Last year in September, Chinese smartphone brand Xiaomi launched its first Android One smartphone – the Mi A1. The Mi A1 was launched in India first and was then rolled out in other countries. Well now today, at an event held in New Delhi, Xiaomi has launched successor to the Mi A1 in India – the Xiaomi Mi A2.
The Xiaomi Mi A2, along with Mi A2 Lite, was announced last month at a Global Launch Event in Madrid, Spain. Last year’s Mi A1 was a re-branded Mi 5X that was running stock Android, and, Xiaomi has continued that trend this year as well. The Mi A2 is a re-branded Mi 6X that was launched in China in April, and, the Mi A2 Lite is a re-branded Redmi 6 Pro that was launched in China in June. But, as the Mi A2 is an Android One smartphone, it runs stock version of Android Oreo instead of MIUI which is Xiaomi’s custom Android skin.
The Xiaomi Mi A2 flaunts uni-body aluminium design and sports a 5.99-inch display that has aspect ratio of 18:9 and a resolution of 2160 x 1080 pixels. This results in smaller bezels on the smartphone when compared with last year’s Mi A1 that came with 5.5-inch 16:9 display. Oh, and yes, the Mi A2 also comes with 2.5D Gorilla Glass 5 which makes it the first Xiaomi smartphone to come with Gorilla Glass 5 protection.
That said, as the Mi A2 comes with smaller bezels, the capacitive navigation buttons that were present below the display on the Mi A1 are absent on the Mi A2, hence, you now have to use on-screen navigation buttons for… well… navigating across the UI.
Under the hood, the Xiaomi Mi A2 comes with Snapdragon 660 SoC running the show which is paired with 4 and 6 GB RAM. The 4 GB RAM variant comes with 32 GB and 64 GB storage options, whereas, the 6 GB RAM variant comes with 128 GB of storage. But, in India, Xiaomi has decided to skip the 32 GB variant.
For photography, the Xiaomi Mi A2 comes with dual cameras at the back and a single 20 MP camera on the front. The dual camera setup at the back consists of one 12 MP and one 20 MP snapper – both of which have f/1.75 aperture – however, the 20 MP camera comes with telephoto lens that offers 2x lossless zoom. And, as this is 2018, the Mi A2 comes with AI-based camera features like AI Scene Recognition, AI Portrait Mode and AI Beauty Mode.
Like its predecessor, the Mi A2 also features a fingerprint scanner at the back, but, it also comes with AI Face Unlock that lets you unlock the smartphone using your face. The Mi A2 comes with a USB Type-C port at the bottom, but, it doesn’t come with a 3.5 mm headphone jack which could be a downer for many.
The smartphone is offered in four different colors – Black, Gold, Rose Gold and Lake Blue – and, it comes packed with a 3010 mAh battery. What’s worth noting here is that the Mi A2 comes with Quick Charge 4+ support exclusively for the Indian market, with customers in other countries getting Quick Charge 3.0. However, do note that customers both in India and abroad will have to buy the Quick Charge 3.0/4+ adapter separately if they want to leverage these fast charging speeds as Xiaomi bundles its 10W (5V/2A) charger that cannot offer those fast charging speeds.
The Xiaomi Mi A2 being an Android One smartphone runs stock version of Android Oreo that we already mentioned, but, it also comes with promise of two years of Android version updates and three years of security updates. However, given how bad Xiaomi’s record has been with the Mi A1 in the software department, we are a bit skeptical about the roll-out of version updates for the Mi A2.
That being said, if it’s not clear already, the Mi A2 will receive Android Pie update, and, it also comes with Google Lens and unlimited storage for high-quality photos on Google Photos.
Xiaomi Mi A2 Specifications
- CPU: 2.2 GHz Snapdragon 660 octa-core processor
- RAM: 4/6 GB LPDDR4X
- GPU: Adreno 512
- Operating System: Android 8.1 Oreo (upgradeable to Android 9.0 Pie)
- Display: 5.99-inch Full-HD+ (2160 x 1080 pixels) LCD display with 18:9 aspect ratio and 2.5D Curved Gorilla Glass 5
- Rear Camera: 12 MP Sony IMX486 (f/1.75 aperture, 1.25 μm large pixels) + 20 MP Sony IMX376 (telephoto lens with f/1.75 aperture, 2.0 μm large pixels) with AI Portrait Mode, 2x lossless zoom, AI Scene Recognition (up to 206), AI Object Recognition, AI Real-Time Language Translation, AI Currency Conversion, 4K video at 30fps, Auto-HDR, EIS and dual-tone LED flash
- Front Camera: 20 MP Sony IMX376 with 2.0 μm large pixels, Auto-HDR, AI Portrait Mode, AI Scene Recognition, AI Smart Beauty 4.0 and Soft Selfie Light
- Internal Storage: 32 GB (with 4 GB RAM), 64 GB (with 4 GB RAM), 128 GB (with 6 GB RAM)
- SIM: Dual Nano
- Connectivity: Dual 4G VoLTE, GPS, Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, USB Type-C (no 3.5 mm headphone jack)
- Other: Fingerprint Scanner, IR Blaster AI Face Unlock, Google Lens, Unlimited High-Quality Google Photos Storage
- Colors: Black, Gold, Rose Gold, Lake Blue
- Battery: 3010 mAh with Quick Charge 4+ (exclusively in India)
Xiaomi Mi A2 Price in India and Availability
- Price of 4 GB RAM + 64 GB storage variant: ₹16,999
- Price of 6 GB RAM + 128 GB storage variant: To be announced
- Availability: Available exclusively on Amazon India, Mi.com, Mi Home Stores and Mi Preferred Partner Stores. Pre-orders begin tomorrow at 12 pm on Amazon India and Mi.com. First flash sale on August 16 at 12 pm.
Xiaomi Mi A2 Offers
- No-cost EMI
- Cashback of ₹2200 from Reliance Jio as well as additional data of up to 4.5 Terabytes
