Xiaomi Mi Play launched with Waterdrop Notch – A Rebranded POCO F1 for China?

Xiaomi has just launched a new smartphone in China. This smartphone is named as the Xiaomi Mi Play. Now, this launch from Xiaomi is believed to be their last one in 2018. Also, the Xiaomi Mi Play becomes the first smartphone to launch in their Mi Play series.

As for the highlights, the smartphone comes with a 19:9 display and has a waterdrop style notch too. On the back, the Xiaomi Mi Play has dual cameras. The bezels on the Xiaomi Mi Play are pretty visible from all the sides.

Xiaomi Mi Play: A Rebranded POCO F1 for China?

Xiaomi Mi Play comes with a premium-looking gradient back panel. This gradient panel also gives the look of being made from glass. However, it is worth noting that the Xiaomi Mi Play is an entry-level mid-range smartphone only. Therefore, the smartphone’s look and feel are extremely well-built. As for the display, the Xiaomi Mi Play has a 5.84-inch full-HD+ display. This display comes with a resolution of 1080 x 2280 pixels along with a 19:9 aspect ratio.

On the inside, the Xiaomi Mi Play has an Helio P35 SoC made by MediaTek. Along with that, the Xiaomi Mi Play comes with 4GB of LPDDR4X RAM and IMG GE8320 GPU. The smartphone is based on Android 8.1 Oreo and runs MIUI 10 which is the latest version of Xiaomi’s custom skin of Android.

Xiaomi Mi Play comes with a dual camera setup on the back as mentioned earlier. Xiaomi Mi Play has a 12MP primary camera on the back along with a 2MP secondary one. Of course, there is a rear LED flash too. For selfies, the device has an 8MP camera.

For storage options, there is a 64GB internal storage on the Xiaomi Mi Play which is also expandable. This storage can be expanded with the help of microSD up to 256GB. The battery capacity of the Xiaomi Mi Play is a 3000 mAh non-removable one.

Coming to the launch of Xiaomi Mi Play in China, there were rumors about the device already. However, the rumors also suggested that this device is a rebranded Poco F1 for China. But the device has a different design than the Poco F1 as well as inferior internals than the device from Xiaomi Poco. Therefore, it being a rebranded offering is out of the question. Also, the Mi Play starts at CNY 1099 which is approximately half of what Poco F1 costs.