On November 12, Xiaomi, which is already the fourth manufacturer in the world in smartphone sales, and third in Spain, celebrated its first anniversary in our country. A celebration that took the opportunity to present its latest star smart device, the Mi 8 series, and announce that in the first eleven months of 2018 it had already sold more than one million terminals in Spain.
Before going into analyzing the new Xiaomi Mi 8 series equipment, it is also worth mentioning that the manufacturer prefers over its competitors a strategy focused on offering the best technology at the tightest and most “honest” price possible, they say, which It has earned it absolute leadership in India, where the four best-selling computers in that country are all of its brand: in this order, Redmi 5A, Redmi Note 5 Pro, Redmi Note 5 and Redmi 5. One in three smartphones that sold in India are from Xiaomi, more than Samsung itself, whose share in that country is 23.9%.
Zero euros, or dollars, was the cost or investment of the terminal firm in Marketing in the first three years of the company’s life, from 2010 to 2013. The success of its teams is based on its particular philosophy. And although it is now when you are starting to spend on promoting yourself, the strategy follows the same path of ‘intelligence’ as that of your smartphone. And if we put on the table, in addition, sales through the online channel, according to the data that the company shared last October in Hong Kong at an event hosted by Qualcomm, Xiaomi is the manufacturer that sells the most in the world. world. 55.8% of all smartphones that were sold in the world in the second quarter of 2018 on the Internet were Xiaomi, followed by Huawei with 7.8%, Samsung with 7.3%, Lenovo with 6.6 % and OnePlus with 3.5%.
Days before announcing the new Mi 8 series, the Chinese company even allowed itself the luxury of making another, much more significant one. Their equipment became part of the Movistar catalog, so they could begin to be sold through its distribution channel. A blow of effect also for its competitors, those who are above, and those who have below. A fact that also coincides with the opening in Spain of 23, among exclusive and authorized, own stores in 14 provinces.
And if we talk about the Mi 8, in its Pro version, a device that I have not had the opportunity to test, the main novelty among its smart features is the appearance of a fingerprint sensor under the screen. Although it is not the first on the market, Huawei was ahead with the Mate 20 Pro, and OnePlus with its 6T version, the difference with other fingerprint technologies is that the pressure sensor only activates the unlocking process once the finger on the screen, which is “faster and more efficient,” according to Xiaomi.
The design does seem original to me, especially the transparent glass back that exposes the ‘guts’ of the terminal. The Mi 8 Pro incorporates the SnapdragonTM 845 processor, the latest from Qualcomm, with a maximum speed of 2.8GHz, and the new Qualcomm AdrenoTM 630 GPU, which offer artificial intelligence (AI) performance three times higher than the previous generation.
Mi 8 has a 12MP dual rear camera with AI, and on the front it has another 20MP that uses binning technology to combine information from four pixels into a large 1.8μm pixel, thus obtaining clearer photos in low light. With the new software features, including the AI-enabled studio lighting feature, the portraits appear to have been taken in a professional studio environment. In addition, Xiaomi’s Beautify 5.0 AI feature offers a number of face retouching effects for portraits. Mi 8 also has facial unlocking thanks to an infrared camera combined with an illuminator, also infrared, that allows unlocking quickly and precisely even in total darkness, something that smartphones from other brands cannot say, but neither have I been able to. Check now that the version I have had to test is the Lite, which neither has a fingerprint sensor on the display – it has it on the back – nor the transparent back, which makes it extremely attractive to the consumer.
Mi 8 Pro can be purchased with an 8GB + 128GB configuration for € 599, while Mi 8 Lite is available in two versions: 4GB + 64GB for € 269, and 6GB + 128GB for € 329.
