The Chinese smartphone maker, Xiaomi has reportedly confirmed that the feature-rich Mi3 will go on sale again in India next month.
The company is chartering flights from Hong Kong to bring Xiaomi Mi3 along with Redmi 1S to India ahead of Diwali holidays, Reuters quoted Xiaomi's global operational head, Hugo Barra as saying.
The company is also said to be evaluating options with the online seller partner, Flipkart to provide special priority passes to those unlucky Xiaomi fans, who could not get their hands on Mi3, depsite getting registered for flash sales. However, the details regarding the actual release date and the number of units available on the sale day is still under wraps.
Despite selling close to 100,000 units in a month (22 July to 26 August), Xiaomi Mi3 sale was discontinued indefinitely in late August in order to focus on Redmi 1S flash sale, which took-off on 2 September.
Though the flash sale strategy worked out pretty well for Xiaomi, the fans were peeved-off by the huge gap between demand and supply. Every flash sale was marred with angry posts on the Xiaomi's Facebook page. However, Xiaomi salvaged the negative publicity last week by replenishing stocks with 60,000 Redmi 1S on 23 September flash sale.
And now by announcing the availability of Xiaomi Mi3 next month, the company will certainly win loyal fans' hearts and give a stiff fight to recently released Google Android devices (Micromax Canvas A1, Karbonn Sparkle V and Spice Dream UNO) and also Motorola Moto G (Gen 2.).
Key Specifications of Xiaomi Mi3 and Redmi 1S:
| Models | Xiaomi Mi3 | Xiaomi Redmi 1S |
| Display | 5.0-inch full HD(1920x1080p) IPS LCD screenPixel density: 441 ppi | 4.7-inch HD (1280x720p) IPS LCD screen with Gorilla Glass 2 shieldPixel density: close to 312 ppi (pixels per inch) |
| OS | Android v4.3 Jelly Bean with custom MIUI | Android v4.3 Jelly Bean with custom MIUI |
| Processor | 2.3GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 series quad-core CPU | Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 series quad-core CPU with 1.6GHz CPU speed |
| GPU | Adreno 330 | Adreno 305 |
| RAM | 2GB | 1GB |
| Storage capacity | 16GB/64GB | 8GB, expandable up to 64GB |
| Camera | Main: 13.0-megapixel camera with auto-focus, dual-LED flash, HDRFront: 2.0-megapixel camera (with full HD video recording ability) | Main: 8.0-megapixel camera with auto-focus, LED flash, HDRFront: 1.3-megapixel camera |
| Battery | 3,050 mAh; (non-removable) | 2,000 mAh (Li-Polymer); |
| Network | 2G & 3G | 2G & 3G |
| Add-ons | Mini-SIM, Bluetooth v4.0, Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac), micro-USB v2.0, A-GPS, GLONASS | Dual-SIM slots, Bluetooth v4.0 (with LE, A2DP), micro-USB v2.0, GPRS/EDGE, microSD card slot, |
| Dimensions | 144.0 x 73.6 x 8.1 mm | 137.0 x 69.0 x 9.9 mm |
| Weight | 146 g | 158 g |
| Price | ₹13,999/- | ₹5,999/- |
[Image credit: Xiaomi India]
