Xiaomi and their e-commerce partner Flipkart have reportedly begun selling the company's flagship smartphone Mi-3 for select customers in India.
Flipkart's Early-Access consumers and Xiaomi's Priority Pass holders numbering 1000 and 5000 respectively have been given a 24-hour head start to book the Mi-3 in India, reported AndroidOS.in.
Anticipating huge response from the public, the e-commerce website is allowing consumers to buy one unit per each account. This restriction seems to be a precautionary measure by Flipkart to avoid illegal hoarding by people, who re-sell the devices for exorbitant fares.
[Note: Official pre-booking window for the Xiaomi phone is slated to begin on 22 July, 12:00 noon. Interest buyers can register here, where as the Xiaomi Redmi 1S (₹6,999) and Redmi Note (₹9,999) are expected to go on sale in the coming days].
The new Xiaomi Mi 3 comes with a dirt-cheap price tag of just ₹13,999, making it the cheapest full HD (1920x1080p) smartphone in the market. This feature-rich handset also flaunts a magnesium alloy body with three layers of thermal graphite film. Under the hood, it boasts Qualcomm's superfast beast, 2.3GHz Snapdragon 800 series quad-core processor with Adreno 330 graphics engine and 2GB RAM.
The competitively priced Xiaomi Mi3 is expected to pose a serious threat not only to low-cost Indian smartphone vendors but also to tier-1 MNC players like Motorola (Moto G & X), Google-LG Nexus 5, Samsung (Galaxy S4), HTC (One M8 & M7), Sony (Xperia Z2 & Z1) and others.
In related news, Xiaomi is all set to launch its new flagship smartphone Mi4 on 22 July, with the phone set to flaunt a steel alloy body.
According to reports, Xiaomi Mi4 is expected sport a mammoth 5.5-inch 2K (2560x1440p) resolution display, with a staggering pixel density of 538 ppi (pixels per inch), and also boast the latest Android 4.4 KitKat OS, 2.5GHz Snapdragon 805 series quad-core processor and 3GB RAM with 32GB inbuilt memory.
Key specifications of Xiaomi Mi3:
| Model | Xiaomi Mi3 |
| Display | 5.0-inch full HD(1920x1080p) IPS LCD screenPixel density: 441 ppi |
| OS | Android v4.3 Jelly Bean optimized with MIUI version 5 |
| Processor | 2.3GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 series quad-core CPU |
| GPU | Adreno 330 |
| RAM | 2GB |
| Storage capacity | 16GB |
| Camera | Main: 13.0-megapixel camera with auto-focus, dual-LED flash, HDRFront: 2.0-megapixel camera (with full HD video recording ability) |
| Battery | 3,050 mAh; (non-removable) |
| Network | 3G |
| Add-ons | Mini-SIM, Bluetooth v4.0, Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac), micro-USB v2.0, A-GPS, GLONASS |
| Dimensions | 144.0 x 73.6 x 8.1 mm |
| Weight | 146 g |
| Colour | Metallic Grey |
| Price | ₹13,999 |
[Image Credit: Xiaomi India]
