Chinese tech firm Xiaomi has unveiled three new products to mark the end of the year, and one of them is a real surprise.
The midrange device features a 7.9-inch screen and metal-body which looks like an iPad mini, but is available running Windows 10 as well as the company’s MIUI Android fork.
Xiaomi says the Mi Pad 2 is lighter and thinner than the first-generation Mi Pad, and comes with 2GB of RAM, 16GB or 64GB of internal storage, and a 7.9-inch, 2048 x 1536 resolution screen. The company has also swapped out the Mi Pad’s original Nvidia Tegra K1 chip for Intel’s 64-bit Atom X5-Z8500 processor, and given the tablet a reversible USB Type-C port. (The image at the top of this page shows a render of the Mi Pad 2 running Windows 10 and Xiaomi says the final appearance of the interface may differ at launch.)
As ever with Xiaomi, the price is one of the most interesting specs. The 16GB Mi Pad 2 will be available in China from November 27th for RMB 999 or roughly $156, while the 64GB version will sell for RMB 1299 or around $200.
The Windows 10 version of the device will only be available with 64GB of storage and will go on sale in late December for RMB 1299. Rumors earlier in the year had suggested that Xiaomi’s new tablet would dual-boot Windows 10 and Android, but this is not the case — users will have to choose between Google and Microsoft’s operating systems.
