Xiaomi Redmi 3 doubles the battery size of the Redmi 2

The Xiaomi Redmi 3 will arrive officially next week on January 12, but that hasn’t stopped Xiaomi from leaking some details on Weibo in advance of the launch. As much as we all love battery life, teasing a new phone with its battery capacity is slightly odd. Nevertheless, a 4,100 mAh battery in the Redmi 3 is sure to please a lot of folks, and for good reason.

When you consider it’s almost double the size of the battery in its predecessor, the Redmi 2 (2,100 mAh), it’s a little clearer why Xiaomi would lead with that little tidbit. Interestingly, this disclosure pretty much stitches up the specs sheet that passed through TENAA last week, detailing yet another solid entry-level device from Xiaomi.

According to the TENAA listing, the Redmi 3 will come with a 5-inch HD TFT LCD display, octa-core SoC clocked at 1.5 GHz, 2 GB of RAM, 16 GB of internal memory with microSD expansion and a 13 MP/5 MP camera combo. Unfortunately, it looks like the Redmi 3 will launch with Android 5.1.1. Lollipop rather than Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

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Of course, we’ll have to wait for the official launch to see if these specs pan out. Speaking of which, a Chinese analyst is claiming the Redmi 3 will actually be powered by the Snapdragon 616 which is clocked at 1.7 GHz and will be priced “higher than expected” due to its metal construction.

It’s hard to say what the expected price is, considering the significant specs bump from the Redmi 2 which was priced at the equivalent of $110. Considering Xiaomi’s low-cost pricing strategy, even with a metal build and massive battery, the Redmi 3 will be unlikely to cross the $150 threshold.

What do you think of Xiaomi phones? Do you think Xiaomi will succeed in the US?