It's no doubt that Xiaomi has come a long way since its inception in China and foray into the smartphone space in India and other markets. With success meeting this young brand at every corner, there's no stopping to Xiaomi's success in the future. From a successful Redmi-series to Mi-series phones and branching out via Poco-series, Xiaomi's success story is nothing short of a fairy-tale.
The brand is where it is by listening to its community, made up of its users and fans, and Xiaomi answered many prayers when it launched Mi A1 – the company's first-ever smartphone to run stock Android out-of-the-box. Following its success, Xiaomi launched Mi A2 and Mi A2 Lite to continue offering people with stock Android experience without having to jump the Nexus or Pixel ship.
The journey doesn't end there. The new year brings new opportunities for Xiaomi and one of the most anticipated ones is an upgrade to the critically-acclaimed Mi A2 smartphone. Lucky for us, there's evidence that Xiaomi is indeed working on Mi A3, which we assume the phone to be called at launch.
The confirmation of Mi A3's existence comes from digging into Android 9 Pie based MIUI 10 firmware files to find an unknown device under the codename "orchid_sprout." Xiaomi codenamed all of its Android One smartphones with the suffix "sprout," which could only mean that "orchid" is in reference to Mi A3.
Nothing about the Mi A3 is actually known from the leak, but here are a few changes we hope to see in Xiaomi's next Android One smartphone
Display
Xiaomi Mi A2 came with chunky bezels around the display and we hope and expect the Mi A3 to have slimmer bezels all around. While it's a long shot to expect a camera-in-the-hole on the front, a tiny waterdrop notch doesn't sound too bad.
By trimming the bezels, Xiaomi could increase the display size in the Mi A3 and still keep the compact design factor it achieved in the Mi A2. There was a 5.99-inch Full HD+ display in Mi A2 with 2.5D curved glass and Corning Gorilla Glass 5. In the Mi A3, it would be nice to see a 6.2-inch display with same resolution and probably Gorilla Glass 6.
Camera
We tested the Mi A2 and found its camera to be an excelling selling factor. Both low-lights and portrait shots were exceptional in the Mi A2. But an improvement in the Mi A3 wouldn't hurt anyone. Keeping dual cameras intact, the Mi A3 could achieve better results by opting for better sensors and AI. Similarly, an upgrade to the 20MP front-facing snapper is a welcoming change.
Battery
The Mi A2 came with a 3,010mAh battery with Quick Charge 3.0, which definitely needs a bump in the Mi A3. Firstly, increasing the battery size or optimising the usage of battery in the Mi A3 can go a long way and also equipping a faster charging solution can be a boon.
Configuration
Even the high-end variant of the Mi A2 packed 6GB RAM, which we hope to see upgraded in the Mi A3. Since we've seen phones come with 8GB and 10GB RAM quite commonly, Mi A3 with 6GB+128GB for the base and 8GB+256GB configuration for the high-end variant will garner the interest of hard-core users.
Since Xiaomi hasn't gone with flagship processors for its Android One series, the Mi A3 could see an upgraded chipset. From Mi A2's Snapdragon 660 processor to the recently-launched Snapdragon 710 could help with the 8GB RAM configuration in the Mi A3.
Latest Android
It goes without saying, but the Mi A3 must come with Android 9.0 Pie out-of-the-box and get Android Q soon after its release. There's no doubt Xiaomi will make sure the latest OS is in the Mi A3, considering the Mi A2 has already been upgraded to Android Pie.
Pricing
Of all the other things that made Mi A2 the go-to phone for the masses, the pricing was a key factor. With the sub-Rs 20,000 pricing, Xiaomi did some magic there. We hope to see a similar commitment towards competitive pricing in the Mi A3 come this year.
