Xiaomi Mi 8, Mi Band 3 images purportedly leak, along with new Mi 8 SE

Weibo

• The Xiaomi Mi 8, Mi 8 SE, and Mi Band 3 have apparently appeared in leaked photos.
• We don’t know much about the SE, but it seems to be a slightly smaller version of the Mi 8.
• The Mi 8 will support so-called dual-frequency navigation for decimeter-level accuracy.

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We already know a fair bit about the upcoming Xiaomi Mi 8 and Mi Band 3, but it looks like the Chinese brand is readying a Mi 8 SE for a launch event tomorrow as well. Images posted to a Weibo account (h/t: GSMArena) purportedly show the two phones and the Mi Band 3 ahead of the event.

It’s the Mi 8 SE that has us intrigued though, as we haven’t heard much (if anything) about it until this week. The image shows a phone with a notch and similarly thin bezels as the standard Mi 8.

The Mi 8 SE also seems smaller than the vanilla flagship (see the header image), suggesting Xiaomi looked to Apple’s iPhone SE for inspiration in name and screen size.

It’s unclear if the phone will have the same specs as the main flagship, but a new leak suggests a Snapdragon 710 chipset and an AI-enabled dual camera setup. The Mi 8, meanwhile, is expected to pack a Snapdragon 845 SoC, 3D facial recognition (enabled by sensors on the notch), and up to 8GB of RAM.

The Mi 8 SE’s notch doesn’t seem to have as many components, suggesting 3D facial scanning isn’t an option on the smaller device.

One photo also seems to show the Mi 8 flagship with a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner. This suggests a lack of an in-display fingerprint scanner in the phone; then again, the Huawei Mate RS offers both fingerprint solutions, so it could still be possible. Dual readers would unnecessarily drive up bill of material costs though, so if Xiaomi is indeed offering in-display scanners, it’s probably on a different variant to the one apparently seen here.

The same photo also mentions GPS as a selling point for the Mi 8. We can independently confirm that the phone will pack unique support for dual frequency navigation systems. This supports GPS and Galileo positioning systems to deliver decimeter-level (a tenth of a meter, four inches) accuracy. Current GPS technology on smartphones is reportedly accurate to just under five meters (16 feet).

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As for a release date, the photo text in the main image suggests a June 5 date for the Mi 8 and a June 8 date for the Mi 8 SE. Meanwhile, the purported photo of the Mi Band 3 doesn’t tell us much about the new fitness tracker, merely reflecting previous claims of the rounded screen design.

The same tipster has previously published Xiaomi Mi 8 information, such as four photos detailing claimed specs and price tags on May 22. They’ve also seemingly published a Mi Band 3 user manual before, so the person might know their stuff or could be curating content from other Weibo leakers. Either way, we won’t have to wait long for more details.

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