Chinese smartphone companies back in the day used to be known more for their cheap phones. Today they are becoming quite a force to deal with and have even displaced some more established players in various markets. A good example of that would be Xiaomi who has recently announced the Mi Note 2.
It is a bit ironic that after the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 has been discontinued that Xiaomi was quick to fill the void with a handset that looks pretty similar. Yes, if you can tell from the image above, the Mi Note 2 has dual curved displays on the edge similar to the Note 7 and the Galaxy S7 Edge. With imitation being considered the sincerest form of flattery, it would seem that Xiaomi obviously thinks that Samsung is on the right path.
As for specs, we’re looking at a 5.7-inch QHD display with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 chipset under the hood. It packs a 4,070mAh battery and comes in two variants: one model with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage, and another with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. We’re also looking at a AQSTIC audio processor, a 22.56MP rear-facing camera courtesy of Sony’s IMX318 sensor, and an 8MP front-facing camera.
As for the price, for a phone with specs that are similar-ish to the Note 7, the Mi Note 2 is considerably cheaper. The 4GB RAM model is priced at around $413, while the 6GB RAM variant will go for $516. Unfortunately there was no mention of stateside availability, but then again that’s not too surprising as Xiaomi has yet to officially launch their phones in the US.