Xiaomi is set to launch its next-gen flagship smartphone for 2019 in the form of the Xiaomi Mi 9. Given that this is a flagship phone, we imagine that the phone will be powered by the latest hardware, and now it seems that Xiaomi themselves have confirmed it themselves, according to Xiang Wang, SVP at Xiaomi.
According to Xiaomi, the upcoming handset is confirmed to be powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 chipset. Wang claims that this is the result of a close collaboration between Xiaomi and Qualcomm. With the use of the Snapdragon 855, the handset is expected to be 45% faster compared to its predecessor.
However given that flagship smartphones of 2019 are largely expected to be powered by the Snapdragon 855, it shouldn’t be a surprise that the Mi 9 will be using the same hardware as well. Xiaomi has yet to officially launch in the US despite the company stating many times in the past that they plan to.
It is unclear if they still have plans to break into the US market, but until then, it seems that the only way for those living stateside to get their hands on the Mi 9 would be to rely on gray market imports and hope that the handset will be compatible with local US carriers.