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Xiaomi Mi A1, the first Android One smartphone by the Chinese company, has received a permanent price drop of Rs. 1,000 in India and is now available at a price tag of Rs. 13,999. The smartphone was launched in the country back in September at a price of Rs. 14,999. The announcement about the price cut was made by Xiaomi India Managing Director Manu Kumar Jain on Sunday via his Twitter account. “Great news Mi Fans: announcing a permanent price drop of Rs. 1,000 on Mi A1! [sic]” Jain tweeted.
The new Xiaomi Mi A1 price is applicable on purchases via Mi.com and Flipkart. At the time of filing this story, Flipkart has listed the Mi A1 in Gold and Black colour options, while its Rose Gold colour variant is not available. The smartphone is presently not in stock on mi.com.
The price drop makes the competition tougher for models such as Moto G5S Plus, Nokia 6, and the most recently launched Honor 7X that all sit against Xiaomi’s Android One smartphone.
Customers purchasing the Xiaomi Mi A1 via Flipkart can avail an additional five percent discount using Axis Bank Buzz credit card. The online marketplace is also offering no-cost EMI option to purchase the smartphone with monthly installment as Rs. 1,556. Also, there is buyback guarantee at Rs. 99 to give customers a guaranteed value on exchanging the smartphone for a new purchase on Flipkart at a later date.
The Xiaomi Mi A1 (review) features a 5.5-inch full-HD (1080×1920 pixels) display with Corning Gorilla Glass protection. The smartphone is powered by an octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 625 processor, coupled with 4GB of RAM and 64GB onboard storage that is expandable via microSD card (up to 128GB) in a hybrid dual-SIM configuration. There is a dual camera setup with two 12-megapixel image sensors – one in 1.25-micron pixel size and with a wide-angle, f/2.2 aperture lens and the other one in 1-micron pixel size and with an f/2.6 aperture telephoto lens. The camera setup offers 2x optical zoom and features such as a Portrait Mode. Also, a 5-megapixel camera sensor is available on the front with a real-time beautification mode.
Xiaomi has provided stock Android 7.1.2 Nougat on the Mi A1, and the smartphone lately received an update with the November security patch. The company is also seeking beta testers to pilot Android 8.0 Oreo on the smartphone.
The Xiaomi Mi A1 has 4G VoLTE, dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11ac, GPS/ A-GPS, USB Type-C, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Besides, it packs a 3080mAh battery and has audio enhancements including a 10V smart power amplifier, DHS Audio Calibration Algorithm, and support for high impedance headphones.
Earlier this month, Flipkart hosted its Big Shopping Days sale under which the Xiaomi Mi A1 was available at Rs. 12,999. The e-commerce site was even offering an additional discount of Rs. 1,600 on purchasing the smartphone using an SBI credit card.