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Mi 11 Series

Xiaomi Launches Mi 11 Series 5G Smartphones, Ultra, Pro, Lite Along with a Mi Band 6.

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Xiaomi just launched its new Mi 11 series 5G smartphones in China on Monday. The smartphones include the Mi 11 Ultra, Mi 11 Pro, and Mi 11 Lite. Xiaomi had launched the Mi 11 series recently in December 2020, and these three smartphones are an addition to the series. The Mi 11 series is known to be the first to incorporate the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 processor into its smartphones.  Along with three smartphones, the company has come with its Mi Smart Band 6, a successor to the Xiaomi Smart Band 5.

Mi 11 Ultra

Mi 11 Ultra comes with a 120Hz refresh rate E4 AMOLED display (3,200× 1,440 pixels), featuring the quad-curved 6.81-inch 2K WQHD and 240Hz touch sampling rate. Along with the support for HDR10+ and Dolby Vision, it also includes the Corning Gorilla Glass Victus protection. Another addition to the new features of the Mi 11 Ultra smartphone is the 1.1-inch AMOLED (126×294 pixels) secondary display on the back for providing people with the facility for clicking pictures by looking into it. This display will also show notifications, battery level, and weather alerts, etc. It will also be able to mirror the front display.

Mi 11 Series
Image Source: blog.mi.com

Talking about the camera, the smartphone comes with a triple camera setup for the rear. The setup has opted for the 50MP Samsung GN2 primary wide-angle sensor with an f/1.95 aperture, LED, laser autofocus, and Optical Image Stabilisation (OIS), a 48MP Sony IMX586 ultra-wide-angle with a with OIS and f/2.2 lens as well as a 48MP tele-macro camera sensor with 5x optical zoom, 120x digital zoom and OIS. The camera is capable of recording 4K videos. The front camera of the smartphone is 20MP.

Dimension wise the Mi 11 Ultra is 164.3mm X 74.6mm X 8.8mm and weighs around 225 grams. It is also IP68 rated water and dust resistance. Mi 11 Ultra is packed with Adreno 660 GPU and supports up to 12GB LPDDR5 RAM as well as up to 512GB UFS 3.1 storage. It includes a 5,000mAh battery, a 67W wired C-port, along wireless charging support. It also offers support for 10W reverse wireless charging. The smartphone comes with an in-display fingerprint sensor.

Mi 11 Pro

Mi 11 Pro inherits almost every feature from the Mi 11 Ultra, except the latter has a better camera quality and a secondary display on the back. Mi 11 Pro has a similar 6.81-inch and a similar Corning Gorilla Glass Victus. From battery to charging system, as well as being water and dust resistant, all is the same as the Mi 11 Ultra.

Coming to the camera, Mi 11 Pro also has a triple setup on the rear. The three cameras include a similar 50MP Samsung GN2 primary sensor with an f/1.95 lens and OIS, a 13MP ultra-wide-angle secondary camera with an f/2.4 lens and a 123-degree FoV, and an 8MP tele-macro tertiary camera with an f/3.4 lens, OIS, supporting a 50x digital zoom as well as a 5x optical zoom. The smartphone has a similar 20MP front camera.

Mi 11 Lite

The Mi 11 Lite is has got a 6.55-inch HD+ AMOLED display with a 90Hz refresh rate and support for HDR10+ and Dolby Vision. This smartphone has a similar Corning Gorilla Glass 6 protection as the two other smartphones from the same series. Mi 11 Lite is packed with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 780G SoC and paired with Adreno 642 GPU. The smartphone boasts support for up to 8GB RAM and up to 256GB 2.2 storage which is expandable up to 512GB.

The Camera setup for the MI 11 Lite has also got three different cameras on the rear. It has a 64MP primary sensor, an 8MP ultra-wide-angle sensor, and a 5MP macro sensor. The front camera of the smartphone is also a 20MP camera.

The Mi 11 Lite comes with a Type-C port for charging and a 4,250mAh battery with support for 33W fast charging. As the name suggests, the Mi 11 Lite is the lightest smartphone in the series weighing 159 grams. with 160.53×75.72×6.81mm dimensions.

Mi Smart Band 6

Mi Band 6 is a wrist band with a 1.56-inch (152 x 486 pixels) AMOLED touchscreen display which is bigger than the Mi Band 5. It comes with a 125mAh battery that takes 2 hours to get fully charged and can provide up to 14 days standby time. The band comes with a sensor for supporting up to 30 sports models and can auto-identify activities like walking, running, indoor treadmills, and cycling. The band is capable of measuring the blood pressure, blood oxygen (SpO2), and heart-rate of the user. It can also track the sleep habits of the user.

Pricing and Availability

All three smartphones from Xiaomi Mi 11 series will come in different variants depending upon the RAM and storage size. The Mi 11 Ultra 8GB RAM + 256GB storage model is is priced at CNY 5,999 (around Rs. 66,400). The 12GB + 256GB storage variant CNY is for 6,499 (around Rs. 72,000) and the 12GB RAM + 512GB storage variant is available for CNY 6,999 (around Rs. 77,500). The top-line smartphone comes in Black and White color options, along with a White Ceramic Special Edition.

The Mi 11 Pro 8GB RAM + 128GB storage model price starts at CNY 4,999 (around Rs. 55,400). The 8GB RAM + 256GB storage variant costs around CNY 5,299 (around Rs. 58,700) and the 12GB RAM + 256GB storage model is priced at CNY 5,699 (around Rs. 63,100). There are three colour option for the same, i.e. Black, Green, and White.

The starting price for the Mi 11 Lite 5G is set to be CNY 2,299 (around Rs. 25,500) for the 8GB RAM + 128GB storage variant. Mi 11 Lite 8GB RAM + 256GB storage variant costs around CNY 2,599 (around Rs. 28,800). The phone comes in three colors, including Citrus Yellow, Mint Green, and Truffle Black.

Xiaomi has launched two variants of the Mi Band 6 and will be available in eight different colors. The Vanilla variant of the watch will cost CNY 229 (around Rs. 2,500), and the special edition with NFC will be available for around CNY 279 (around Rs 3,000).

The company has started the pre-sales for the Mi 11 Ultra and Mi 11 Pro from 10 pm CST on Monday, March 29 (7.30 pm IST). The company revealed that the Mi 11 Ultra and Mi 11 Pro will become available in China starting from 2 April. The Mi 11 Lite 5G will go on sale later this month.

Xiaomi Mi 11

New Xiaomi Mi 11 launched globally on a virtual event: Features, price, and availability.

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On 8th February 2021, Xiaomi’s new Mi 11 launch was announced globally at an online event. The new Mi 11 is the flagship phone of the company that was unveiled in China in December 2020. Xiaomi Mi 11 comes with the Qualcomm Snapdragon processor of 888 SoC and many other jaw-dropping features to get added to your cart this year. Mi 11 has a storage of 256 GB along with a 2K display and a hole-punch design. The company along with revealing the Mi 11 also announced the launch of MIUI 12.5. It will also roll out across the globe.

MIUI 12.5 is going to give the customers a revamped UI experience as it will reduce the CPU usage of apps by 22 percent and also increase power efficiency by 15 percent. The new MIUI 12.5 will be incorporated in the upcoming models of Mi including Mi 11 which will be available in the second quarter of 2021. So, let’s have a detailed look into the specifications of Mi 11 along with its price and availability.

Specifications of Mi 11

The new Mi 11 will run on Android 10 integrated with the newly revealed MIUI 12.5. This new smartphone is featuring a dual sim (nano), 6.81 inches 2K display with 1440X3200 pixels AMOLED display Mi flagship product. The weight of the phone is 196 grams. The display of Mi 11 has Corning Gorilla Glass Victus protection along with 1,500 nits of peak brightness (Gadgets 360). The refresh rate of the display is 120Hz and the touch sampling rate goes up to 480Hz. As mentioned above, the phone is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 888 Soc. It also has an LPDDR5 8GB RAM.

The Mi phones are also famous for having a good quality camera system within an affordable price range. The new Mi 11 has a brilliant camera system that will be the first choice of many budding photographers and content creators out there. This new Mi 11 has a triple rear camera flaunting a primary sensor of 108 megapixels with a lens of aperture f/1.85. The lens is also provided with great optical stabilization. Along with it, the secondary lens has a 13-megapixel sensor with an ultra-wide-angle view.

Xiaomi Mi 11
Image Source: zee5.com

The aperture of the secondary lens is f/2.4 with a field of view of 123 degrees. Sit tight because that’s not all of it. The new Mi 11 has a telenacro shooter of 5 megapixels. It’s really unbelievable that a phone camera is decked up with so many features for the camera system and not to mention the integrated Artificial Intelligence system for adding features like Time Freeze, Freeze Frame, Magic Zoom, etc. The selfie camera, i.e., the front camera has a 20-megapixel sensor and that is the entire camera system of Mi 11.

The storage of Mi 11 is also adequate with 256 GB UFS 3.1 storage. The network connectivity options are 5G, 4G, LTE, Wifi, 6E, and Bluetooth 5.2. Mi 11 has a USB Type-C port and some of the other connectivity options are GPS/A-GPS, NFC, and Infrared (IR). The fingerprint sensor which is present in the display of Mi 11 can also be used as a heart rate sensor.  The battery of Mi 11 is a 4,600 mAh battery. Mi 11 supports the Mi Turbocharger of 55W and wireless charging of 50W. The reverse charging support of Mi 11 gives up to 10W of wireless charging. 

Price and availability

The price of Mi 11 starts from Rs 65,800 approximately. This price is set for the Mi 11 model with an 8GB + 128GB variant. The price of the Mi 11 providing 8GB and 256GB of storage is roughly Rs 70,100. Another variant of the Mi 11 which comes with the 12GB and 128GB combo is limited to the Chinese market. The phone comes in three color options which are Cloud White, Horizon Blue, and Midnight Grey. The phones offer a two-year warranty and one-time screen replacement which is for one year. Apart from the upcoming Mi 11 models this year, the company will also launch Mi 11 special edition which is going to be very exclusive.

Xiaomi

US government blacklisted Xiaomi and eight more Chinese companies

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Though Joe Biden won the last presidential election in the US, Trump is not making his departure easy on China. From last year especially with the breakout of COVID-19, the US government has taken many harsh decisions against China. First, it started with Trump accusing China of the breakout of the novel coronavirus which was followed by attacking their trade relation. Trump issued the ban of TikTok and similar apps from the US and recently he barred any US transaction using Alipay and 8 other Chinese apps. Last weekend, which was the last week for Trump in the White House, he blacklisted Xiaomi and 8 eight Chinese companies in the US.

The US government blacklisted these nine companies due to alleged military links which also include Commercial Aircraft of China and one of the largest Chinese oil companies. Blacklisting these companies also put the US investors in a big dilemma who put their money in these Chinese companies.

Xiaomi on defense statement

Banning Xiaomi from the US will affect both the company and its stakeholders. After Trump and his government decided to blacklist these nine Chinese companies, Xiaomi put out a statement on Twitter that they are “not owned, controlled, or affiliated” in any way to the Chinese military. The company further mentioned that they will take proper action in the best interest of its stakeholders. Xiaomi is a very popular company for its smartphones and has a market across 90 countries so far. Last year, the company even outrun Apple in terms of selling smartphones in the third quarter. Even in the pandemic, the company has made huge sales as it rose to CNY 53.54billion in the second quarter of 2020.

The question is how the citizens of the US will respond to this since Trump lost the last election to Biden. There has been a huge tension growing between Beijing and the White House putting giant tech companies and their stakeholders in the crosshair. Though Biden didn’t make any comments even when transactions with Alipay and other Chinese companies were banned last month, people are curious to see how Biden responded to this Sino-US tension.

Xiaomi
Image Source: ft.com

Blacklisting China National Offshore Oil Corp

CNOOC is one of the other 8 Chinese companies that the Commerce Department has but in the entity list. Being added to the entity list means the US firms are now barred from trading with these companies. The US firms don’t have the permission to transfer technology without any further notice or grant from the US government. Under Trump’s administration, the list seems neverending as every month we find banning of some other Chinese companies on the news headlines.

According to Gadgets 360, CNOOC has been involved in many activities having connections to the disrupted waters of the South China Sea. CNOOC carried out offshore drilling operations in this region which confirms the soring relationship between Beijing and other nations like Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, etc. This proves that not only the Sino-US relation is under a lot of stress but also many Asian countries have an objection to China’s territorial claims. A few months ago, tension escalated between India and China due to the dispute in LAC. US thinks that these reckless actions of China for militarisation will have an impact on the US’s national security as well.

China’s militarization efforts

Responding to the territorial claims of China and actions in the South China Sea, US Commerce Secretary, Wilbur Ross, commented that China’s rigorous attempts to acquire “sensitive intellectual property and technology” possess a threat to the national security of the US as well as the international community. He further adds that CNOOC acts like a bully trying to intimidate the neighboring nations of China so that the Chinese military “continues to benefit from government civil-military fusion policies” with evil motives.CNOOC denied commenting at the moment. Skyrizon, another Chinese company in aerospace technology has also been blacklisted.

Both China and the US are very powerful nations that now seem to stop at nothing. Over the past year, many decisions to suppress the influence of Chinese companies in the US have been taken which will affect the economy of China. But, if China retaliates and the stakes are high, both nations will shift from multilateralism to bilateralism. It will become the competition of power and the collateral damage will become unfathomable. 

Apple

Indian Government import hurdles affect Apple and Xiaomi devices

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India and China have been engaging in a war of words for a while now.  The border skirmish that took place in July has led to several disputes and talks which have not led to much. The world also seems to be having a tough time with China due to its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. This has led to an escalation of problems around the world, leading to trade embargos of various kinds. In recent news, India’s stringent quality checks and clearances regarding Chinese goods have led to import troubles for various brands. Here’s a quick look at what impact the control measures will have on the electronics industry.

How Import hurdles affect Apple

The import of goods such as the new iPhone model and several devices by Xiaomi has been delayed due to India’s more stringent quality checks. All electronic goods coming from China now require tight quality clearances, leading to delays in procurement and order fulfillment. Since the release of the new iPhone model early last month, the demand for the phone has been rising in the country. However, industry sources claim that the need for better quality measures has led to a significant slow-down in the import of such goods. In the past, the Bureau of Indian Standards took around 15 days to process such imports. However, recently the same process has been taking up to two months. 

Other Moves

The BIS began to delay the quality checks and reports sometime in August, shortly after the border incident. The delays in quality checks mostly had an impact on the shipping of laptops, smartphones, and smartwatches. Experts believe that this was a direct repercussion of India’s deteriorating ties with China. Since the border skirmish, India has made the rules regarding foreign investment a lot more stringent. While this has made it more difficult for Chinese companies in India, the government has also been pushing for other reforms. Recently, the Indian government banned hundreds of Chinese applications, including some by ByteDance, Alibaba, and Tencent. All three are some of the biggest tech giants in the world, worth billions of US Dollars, and the government banned an additional 43 apps on Tuesday.

Moves from the Electronics Sector

Since these measures have led to a bottleneck in the procurement of the new Apple models, executives from Apple India have begun negotiations. Top executives from the company are talking to BIS to get them to speed up the process of approval. The executives are also providing assurances that the company will shortly set up manufacturing plants in India for local production and assembly. While it remains unclear just how long the delay will extend, both parties refused to comment when asked what their opinion was on the matter. 

Apple

While Apple does have assembly stations in India, newer models, like the iPhone 12, come from China. India has been pushing heavily to set up establishments in India and make the production a local affair. Contract manufacturers in China make a bulk of Apple’s devices which are then shipped to all four corners of the world. As of yesterday, the BIS had over 1080 pending applications for tablets, laptops, and other devices. A staggering 669 of those have been delayed for over 20 days as per reports from the agency’s website. These included several units built in Chinese factories of Wistron and Compal Electronics and Hangzhou Hikvision. Some of these applications have been pending since way back in September, leading to supply chain delays and hiccups.

Boycott Calls

Both nationalist groups and Indian manufacturers have been calling for a complete ban on imported Chinese goods in recent months. On a similar line, Prime Minister Modi has also been heavily pushing an agenda that supports local production and self-reliance. Experts believe that the Ministry of Electronics and IT are pushing Indian manufacturers to produce more goods locally. As per BIS regulations, various electronic devices need to meet specific predefined standards. While the clearance delays do cause problems for large tech giants, it allows Indians to source more locally.

With the festive season coming up, the delays regarding clearance will lead to huge problems for several companies. Since the government restricted the importing of TVs in July, this is another segment that has been affected by recent events. Such moves will have a detrimental impact on brands such as Samsung and Xiaomi. This might be a crucial moment for India as it tries to improve and increase its domestic production.  We will have to wait and see if the delays hurt the electronics sector or give it an impetus to start producing more locally. The latter will lead to the availability of more products while also providing employment opportunities to millions.

ISRO Navic

Xiaomi To Support Navic Technology In Collaboration With Qualcomm

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The contributions of space research organizations are boundless. The extraordinary inventions, the high-tech spacecraft and most importantly satellites have immense applications in our daily lives. Now, we might not be able to spot a difference they are making, but the big picture depends on them. For example, ISRO and Xiaomi have shaken hands to incorporate NAVIC technology in Xiaomi smartphones.

Without smartphones, we can’t survive even one day. They are a very integral part of our life. And, incorporating the NAVIC technology into something so basic in our daily lives proves how crucial is satellite navigation. Currently, the news of bringing this technology in Xiaomi is crawling all over the internet.

What is NAVIC?

NAVIC stands for Navigation with Indian Constellation. It is the operational name for The Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System. The technology is built by ISRO, our very own space organization to monitor real-time positioning and timing. NAVIC mainly covers the Indian mainland and an extended region of 1,500 km around it.

Global navigation is very important for every nation especially for the army, the aircraft, and the navy as well. During the time of war or any hostile situation, a country to have access to the global navigation satellite system. But, it becomes almost impossible to get access to those data. Hence, to overcome this problem ISRO opened a new satellite navigation center in 2013.

ISRO launched NAVIC mainly for military purposes but recent times have shown an expansion of the service. Before Xiaomi and ISRO collaborated, Qualcomm already incorporated the same technology in some of its Snapdragon chipsets. And, the same is now helping Xiaomi to introduce this technology in their smartphones.

In July 2013, ISRO launched the first satellite of this program. It has an accuracy of 1m in public and 0.1 encrypted. Till now nine satellites have been launched from IRNSS.

Past History of Xiaomi

The company’s smartphone sales have grown exponentially over the years. Though it also sells apps and other software, 90% of the company’s revenue comes from the smartphone sell. This surpasses even the revenue of Apple that comes from its mobiles.

The company has made a breakthrough by coming into a joint venture with both ISRO and Qualcomm. But, let’s have a look into its brief history.

Lei Jun founded the company in April 2010. And, in August 2010 it launched its first product which was an android-based MIUI (MI-User Interface). Around 2011, the company started selling its product in the Asian technological markets. In 2012, another new smartphone came into the market and the company started getting bigger.

It is quite a progress for a new company to incorporate such a high-tech geo-positioning system given the competition in the market. At the end of 2013, Xiaomi became the fifth-largest company in China in terms of mobile phones sale. Currently, Xiaomi is working on launching its new operating system, MIUI 12.

Beijing, China is the base of the company’s headquarters. The company also has many international headquarters and one of them is in Singapore.

Xiaomi and NAVIC

The Chinese smartphone company finally confirms that it will be introducing smartphones having NAVIC technology in it. The technology is mainly used as a geo-positioning system in India and for a distance around it. Qualcomm’s snapdragon mobiles unleashed the true power of this machinery.

After an agreement with ISRO regarding this technology, the efforts given by Xiaomi’s R&D are limitless. Xiaomi has made this announcement better by putting the tag of “made in India”. They want to manufacture mobile phones in India as the technology itself is created in this nation.

Features and Advantages

First time a technology which is developed in India is used in the country for manufacturing as well. NAVIC comprises of seven satellites out of which three orbits over the Indian Ocean (geostationary orbit) and the other four can provide positioning with accuracy better than 20m.

One of the main reasons to apply this technology in smartphones is to navigate locations in very rural areas. Along with precise timing, voice and visual navigation are also provided for the benefit of the drivers. So, in 2020, the release of many Xiaomi smartphones will take place with this feature across multiple price points.

Steve Jobs of China: Lei Jun Founder of Xiaomi

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Recognized as the ‘Steve Jobs’ of China, Lei Jun  the Founder of Xiaomi has amassed a net worth of $8.4 billion. Xiaomi Inc. is the world’s fastest growing mobile phone company, who climbed to fourth position in a short span of time.

Lei Jun is not just an entrepreneur but much more than that. He is the mastermind behind the quick and astounding growth of Xiaomi Inc. Since the incubation of this company ten years back, today the company’s net worth is a whopping $45 billion. The company’s motive is to provide quality smartphones with high-end features in affordable price range. And they have stood to their point delivering the smartphones loved by the whole world.

Success only comes after a huge struggle and Lei Jun has faced all those hard times to become the most influential personality today. He was born on 16th December, 1969 in Hubei, China. Jun’s childhood was spent in an under developed industrial area of Wuhan, Central China. He graduated from Mianyang Middle School in 1987 and further went to Wuhan University to take a degree in Computer Science. And in 1991, he came out as a Bachelor’s student of Computer Science.

The most common ‘next step’ after gaining a degree is to find a suitable job. Lei Jun was also in the race to find one. His graduation days were spent in reading about the tech revolutionary Steve Jobs and dreaming to become like him one day. After wandering for a job Lei landed a job offer from Kingsoft, a software giant in China. Just within seven years Lei Jun was announced as the CEO and President of the company. During his time as a CEO Jun started an online bookstore. Joyo.com, in 2000 which went on to become so famous that it became number one fan base for the book lovers till 2004. The rising popularity of Joyo grabbed Amazon’s attention and they acquired it for a mind-blowing price of $75 million.

Lei Jun has made a unique image by not just being a CEO of Kingsoft. He is an active investor who has invested in numerous startups like Vancl.com, YY, UCWeb, etc. Jun has successfully funded more than 70 startups. In the year 2007, Lei Jun faced health complications leading him to resign from the CEO post and settle on Vice Chairman instead. This was when he seriously started thinking upon founding his own dream company, Xiaomi Inc. The company was started and garnered success Jun never even thought of.

Jun was featured in the Top 10 IT figures in 1999, 2000, and 2002. In 2012 the China Central Television chose him as one of the top 10 business leaders in China. Fortune has named Jun as the most powerful business personality in the whole Asia. Jun lives with his wife and two children in China.