Xiaomi Unfurls 6.44 inch smartphone Mi Max for INR 14,999

Chinese smartphone company Xiaomi has launched its latest smartphone - Mi Max in India. Priced from INR 14,999, Mi Max is set to redefine the 6-inch and above smartphone category in India, dramatically improving the experience of consuming content on the go.

The company also unveiled MIUI 8 for India, the next generation of its popular Android-based operating system, with new features including Dual apps, Second space, Scrolling screenshots, Quick ball and T9 dialer with Hindi search. Xiaomi Vice President Hugo Barra also revealed that MIUI has crossed over 200 million users across the world.

Mi Max: Creating a new large-screen smartphone category

The 6.44-inch supersized screen and the 4850mAh battery on Mi Max makes it perfect for consuming content on the go, especially when coupled with Sunlight Display to boost screen clarity by adjusting pixel contrast and brightness.

Mi Max comes with a large high-density 4850mAh battery, which is the largest battery Xiaomi has ever shipped in a smartphone. Based on internal tests, Mi Max can support up to 14 hours of 1080p YouTube streaming video (via Wi-Fi) in a single charge.

Mi Max has a metal body and the device is curved in both the front and back, with elegant double-chamfered edges throughout. The front surface is covered by 2.5D glass made of Corning® Gorilla® Glass 3. Even with a much larger display than most other smartphones and a gigantic battery, Mi Max is as thin as many 4.7-inch phones with a thickness of just 7.5mm. At 203g, it is the same weight as Xiaomi’s first 5.5-inch Redmi Note.

       Xiaomi Max

Marking a major step forward in Xiaomi’s content strategy, the first one million users of Mi Max, Mi 5 and Redmi Note 3 will get a three-month movie subscription and and one year of music for free when they download the Hungama Play or Music apps. The first 10,000 Mi Max users get to watch one of this year’s most exciting blockbuster movies, Warner Bros' Batman versus Superman, for free. In addition, all Mi Max users will be able to enjoy exclusive behind-the-scenes footage from the movie. This special footage will only be available in India to Mi Max users.

Mi Max is equipped with one of the fastest mobile processors in the market, the Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 650/652 processor, which is powered by six or eight Cortex A72 and A53 CPU cores. Mi Max delivers a great multimedia and gaming experience powered by Adreno 510 GPU graphics.

Speaking at the launch, Hugo Barra, Vice President, Xiaomi, said: “We are establishing a new smartphone category with Mi Max. When we launched Redmi in India, we disrupted the market for sub-10K smartphones, bringing in a level of quality never seen before in the country and essentially creating the sub-10k 5.5-inch smartphone category. Today, I am truly excited to bring Mi Max to India where users are increasingly consuming content on their mobile devices. We believe that Mi Max is the sweet spot between the mobility of a smartphone and immersiveness of a tablet, and it will provide a compelling option for users who only want one device for all their needs.”

Key features of Mi Max include:

• Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 652/650 processor
• 4850 mAh battery
• 6.44-inch Full-HD display with Corning® Gorilla® Glass 3 2.5D glass
• Up to 4GB RAM + 128GB flash (supports up to 128GB microSD)
• 16-megapixel camera with PDAF
• 5-megapixel front camera with Beautify
• Rear fingerprint sensor
• Support to all of India's 4G LTE bands and VoLTE

Mi Max (Snapdragon 650, 3GB + 32GB) will be available at INR 14,999 on Mi.com starting 6 July, and it will be available across other online partners from 13 July. The Snapdragon 652 variant (powered by eight Cortex A72 and A53 cores) with 128GB storage (4GB RAM) will also be available soon for INR 19,999.

MIUI 8 comes with a brand new look

Xiaomi also unveiled MIUI 8 in India today, the latest update to its popular Android-based operating system with a refreshing redesign and several innovative new features. Inspired by the kaleidoscope, MIUI 8 features an overhauled design as seen in the bold colours and interactive animations.

Dual apps: Users can have two instances of any app on their phone that correspond to different accounts, removing the inconvenience of having to log in and out on the same app. For example, users can now have two WhatsApp accounts or two Facebook accounts on the same device.

Second space: Taking the concept of "Dual apps" to another level, Second space enables users to have two smartphone instances on the same device. Using a different lockscreen password or fingerprint,users can set up two entirely different home screens, with different apps, separate user data and independent photo storage.

Scrolling screenshots: MIUI 8 also introduces the ability to take multi-screen scrolling screenshots and editing them further, which is very useful for sharing long articles in just one image.

Quick ball: This feature makes accessing commonly used actions like going back, returning to the home page, and turning off the screen much more convenient by allowing users to keep their grip and not have to move their thumb around too much. These actions can be customised to the user's liking and are available from the lockscreen, making one-handed operation a breeze.

T9 dialer with Hindi search: MIUI will support T9 Hindi search on the dialer. It also enables users to search more than 1000 public numbers of the most popular businesses in India, automatically bringing up the number to make outgoing calls.

Photo gallery: It comes with several optimisations such as quick share controls where users can swipe up to share and change filters with a tap. They can also doodle on photos and make use of a native video editor with various effects and music.

Improved SMS recharge service: Mi India has partnered with Mobikwik to streamline the SMS recharge service for MIUI users. When users receive a message from their telecom or DTH service provider informing them of a low balance, it will provide an automatic option of ‘Recharge Now’. New users will get a special 50% cashback on their first Mobikwik recharge and existing Mobikwik customers will get a 10% cashback on their first recharge every month.

Beta testing for MIUI 8 in India will begin from 11 July on Mi Max, Mi 5, Mi 4i, Mi 4, Mi 3, Mi 2 and Redmi Note 3, Redmi Note 2, Redmi Note Prime, Redmi Note, Redmi 2 Prime, Redmi 2, Redmi 1s. All supported smartphones will be updated to MIUI 8 by 16 August.

The beta will be available for download on our new Mi Community site at c.mi.com and on the MIUI forum at en.miui.com.