Xiaomi's Mi A1 Special Edition in Red is coming to India (updated)

Update (12/19/17): The gorgeous Xiaomi Mi A1 Special Edition is officially coming to India. Beginning December 20, customers will have the chance to order the Red version of the Mi A1 from Mi.com and Flipkart’s online store. Additionally, the device will be available from Mi Home stores, Mi preferred partner stores, and other retail partners. The device will run customers Rs. 13,999.

December 20 is also the start of Xiaomi’s “No. 1 Fan Sale” in the country. Xiaomi is celebrating its fans with sales on phones like the Xiaomi Mi MIX 2, Mi Max 2, Redmi 4, Redmi Note 4, and Redmi Y1 Lite. The Mi MIX 2 will see a price drop from Rs. 35,999 to Rs. 32,999, while the Mi Max 2 will drop from Rs. 14,999 to Rs. 12,999. The Redmi 4 gets a Rs. 1,000 discount, while pricing details for the Redmi Note 4 and Redmi Y1 Lite have yet to be released yet.

You can get check out all of the deals on Mi.com starting December 20.

Original article (12/14/17): It seems like red has caught on as a color of choice for smartphones, since OnePlus and Samsung have red versions of their flagship smartphones. Whether it’s because of that, or whether it’s because it’s the season for such a color, Xiaomi has joined the fray with the Mi A1 Special Edition.

Don’t let the name fool you; the only thing special about the Mi A1 Special Edition is the red color it comes in. That being said, the shade of red looks much less like Samsung’s Burgundy Red and more like OnePlus’ Lava Red, with the color choice meant to stand out than be more subtle.

Either way, it comes across as vibrant and stunning, with the added red color meaning that the Mi A1 is now available in four colors.

Elsewhere, the Mi A1 Special Edition remains identical to the normal Mi A1. In other words, you’ll find a 5.5-inch Full HD display, with a 5 MP camera up front and dual 12 MP cameras around back. Under the hood, Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 625 chipset and 4 GB of RAM power the phone, and while the processor might be a bit long in the tooth at this point, it allows for greater battery efficiency.

That efficiency is what helps give the Mi A1 very good battery life in our testing, regardless of the modest 3,080 mAh battery. If the 64 GB of internal storage is not enough for your needs, the microSD card slot allows for up to 128 GB of additional storage.

Finally, the Mi A1’s story revolves around its status as one of the handful of Android One devices out there, which means that the phone runs stock Android 7.1.2 Nougat. That makes the phone the only Xiaomi smartphone that runs stock Android out of the box, something that slightly disoriented us at first but that we eventually got used to.

According to GizmoChina, which spotted the phone, the Mi A1 Special Edition is currently available in Indonesia for 3.099.000 rupiahs, which translate to roughly $228. There is no word if the phone will be available in other markets, though we’ll keep an eye out if it does.