Ever since Xiaomi set foot in India with the Mi 3, it has gone from strengths to strengths, even overtaking Samsung to become the No. 1 selling smartphone brand in the subcontinent. Last year, it took another step in the right direction by launching the Mi A1, which was its first Android One phone and it proved to be a huge success too. This year, Xiaomi has announced the Mi A2 already, and it’ll soon be entering the Indian market. So we take a look at what all has changed from last year and is it a worthy upgrade?
Mi A2 vs Mi A1: Design, Display
Not much has changed in terms of design here. The Mi A1 was a premium feeling smartphone with its beautiful unibody metal design and curved edges. The Mi A2 features a very similar feeling design, although its thinner than the A1, which also means that it has got a slightly bigger camera hump at the back. The rear cameras on the Mi A1 were placed horizontally, much like the iPhone 7 Plus, whereas on the Mi A2 they come stacked vertically, not too different from the iPhone X. On the front of the device, is where we see the first major difference. The Mi A2 comes with an 18:9 extra tall 5.99-inch IPS display with FHD+ resolution, whereas the Mi A1 came with a 16:9 5.5-inch IPS LCD panel. The display on the Mi A1 was great when it came to color reproduction and brightness levels though, and the A2 should be no slouch either.
Mi A2 vs Mi A1: Performance, Hardware
The Mi A1 became an instant hit with the audiences because of the performance it delivered at its price point. It came with 4GB of RAM coupled with 64 gigs of storage. The phone was running on an octa-core Snapdragon 625 processor and also had support for expandable storage via the hybrid sim card slot. The Mi A2 improves on the A1 by packing in the versatile Snapdragon 660 processor with Adreno 512 GPU. It will initially launch in only one variant – 4GB RAM coupled with 64GB internal storage, however, there’s also a 6GB RAM, 128GB storage variant which could be made available later this year. Notably, the Mi A2 doesn’t have support for expandable storage. However, it does have Dual SIM card slots.
Mi A2 vs Mi A1: Software, Battery, Other features
Another thing that the Mi A2 misses out on is the 3.5mm headphone jack, which might be a deal-breaker for some. Although Xiaomi is kind enough to pack in a 3.5mm to USB-C type converter with the phone. The Mi A2 also has support for QuickCharge 4.0 exclusively for India, however, the charger provided in the box is a standard charger.
As for the software, both these phones are Android One phones and thus come with stock Android software and also the promise of faster updates directly from Google. While the Mi A1 launched with Android Nougat 7.1.2 out of the box, the Mi A2 launches with Android Oreo 8.1. Not much has changed when it comes to the battery capacity. The Mi A1 featured a modest 3080mAh battery, while the Mi A2 features an almost similar 3000mAh cell.
Mi A2 vs Mi A1: Camera, Imaging
The Mi A1 really stunned the world with its cameras and the Mi A2 will need to beat that to win the customers’ hearts again. The Mi A1 featured a dual 12MP (f/2.2) + 12MP (f/2.6) camera setup at the back, with dual LED dual-tone flash, HDR support, and PDAF. The Mi A2 improves on that, at least on paper with a primary 12 MP (f/1.8) shooter, tied to a secondary 20MP (f/1.8) depth sensor. Both of these phones are capable of taking portrait mode pictures with bokeh effect. The front camera also sees a massive jump from 5MP on the Mi A1 to 20MP on the Mi A2, this time also with an LED flash, meaning you can be assured of getting great selfies in any lighting conditions.
Mi A2 vs Mi A1: Price in India
The Mi A1 launched at an attractive price point of Rs.13,999. The Mi A2 has been priced at 250 euros (~INR 20,000) in Europe, but we expect its India pricing to be around Rs.17,000. We’ll get to know the final pricing of the device when it is officially launched in India on August 8th. But Xiaomi will definitely not price the Mi A2 lower than the Redmi Note 5 Pro which retails for Rs.16,999 for its top model.
Are you excited about the Mi A2? Do let us know what you think of the phone in the comments below and stay tuned for our live coverage of the launch event and the full review of the Mi A2.