Lei Jun, Xiaomi founder and CEO
Lei Jun, Xiaomi founder and CEO, speaks at a launch ceremony for the Xiaomi Phone 4 in Beijing in 2014. Reuters/Jason Lee

Xiaomi has been in the smartphone market radar every since it surpassed Samsung's sales in China. More recently, it has been aiming at becoming a competitor of Apple. With Xiaomi Mi4i hitting stores sooner than Samsung Galaxy Note 5 and Apple iPhone 7, can the company finally solidify its edge? Will Xiaomi reign over the two tech giants or will Samsung and Apple prevail despite late releases?

Xiaomi hosted its Global Mi Phone Premiere event last Thusrday, April 23 at Siri Fort Auditorium in New Delhi, India. The company's CEO and founder Lei Jun and president Bin Lin both attended the event although Xiaomi's global vice president Hugo Barra was the one who went up on stage. Consequently, the Xiaomi Mi4i launch was confirmed instead of the Mi5. Previously, expectations were hovering between the Mi4i and the Mi5.

People were expecting the Xiaomi Mi4i to come with similar specs as the Mi4. However, there have been predictions about a more downgraded version. Upon announcement of the device include specs such as: 5in full-HD (1080p, 441ppi) JDI IPS screen with Sunlight Display including second generation Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 octa-core processor (1.7GHz quad, 1.1GHz quad), 16GB internal storage and 2GB RAM.

Other features include:

· 16 MP, 5312 x 2988 pixels, autofocus, LED flash

· Geo-tagging, touch focus, face/smile detection, panorama, HDR

· 2160p@30fps, 1080p@60fps, 720p@120fps, HDR

As with what has been happening in the smartphone market, some companies gain advantage over earlier releases though newer players may have to deal with big fanbases of tech giants like Apple and Samsung. The reach of both companies have been proven throughout the years that rivalry has been focused on the two. Nonetheless, as the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 and the Apple iPhone 7 are expected during the fourth quarter of the year, Xiaomi has a lead advantage. Likewise, Apple and Samsung have not released the final details of their devices.

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