Xiaomi's entry-level Redmi unit to offer flagship powered by Qualcomm's new beast

Recently, Xiaomi announced that it would separate its high-end Mi brand from the company's value for money "Redmi" brand. Phones offered by the latter unit are available through e-commerce sites only. Even though the Redmi brand will feature mostly budget handsets, it does appear that there will be a flagship phone under the brand. A photo posted on Weibo by Redmi General Manager Lu Weibing shows Lu and other members of the Redmi team in a meeting (see image at the top of this article).

The photo is tagged "Shot on Redmi Note 7, Mi Dual Camera." That phone was released last month, and Weibing's posting on Weibo mentions the upcoming Redmi Note 7 Pro, and a flagship handset that will be powered by the Snapdragon 855 Mobile Platform. This is Qualcomm's latest and greatest SoC for 2019, and should appear on some high-end phones during the first half of 2019. That list includes the U.S. versions of the Samsung Galaxy S10, Galaxy S10+, and the OnePlus 7 to name just a few.

There is no other information about this flagship "Redmi" phone outside of the chipset that will be powering it. Last year's Redmi models used Helio chips from MediaTek, and 600 series Snapdragon SoCs. The new top shelf Redmi handset could be similar to Xiaomi's affordable Pocophone F1 flagship, which was launched last year with the Snapdragon 845 Mobile Platform under the hood.