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Apple ripoff master Xiaomi just announced worthy iPhone 6 Plus rivals

Published Jan 15th, 2015 7:45AM EST
Xiaomi Mi Note / Pro Specs, Price, Release Date
Image: Xiaomi

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Xiaomi, the Chinese smartphone maker that has seen tremendous success selling affordable Android handsets in China and other markets, and whose various products have more than once heavily borrowed design inspirations from competing Apple products, is now out with a couple of new affordable phablets meant to take on the iPhone 6 Plus.

FROM EARLIER: Company that makes billions ripping off Apple warns people not to buy knockoff versions of its devices

The Mi Note is a high-end smartphone that’s going to be available in two versions in China later this year.

The basic 5.7-inch Mi Note model packs a 1080p display and launches on January 27th in China, costing 2,299 yuan unlocked (or around $370). Other specs include a 2.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor, 3GB of RAM, 16/64GB of storage, 13-megapixel camera, 4-megapixel front-facing camera (similar to HTC’s UltraPixel camera) and 3,000 mAh battery.

The Mi Note Pro, available this March for 3,299 yuan ($520), has a 5.7-inch display with Quad HD resolution (2560 x 1440). The Pro model is also slightly more powerful, as it’s supposed to ship with a 2GHz octa-core Snapdragon 810 processor inside, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, 13-megapixel camera, 4-megapixel front-facing camera (similar to HTC’s UltraPixel camera) and 3,000 mAh battery. and 3,090 mAh battery.

The Mi Note versions are made of glass, including “2.5D” curved Gorilla Glass 3 on the front, and “3D” curved glass on the back, with a metallic frame in the middle. Furthermore, the handsets will also offer dual SIM support.

The handsets might not be the faithful iPhone 6 Plus copies some people expected from Xiaomi, but the company certainly made a point during the announcement to compare their most important features to the iPhone 6 Plus — as it can be easily seen in Engadget’s image gallery for the announcement, available at the source link.

Chris Smith Senior Writer

Chris Smith has been covering consumer electronics ever since the iPhone revolutionized the industry in 2008. When he’s not writing about the most recent tech news for BGR, he brings his entertainment expertise to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and other blockbuster franchises.

Outside of work, you’ll catch him streaming almost every new movie and TV show release as soon as it's available.