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You can now buy Xiaomi phones in the UK, starting with Mi 8 series, Redmi 6A
- Xiaomi has confirmed that it will begin selling phones and smart home devices in the U.K.
- The Chinese brand revealed the Redmi 6A, Mi 8 and Mi 8 Pro as the first phones that will hit the market.
- Xiaomi will also open its first Mi store in the region on November 18.
Xiaomi has enjoyed significant growth in the European market in recent years, but it seems the Chinese brand is far from done.
Ahead of a possible further move into the U.S. next month, Xiaomi has confirmed that it is bringing the Mi 8, Mi 8 Pro and several other products to the U.K market.
Xiaomi announced its U.K. product portfolio at an event held in London earlier today. The Beijing OEM also reaffirmed its plans to open the first Mi store in the region in London’s enormous Westfield shopping center on November 18.
The star attraction is the Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro, which debuted in China at the end of September. The premium entry in the Mi 8 series comes with 8GB of RAM, and has a £499.99 price tag. Essentially an upgraded version of the regular Mi 8 with an in-display fingerprint sensor, the Mi 8 Pro is outfitted with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 845 SoC, 128GB of storage, and a 3,000mAh battery with Quick Charge 4+.
Meanwhile, the standard Mi 8 packs the same chipset, but offers 6GB or 8GB of RAM, 64GB/128GB/256GB of storage, and a 3,400mAh battery. The Chinese brand didn’t announce a price for the standard model at the launch event.
In addition to the brand new Mi store, you can also grab the flagships from U.K. carrier Three. Xiaomi had previously announced its partnership with Three’s parent company, CK Hutchinson, back in May. Xiaomi also displayed a list of Mi 8 Pro retailers during the launch event, including Amazon, Argos, Carphone Warehouse, and Currys PC World.
The star attraction is the Xiaomi Mi 8 Pro.
The Mi 8 and Mi 8 Pro also feature a 6.21-inch Super AMOLED display (2,248 x 1,080 resolution), a dual-lens rear camera (12MP f/1.8 + 12MP f/2.4) with 2x optical zoom, IR face unlock technology, and runs Android 8.1 Oreo.
Aside from Xiaomi’s blatant iPhone X/iPhone XS lookalike (a comparison Xiaomi really wants people to make), the company is also bringing the Mi Band 3 to the U.K. for £26.99. Xiaomi adds that the first 10,000 Mi Bands will be sold for £19.99. Three has also confirmed that it’ll be selling a special bundle, featuring the Mi Band 3 and Redmi 6A, for £99.99.
The Mi ecosystem releases don’t stop there, as the company is also bringing the Mi Electric Scooter to the market for £399.99 (the first 100 units will be sold for £299.99). And if that’s not enough, the company said it was bringing “dozens” more products to the market, including the Mi Electric Toothbrush, Mi Box streaming box, Mi Smart Kettle, and a 10,000mAh power bank.
Opinion: The Xiaomi Mi 8 is the iPhone X clone nobody wanted: How did we get here?
With Chinese OEMs like Huawei and more recently OnePlus continuing to expand in the U.K. market, it’ll be interesting to see if Xiaomi can follow its local rivals and attract the same level of attention in the region.
Coincidentally, today’s launch comes less than 24 hours after the Pocophone F1 — the year’s hottest flagship killer on a budget from Xiaomi’s new POCOphone sub-brand — became officially available in the U.K. via Amazon.
What do you make of Xiaomi’s latest expansion? Was the Mi 8 Pro the right phone to kickstart its U.K. ambitions, or would the flashier Mi Mix 3 have been a better candidate? Let us know in the comments.