Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 855 platform is what you’ll find in flagship smartphones due this year. For example, the Galaxy S10 will be using this platform in markets like the United States. Xiaomi’s Redmi sub-brand may be looking to launch a Snapdragon 855-based affordable smartphone. It’s not as preposterous as it sounds.
Redmi used to be a smartphone series under Xiaomi but the Chinese company recently decided to spin it off as a separate brand. It will now be offering affordably priced devices under its own label.
The Redmi Note 7 is the brand’s first device after being spun out of Xiaomi. It has a 48 megapixel camera and costs around $150. Xiaomi president Lei Jun has now said that the brand will be developing an affordably priced handset which will be using the Snapdragon 855 mobile platform. He expects that it will be priced below $400.
This won’t be the first time that a Xiaomi sub-brand will be launching an affordable smartphone with a top-notch chip. Take the Pocophone F1 for example. It launched for around $350 with a Snapdragon 845 processor last year.
No further details about this device have been revealed as yet. It’s unclear how much it’s going to actually cost and when we can expect it to arrive. Whether or not it will be released outside China remains a mystery as well.