A couple of weeks ago, Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi unveiled its new Mi Note flagships, featuring the company"s now-familiar mix of appealing specs at low prices. It"s a formula that has worked well for Xiaomi so far, as it has grown rapidly to become one of the world"s largest handset vendors since its launch just five years ago.
So it"s perhaps no surprise that Xiaomi has said that its first batch of Mi Note handsets, which went on sale earlier today in China, sold out in less three minutes. It did not reveal how many devices it sold in those three minutes, though, making its boast a bit meaningless without that context.
However, as Android Central reports, a Xiaomi vice-president did reveal one figure, and it"s quite an eyebrow-raiser. The VP reportedly claimed that the company has received "over 220 million reservations" for the device - a number that sounds astonishingly high, equivalent to around 3% of the entire global population, or around 16% of everyone in China.
For a pair of phones that each cost more than many people around the world earn in an entire month, that figure of 220 million reservations for the devices seems nothing short of incredible.
Still, the two handsets do have a lot to offer, coming in two high-end configurations, both of which undercut their flagship rivals on price. The standard model is priced from 2,299 CNY (around $370 USD) for the 16GB version, and 2,799 CNY ($450) for the 64GB. Its key specs include:
- 5.7-inch display with Full HD (1920x1080px) resolution and Gorilla Glass 3
- Quad-core 2.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor
- 3GB RAM
- 16GB / 64GB storage
- 13MP rear camera with optical image stabilization
- 4MP front-facing camera
- 3000mAh battery
- 161g
- 4G LTE support
- Dual-SIM support
The Mi Note Pro won"t go on sale until March, when it will be priced at 3,299 CNY ($530 USD). It may well be worth the wait, sharing many of its specs with its sibling, but getting a few significant upgrades:
- Display resolution increased to 2K (2560x1440px)
- Octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 810
- 4GB RAM
- Supports LTE Cat 9 with download speeds of up to 450Mbps
- 64GB storage only
Xiaomi has made no secret of its massive global ambitions, and its desire to take on the giants of the industry, including Apple and Samsung. After selling 61 million handsets last year, the company has said that it hopes to reach 100 million sales in 2015.
Source: Android Central