Back in late May this year, Chinese smartphone brand Xiaomi launched the Mi 8 – its flagship smartphone for 2018. But, alongside the Mi 8, Xiaomi also launched the Mi 8 Explorer Edition. There aren’t too many differences between both these smartphones, except that the Explorer Edition comes with a transparent back, 8 GB RAM, 128 GB storage, IR Face Unlock, and, In-Display Fingerprint Scanner. Well now, one more Xiaomi smartphone has appeared on TENAA that flaunts a transparent back.
A Xiaomi smartphone with model number M1807E8A has been listed on TENAA which is China’s equivalent of USA’s FCC. The TENAA listing of this Xiaomi smartphone not only reveals its design, but also reveals details about the underlying hardware.
Going by the looks of it, this Xiaomi smartphone with model number M1807E8A looks similar to the Mi 8 Explorer Edition – thanks to the transparent back. However, the innards that you are looking at on this smartphone (and the Explorer Edition) aren’t real. This is just a fake circuitry which covers the real one. But, it’s still good to look at.
While this new Xiaomi smartphone does look similar to the Mi 8 Explorer Edition, there is one difference between the two. The notch on the Explorer Edition is quite wide because of the array of sensors it houses for IR Face Unlock. But, on this smartphone that has appeared on TENAA, the notch is smaller. This probably means that IR Face Unlock is gone.
That said, as far as the hardware is concerned, there’s not much differences between the Mi 8 Explorer Edition and this Xiaomi smartphone with model number M1807E8A. However, it’s worth noting that Explorer Edition only comes in 8 GB RAM + 128 GB storage configuration, whereas, this new Xiaomi smartphone comes in 4, 6 and 8 GB RAM options along with 64, 128 and 256 GB storage.The processor under the hood is octa-core which is clocked at 2.8 GHz. This could very well be the Snapdragon 845 that’s present on Explorer Edition.
The camera setup is also the same (12 MP + 12 MP at the back, 20 MP on the front), but, the battery on this new Xiaomi smartphone is smaller than the one on Explorer Edition. The Explorer Edition ships with a 3400 mAh battery whereas this new Xiaomi smartphone has a 2900 mAh battery. The images shared on TENAA’s website don’t show fingerprint scanner on the back of the smartphone, but, the listing confirms that it comes with in-display fingerprint scanner.
Going by all these details, this new Xiaomi smartphone looks like an affordable version of the Mi 8 Explorer Edition. However, there are some reports floating around on the Internet which claim this smartphone to be the Mi Note 4. Well, either way, now that this smartphone has been TENAA certified, we can expect it to be launched soon in China.