The Xiaomi machine has not stopped crunching products and coming up next is the Mi 8 Pro and Mi 8 Lite. Launched in China in September, the flagship series will debut in Malaysia this Saturday, 10 November and will be sold at participating Mi Stores including Pavilion KL.
Other Mi Stores include Kuantan City Mall, Kuantan; Mi Store Imago KK Sabah, Kota Kinabalu; AEON Bukit Tinggi, Klang.
The queue to purchase the Mi 8 series will start at 11am. As usual, Xiaomi is offering exclusive limited gifts for early birds.
Mi 8 Pro
The Mi 8 Pro is pretty much the limited Mi 8 Explorer Edition under a “non-limited” guise. It sports a 6.21-inch Full HD+ AMOLED display with a notch, and it runs the flagship Snapdragon 845 processor. It comes with up to 8GB of RAM and 128GB of UFS storage.
The camera setup will look familiar – a 12MP f/1.8 + 12MP f/2.4 combo that scores an impressive 105 points on DxOMark Mobile. It gets a 20MP selfie shooter that’s enhanced with AI beautification features.
In line with some of the competitor flagships, the Mi 8 Pro features an in-display fingerprint sensor. Xiaomi claims their execution is more power-efficient, using a pressure-sensitive version that only activaes when sufficient pressure is applied on the screen.
The Mi 8 Pro boasts dual-frequency GPS like the regular Mi 8, which supposedly performs much better than standard GPS radios.
The device comes in Sunset Gold, Black and Transparent Titanium. How much will it cost? Based on its China pricing, the 6GB RAM + 128GB storage model goes for CNY3,199 (MYR1,932), while the top run 8GB RAM + 128GB storage version retails for CNY3,599 (MYR2,173). Xiaomi tends to price its products more aggressively in Malaysia, so will we see both prices dip below MYR2,000 mark?
Mi 8 Lite
The Mi 8 Lite is a more affordable model, featuring a 6.26-inch Full HD+ LCD (2280×1080) display that comes with a narrower notch.
It’s powered by the mid-range Snapdragon 660 processor, coupled with up to 6GB of LPDDR4X RAM and up to 128GB of eMMC 5.1 storage.
In terms of camera, the Mi 8 Lite gets a dual-lens 12MP f/1.9 main shooter + 5MP depth camera. For the front, it features a massive 24MP selfie shooter that supports pixel-binning for better low light performance.
The Mi 8 Lite sports an average 3,350mAh battery that supports Quick Charge 3.0 and charges up via USB Type-C. There’s no headphone jack, but Xiaomi supplies a USB-C to 3.5mm adapter in the box.
The mid-ranger is priced at CNY1,399 (MYR845) for the 4GB RAM + 64GB storage version, while the 6GB RAM + 64GB storage and the 6GB RAM + 128GB of storage versions cost CNY1,699 (MYR1,026) and CNY1,999 (MYR1,207) respectively.
