Xiaomi are making great changes to their line-up of smartphones this year. First, it was rumored that the Redmi Pro 2 would be replaced by the X1; and now, it seems that the company has a new smartphone in development that will feature a 9:18 display, that is currently codenamed “Chiron”.
The best guess is that the “Chiron” is the codename for the new Mi 7 flagship, even though Xiaomi has other flagships now like the Mi Mix that has been added to its portfolio. In fact, the screen of the new phone seems like something that could be found in the next iteration of the Mi Mix as well, since one of the biggest features that the original Mi Mix offered was the near bezel-less screen. The Chiron is speculated to come with a 6-inch screen that is 1080 by 2160 pixels in resolution, which will be supplied by Japan Display – a partnership between Sony, Toshiba and Hitachi. It is also rumored, however, that JDI’s new Full Active Display may be one of the considerations that Xiaomi will take when choosing the display.
The Android Soul has a theory that the Chiron could eventually be the Mi Note 3 or the successor to the Mi Mix. To further explain, the trend in the screen size in the Note series of phones by Xiaomi have featured a 5.7-inch screen before, so it makes sense that the 6-inch screen of the Chiron could be fitted in the new Mi Note 3. The Mix on the other hand, uses a much larger display, so it seems unlikely that the model will feature this screen size if it wants to surpass its predecessor. The leaked specifications of the Chiron also point out that the phone will have a front display that will look similar to the Samsung Galaxy S8. On the top-right position on the front will be the selfie camera, pegged at just 8MP while the rear camera will be a 12MP sensor that is supposedly similar to the Mi 6.
There are also speculations that the new Chiron will feature a similar (or the same) screen that will come fitted with the Xperia flagship phones that will be released later this year. The aspect ratio will be similar to the LG G6 and so, should go toe-to-toe with the LG flagship. The Chiron will be a little more advanced, coming with a Snapdragon 835 SoC with options of 6GB and 8GB of RAM and 128GB and 256GB storage variants respectively. The leak also mentions that the phone could be made available as early as July 25.
