Xiaomi has taken the smartphone competition to a whole new level with the launch of its latest flagship Mi 4i smartphone in India. Challenging the Chinese tech giant, Asus revealed the prices of its Zenfone 2 smartphone series in an event on Thursday. This has triggered a new battle among international smartphone makers trying to make a prominent mark in India. Since the simultaneous launches offer too much for consumers to digest at once, here's a comparison of Xiaomi Mi 4i (Mi 4 for India), Asus Zenfone 2, and the popular OnePlus One.
If you are looking to buy a smartphone, you must consider Xiaomi Mi4i, Asus Zenfone 2, and OnePlus One. All three phones are priced effectively but offer high-end specs to compete with bigger companies like Samsung and Apple. But if you are wondering how these phones compete with each other, here's a detailed comparison of specs and features each phone offers. It's worth noting that Xiaomi's Mi 4i is priced the lowest, but the specs offered in the new handset can compete with high-end models.
Display
Xiaomi Mi 4i features a 5-inch Full HD OGS IPS display with 441ppi. It boasts of new adaptive brightness technology, called Sunlight display, to improve outdoor readability. It also has 178-degree viewing angle, JDI screen protection, and 200,000 pixels. Comparatively, Asus Zenfone 2's display measures 5.5 inches diagonally with Full HD screen resolution, 178-degree viewing angle, Gorilla Glass 3 protection. The pixel density in the Zenfone 2 is measured at 403ppi. Finally, OnePlus One also features a 5.5-inch Full HD display with Gorilla Glass 3 and 401ppi.
All three smartphones in this category offer similar displays, while the Mi 4i wins with its higher pixel density.
Processor
OnePlus One is powered by a 2.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, while Asus Zenfone 2 usues a 64-bit 2.3GHz Intel Atom processor. Xiaomi, on the other hand, powers the Mi 4i with second-gen 64-bit octa-core Snapdragon 615 processor with Cortex-A53 cores clocking speeds at 1.7 GHz and the other four at 1.1 GHz. Comparatively, OnePlus One has a better processor at hand.
RAM and Storage
Asus has various Zenfone 2 models with different RAM and storage capacities. The 4GB variant comes with 32GB or 64GB storage with expandable memory options. As for OnePlus One, the handset features 3GB RAM and offers 16GB or 64GB storage options. Finally, Xiaomi Mi4i has 2GB RAM and sports 16GB onboard storage. Asus clearly is the winner with its 4GB RAM, which makes Zenfone 2 the world's first smartphone with highest RAM capacity.
Camera
For most smartphone users, good camera is a major deciding factor. All three smartphones have similar cameras. The rear sensor features 13-megapixels in Xiaomi Mi4i, OnePlus, One and Asus Zenfone 2. Mi 4i and One smartphones have dual-tone LED flash, while the Zenfone 2 offers a single LED flash. The front snapper is also the same on all three phones, boasting 5-megapixels out of the box.
Battery
The batteries in all phones are enough to keep the handsets running for long hours. The Xiaomi Mi 4i packs a 3120mAh battery, while Zenfone 2 and OnePlus One have a 3000mAh and 3100mAh units, respectively. Xiaomi beats the big players in this category, albeit by a small margin.
Price
Xiaomi played extremely smart with the pricing for its Mi 4i smartphone. While Asus and OnePlus are close to the ₹20,000 mark, Mi 4i sits comfortably at under ₹15,000. Of course there are some caveats, but Xiaomi Mi 4i's ₹12,999 price tag makes an irresistible appeal compared to OnePlus One's ₹18,999 for the 16GB variant and Zenfone 2's ₹19,999 for its 32GB model.
Verdict
Xiaomi loses the battle to its higher-end competitors in terms of processor, storage, and RAM. But matching display quality, impressive camera, and great battery makes up for a good bargain. If buyers are keen on having large storage, Zenfone 2 makes a better choice as Xiaomi Mi 4i and OnePlus One limits users to the provided inbuilt space, which is locked at 16GB for base models. Price-wise, Xiaomi Mi 4i clearly wins over both Zenfone 2 and OnePlus One.
