The kind of success Xiaomi enjoys in India can primarily be attributed to the aggressive pricing of its phones that drag popular mid-range chips to budget price points. At the same time, it must be noted that the camera performance has never been its forte.
With its first Selfie phone, Xiaomi aims to cash in on the selfie fervor, which could be particularly helpful now that it’s eyeing growth in the offline domain.
Xiaomi Redmi Y1 Features and Highlights
The Xiaomi Redmi Y1 is a re-branded version of Redmi Note 5A Prime and has the same hardware.
To start with, Redmi Y1’s selfie claims hinge of a 16MP front shooter, with f/2.0 aperture, LED flash (Selfie-Light) and beautify 3.0 software support. More megapixels is an absurd way of marketing camera quality, but yes, generally the affordable selfie phones that carry the same approach are found to have some selfie merit.
The Redmi Y1 also relies on pixel binning (not something new) to combine data from pixels to eliminate noise.
Also Read: Nokia 2 Quick Review – Beautiful Phone but Tough To Recommend
On the rear, the handset has a 13MP primary camera with standard f/2.2 aperture and LED flash and a fingerprint sensor.
What primarily differentiates it form Redmi 4 (apart from the selfie promise, of course) is its bigger 5.5-inch display size and smaller 3,080mAh battery. The display resolution, however, remains same (720p HD). On the inside, the handset is powered by 1.4GHz octa-core Snapdragon 435 chipset paired with 3GB RAM and 32GB of storage.
Other Redmi Y1 highlights include MIUI 9 (available mid-November), 4G VoLTE support, IR remote, Dedicated MicroSD card slot, Dual SIM, and 2.5D Gorilla Glass 3 protection.
Xiaomi Redmi Y1 India Price and Availability
Xiaomi Redmi Y1 will be available in Gold and Dark Grey color options. The 3GB RAM and 32GB storage variant will cost Rs. 8,999 in India. The 4GB RAM variant with 64GB storage will cost 10,999 INR. It will be available starting November 8 on Amazon.in.
Xiaomi Redmi Y1 Lite Features and Price
Xiaomi also launched a Redmi Y1 Lite, which will be powered by Snapdragon 425 processor a 5.5-inch display, have a dedicated card slot, IR blaster, 3080mAh battery and is missing a fingerprint sensor.
It will be available in 2GB RAM and 16GB storage and will be available for 6,999 INR. It will be available starting November 8 on Amazon.in.
Both the Redmi Y1 and Redmi Y1 Lite will be available at select offline retail stores as well.
Xiaomi Redmi Y1 Launch Live Stream
Xiaomi Redmi Y1 and Redmi Y1 Lite Detailed Specification
| Model | Xiaomi Redmi Y1 | Xiaomi Redmi Y1 lite |
| Display | 5.5-Inch, IPS LCD 720p HD display, Gorilla Glass 3 | 5.5-Inch, IPS LCD 720p HD display, Gorilla Glass 3 |
| Processor | 1.4GHz octa-core Snapdragon 435 processor | 1.4GHz octa-core Snapdragon 425 processor |
| RAM | 3GB | 2GB |
| Internal Storage | 32GB, dedicated microSD card (128GB) | 16GB, dedicated microSD card (128GB) |
| Software | Android 7.0 Nougat based MIUI 9 | Android 7.0 Nougat based MIUI 9 |
| Primary Camera | 13MP sensor, f/2.2 aperture | 13MP sensor, f/2.2 aperture |
| Secondary Camera | 16MP Front-Facing Camera, f/2.0, LED flash, Beautify 3.0 | 5MP Front-Facing Camera |
| Battery | 3080 mAh | 3080 mAh |
| Others | Dual SIM (Nano + Nano), dedicated slot, 4G VoLTE, fingerprint sensor, IR Remote | Dual SIM (Nano + Nano), dedicated slot, 4G VoLTE |
| Dimensions and Weight | 153 x 76.2 x 7.7mm; 153 grams | 153 x 76.2 x 7.55mm; 150 grams |
| Price | Rs. 8,999/ Rs. 10,999 | Rs. 6,999 |
