and proximity sensor. But there's no concrete evidence to support the notch's existence.

If Xiaomi considers utilising all the Snapdragon 845 features, the on-device AI functionality couldn't get a miss. Using AI, Xiaomi Mi MIX 2S could get advanced facial recognition to authenticate owner of the device quickly and securely.

The Mi MIX 2S is going to be the flagship until Mi 7 arrives. And word is that the company will price the handset at around ¥4000 (about Rs 40,000) at launch. Given Xiaomi's unprecedented success in India, the Mi MIX 2S is highly likely to arrive in the country shortly after launch at MWC 2018. Stay tuned for updates.

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