Speculative Specs: This Should Be the Next Xiaomi Phone

The Xiaomi M1 will be a tough act to follow. But the phone is nearing its 1st birthday, and so it's time for the next iteration...

In the space of just one year, the Chinese startup Xiaomi has gone from being the maker of an Android-based ROM beloved of Android tweakers to a smartphone brand that’s worth an estimated $4 billion after its recent third-round funding. And it has done all that, in the hallmark style of Apple’s minimalism, with just one phone: the Xiaomi M1. It is selling, the company has said, at the rate of 700,000 per month. It might have impressed at the time of its launch back in August of last year, with 1.5GHz of power behind a very pretty Android skin for just 1,999 RMB (US$317), but the smartphone landscape changes quickly and it’s now time for a refresh. Time for Xiaomi’s difficult second coming.

To compete with the new breed – that Xiaomi itself inspired – of phones and mobile platforms from Chinese web companies, the Xiaomi M2 (if that’s what it’s called), needs an impressive second incarnation. Here’s what I reckon the next model should be packing in terms of specs and pricing:

• Processor – Snapdragon S4 dual-core MSM8960 @ 1.5 GHz

This one puts Xiaomi in a quandary. If it’s bound to chip-maker Qualcomm (NASDAQ:QCOM) and its Snapdragon series, then it has no quad-core option available immediately – presuming that the M2 will be unveiled next month, exactly 12 months after the original. That leaves rivals like Meizu able to win the bragging rights about making China’s quad-core flagship. But no matter. The dual-core Snapdragon S4 already used in the likes of the HTC One X will do just nicely as an upgrade. AnandTech reckons it’s a beast. The Qualcomm Adreno 225 on the system-on-a-chip would serve nicely as the GPU as well.

• Storage – 8GB onboard storage + MicroSD slot

Chinese users love flexibility, so a MicroSD card slot is a must for expandability. But, hey, that’s a way for the company to save a few bucks. The M1 has a mere 4GB out of the box, so at least bump that up to 8GB for the new model.

• Cameras – 5MP on the rear, 1.2MP front-facing

The M1’s 5MP camera is not great, so it really ought to swapped out for a better one of the same resolution. 8MP is not needed. The M1 doesn’t even have a front-facing one, but that has got to change. Also, the front-facing camera has to be dragged into the 21st-century, now that we’re using more and more video calling and the popular WeChat group messaging app will soon support it too. So we actually want to see the person we’re talking to, not an image that looks like it’s from a 90’s computer game. A pretty impressive 1.2MP front-facing webcam (same as in the new Asus Nexus 7) will certainly do the trick, making it a lot better than the iPhone 4S offers.

• Screen – 4.3-inch superLCD

I think four inches is sufficient, but some people like more of a handful [1]. Anyway, so long as Xiaomi improves its lackluster Sharp-sourced LCD screen, then that’d be nice. But lets say that the pressure to supersize is too much, so 4.3-inches is sufficient. SuperLCD would be fine as AMOLED can be lousy in the bright sub-tropical sunshine that most of China gets. How about Android’s onscreen buttons? I don’t think they’ll go down all that well with the target audience, and Chinese consumers would rather stick with the three haptic buttons that give some useful tactile feedback. Also, in a country that’s either really hot and humid or arse-achingly cold for half the year, users want to minimize the amount of time they’re forced to use the touchscreen.

• Battery – 2,000mAh