Xiaomi’s huge Mi Max is official, 6.44-inch display, 4850mAh battery and 4GB RAM in tow

Xiaomi, this morning, took the wraps off its latest affordable metal-clad flagship. The Mi Max, as the name suggests, is a big phone, but Xiaomi claims it still comfortably fits in a pocket. With its 6.44-inch display, it’s easily the largest phone in the Chinese manufacturer’s lineup and comes with some incredible specs for the sub-$300 price.

There are two main benefits to the Xiaomi Mi Max. First off is undoubtedly the 1080p 6.44-inch display on the front which provides plenty of screen real estate for gaming and media consumption. The phone’s size also lends itself to being filled with battery, which it has been. The Mi Max has a generous 4,850mAh battery which Xiaomi claims can easily keep you going all day.

The camera on the back boasts a 16MP sensor and phase detection autofocus (PDAF), while the 5MP camera on the front plays home to an 85-degree wide angle lens. As usual, there’s a dual-SIM tray which can either be used for two SIM cards or for 1 SIM and 1 SD card. For a budget device, it’s incredibly well equipped and even has a fingerprint sensor on the back.

The phone will be available in China from next week and will be available with 32GB, 64GB or 128GB storage, all of which can be expanded by MicroSD card. Each storage model comes with a different RAM+CPU setup, with either a Snapdragon 650 or Snapdragon 652 processor available paired with 3GB or 4GB of RAM.

All of this is packed in to a metal-clad device which measures just 7.5mm thin.

Prices are as follows for the various options:

• RMB 1499 ($230 USD) – 3GB RAM + 32GB storage, Snapdragon 650
• RMB 1699 ($261 USD) – 3GB RAM + 64GB storage, Snapdragon 652
• RMB 1999 ($307 USD) – 4GB RAM + 128GB storage, Snapdragon 652

Each version will be available in a choice of three colors: Silver, Gold and Dark Grey.

While the phone will launch with MIUI 7 onboard, Xiaomi is opening up beta testing to its MIUI 8 software from the beginning of next month, suggesting a public launch won’t be too far away.

The new custom Android skin will come with features to make it more power efficient, like the ability to freeze apps in the background as well as suspending sync, updates and other background tasks. It can also stop apps from non-essential apps from starting up when you power on the phone, and has a new multi-tasking window. What’s more, it’s capable of detecting scam and fraud messages to keep users’ data more secure.

Yet again, we’re left with the question as to whether or not Xiaomi will expand its sales overseas, or if the Max will only ever be available in China. After the Mi 5 was announced in Barcelona a couple of months back, we got our hopes up that an international launch was imminent. Sadly, that wasn’t the case, and we’re still waiting for the company to launch an official presence in western markets.