Teardown: take a look inside the Xiaomi Mi Note

Members over on the MIUI forum have taken apart the Xiaomi Mi Note, so that we may have a gander at how Xiaomi goes about cramming its high-end hardware into a package costing around only $370.

After pulling off the rear glass cover with some basic suction pads and unscrewing the metal protective cover, the Mi Note’s motherboard and other internal components can all be found within easy reach. The inside of the case is split into three parts, one housing the motherboard, the speakers at the bottom, and a space for the 2,900mAh 4.4V battery, which is provided by LG.

Turning to the motherboard, it’s here that you will find the Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, 3GB Samsung LPDDR3 RAM module, two power management chips for the smartphone, and the flash memory provided by Toshiba. Placed snugly near the 3mm audio jack you can also spot a high-end 32-bit ES9018K2M digital to analog converter, which features 127dB dynamic range and -120dB THD + noise characteristics, and TI OPA1612 and ADI ADA4896 op-amp chips for the audio signal path. Interestingly, there is a metal cover soldered to the back of the motherboard to offer additional protection.

Nestled next to the main board are the front and rear cameras. The rear camera is a 13 megapixel Sony IMX214 sensor with optical image stabilization, while the front facing camera is a 4MP Ultrapixel camera developed by HTC, which contains pixels sized at 2-micron each, and is designed for superior low light capture. Lifting out the battery reveals a connection from the motherboard down to the microphone, USB port and vibration unit at the bottom of the smartphone.

Overall, the tinkerers found the Xiaomi Mi Note rather easy to take apart, investigate and reassemble. For a low-cost device, Xiaomi has clearly taken the time to design and layout a well put together smartphone.