Xiaomi Mi A1 Receives A Permanent Price Cut, Makes Way For Redmi 5 Plus

The one thing that Xiaomi has mastered over the years is the art of giving out the best for the least and one such device is the Xiaomi Mi A1. After partnering with Google, the Chinese smartphone maker launched its first Android One-powered handset at Rs 14,999 and after a 3-days sale which saw the Xiaomi Mi A1 retailing at Rs 12,999, here comes a permanent price cut that too has a reason of its own.

For the unknown, the limited period offer of the Xiaomi Mi A1 started on the same day when the Chinese maker introduced the Redmi 5 and Redmi 5 Plus in its home nation and with the reports coming in about the two devices to land in India soon, Xiaomi Mi A1’s permanent price cut has invariably increased the possibility of the same.

Before dwelling into further details, let’s take a look at what Xiaomi Mi A1 has to offer.

• 5.5-inch Full HD LTPS (1920 x 1080) display with 2.5D curved glass, 450nit brightness, 1000:1 contrast ratio, 403 PPI and Corning Gorilla Glass protection.
• 64-bit Octa-Core Snapdragon 625 SoC clocked at 2GHz coupled with Adreno 506 GPU for graphics.
• 4GB RAM and 64GB of internal storage, expandable up to 128GB with microSD
• Stock Android 7.1.2 (Nougat) out of the box
• Fingerprint Scanner, Infrared sensor and Hybrid Dual SIM
• 12MP rear camera with dual-tone LED flash, f/2.2 aperture, wide-angle lens, 1.25μm pixel size, a secondary 12MP sensor with f/2.6 aperture, 2x optical zoom, PDAF, telephoto lens and 1.0 μm pixel size.
• 5MP front camera with f/2.0 aperture and real-time beautification mode
• 3080mAh non-removable battery
• Dedicated 10v amplifier providing better audio output
• Xiaomi Mi A1 measures 155.4×75.8×7.3mm and weighs 165g.
• 4G VoLTE, GPS + GLONASS, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4GHz + 5GHz), Micro USB Type-C, Bluetooth 4.2 and 3.5 mm headphone jack.

From dual cameras to Stock Android (Oreo update expected soon) and from a powerful yet efficient processor to a VFM price tag, Xiaomi Mi A1 has got it all. Moreover, with a permanent price cut of Rs 1000 on both Mi.com and Flipkart, which takes its effective price to Rs 13,999, the likes of Moto G5S Plus (Review), Honor 7X (Review) and Nokia 6 have some serious competition to face.

That said, Xiaomi has another knight in its arsenal it seems to be coming to Indian shores, sooner than expected, as the company has emptied its Rs 15,000 slot. The smartphone in question is the Redmi 5 Plus, which is Xiaomi’s first bezel-less (edge-to-edge screen) offering at this price.

To read our first impressions on Xiaomi Redmi 5 Plus, Click Here.

Moreover, the Redmi 5 and 5 Plus give us a glimpse of Xiaomi’s new design language for the upcoming devices and with the latter replacing the Redmi Note 4 smartphone, we can expect an even premium Note line-up next year.

On the other hand, with the launch of Honor 7X in India, the folks at Xiaomi have definitely felt the heat of some competition and the permanent pricer out for Xiaomi Mi A1 might be a way to retain their top spot as the biggest smartphone company by market share in India.

Everything said and done, Mi A1 and 7X are indeed two of the best smartphone in this range but which one will you choose over the other?

Share your thoughts in the comment section below.