Xiaomi Mi Note 3 is just a Mi 6 Plus with Snapdragon 660

The Mi Mix 2 wasn’t the only new smartphone that Xiaomi launched today as the company also announced the Mi Note 3. The successor of the Mi Note 2 looks exactly the same as the Mi 6 and does seem like a bigger variant of the same. However, the Xiaomi Mi Note 3 comes with some notables differences. Read on to know them along with the specifications and pricing of the latest handset.

Xiaomi Mi Note 3 specifications

Starting with the exteriors, the Mi Note 3 is absolutely identical to the Mi 6 with a slightly larger dimension. The 3D glass back with 7000 series aluminum chassis looks and feels quite good. There is a fingerprint scanner at the front, neatly tacked inside a layer of glass. The Mi Note 3 sports a 5.5-inch Full HD display covered with a 2.5D curved glass.

Moving inside, you will find the Snapdragon 660 SoC with its eight Kyro 260 cores clocked at 2.2 GHz and Adreno 512 GPU. Memory-wise, there is 6 GB of RAM and up to 128 GB of storage. While the RAM is the top-end LPDDR4x type, the storage is the inferior eMMC 5.1. In comparison, the Xiaomi Mi 6 comes with a faster UFS 2.0 / 2.1 memory.

Regarding software, the Mi Note 3 runs MIUI 9 with Android Nougat out of the box.

Coming to the optics, the same dual 12 MP dual camera module of the Mi 6 sits at the back of the Mi Note 3. For starters, this camera setup consists of one 12 MP wide-angle shooter and another 12 MP telephoto unit. This can facilitate 2x optical zoom just like the Mi 6 or Mi 5X. Fortunately, Xiaomi has included the 4-axis optical image stabilization in the Mi Note 3.

Talking of the selfie camera, the bigger device has a better 16 MP front snapper in contrast to the 8 MP unit of the Mi 6. This is certainly a boon for the selfie enthusiasts.

The Mi Note 3 doesn’t leave any stones unturned when it comes to connectivity. Being a Qualcomm powered the handset, it supports almost all of the planet’s cellular networks, starting from 2G, tile 4G LTE and VoLTE. Moreover, there is 2x2 MIMO dual band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 5.0, GPS, USB Type-C port and other necessary options.

The newly launched smartphone also has a barometer and infrared sensor. A 3500mAh battery juices up the Mi Note 3.

Xiaomi Mi Note 3 availability and pricing

The Xiaomi Mi Note 3 shall first go on sale in China on 12th September 2017 with a starting price of RMB 2499 (Rs. 24,500 or 380 USD approx.). As of now, there is no news about global availability. That said, the Mi Note 3 has a very little chance of launching in India and Xiaomi hasn’t even brought the Mi 6 in the country. However, you may buy the phone from any China-based reseller and install a global variant of the MIUI 9 on it.

Disclaimer: Xiaomi paid for TechRadat India’s travel and stay in Beijing.