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Xiaomi is apparently giving its entry-level Redmi 4 smartphone a bit of a makeover, if latest reports coming out of China are anything to go by. While the overall design of the new batch of Redmi 4 handsets remains almost identical to that of the original device, the only change seems to be the black outlines surrounding the screen that seems to have vanished with the new design. Its place has been taken by the outer frame, which now seems to be slightly thicker than it was earlier. Overall, though, the change is pretty negligible, and is almost unnoticeable unless you take a very hard look at it. It is not immediately known whether Xiaomi has made any significant changes under the hood, but from initial reports, it seems as though the key hardware specs remain unchanged. The new batch has reportedly started shipping on January 11.
Ultra-thin bezels are going mainstream with every passing year, and Xiaomi has actually elevated the game to a whole different level recently, by introducing the futuristic Mi MIX phablet which doesn’t have any bezel on three of its sides. Described by Xiaomi as “The future of smartphones”, the only discernable bezel on that device can be found on the bottom, which houses the front-facing camera and the auto-brightness sensor. While the design change on the Redmi 4 is nowhere near those levels, it is still interesting to see Xiaomi fiddling with the design of even its entry-level smartphones. The company is also expected to launch the Redmi Note 4 in India tomorrow, so it will be interesting to see if that particular device will also bring some new design ideas to the table.
Meanwhile, the Redmi 4 was launched last year by Xiaomi in at least three different versions – Redmi 4 Standard, Redmi 4 Pro and Redmi 4A. All three models ship with 5-inch displays, but while the ‘Pro’ variant features a 1080p panel, the standard Redmi 4 and Redmi 4A come with 720p screens. The Redmi 4 Pro also gets the higher-end Snapdragon 625 chip along with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage. The two lower-end models ship with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage, although the presence of a microSD slot in all three versions means that users are able to expand the storage capacity of their phone, irrespective of the model they opt for.
