Xiaomi Mi A1 Price in India is ₹14,999 : Should Xiaomi Release It In The Philippines?

Xiaomi first became popular in its homeland China as a maker of Android devices that allow consumers to experience flagship-level features without having to break the bank.

Through strong handset releases that reinforced this image year after year as well as the brand's efforts to bring its products to other markets around the world, Xiaomi has steady grown into a global powerhouse that bigger manufacturers have to contend with.

Proudly made in India - a country whose ever-growing mobile market is Xiaomi's apple of the eye currently, the all-new Xiaomi Mi A1 is the company's latest effort to put top-of-the-line hardware at arms' reach of mid-level consumers.

I would like to give credit to GeekyRanjit for all photos that I used in this blog post. Ranjit is one of my favorite Youtube tech vloggers from India.

Priced at only 14,999 Indian Rupees or roughly Php 11,950 with current conversion, this model already is already equipped with a 5.5-inch Full HD IPS display, a diamond-cut unibody aluminum enclosure, and a Dual Rear Camera module -- features you'd usually find on smartphones that cost twice or thrice as much!

The phone's Dual Rear Camera set-up - made up of two 12 MegaPixel optics with varying focal points and apertures - gives the handset 2X lossless zoom capability and allows it to mimic bokeh or shallow depth of field in shots where the background of the subject in portrait mode is beautifully blurred. This is more or less the same Dual Cam functionality of the far more expensive Apple iPhone 7 Plus.

The handset's clear and crisp display lies underneath a 2.5D Curved Gorilla Glass panel that fits the svelte real metal enclosure perfectly, making the device look and feel both durable and elegant.

Other notable features of this phone include the 5 MegaPixel f/2.0 front camera for selfies, the Fingerprint Scanner, Dual SIM Dual Standby capability, 4G LTE support, and the non-removable 3,080 mAh battery pack.

Under the hood, Xiaomi Mi A1 has 4GB of RAM for multitasking and 64GB of internal storage that the user can easily beef up using the secondary hybrid nanoSIM slot that also supports microSD card memory expansion. As an Android One release, the device runs its pure Android 7.1.2 Nougat operating system with a 14nm Octa-Core 2.0 GHz ARM Cortex-A53 and Adreno 506 GPU based Qualcomm MSM8953 Snapdragon 625; An Android 8.0 Oreo software upgrade is already lined up.

The Xiaomi Mi A1 is cool and all -- but as a Filipino mobile consumer, I have one problem with it. You see, as of writing, Xiaomi still doesn't have an HQ in our country, which is odd -- considering that the Philippines is the fastest growing market for mobile devices in the entire Asia Pacific. So yeah, there's no guarantee that the Chinese brand would bother to officially bring it here. As such, I join all Pinoy Xiaomi fans in hoping that the company would considering releasing this interesting model here and offer after-sales support for it.

TechPinas Smartphone Technical Specs Table (TSTST) Name : Xiaomi Mi A1
Type : Slate Form Factor (Full Touchscreen)
Price Category : Midrange
Dimensions : 155.4 x 75.8 x 7.3 mm
Weight : 165 grams
Available Colors : Gold, Black, Rose Gold
Operating System : Android 7.1.2 Nougat with MIUI (Planned upgrade to Android 8.0 Oreo)
Display : 5.5 inches (~70.1% screen-to-body ratio), 1080 x 1920 pixels (~403 ppi pixel density), LTPS IPS LCD Display, capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass
Processor : Octa-Core 2.0 GHz ARM Cortex-A53, Adreno 506 GPU, Qualcomm MSM8953 Snapdragon 625 chipset
RAM : 4GB RAM
Internal Storage : 64GB ROM, expandable via hybrid secondary nanoSIM slot with microSD card support, 256GB
Camera : Back: Dual Camera - 12 Megapixels (26mm focal point, f/2.2 aperture) + 12 MegaPixels (50mm focal point, f/2.6 aperture), phase detection autofocus (PDAF), 2x optical zoom, Dual Tone LED flash
Front: 5 MegaPixels, f/2.0 aperture
Video Capture : Back: 4K 30fps, 720p 120fps
Front: Full HD
Audio and Video Playback : MP3, WAV, eAAC+, FLAC, MP4, H.264
Ports : USB Type-C 1.0 reversible connector, 3.5mm combo jack
Connectivity : Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Wi-Fi Direct, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth 4.2, A2DP, LE, LE, 3G HSPA+; 4G LTE
GPS : A-GPS, GLONASS, BDS
FM Radio : TBC
Sensors : Accelerometer, Digital Compass, Proximity, Gyroscope, Fingerprint Scanner
Network : 2G bands GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 - SIM 1 and SIM 2,
3G HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100
4G LTE band 1(2100), 3(1800), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40(2300), 41(2500)
SIM Card Type : Dual SIM = nanoSIM + Hybrid nanoSIM
Battery : Non-Removable 3,0800 mAh Li-Ion battery
Uptime : TBD
Value-Added Features : Dual Camera Module, Sleek Design, Metal Shell
Announcement : Global - September 5, 2017
Availability : Philippines - TBA (Guesstimate - October 2017)
Price : Online Price Tag - ₹14,999 in India
Guesstimate in the Philippines - Php 12,000 to Php 12,500